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 After more than 3 months, a container with medical supplies and vital prosthetic fabrication equipment arrived in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. The container had been sent from the Prosthetics Outreach Foundation (POF) headquarters in Seattle, Washington, in early February 2006. [Read more.]
After clearing customs on May 11, 2006, the container contents were loaded onto a truck and transported to Makeni in northern Sierra Leone (pictured at right). The Prosthetics Outreach Foundation is building a new prosthetics and orthotics center in Makeni that will service all of northern Sierra Leone.
Meanwhile, a shipment of lower limb prosthetic components for the center - artificial feet, knee joints, bushings, etc. – is expected to arrive in Freetown shortly. The components were made in Vietnam at the Ba Vi Orthopedic Technology and Rehabilitation Center with which the Prosthetics Outreach Foundation has collaborated for years. "The components are designed for use under harsh conditions in humid climates," explains POF Technical Director Raymond Pye. "However, we are faced with a new challenge responding to the needs of upper limb amputees." During Sierra Leone’s civil war, rebels were feared for their amputation squads that randomly severed the arms, hands and legs of men, women and children with knives and machetes.
Photographs:
At right: The container is unloaded, the truck is full...Onward to Makeni!
Below: The long-awaited supplies have arrived in Makeni. Volunteers are unloading the last of the boxes.
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