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INLSA<\/p>\n
The girl whose eye was gouged out is fitted with a prosthetic eye by the Durban University of Technologys Peter Furber. Picture: Gcina Ndwalane<\/p>\n
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She\u2019s a little girl with a sweet smile and, at first glance, she looks no different from any other child. But she is a survivor of a vicious rape and eye-gouging attack near her home in Gingindlovu, in Zululand, and now she has been given new hope. <\/p>\n
It was just a few months ago when this eight-year-old\u2019s story shocked SA. She was raped, bitten and one of her eyes was gouged out by a 15-year-old boy. but yesterday she appeared at ease at the Durban University of Technology\u2019s dental clinic, where she was fitted with a prosthetic eye. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe is a brave little girl,\u201d said Rita Khuzwayo, a community member who has been caring for her since the attack. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe was extremely traumatised after what happened, and when she went back to school she was teased by the other kids, so she had to be moved to another school,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
The child is an orphan who lives with her ill grandmother but, despite the adversity she has faced, she has moved on with her life and her new eye is the next step in her recovery. <\/p>\n
DUT dental technology department lecturer Peter Furber, who is heading the procedure, said: \u201cI got a call about a month ago from an optometrist who asked if I would be able to make a prosthesis for this patient, and I agreed.\u201d <\/p>\n
Furber was asked because he has a background in this kind of specialised prosthetics. <\/p>\n
\u201cAt first she didn\u2019t want anybody near her, and I had to win her over,\u201d said Furber. \u201cBut she is a wonderful child, and what happened to her was atrocious. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe is very pleased about her new eye,\u201d said Khuzwayo. \u201cAt first, things were very hard. Whenever people asked her about what happened to her eye, she would cry. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut she is much better now. Her teacher at her new boarding school is very accommodating.\u201d <\/p>\n
The girl likes to play with her friends at school, and she enjoys colouring in. She seeks solace with Khuzwayo, but finds it difficult to trust outsiders. Her new eye has been a big boost. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe is responding well to the new prosthetic eye,\u201d said Furber, wiping tears from his eyes. \u201cIt closely resembles an ordinary eye and it has 85 percent movement.\u201d <\/p>\n
The girl is still very emotional, and her grandmother no longer lets her play outside. She has other scars from the attack and does not play with boys any more. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
INLSA The girl whose eye was gouged out is fitted with a prosthetic eye by the Durban University of Technologys Peter Furber. Picture: Gcina Ndwalane She\u2019s a little girl with a sweet smile and, at first glance, she looks no different from any other child. But she is a survivor of a vicious rape and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-12598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12598\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}