Changing The World Volume 28 | Page 4

SOUTH AFRICA wheelchairs for khulani Special School T he Khulani Special School in rural South Africa is a school for children with disabilities and special needs which was brought to our attention by San Francisco documentary film maker Suzanne Cross, through donor/volunteer Don Routh. Suzanne had spent time at the school, documenting its evolution from a shaded spot under a tree and a canvas tent, to a proper learning environment for children who would otherwise be left home alone and afforded no opportunity for education. Suzanne asked Wheelchair Foundation to help provide children’s wheelchairs for their student learners (to learn more please visit www.underfourtrees.com and view Suzanne’s work). ABOVE: <<< Longtime friend of Global Health and Education Foundation, Mr. Cecil Corringham and his driver. When asked why he volunteered to drive so far to deliver wheelchairs to Khulani Special School, Cecil simply replies “Because Charli Butterfield from Wheelchair Foundation asked me to!” <<< LEFT: <<< A young student learner is happy to have his very own wheelchair for the first time in his life! “The School is situated +40 km North of Mkuzi, on the outskirts of a small rural village. The staff and a few of the students were so excited to be getting the wheelchairs that they were waiting in the street for me. It was an amazing feeling, I felt like some long lost hero, who had returned with great treasures. It was emotional and heartwarming to see the joy on the kid’s faces. “I was humbled at the dedication and commitment of the staff, under the extreme conditions. The patience with these kids is a life lesson. When the time came to climb into my car to leave, the founder of the school came across to me and prayed for our safe journey home.” Wheelchair Foundation would like to thank everyone involved in making this donation happen! As fate would have it, Ken Behring happened to be passing through Port Elizabeth in South Africa in the fall of 2012, and we were able to load 12 brand new kids’ chairs aboard his plane to be dropped off for the school. We soon learned that the school did not have the means to transport the 12 wheelchairs from Port Elizabeth to KwaZulu-Natal Province, to their location just south of Swaziland. Enter Cecil Corringham, a long time friend of Wheelchair Foundation, and owner of Life Form Taxidermy in the town of White River, in northern South Africa, near the Botswana border. Cecil sent a truck to pick up the wheelchairs and transported them to his shop. He then made the day long trip to the Khulani Special School to deliver the wheelchairs himself. South Africa Fast Facts -Population: 48,810,427 (July 2012 est.) -Number of Mobile Phones: -Median Age: 64 million (2011 est.) 25.3 years -Average Income: $31 per day -Population living below the poverty line: 50% -Wheelchairs donated by Wheelchair Foundation: -Estimated need: 22,690 1,464,312 -Percentage of disabled population reached: 1.55% or 1:65 -Number of South Africans living with HIV/AIDS: 5.6 million 4 Spr in g 2013 w h e e l c h ai r foundati on. org