26-year-old amputee, Mary Daniel, who had her leg cut off at age 11 said hunger will kill her, daughter and grandma if she doesn’t hawk in Lagos traffic.
The single mother said her resolve not to beg on the streets turned her into a hawker of bottled water on the highways in Oshodi, one of Lagos’ busiest cities.
“I don’t like begging because I believe I have the strength to work and cater for myself,” she declared. “I know I am not lazy and I took the decision not to beg. Some who are begging don’t even make as much as I do daily. Some people, out of pity, will gift me N1,000 or N2,000 after buying water from me.”
She added, “I wish to have a shop of my own so that I can have a better means to take care of my daughter and grandma. I used to have one artificial leg but it was painful whenever I wore it. So I decided to be using a crutch.”
In an interview with The PUNCH, she revealed how her legs were amputated at 11, how she became a single mother and more.
Growing up in Katsina State where she lived with her parents, Daniel nursed dreams of a regular child. She wanted to have formal education and aspired to a great future. She was in Primary four when her beautiful hopes were dashed in December 2006 on the highway.
That fateful day, she and her parents were travelling to their country home in Ayingba, Kogi State, for Yuletide, when they were involved in a fatal accident.
Her parents and some others died in the crash that crushed her right leg. That was all she could remember until days later when she was left with a leg.
