2016-09-01 Crutches 4 Africa
Crutches 4 AfricaInteract Project for 2016-17
Interact Districts 5490, 5500 & 5510
By PDG Art Harrington - RC ofBullhead City
Crutches 4 Africa began as the international project of the Mountain Foothills Rotary club, which is based in Evergreen, Colorado. Rotarian David Talbot, who managed to survive the initial onslaught of Polio, and overcame the prognosis that he would never walk again, lived an active and athletic life until his mid-50’s. However, due to the debilitating effects of Post-Polio Syndrome, he has spent the past 9 years on crutches.
He is a professional photographer. While producing a documentary film in Uganda, David saw the crippling consequences among the people there who had survived the disease of Polio. With their disabilities and lack of mobility, they are often rejected in their communities.
Back in the States, David realized that many people have lightly-used, no-longer-needed mobility devices from a twisted ankle, ski accident, or operation. He saw crutches at garage sales, in dumpsters, and unfortunately in roll-off containers headed to landfills. He says, “I knew that I had to do something — and this was the genesis of Crutches 4 Africa.”
The eventual goal of Crutches 4 Africa is to collect one million mobility devices and distribute them in Africa. To date, more than 75,000 crutches, canes, walkers and wheelchairs have been distributed to Africans in need. Crutches 4 Africa distributes mobility devices to whoever needs them — regardless of race, gender, tribe, age, or religion. The program has been gaining momentum. In 2011 Crutches 4 Africa shipped five 40-foot containers to four different African countries. David and his wife Candice personally visited three of them to set up delivery and distribution plans. In 2012 the Talbots spoke and met with volunteers on the East coast, and distributions of the mobility devices collected were made in a number of locations in Kenya. In 2013 they, with other volunteers, distributed mobility devices in Uganda and again in Kenya. Early in 2014, they and their team from Washington distributed in Ghana and laid plans to set up future recipient sites in South Africa. Zambia received a container of mobility devices in late 2014, and the Talbots were helped distributed them in February 2015. Since then, more containers have been sent to Kenya and Zambia.
During the 2015-16 Rotary year, Interact District 5490 developed a pilot project among our clubs, collecting enough crutches, wheelchairs and other mobility devices to help fill a 20-ft. shipping container to ship to our international Rotary and Interact partners in Kenya. Building on that experience, the D5490 Interact District Council is inviting and encouraging the Interact and their sponsoring Rotary clubs of Districts 5500 and 5510 to join them this year in collecting enough mobility devices and funds by our Interact Conference on February 25, 2017, to fill a 40-ft.