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Sudan 2018

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In February 2018, team Walkabout travelled to Sudan for the third time for our biggest ever distribution of 620 basic wheelchairs, paediatric chairs and tricycles. We spent two weeks in three locations in the capital, Khartoum, personally fitting hundreds of wheelchairs for children and adults in desperate need.

Every beneficiary differs in what they need in a wheelchair – where they will use it, the amount of support they need, and what it will enable them to do. For some, a wheelchair will simply allow them to sit up straight for the first time; for others, it will mean they can travel the huge distance to get to the market independently. That’s why it’s so important to have different types of wheelchair for different individuals: a basic rough terrain chair is perfect for giving mobility; a paediatric chair gives extra postural support to those that need it; and a trike allows users with good upper body strength to travel further distances. This distribution was particularly special because we had all three types of chairs in the same place at the same time – meaning that every single person was given the chair that was perfect for them!

We are so grateful to our partners – Usratuna, Khartoum Cheshire Home, NAPO, the Sudanese Foundation for People with Disabilities, and Haggar Trading – as well as everyone that volunteered their time on this trip, especially Maria Luz Haggar and Mary Alice Noto.

Sudan 2016

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In May 2016, the Walkabout team arrived in Sudan to distribute a container of 204 paediatric wheelchairs. This was our second distribution in Sudan, a country where nearly half the population still lives below the poverty line. We conducted a week-long distribution in the Omdurman area, in the outskirts of the capital Khartoum, helping more than 200 children improve their daily lives (and their families’) by providing them with a wheelchair that is properly sized, fitted and appropriate for the terrain that these children will now be able to navigate. For many it was the first time they were nearly independently mobile.

We were warmly received by the amazing teams of CSR Haggar Trading, the Haggar family, Usratuna and OVCI, whose employees, volunteers and physiotherapists made possible, despite all barriers, the safe arrival and successful distribution of a container from the other side of the globe. The Walkabout team was deeply moved by the warmth and generosity of all our local partners and the Omdurman community and families, who patiently endured the 40°C+ weather.

We are hugely thankful to those who helped us locally on this trip, especially Maria Luz and Anthony Haggar, but most importantly we would like to thank you, our donors, whose continued support has allowed us to return to Sudan.

Walkabout donates 300 wheelchairs to Sudan

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After a most rewarding trip to Ghana in November 2012, Walkabout Foundation decided to end the year with yet another trip to Africa to deliver more wheelchairs. On December 5th Carolina flew to Khartoum, Sudan and teamed up with the Haggar Foundation and a local NGO, Ustratna, to personally deliver 300 RoughRider wheelchairs to adults and children in need with a vast range of mobility disabilities.

The week-long visit to Sudan was one of the most productive trips for Walkabout thus far. Carolina spent the first day training 50 Sudanese volunteers, made up of Ustratna’s students with intellectual impairments and a group of Sudanese Boys and Girls Scouts. These adolescents proved instrumental in helping Carolina build all 300 wheelchairs, and individually fit and adjust 200 chairs to 200 beneficiaries. She was blown away by their work ethic, attention to detail, and efficiency.

There are always a few stories that stand out from our wheelchair distribution trips that we like to share with you. The story of siblings Mohammed and Sakina Mussa, 12 and 11 years old respectively, particularly touched Walkabout as it was the first time we encountered siblings who were both born disabled and arrived crawling. When fitted to their new wheelchairs, they could not stop smiling. Their grins stretched from one side of their face to the other!