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Health Help International supports disabled and vulnerable people in Monze in Zambia, providing advice, mobility aids and an audiology service. In Zambia there is a chronic shortage of wheelchairs, elbow crutches, hearing aids and other equipment that we all take for granted in the UK. This is especially the case in more remote areas. We want to extend our outreach programme to small, isolated and needy rural communities where the need is greatest.
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The Project. Through our fundraising we have been able to support the appointment of a Disability Affairs Manager at our centre in Monze and we have also trained an audiologist – both native Zambians. Joseph Sialumano, the Disability Affairs Manager, is himself disabled and knows what a practical difference it makes to possess a good pair of lightweight crutches. Through their committed work we are able to distribute mobility aids to the disabled in Monze and provide treatment for those with hearing impairments. We have, subsequently, become aware of the desperate need of disabled people and those with hearing impairment in the more remote rural communities around Monze. In several instances these people have gathered together into small communities to support themselves and to aid their survival. The walking aids they use are homemade – rough wooden crutches and small carts. Those with hearing impairment have little or no opportunity to see an audiologist. In order to reach out to such communities, HHI is in desperate need of a reliable four-wheel drive vehicle. With such a vehicle at our disposal, we could reach the remoter communities around Monze to provide mobility aids to those with disabilities and it would be our intention over the course of a year to support disabled communities like Kachiloma, Ntambo, Batoka and Kunywigwa. In all, we aim to supply appropriate mobility aids – a wheelchair or elbow crutches to around 300 people. We also aim to treat a similar number who have hearing impairment. The Finance Through fundraising and maintaining contacts with Health Trusts and the Red Cross in the UK we are able to find the mobility and hearing aids we need. The cost of vehicles in Zambia is high and, because the Zambian Kwatcha has strengthened against Sterling, we will be unable to purchase a suitable vehicle for less than £10,000. Every year, we ask our supporters to contribute a little extra towards a special project and traditionally we have raised about £5000 by this means. The Big Give initiative is such good news for us. If you decide to support us and match our fundraising, we could afford to purchase the vehicle we need for the project.