Our Mission: To listen and action

Chair’ished Children

Providing mobility equipment to children in deep rural areas who struggle with cerebral palsy

Chair’ished Children is our flagship project that has been running since 2021. It has provided over 1000 specialised wheelchairs (buggies) to impoverished children living severely affected by cerebral palsy in deep rural towns and villages in South Africa. This initiative takes us to areas which are remote and inaccessible, where there are few resources, and caring for a profoundly disabled child is not easy at all. Most children we see have severe contractures and have never sat correctly in their lives.

Over the years this program has evolved. We now offer a 2-day Buggy Recycling Workshop to therapists who work at the respective hospitals and clinics in a district. Up to 9 peripheral hospitals and clinics within a 3-hour radius participate, ensuring that children on the waiting list for a buggy are brought in on the day. Up to 100 children at a time arrive to get a buggy custom fitted for their specific needs. We teach therapists all the aspects of buggy recycling. Generally, the children we fit into buggies have waited years for a mobility device.

We focus on recycling second hand buggies. If the demand for buggies outstrips the availability, we make up buggies ourselves.

Assisting at-risk vulnerable children with special needs

Chair’ished Children is our flagship project that has been running since 2021. It has provided hundreds of specialised wheelchairs (buggies) for impoverished children living severely affected by cerebral palsy in deep rural South Africa. This initiative takes us to areas which are remote and inaccessible, where there are few resources, and caring for a profoundly disabled child is not easy at all. Most children we see have severe contractures and have never sat correctly in their lives.

Over the years this program has been modified, we now offer a Buggy Recycling Workshop weekend for therapists who work at hospitals in the district. They bring children to a single venue, either by hospital transport or by ambulance. Up to 9 hospitals participate at one outreach. We renovated buggies, taught therapists, and seated anything up to 100 children over 2 days. Most of the children we fit into buggies have waited years for a mobility device.

We have run buggy recycling workshops in different provinces of South Africa: Limpopo, KwaZulu Natal, Eastern Cape, Free State, North West Province, and Mpumalanga. Hundreds of therapists have learned how to recycle buggies in our interactive workshops, 1000+ children have received a fully renovated custom fitted buggy from these interventions.