250 wheelchairs to Ghana
Last month, Walkabout Foundation teamed up with a new partner, Millennium Promise, and travelled to Ghana to individually distibute 250 RoughRider wheelchairs to adults and kids in need in the district of Bonsasso.
After endless hours of travelling from New York to London, to Accra, then Kumasi and finally to Bonsasso on multiple flights and bumpy roads, Carolina and Monica Gonzalez-Bunster arrived on November 14th to host a training programme to 25 local Ghanaian on responsible wheelchair provision, distribution and fittings. The training programme consisted of a day of theoretical classroom work (learning about World Health Organization disability guidelines) and a day of practical hands-on work (learning about wheelchair assembly and mechanics). The training culminated in going out into the surrounding villages to individually fit hundreds of beneficiaries to their new chairs.
There is one particular story that stands out among the hundreds we came across while in Ghana. It is the story of Adwoa who arrived crawling on his arms and legs. When he was 3 years old he developed a physical disability which prevented him from walking ever since, and as a result, has spent the last 30 years of his life crawling “like a gorilla” he says.
Despite his disability and never having sat in a wheelchair before, Adwoa, shoemaker, arrived to us with a smile on his face. When we began fitting him to his wheelchair, he asked if he could help. Before we knew it, he was adjusting the footrest, backrest, seat width, and seat depth of his own new wheelchair! He even began to carve his own pressure relief cushion. The smile on Adwoa’s face once he sat in his new wheelchair was priceless. This is the difference your generosity makes. Thanks to your support, Walkabout was able to give Adwoa not only mobility, but also his dignity back.
