Crutches 4 Africa- A story and update

How inspiring when a visionary leader identifies a need in less developed counties and energetically addresses that need, particularly when the charitable activities that make a difference involve Rotary! 

Dave Talbot and his wife, Candice [and] their story about Crutches 4 Africa. 

While working on a documentary film in Uganda in 2005, [Dave] witnessed a woman struggling to be mobile with only a limb from tree for a crutch.  That image griped his mind and engendered a vision: Crutches 4 Africa,   On a subsequent visit and just by chance, they saw a large 4’ x 6’ sign at the head waters of the Nile river that boldly displayed the Four Way Test.   . . .  Polio was the disease that partially crippled him at age 2 ½.   Dave realized that a connection could be made through Rotary International to bring surplus mobility devices like canes, crutches, walkers and wheelchairs from the United States to Africa where such equipment is practically non-existent.

. . .From a humble start in 2006 with the delivery of 235 pairs of crutches to the needy in Uganda, the support for the organization has grown so that by 2010, Crutches 4 Africa had delivered 10,000 mobility devices.   [Adding 5 additional containers in 2011 brings that total to 43,000.] The initial goal is 1 million.

Crutches 4 Africa was fortunate to receive a $50,000 donation from a private foundation in 2011 which covered the cost to deliver 5 containers.   Today each container costs $10,000 to ship and on average has 3,500 mds packed inside.  That puts the cost of each md delivered at $3 USD each!   Please share any ideas you have about funding sources to help Dave and Candice continue this effort.   Incidentally, this is a labor of love for them; they receive no compensation for their work.     

. . . Often the mds are collected from individuals, one device at a time.  Once collected in sufficient quantity, a 40’ container is filled and . . . sent on their way to a recipient nation.   Once the container arrives and clears customs, the distribution process begins.   Rotary Clubs at the receiving end have been very helpful in reducing the cost of clearing customs and the four way test allows little room for corruption and bribes.

. . .

On the recycling end, the key, according to Dave Talbot, is to make the drop-off of mds as easy as possible.   There is plenty of room for individual initiative.   David Walsh from the Casco Bay Sunrise [Me.] Club made an arrangement with Shaw’s Supermarkets for two drop off sites at the stores in the Westgate and Northgate Shopping Plaza.   . . . Rich Cantz is already thinking about ways that Goodwill Industries could help in this recycling effort.   A good idea, combined with passion, yields an abundant harvest.  And as Dave often says, “every pair counts!”

“We toil together to enable those

we may never see.

Hobbled in life by some illness, accident

or act of violence.

Many are hopeless.

The generous donations given to

Crutches 4 Africa

are the tools we use

to help raise the hindered,

to lift them from the dust,

and help them on their way.”

                                                                                                              Dave Talbot