Crutches4Africa Update!

Crutches 4 Africa Update

This has been quite a year! In February we loaded a 40-foot container out of our warehouse in Atlanta that went to Uganda. Next, we planned to load another container to go to a new country–Malawi. However, major road block developed with our plan.

Cyclone Ida hammered the east coast of Africa and particularly, Mozambique, through which our container to Malawi would need to traverse. As a result, all of the shipping lines suspended pickups and transfers to Mozambique and Malawi. Fortunately, this suspension did not last long and basic infrastructure in Mozambique was reestablished within a couple of weeks. This allowed us to load our container (in the snow) in Denver, to get on its way to Malawi.

That accomplished, we set our focus on a shipment to go out from Maine. This load was packed in mid-May and shipped to another new country for us–The Gambia.

Soon after, we traveled to Hamburg, Germany for the Rotary International convention in June. As always, many new contacts were established, both for the collection process and for distribution in recipient countries. Other sustained contacts included renewed conversations with those interested in collecting mobility devices (MDs) in European countries because they have the same surplus that we do in the US. I am ever hopeful that these contacts will develop into real collections and that these useful MDs will not continue to be wasted in the landfills of Europe.

Back from the convention, we loaded another container in Arizona that headed to Nigeria. Thank you American Furniture Warehouse for donating the storage! The following weekend, another load shipped from Rochester NY to Mozambique.

Immediately after the Rochester load, we flew to Uganda to distribute he mobility devices. Connecting with developed partners there was a very efficient way to proceed with our distribution. We owe a great deal of thanks to the Rotary club of Jinja Uganda for their partnership and distributing in their part of the country.

Dealing with customs contacts took up a significant part of our time in Uganda. New regulations needed to be sorted out so that we can continue to ship to this country and these meetings proved fruitful.

We have one more shipment scheduled for this year, which will make a total of six! One positive aspect of several of these shipments is that the recipient countries have stepped up and are sharing in the cost of shipping the containers. That said, we are always grateful for those of you who faithfully support Crutches 4 Africa on a regular basis.
For so many others reading this, we need your support! In reality, the hundreds of thousands of mobility-challenged people around the world need your support. Just 3 (USD) gets one mobility device we ship into the hands of someone in need. Donate now, and often.

Please know that all of you who support C4A in any way, shape, or form are a blessing to us. We cannot do this without you! Our website has links for donating: www.crutches4africa.org.

In service,

David and Candice Talbot
Crutches 4 Africa
Denver, Colorado USA
303-877-2803
[email protected]

“Life often changes in a moment, mobility can be lost in your next breath.”  Dave