Maryam Kabir was just a
month old on earth when was afflicted with strange ailments, confining
her to the sickbed for over 16 years now. Buth rather that resign to
fate, the 17-year-old girl has since learnt - by herself - to be an
expert in artistic paintings and designs, even as she continues her
search for medicine. In this encounter, she tells Weekly Trust that she
desires to become a professional architect in the future.
The story of 17-year-old Maryam Kabir is
as pathetic as it is inspiring. She has been bedridden for the most
part of her life, yet she sees a bright future ahead of her.
However, NE learnt that she instinctively learnt a vocation while struggling with two strange ailments. Maryam suffers from prolonged and unconscious urination and defecation.
Surprisingly, without any form of tutelage, Maryam has now acquired painting artistic skills. Through painting, she now churns out many beautiful and thought-provoking designs of various sorts.
NE leanrt that Maryam was barely 35 days old on earth when the ailments were discovered in her. While the parents became attentive to understand what really was her problem, another disease that had the semblance of leprosy began to appear on different parts of her body, with her left leg worse hit by the disease.
However, NE learnt that she instinctively learnt a vocation while struggling with two strange ailments. Maryam suffers from prolonged and unconscious urination and defecation.
Surprisingly, without any form of tutelage, Maryam has now acquired painting artistic skills. Through painting, she now churns out many beautiful and thought-provoking designs of various sorts.
NE leanrt that Maryam was barely 35 days old on earth when the ailments were discovered in her. While the parents became attentive to understand what really was her problem, another disease that had the semblance of leprosy began to appear on different parts of her body, with her left leg worse hit by the disease.
Since then, Maryam and her parents have
been going from one hospital to another in search of cure, so that the
little girl can enjoy normal life. While the search continued, Maryam
felt she can learn a vocation, even on her sick bed.
But determined not to be emotionally over-burdened by her condition during the incubatory years of medication, the little Maryam taught herself the art of painting and design of various types.
NE’s encounter with Maryam revealed that she draws a variety of works such as sitting rooms, houses, bridges, flowers and other beautiful art designs that can even challenge trained experts in the field.
She told NE that having realised her potentials, studying architecture is her unquenchable dream. But her major hindrance appears to be the lack of formal education, which her sick condition deprived her of acquiring like her other age mates.
“I believed it is not late for me to realise my ambition of becoming an architect,” she positively sounded.
Maryam informed us that “I believed I can enrol in school now and become what I want to be even at 17. It was not my own making that I did not go to school. My parents told me that when I was about 35 days old, I became a victim of a meningitis outbreak. I was rushed to Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) then in Tudun Wada, Zaria”.
She explained further, “The hospital’s doctors did their best to save my life. They drew out the meningitis fluid from my spinal cord. Allah knows best, nobody can tell whether it is from that treatment that some of my veins that transmit stool and urination message to my brain developed fault or it was the meningitis disease that affected the veins. My parents said it was from that incident that the pattern of my excretion and urination changed”.
Maryam added that “at the initial stage, my parents didn’t realize that my condition was a disorder, since I was an infant who could pass stool or urinate anyhow. They became disturbed when I attained the age of three and I was still passing out stool and urination uncontrollably.”
It was gathered that upon this realisation, Maryam’s parents began to search for medication for their daughter’s strange afflictions.
Maryam’s mother, Bilkisu Yusuf, said the search for medication took them to different hospitals that included ABUTH, Uthman Danfodio University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH) and other hospitals that are too numerous to list.
“Honestly, after that meningitis case, the little girl begun to change. She passed out stool or urinated even when laughing or crying. We became more worried when she began to grow up and that was when we intensified the search for medication. After visiting various hospitals, we were told that it was only one Dr. B. B. Shehu that can perform a surgery on her,” the mother lamented.
Maryam’s family came to know about Dr. B. B. Shehu during one of their visits in search of cure for leprosy in Kano.
