In a place called Luxor in Egypt lives a little donkey named Hector. The story of how Hector ended up without his left hind hoof is unknown. In fact nothing is known about Hector before the time that he was found dumped outside the Animal Welfare of Luxor. The AWOL is a medical care centre situated on the west bank … Read More
Legs 4 Newcastle Walker Technology College
Hello Everyone, Thought it was about time I wrote another little blog post for Legs4Africa (or L4A if you’re in to your acronyms) as something absolutely brilliant has happened since I last wrote one… Legs4Africa has received official charity status!!! That’s right, we have the special number and everything! Don’t believe me? Then go and check, go on, it’s 1158697. … Read More
Legs4Africa – Putting Amputees and Africa in Perspective
During a casual holiday to The Gambia in 2011, I had no idea that the events that happened there would lead to the start of a new charity. Since that holiday, we have developed relationships with over 15 hospitals across the UK, received over 500 individually donated prosthetic legs, driven a van 3,723 miles from the UK to The Gambia, … Read More
Saturday morning pick-up from Limbcare
Saturday morning, bright and early at 8 a.m., Jack from GroundQube picked me up in his work van on his day off. We had 70 more legs to pick up from Limbcare that day. Earlier in the year Limbcare kindly gave us a few hundred legs which we have already taken out to Africa. To tell you a bit more … Read More
Amputees in Action 10th Anniversary
Amputees in Action is a unique agency which works to get amputee actors into film, television and emergency services and military training simulations. Coupled with their skilled special effects make-up team, the agency prides itself on achieving realism through their actor’s ability to bring their personal trauma and experience to roles. The company’s inspiration came when its Director – John … Read More
Elaine jumps 10,000 ft for more legs!
Great news from our Legs 4 Africa supporter Elaine in the West of Scotland, who has just completed a skydive from 10,000 feet to raise funds for Legs 4 Africa as well as cancer research. Elaine contacted Legs 4 Africa back in February to donate a prosthetic leg belonging to her father, who sadly passed away some weeks before. Her … Read More
Get your leg over (to Africa)
The Charity Legs4Africa is asking for people to donate their old prosthetic legs, so they can be given a new life by amputees in the developing world. Legs4Africa is a small UK charity dedicated to re-using old prosthetic limbs. It collects them from around Britain and then sends them to some of the poorer nations of Africa, where they can … Read More
500 Legs delivered to The Gambia: DONE!
It’s been just over a week since we all arrived back into Old Blighty following the big leg drop to The Gambia, so thought now would be a good time to update you all on our trip. Waving Jamie and Chris off in the van with their precious cargo on April 15th we were hoping to keep you updated on … Read More
500 Legs arrive at the Royal Victoria Hospital!
Now, I have a little confession to all our Legs4Africa followers. On Friday we posted that all the team, van and 500 legs were safely reunited in the Gambia. The fact of the matter is that whilst the team was very much here, our van and its contents were being held at customs waiting for government officials, the minister of … Read More
Easter in The Gambia
Easter Sunday and therefore a day off for the Legs4Africa crew! We were invited by Dominic, our go to advisor, friend and the son of the first amputee Tom met 3 years ago, to attend Easter service with him at church and then have lunch with his family. The church service was very similar to that of a catholic service … Read More
Meeting Usman – Hit by a lorry
Dominic collected us bright and early this morning to meet and interview our very first amputee. Travelling along the red dusty road in the back of the truck we were excited to meet the family who lived in a rural part of The Gambia. Children came running out from houses to shout and wave, we passed a procession for the … Read More
The Wonderful Mind of Megan Clarke
Megan Clarke is a freelance designer, illustrator, animator, inventor, filmmaker, script writer and wonderful person. She smiles a lot and she makes amazingly special videos of/for amazingly special things. I’ve only met Megan once and she may not have sensed that I had sensed something very special from her but I would like to make it clear now. Megan has … Read More
From the First leg to the Last Leg.
A couple of years ago on a Cornish coastal walking holiday with several friends, Legs4Africa Founder Tom Williams was modestly telling me all about his recent trip to The Gambia and how after meeting an amputee (Paul) he had ended up returning to The Gambia a second time and surprising Paul with a prosthetic leg! The story of how Legs4Africa … Read More
A Wonderful Gift from Zee
This was my very first leg collection. Tom and his team at Legs4Africa are based in Leicester. They normally round up donated limbs but we received a donation from London, so I offered to help out with the collection. Zee contacted Legs4Africa, having tried unsuccessfully on many occasions to donate her unused prosthetic to other schemes, only to be told … Read More
A very special Leg
Here’s a question for you to ponder as you make your way through the perils of another Monday morning, Q. Charity. What does it actually mean to you? The definition of charity in the Oxford Dictionary (depending on your edition) is: The voluntary giving of help, typically in the form of money, to those in need. Ok, so, another question … Read More
The First Leg!
Leg it to Africa’ will be an insightful journey following over 150 used and redundant prosthetic legs which we currently have in storage in the UK. As a short film it will capture them at their source; track their journey to the West coast of Africa and record those magical moments when an amputee is matched with a much needed … Read More