- Title: For Jordanian girl with cerebral palsy, hope springs from flower business
- Date: 11th September 2018
- Summary: AMMAN, JORDAN (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF JORDANIAN CHILD DIAGNOSED WITH CEREBRAL PALSY, ZEINA ABU ALI, WALKING INSIDE PLANT NURSERY VARIOUS OF ALI PICKING FLOWERS ALI WALKING ALI WALKING WITH HER FATHER AND SISTER ALI SITTING IN FAMILY'S VEHICLE VARIOUS OF ALI MOVING FLOWER POTS FROM CAR AND PUTTING THEM NEXT TO OTHER POTS FLOWERS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOTHER OF JORDANIA
- Embargoed: 25th September 2018 14:32
- Keywords: Amman flower shop flower shop initiative Jordanian girl Jordanian girl with cerebral palsy cerebral palsy
- Location: AMMAN, JORDAN
- City: AMMAN, JORDAN
- Country: Jordan
- Topics: Human Interest / Brights / Odd News,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA0018X6O76D
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Hoping to one day turn her country into a big garden, a Jordanian girl with cerebral palsy started a small flower business with her family to fund surgery needed to improve her motor skills.
Eight-year-old Zeina Abu Ali was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when she was only a year and a half, her mother Eiman Asaad said.
She needs surgery in the United States to improve her ability to walk, so her parents capitalised on her passion for flowers and started the initiative, "let's fill Jordan with roses".
While the child enthusiastically picks out flowers and prepares them for delivery, the money collected from the business would go into funding her expensive surgery.
"Thank God, she likes this thing (flowers), she is really excited about this (initiative) and she wants to undergo the surgery, she knows what her problem is," Asaad said.
The workflow at the business is very simple and has every member of the family giving a helping hand, Ali explains.
"I go to the plant nursery, choose the colours of the flowers, I clean them and put the stickers on them," she said once she took a break from cleaning the flower pots to prepare them for delivery.
Once the packaging is completed, her father delivers the flowers to clients, who contact the family and place orders through social media.
The initiative has given the child a confidence boost, her mother said.
"She is more confident in herself after the initiative particularly when people started talking to her and wanted to take photos with her, so all this affected her positively, thank God," Asaad said.
The family says the surgery would cost $85,000 including accommodation costs. They have managed to raise $28,000 since kicking off the initiative on July 5.
Cerebral palsy refers to a group of conditions, usually present at birth, that permanently impair movement, balance and posture.
The impairments range from mild - some children have only relatively minor problems with movement - to more severe, with some children being unable to walk or having additional impairments, such as mental retardation or vision and hearing problems. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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