camera_rwanda
Help Bring (More) Prosthetics To Rwanda
This past week has been inspiring. On Sunday, I watched 49 year old Sabiti Niyoyita, a bilateral amputee, write for the first time since a land mine accident 14 years ago. Then on Wednesday, I visited the Rotary Jaipur Foot Project of Rwanda where Peter (M.D., Jaipur Foot expert, and Project Director) fits functional feet to amputees.
As the week unfolded my friends and I watched Sabiti in awe at his so many "firsts" (holding a mug or mobile, computing calculations at work, shaking hands at social gatherings). Watching Sabiti reminded me, however, that there are also
so many young amputees who must also have access to prosthetics, be they the Jaipur Foot or the LN-4 Prosthetic Hand.
Just take Rwanda's southernmost city Butare, for example, where there are thousands of street children. Some, like the vibrant and smiling child in this photograph, are amputees on crutches. But the need for prosthetics is just the beginning of the issues these children collectively face. Some are blind. Some have AIDS. Everyday life is about surviving, not thriving, as they scavenge for food, or make their home in trash heaps boardering Butare's streets. At night, these kids burrow beneath blankets of rotted refuse, heads at odd angles to the highway.
Some of these children are orphans, others come from broken or abusive homes, a sobering fact which can ironically and unforgivably turn street life into near sanctuary.
For the child in this photograph, though he faces all of the above issues, a prosthetic foot could redirect his future forever.
We want all people to thrive, not just survive, right?
If you want to know more about how you can support the Rotary Jaipur Foot Project of Rwanda or The Rotary LN-4 Prosthetic Hand ("Give Hope. Give A Hand.") you can
email me directly or visit:
www.landminesurvivors.org/news_article.php?id=577
www.time.com/time/reports/heroes/foot.html
www.jaipurfoot.org/01_org_awards.asp
Butare, Rwanda.
Central Afrika.
July 8, 2006.
Help Bring (More) Prosthetics To Rwanda
This past week has been inspiring. On Sunday, I watched 49 year old Sabiti Niyoyita, a bilateral amputee, write for the first time since a land mine accident 14 years ago. Then on Wednesday, I visited the Rotary Jaipur Foot Project of Rwanda where Peter (M.D., Jaipur Foot expert, and Project Director) fits functional feet to amputees.
As the week unfolded my friends and I watched Sabiti in awe at his so many "firsts" (holding a mug or mobile, computing calculations at work, shaking hands at social gatherings). Watching Sabiti reminded me, however, that there are also
so many young amputees who must also have access to prosthetics, be they the Jaipur Foot or the LN-4 Prosthetic Hand.
Just take Rwanda's southernmost city Butare, for example, where there are thousands of street children. Some, like the vibrant and smiling child in this photograph, are amputees on crutches. But the need for prosthetics is just the beginning of the issues these children collectively face. Some are blind. Some have AIDS. Everyday life is about surviving, not thriving, as they scavenge for food, or make their home in trash heaps boardering Butare's streets. At night, these kids burrow beneath blankets of rotted refuse, heads at odd angles to the highway.
Some of these children are orphans, others come from broken or abusive homes, a sobering fact which can ironically and unforgivably turn street life into near sanctuary.
For the child in this photograph, though he faces all of the above issues, a prosthetic foot could redirect his future forever.
We want all people to thrive, not just survive, right?
If you want to know more about how you can support the Rotary Jaipur Foot Project of Rwanda or The Rotary LN-4 Prosthetic Hand ("Give Hope. Give A Hand.") you can
email me directly or visit:
www.landminesurvivors.org/news_article.php?id=577
www.time.com/time/reports/heroes/foot.html
www.jaipurfoot.org/01_org_awards.asp
Butare, Rwanda.
Central Afrika.
July 8, 2006.