VOA慢速英语--一名妇女计划帮助卢旺达的截肢者接受义肢

Rwandan Woman Who Lost Leg Aims to Help Other Amputees

As a child, Claudine Humure lost both of her parents during Rwanda's genocide. She also had one of her legs removed because of cancer.

Today, she is working to give back to her homeland.

Humure spent part of her childhood in the northeastern American state of Massachusetts. There, she received cancer treatment and her first artificial leg.

The 29-year-old recently returned to the state to get fitted with a new leg -- also called a prosthesis. At Next Step Bionics and Prosthetics outside of Boston, she practiced walking on her new leg.

"It feels easier to walk on. I don't know if it's natural. It's been so long I don't remember what natural feels like."

The artificial leg she had the last four years had been damaged by Rwanda's hilly land. The knee joint¹ no longer moved smoothly².

Humure's new prosthetic leg was given to her for free by Next Step. The device offers her the latest in artificial leg technology, said Arthur Graham. He has worked with Humure for several years. He watched closely as she used her new limb³.

Her new knee can quickly react as Humure moves her body weight from one leg to the other, Graham said. The device's foot is also adjustable⁴. So, she can easily go from sports shoes to high heels and other kinds of shoes.

There are not many places in Rwanda that have such technology. So, Graham has provided Humure with advice on how to care for her prosthetic leg on her own over the years.

Humure said her experiences led her to work toward a career in prosthetics. She will soon start a graduate program at the University of Washington in Seattle. She hopes to one day open a nonprofit clinic and provide less costly⁵ prosthetics to other Rwandans.

The 1994 Rwandan genocide left a large number of people with severe injuries, Humure said. There has also been an increasing number of serious road accidents in the country of nearly 13 million people.

Yet, many amputees there are still having to use incorrectly fitting⁶ devices or self-made systems because of the high cost of good prosthetic devices, Humure said.

"I have been privileged to wear some of the most advanced prosthetics that a lot of Rwandans do not have access to," she said. "No one should be denied the right to stand on two feet and the ability to move around independently."

When Humure first came to Boston, she was 12 years old. She was using a wheelchair and had been living in a home for children without parents. She already had most of her right leg removed to treat bone cancer. But she needed additional treatments as the cancer spread.

An international healthcare organization called Partners In Health worked to bring Humure from Rwanda to Massachusetts General Hospital for cancer treatments. Doctors at the Boston-based hospital also fixed⁷ the remaining part of her amputated leg so that a prosthetic could fit it better.

A Boston couple soon became Humure's legal guardians⁸. She returned to the city to attend high school. Later, she attended Wheaton College south of Boston. She completed her studies in biology in 2017.

While in college, Humure worked with experts at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab. She helped with the lab's research on the newest kinds of prosthetics. She also spent time working with recent amputees at Spaulding Rehabilitation⁹ Hospital. Some of the people she worked with included survivors¹⁰ of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.

Most recently, Humure has been living in Kigali, Rwanda's capital. She works at the University of Global Health Equity¹¹.

"Yes, I went through a lot," Humure said. "But I would not have gotten through anything without all the people who have supported me along the way."

Words in This Story

artificial - adj. not natural or real : made, produced, or done to seem like something natural

practice - v. to do something again and again in order to become better at it

limb - n. a leg or arm

adjustable - adj. able to be changed in a minor¹² way so that it works better

graduate - adj. of or relating to a course of studies taken at a college or university after earning a bachelor's degree or other first degree

privileged - adj. having special rights or advantages that most people do not have

access - n. a way of getting near, at, or to something or someone

amputee - n. a person who has had an arm or leg amputated (removed from their body)

rehabilitation - n. the process of bringing (something or someone) back to a normal, healthy condition after an illness, injury, drug problem, etc.

1 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

2 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

3 limb   

n.树枝，四肢，枝干，边缘；vt.切断手足，切断树干

参考例句：

• She sat on a limb of the tree and looked down.她坐在一根大树枝上往下看。
• His refusal to agree left him out on a limb.他拒不表示同意，致使自己处于孤立地位。

4 adjustable   

adj.可调整的，可校准的

参考例句：

• More expensive cameras have adjustable focusing.比较贵的照相机有可调焦距。
• The chair has the virtue of being adjustable.这种椅子具有可调节的优点。

5 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

6 fitting   

n.[pl.]设备，家具，配件，试穿；adj.适合的

参考例句：

• I'm going to a fitting tomorrow.明天我要去试穿新衣。
• The President's address was a fitting end to a bitter campaign.总统的讲话为一场激烈的竞选运动适时画上了句号。

7 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

8 guardians   

监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者

参考例句：

• Farmers should be guardians of the countryside. 农民应是乡村的保卫者。
• The police are guardians of law and order. 警察是法律和秩序的护卫者。

9 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

10 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

11 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

12 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。