CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) — Students and professors from the Medical University of South Carolina’s College of Health Professions traveled to Uganda this year to provide wheelchairs to children in need through the Uganda Wheelchair Project.
Coordinators said they donated about 100 chairs this year, each costing around $500, with the funds raised.
Cindy Dodds, a pediatric physical therapist and MUSC professor, helps lead the Uganda Wheelchair Project. She said she’s been going to Africa for years and wanted to bring a group of students with her.
“We would see people being carried by family members or crawling up dirt roads to get to us,” Dodds said.
The project officially started in 2020, but the team wasn’t able to make their first trip until 2022. Each year, Dodds said they donate dozens of chairs, ranging from 75 to 100 wheelchairs.
Dodds said people in Uganda need wheelchairs for daily tasks.
“They have to travel to get water every day. They have to travel to the market every day. They need wheelchairs if they want to go to school. They need wheelchairs if they want to try and get a job,” Dodds said.
Dodds said the project also provides a learning experience for the students who participate, so the impact goes back to the classroom and beyond graduation.
“They have to assemble the wheelchair. Then they have to fit the wheelchair to the person, and then they have to teach them how to use it,” Dodds said.
Steve Williams, founder of the Kyaninga Child Development Center and chairman of the African Disability Collaboration, lives in Uganda and helps lead the project as well. Williams said imported wheelchairs are simply not built for conditions in Uganda, sometimes breaking three weeks after use.
“We get a lot of imported wheelchairs, but they are designed for the first world,” Williams said.
Williams said the wheelchairs used in the project are designed with a long wheelbase and larger front wheels so they can move over potholes without tipping over. The same types of chairs in the States are estimated to be thousands of dollars.
“We wanted to produce a wheelchair for $500, which would be affordable. The important part is the wheelbase being long, so that when you go into a pothole, you don’t fall over into the pothole. It glides you over the pothole. There’s larger wheels at the front, so they don’t get stuck. Then just very rugged,” Williams said.
Williams said the chairs are built with bamboo, making them lightweight and easy to fold. He said every nut and bolt is intentional.
“Very strong design, but even though it looks very rugged, it’s still quite lightweight because bamboo is very lightweight. It is also very easy to fold down. This folds up, comes down, and the wheels come off. If it does have an accident, unlike with imported wheelchairs, these bearings that are in this hub that we designed are from a local motorcycle. And they’re available in every village,” Williams said.
Williams said there is a need for 2.2 million wheelchairs for children in East Africa, and this partnership between MUSC, One World Health and the Ugandan Disabled Peoples Union helps bridge that gap.
If interested in donating, follow the link here.
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