“When we eventually met him, he told us to meet him in Sokoto, and he performed the operation at UDUTH when Maryam was four years old. He told us that the operation was successful”, Bilkisu said.
“But after sometime, we noticed some changes as she began to sense that she wants to excrete or urinate and would run to toilet. The only problem was that sometimes before she reaches the toilet the stool could come out. For urination, we had to use our hands, sometimes, to press it out from her waist”, she added.
“This is how it is up to today. She cannot use conveniences like those of us who are normal, especially when passing urine, she has to use her hands to press it out. However, all thanks are to Allah because there is an improvement between her condition when she was an infant and now because she can sense that she wants to urinate or excrete,” Mrs Yusuf explained.
Aside the problem of passing stool or urine without control, Maryam is suffering from another strange disease that resembles leprosy.
“We also started noticing that disease when she was about two years old,” Mrs Yusuf said.
“We took her to the Leprosy centre in Zaria and Katsina and we were told that it was not leprosy. But, as you can see, the disease has chopped off all her toes on the left leg, and she is battling with that disease, as well”.
“We were told that she can find cure abroad, but as you can see, we are not rich and cannot afford it. There was a time I travelled many times to Kano during the reign of a former governor to see whether I could see him for assistance that would allow us to take her abroad for treatment, but those efforts did not yield any fruits,” the mother stated.
Despite these predicaments, Maryam felt she can engage in something worthwhile that can make her parents proud.
“As you were told,” Maryam said, “I have been on sick bed throughout my life. One day, my instincts pushed me to start drawing. I usually take papers and pencil from my sisters’ and brothers’ school bags to start drawing signs that were not meaningful. That was how I started without the knowledge of anybody. I used to put anything I draw under my mattress. I have been doing that for years”, she recollected.
“My parents came to know that I can draw beautiful things when one day they decided to take away my mattress and clean the whole area. It was at that point that they saw many of my drawings and they were amazed when I told them that I was the one who did all the drawings,” Maryam said.
She added that “it was at that point that my father began to buy cardboard papers and other painting materials for me. Thereafter, I continued to draw a variety of things just to keep myself busy. Nobody buys what I draw; I just keep my work for my friends, brothers, sisters and even neighbours to admire”.
“What I want now is for well meaning Nigerians to come to my aid to help me actualize my dream of becoming an architect. I want to become an architect but I cannot achieve that if these strange ailments are not properly handled to allow me I enroll in school. My parents are not rich, this is why I want people to come to my aid,” Maryam appealed.
NE also observed that Maryam can now recite ten Hizb (chapters) of the Holy Qur’an. She can, as well, write in Hausa language, and can speak and write some words in English language.
She disclosed that she learnt all that from her sisters and brothers, “and this tells you that with assistance from government and other well meaning Nigerians, I can make it in life, not end up as a destitute.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everydayBut determined not to be emotionally over-burdened by her condition during the incubatory years of medication, the little Maryam taught herself the art of painting and design of various types.
NE’s encounter with Maryam revealed that she draws a variety of works such as sitting rooms, houses, bridges, flowers and other beautiful art designs that can even challenge trained experts in the field.
She told NE that having realised her potentials, studying architecture is her unquenchable dream. But her major hindrance appears to be the lack of formal education, which her sick condition deprived her of acquiring like her other age mates.
“I believed it is not late for me to realise my ambition of becoming an architect,” she positively sounded.
Maryam informed us that “I believed I can enrol in school now and become what I want to be even at 17. It was not my own making that I did not go to school. My parents told me that when I was about 35 days old, I became a victim of a meningitis outbreak. I was rushed to Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) then in Tudun Wada, Zaria”.
She explained further, “The hospital’s doctors did their best to save my life. They drew out the meningitis fluid from my spinal cord. Allah knows best, nobody can tell whether it is from that treatment that some of my veins that transmit stool and urination message to my brain developed fault or it was the meningitis disease that affected the veins. My parents said it was from that incident that the pattern of my excretion and urination changed”.
