Meet Ayuna
In Newsletter 26 we reported giving a wheelchair to Ayuna, an impressive 22 year old paraplegic woman from Buryatia in Siberia. It appears our gift paid dividends as you can hear in Ayuna’s own words.
“In a previous letter I didn’t really mention all my gratitude and appreciation for the wheelchair that you gave me. Thank you very, very much! I have been using it for the past year and in all this time I feel absolute and boundless freedom!
On a visit to Manchester I had my first ballroom dancing class. I dreamed of trying dancing in a wheelchair and I finally succeeded! In that wheelchair I started a completely new chapter in my life, as a professional wheelchair dancer. I won a dance competition for people with disabilities “Dance Westminster” and I did it in your wheelchair! Afterwards I took part in a number of training workshops around the country. I was working as an assistant in “Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance”. We were introducing students to dance involving physically disabled people. I also finished the first year of a programme for young choreographers. Then last April I toured with the UK’s first all-wheelchair dance company “Propel Dance”, where we re-imagined the fantastical fairytale ‘The Snow Queen’.
Hopefully next year there will be an opportunity to do a tour around the whole UK. I was also selected and accepted into the National Dance Youth Company! I just have no more words, all these amazing moments happened thanks to you and your truly significant gift! Thank you very much! I certainly wouldn’t have done any of this without your help!“