MAPAKONI - A brave little girl with a big heart is confronting life with courage and determination, but she needs everyone’s assistance to realize her dream of becoming a doctor.

Mukhethwa Khorrommbi (6) of Mapakoni Village, outside Musina, was three months old when she was badly burnt, but she refuses to be relegated to the class of the discouraged and she has the zeal to live life at its fullest. She is in Grade 1 at Mapakoni Primary School.

Mirror visited this little brave hero to find out the secret behind her courageous character although some kids of her age discriminate against her as a result of her badly burnt body. “I want to be a doctor because I want to help sick people,” she said with a childish smile on her face.

Although she attends regular checkups at Donald Fraser Hospital, Mukhethwa needs assistance from members of the community because of her family’s poor financial background. She needs expensive medication and plastic surgery to restore her skin.

She receives a monthly government disability grant, but her single mother, Trosia, still labours heavily on the farms to keep the family fire burning because the grant is not enough to cater for Mukhethwa’s special needs. To make the burden worse, the poor mother has six other kids to look after.

Mukhethwa’s aunt, Chrestinah Ndou (44), who takes care of the child when her mother is at work, said Mukhethwa was burnt in July 1998 when she was three months old.

She explained: “The kid was on her elder sister’s arms when she accidentally fell into the fire place. She was so badly burnt that we even thought she would not survive. Although she is healthy, the burns have disturbed her speech and she also has a hearing problem. Her sight has also been affected and her right hand is not functioning properly. We need assistance to raise this kid because she needs special care and as a family we cannot afford to provide her with all the special needs.” She needs expensive medication and plastic surgery to restore her skin, but her family is too poor to afford this.

Those who would like to assist Mukhethwa can contact her teacher, Joyce Masithi, at 0827093650.