Maryam added that “at the initial stage, my parents didn’t realize that my condition was a disorder, since I was an infant who could pass stool or urinate anyhow. They became disturbed when I attained the age of three and I was still passing out stool and urination uncontrollably.”
It was gathered that upon this realisation, Maryam’s parents began to search for medication for their daughter’s strange afflictions.
Maryam’s mother, Bilkisu Yusuf, said the search for medication took them to different hospitals that included ABUTH, Uthman Danfodio University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH) and other hospitals that are too numerous to list.
“Honestly, after that meningitis case, the little girl begun to change. She passed out stool or urinated even when laughing or crying. We became more worried when she began to grow up and that was when we intensified the search for medication. After visiting various hospitals, we were told that it was only one Dr. B. B. Shehu that can perform a surgery on her,” the mother lamented.
Maryam’s family came to know about Dr. B. B. Shehu during one of their visits in search of cure for leprosy in Kano.
“When we eventually met him, he told us to meet him in Sokoto, and he performed the operation at UDUTH when Maryam was four years old. He told us that the operation was successful”, Bilkisu said.
“But after sometime, we noticed some changes as she began to sense that she wants to excrete or urinate and would run to toilet. The only problem was that sometimes before she reaches the toilet the stool could come out. For urination, we had to use our hands, sometimes, to press it out from her waist”, she added.
“This is how it is up to today. She cannot use conveniences like those of us who are normal, especially when passing urine, she has to use her hands to press it out. However, all thanks are to Allah because there is an improvement between her condition when she was an infant and now because she can sense that she wants to urinate or excrete,” Mrs Yusuf explained.
Aside the problem of passing stool or urine without control, Maryam is suffering from another strange disease that resembles leprosy.
“We also started noticing that disease when she was about two years old,” Mrs Yusuf said.
“We took her to the Leprosy centre in Zaria and Katsina and we were told that it was not leprosy. But, as you can see, the disease has chopped off all her toes on the left leg, and she is battling with that disease, as well”.
“We were told that she can find cure abroad, but as you can see, we are not rich and cannot afford it. There was a time I travelled many times to Kano during the reign of a former governor to see whether I could see him for assistance that would allow us to take her abroad for treatment, but those efforts did not yield any fruits,” the mother stated.
Despite these predicaments, Maryam felt she can engage in something worthwhile that can make her parents proud.
“As you were told,” Maryam said, “I have been on sick bed throughout my life. One day, my instincts pushed me to start drawing. I usually take papers and pencil from my sisters’ and brothers’ school bags to start drawing signs that were not meaningful. That was how I started without the knowledge of anybody. I used to put anything I draw under my mattress. I have been doing that for years”, she recollected.
“My parents came to know that I can draw beautiful things when one day they decided to take away my mattress and clean the whole area. It was at that point that they saw many of my drawings and they were amazed when I told them that I was the one who did all the drawings,” Maryam said.
She added that “it was at that point that my father began to buy cardboard papers and other painting materials for me. Thereafter, I continued to draw a variety of things just to keep myself busy. Nobody buys what I draw; I just keep my work for my friends, brothers, sisters and even neighbours to admire”.
“What I want now is for well meaning Nigerians to come to my aid to help me actualize my dream of becoming an architect. I want to become an architect but I cannot achieve that if these strange ailments are not properly handled to allow me I enroll in school. My parents are not rich, this is why I want people to come to my aid,” Maryam appealed.
NE also observed that Maryam can now recite ten Hizb (chapters) of the Holy Qur’an. She can, as well, write in Hausa language, and can speak and write some words in English language.
She disclosed that she learnt all that from her sisters and brothers, “and this tells you that with assistance from government and other well meaning Nigerians, I can make it in life, not end up as a destitute.”
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Maryam dearest, God has a plan for you. That's why u r still alive. This, is d end of ur suffering, by His Grace.
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