Unsuspected collaboration in Bristol for international development

EMMAUS BRISTOL AND ITS PARTNERSHIP WITH LEGS4AFRICA IN BRISTOL

Bristol, UK: From the start of 2019, Legs4Africa’s ‘Deliver a Leg’ campaign has really taken off. The programme aims to enlist travellers who are already venturing to Africa to use some of their baggage allowance to carry much needed prosthetic equipment to Legs4Africa’s partnering mobility centres . Since the campaign began, Emmaus in Bristol has provided Legs4Africa with luggage bags for volunteers to carry the components in. Thanks to Emmaus’s generosity, Legs4Africa is able to tailor ‘suitcases’ with prosthetic leg components for volunteers to check in when they fly.

Legs4Africa is now successfully collecting and recycling over a thousand prosthetic legs a year. However, the challenge has always been of how to get them to where they are needed without costing the charity a lot of money. Most amputees living in Africa are in need of prosthetic legs so they can be active and mobile members of their community and escape the isolation that limb loss can cause. This collaboration between Emmaus Bristol and Legs4Africa shows how a project can be even more effective when two or more charities start working together. It’s also a excellent example of how sharing resources can limit waste whilst helping people on another continent.

Charity workers, adventurers or people doing business in Africa are encouraged to become a Leg Deliverer. It’s easy, doesn’t cost anything and it gets people walking again!

Let us know when you’re travelling at www.legs4africa.org/deliver-a-leg/

Significant quote: “Before I travelled to Ghana for a conference, I picked up a box of legs and feet from the very friendly Legs4Africa team in Bristol, who couldn’t have been more helpful. They provided me with a letter explaining the contents of the box, in case I needed it at customs, but nobody blinked an eyelid. All I had to do was inform Legs4Africa where I was staying, and they arranged for someone to collect the box from my hotel – I didn’t even need to be there. I’ll definitely be doing this again, it was so easy and I was glad to put my spare luggage allowance to brilliant use” Poppy Jacobs, leg deliverer in December 2018

About Legs4Africa (L4A): Legs4Africa is the Bristol based charity that gets people walking again in Africa. Through recycling prosthetic legs that would otherwise end up in landfill and setting up amputee support groups we are helping thousands of amputees with physical and emotional rehabilitation (www.legs4africa.org)

About Emmaus Bristol: Emmaus Bristol provides accommodation, support and meaningful work opportunities to people who have been homeless. From their base in St Pauls Emmaus Bristol collect, sort and sell donated pre-loved furniture, clothes and household goods, which provides brilliant work experience as well as providing funds to sustain the charity. Helping others is an important part of the Emmaus ethos and some of the items collected are donated to local people and organisations. Emmaus Bristol also hosts a business incubator for start-ups and rents space to other charities. (www.emmausbristol.org.uk)