This month Just Wheels. a small Scottish charity,y, is giving out 25 wheelchairs to people with physical disabilities in Tabora in Western Tanzania. All those who are receiving the wheelchairs are physically disabled and do not currently have a wheelchair at all or one that is adequate for their needs. Their lives are being transformed.

Life is pretty hard for anyone who is disabled, wherever you live in the world, but life for disabled people in Tanzania is particularly hard. Although these 25 people are lucky to get these, there are estimated to be 10.500 people with physical disabilities in Tabora region alone. Most don’t have suitable wheelchairs.

The issues facing disabled people in Tanzania

Disability and poverty are inextricably inked – being disabled makes it harder to get to school or further education, harder to find a job and harder to maintain health. Many disabled people live in poverty. In some cases, they also have to deal with the added hardship of discrimination in their community, or even in their family. Simply having a good quality, well fitted wheelchair can make a massive difference, enabling people to go to school or to access training or work, to participate in the community.

Giving an individual a wheelchair is life changing. Just Wheels is also working to help to create a sustainable solution. So Just wheels is now looking at how to support a wheelchair and physiotherapy service in Tabora. This work will take place next year.

Husnah

Husnah received a wheelchair this month. She, and her grandmother, are thrilled. She is around 10 years old – her grandmother was not sure of her age – and has has various health issues including polio as a child rendering her unable to walk. Like so many disabled girls, she has never been to school. She loves her wheelchair as it means she does not have to be carried by her grandmother and her friends can push her in her wheelchair. She has started school 2 weeks as a result of getting her wheelchair and her aim is to learn to read so she can read the manual for her wheelchair!