FORT WALTON BEACH — Anuario Ngungulo walked briskly through the room Tuesday, pausing every so often to bounce a bit on his left leg.
Sunday had been the first time the 28-year-old man from Mozambique walked without crutches and on two feet in years after Jack Pranzarone at Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics Clinic fitted him with a trial leg.
On Tuesday, Pranzarone fitted Ngungulo with his new titanium leg.
“He came Sunday on crutches and he walked out,” Pranzarone said. “It was pretty amazing.”
Ngungulo lost his leg and part of his left hand when he was 6 years old when he stepped on a land mine.
He used a prosthesis in his east African country for some time, but it was poorly made and eventually broke. He has blisters on his hands from using crutches for the past few years.
Kay and Jerry Jones of Bluewater Bay are hosting Ngungulo while he stays in the United States this next week.
Almost a decade ago, Kay took a mission trip to Mozambique and searched for a boy she had seen in a photo. He was Ngungulo.
A lifelong friendship began between the man and the Joneses.
For Ngungulo, the new leg means he can fulfill his dream of becoming a teacher.
“It’s a vocation,” he said.
The government assigns teaching positions and declined to assign Ngungulo. Teachers stand at the blackboard all day, which would have been difficult for a man with one leg.
Something as simple as shaking someone’s hand will be easy now that he doesn’t have to fumble with crutches, Ngungulo said.
Walking is the easiest way to get around his city, and now he can do that freely.
“It means a lot of things,” Ngungulo said. “Independence. Liberty.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Lauren Delgado at 850-315-4445 or ldelgado@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @LaurenDnwfdn.
