In April I visited The Gambia with a fellow UK based prosthetic technician to provide technical assistance, training and support to the prosthetic rehabilitation team based in Banjul. Our arrival into Banjul Airport was briefly delayed due to them being concerned that one of our bags was completely stuffed with prosthetic arms …a quick explanation of the purpose of … Read More
Inspired volunteer goes to Uganda
As a young man living in a country where 69% of the population live on less than a dollar a day, the odds are already stacked against you. Access to medical resources is limited at the best of times let alone when you live eight hours from the nearest hospital. When I say eight hours, that’s eight hours according to … Read More
Little legs turn Blessing’s life around
This is Blessing. She was only 5 months old when she was brought to the Orthopaedic Training Centre (OTC) in Ghana. Born with one arm, only four fingers on her right hand and very short limbs Blessing’s capabilities were severely limited. However, thanks to the Little Legs Project, she was given two prosthetic legs and is able to look forward … Read More
Use your carbon footprint for human footprints!
Are you travelling to The Gambia or Ghana? If so you can help us. Legs4Africa are launching a new project ‘Deliver a Leg’ with a purpose to utilise travellers to deliver legs to amputees. Together we want to connect people in need, with prosthetic limbs – so that they can walk, work and wander with freedom, re-gain their independence, pursue … Read More
Bex and Adrian from Opcare visits the workshop in The Gambia (Part 1)
In April I found myself swapping my usual workplace, a busy NHS prosthetics workshop in Manchester, for the sunnier climate of Gambia and specifically the prosthetic workshop in the Department of Social Welfare based in Banjul. I (along with another fellow technician) was generously sponsored by my employer Opcare after winning a nationwide competition to spend two weeks working with … Read More
Two pallets for Ghana
On Monday the 30th of April (2018) Phil and Tom from Legs4Africa prepared and shipped two pallets pallet bound for the OTC in Ghana. The pallets contains: We are collaborating with G-AID to ship the pallets to Ghana and expect them to arrive at the hospital in September. let the world know
First shipment for Nigeria
On Wednesday the 2nd of May (2018) Phil and Tom from Legs4Africa prepared and shipped a pallet bound for the Saint Joseph hospital and physiotherapy Rehabilitation Centre in Nnewi, Nigeria. The pallet contains: We expect the pallet to arrive at the hospital in July at which point we’ll have another update.
First Visit – Orthopedic Training Centre in Ghana
After the complete shambles at Accra’s International Airport trying to get in to Ghana which included complications with my visa, the drama of a missing yellow fever certificate and finally with my main luggage not actually turning up I felt confident that things could only get better. I walked out of the airport with just my small bag complete with … Read More
Gambia Project Progress Report 13/11/2017
The successful conclusion of our initial round of funding applications meant that the project started on schedule in mid September. Since then Legs4Africa has made a shipment of essential supplies to Banjul, provided further education for our Gambian prosthetist and completed the development of our service user tracking software. In late September, Legs4Africa shipped the project’s first consignment of reclaimed … Read More
Make a Christmas Donation: Christmas Appeal – Legs4Africa
This Christmas Legs4Africa, an amputee charity, is inviting you to help amputees in Sub-Saharan Africa live more inclusive and joyful lives. With your Christmas donations our target is to raise £6,000, which can provide approximately 25 customised prosthetic legs along with physical rehabilitation. There are few records of how many amputees live in Sub-Saharan Africa, however, with type 2 diabetes … Read More
Gambia Prosthetist Visits The UK
Gabu with Legs4Africa’s Physiotherapist advisor Emily Hancock Legs4Africa’s logistics coordinator Phil with Gabu in front of the Clifton suspension bridge In late September Gabriel Jarjue, the prosthetist who fabricates and fits prosthetic legs in The Gambia for Legs4Africa, flew to the UK for the first time. He was here to gain a deeper understanding of how Legs4Africa works from this … Read More
Swimmer to help provide 250 prosthetic legs to amputees
Fund-raising with flare Legs4Africa has some amazing supporters, they come from all sectors of life, but when amputees support the charity, it is something very special. Jonathan, an amputee due to a boating accident, has challenged himself to do a series of long distance swims, having done a 6 kilometre swim earlier this year, most recently completing a 10 kilometre … Read More
Gambian amputee appeal receives generous material donation
Limbtex, an independent manufacturer and distributor of materials to the Prosthetic and Orthotic Industry, has kindly donated several bottles of resin laminate to the Gambian Amputee Rehabilitation Appeal. The resin, an essential material for creating customised sockets for prosthetic limbs, was requested by Gabriel Jarjue, The Gambia’s soul Prosthetist as it, and similar materials, are very difficult and costly to … Read More
Festival Volunteering for Charity
Jess Frost has been a valuable Legs4Africa volunteer for the last two years. She has fundraised, provided hands on help with local community projects in the Bristol area and is a key champion of the charity when the team attends music festivals. I was first given the opportunity to volunteer on the charity’s stall at Nozstock festival in summer 2016. … Read More
How prosthetic limbs unlock the world of sport for amputees
What makes an athlete? Is it how fast they run? How high they jump?… Or is it that determination that burns within them, forcing them onward, to go further, to run faster, to reach higher? Recently, an American veteran, Kirstie Ennis made a Summit Climb of the Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia having already climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, all with … Read More
The Volunteer’s Voice – Aoife Twomey
We’d like to introduce you to Aoife Twomey, a filmmaker from Bristol who gave her time to join Legs4Africa on a visit to The Gambia. I was having a really bad day. But I managed to drag myself to my djembe drumming lesson and in a moment of honesty I told the guy next to me that I was struggling … Read More
Cape Verde Mobility Consignment
The tale of how one woman included mobility equipment when packing for her new life in Cape Verde Africa provides some of the most spectacular landscapes in the world, from blinding white deserts, to lush Savannah, to deep mysterious forest. Biologically and geographically, it is a fascinating continent however, when it comes to providing aid to some of its least … Read More