RIPPLE Africa’s Disabilities and Rehabilitation Project is a new project started in January 2012 which aims to improve the quality of life for people in the local community who are living with disabilities. The objectives of the project are:
RIPPLE Africa’s Disabilities and Rehabilitation Project is located in the Fukamapiri area of the Nkhata Bay District, with a catchment area of roughly 18,000 people. It is estimated that there are over 400 people living with disabilities in the local community who are in need of treatment, rehabilitation, and support. Malawi’s government provision for people living with disabilities is serviced at a national level through MACOHA (Malawi Council for the Handicapped); however, areas are so large and funding limited that thousands of patients will slip through the system without identification, treatment, and support. RIPPLE Africa’s Disabilities and Rehabilitation Project is an independent project but will work in partnership with existing government systems to identify, treat, and support the people in the community who have been unable to access help. We estimate there are about 200 people in our catchment area who are in need of support but are not currently accessing treatment, and it is these people that our Disabilities and Rehabilitation Project will aim to reach. All services are completely free to the patient.
To implement the project, RIPPLE Africa has employed its own Community Based Rehabilitation provider (CBR), Collins Chanika, who will identify patients who could be considered for the project, conduct regular home visits to provide clinical rehabilitation, identify candidates for mobility equipment and arrange for the order/delivery/use of such equipment, organise community support groups for carers and patients, and make referrals to relevant partnership bodies where applicable. In addition to this clinical care at household level, the project also encompasses an awareness campaign to tackle the social stigma and misunderstandings surrounding disabilities in the community. This campaign will be the first of its kind in our area, and our CBR will conduct regular talks about disabilities to local primary schools, secondary schools, church groups, and local health clubs within the Fukamapiri area. The project allows a monthly budget for referrals, mobility aids, and equipment, which will incorporate the cost of crutches, sitting/standing frames, push carts, etc., which can be constructed locally. Larger specialist items such as wheelchairs, made-to-measure prosthetics, or specialist surgeries may on occasion need to be handled outside this budget and funds raised on an individual basis; however, the majority of cases will be able to fit within the arranged budget, and many rehabilitation cases require no aids or funding at all besides access to CBR rehabilitation services. This project will be supplemented by RIPPLE Africa’s overseas volunteering programme, which benefits from physiotherapists, doctors, and nurses who will help provide additional care.
Some of the disabilities present in our area include cerebral palsy, club foot, congenital malformations, muscular dystrophy, Down’s syndrome, amputees, and patients with post-traumatic injury, arthritis, burns, blindness, developmental delay, and more. The goal in every case is to identify the person who needs support and work to improve their quality of life and the quality of life of their carer, to enable that person to live as independently and as happily as possible within their local community.
The desire to lead a productive and independent life is perhaps a universal human quality; however, for people living with a disability, this desire can be compromised by a physical, medical, or mental condition which can severely hamper an individual’s quality of life. This is true for people living with a disability anywhere in the world; however, in Malawi, living with a disability can be a life sentence. A lack of identification, treatment, rehabilitation, and support can mean a disability is a complete barrier to participation in local society. People with disabilities are often ostracised, cast aside, and both metaphorically and physically left behind. Socially, many local people believe that a disability is the result of witchcraft or “black magic”, and as a result are not properly identified. Logistically, many people with movement restrictions are physically unable to leave their homes, many having spent their entire lives in isolation within the four walls of their home. Children are unable to attend school simply because they can’t physically get there, and some patients who have suffered an injury and would be able to make a full recovery with proper rehabilitation, develop a permanent disability simply because they didn’t have access to any services. It doesn’t have to be this way. Almost all these conditions can be improved with proper identification and treatment, mobility can be enhanced to allow an individual to live a better life, and in some rehabilitation cases, if caught early, an individual can see a 100% recovery. Every person with a disability deserves an equal chance at a better life! RIPPLE Africa’s Disability and Rehabilitation Project provides that — and brings hope and happiness to people who may otherwise have given up.
Most basic services of the Disabilities and Rehabilitation Project (such as the CBR salary, money for patient referrals, basic mobility aids, rehabilitation equipment, and transport) can be met within a set monthly budget of £500. Thus, a donation of any size directly benefits patients who need your support.
Some medical cases, however (such as critical operations or specialist equipment like prosthetics), cannot fit within our project budget — and in these cases we will need donors to make a special commitment to fundraise for these on an individual basis. If you want to help someone on a waiting list for this kind of specialist treatment, please e-mail us.
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