Though Legs4Africa, an amputee charity, usually delivers only prosthetic legs to Africa, they just made a delivery that made a difference to a young amputees life in a wholly different way.
Lamin lost his leg after a severe break playing the game he loves, football. Though Lamin can no longer play football himself he has found another way of being involved with his local team; He coaches.
During a previous trip to The Gambia Legs4Africa discovered that Lamin’s favourite footballer is Eden Hazad. Legs4Africa, impressed by Lamin’s attitude and commitment to his sport, contacted Chelsey Football Club and told them of the inspiring young football coach in The Gambia.
On Legs4Africa’s most recent visit they dropped in on Lamin with a very special gift donated by Chelsey Football Club; A team shirt signed by Eden Hazad himself. Needless to say, Lamin was delighted.
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Though Legs4Africa’s primary objective is to help amputees be able to walk in subsaharan Africa, it also recognises that support for amputees needs to go beyond simply providing a prosthetic leg. Gestures such as this are a way of Legs4Africa recognising just how inspirational so many of it’s prosthetic leg users are.
“In countries such as The Gambia,” Says Tom Williams of Legs4Africa, “There is very little support for amputees either practically or emotionally. We’re working to change that with such initiatives as The Gambian Amputee Association which we set up to be run by amputees for the benefit of amputees. We hope that the signed shirt inspires Lamin to go further and someday achieve his dream of coaching his national team.”
Thanks to the kind donations of used prosthetic legs from amputees in the UK and the gift from Chelsey Football Club, Lamin can walk tall wearing his new shirt.
Legs4Africa undertakes ethical recycling to enable amputees in Africa to walk. The charity relies on donations and welcomes any used prosthetic legs no matter the condition.
Distributed by Pressat