|
Homepage |
|
|
|
The Geoff Bone Wheelchair Project |
|
|
|
ENDORSEMENTS |
|
|
|
CONTACT |
|
|
|
REPRESENTATIVES. |
|
|
|
FAQ |
|
|
|
History of the Wheelchair |
|
|
|
VIRAL MARKETING APPEAL |
|
|
|
DONATE |
|
|
|
To help you with your internet business |
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||
|
|
|
| ||
Homepage
www.wheelchairsfortheworld.org.uk
_________________________________________________
We are trying to give disabled people the opportunity to present themselves as they are - as entirely normal people who are often strong personalities and who live normal lives in spite of their disabilities.
It is important to us to emphasise that it is the PERSON that can and must stand out and not the disability. We completely reject the depiction of a handicapped person as an object of pity.
Our aim is to show that the people can and should enjoy a high quality of life DESPITE THEIR DISABILITIES.
130 Million disabled people around the world are too poor to buy a Wheelchair.
As a result they suffer the indignity of having to crawl on the ground or be carried by friends and family.
Geoff's goal is to provide EVERY ONE of them a wheelchair so as to experience the freedom they so richly deserve.
Please explore this site and read more about the project.
_________________________________________________
Please feel free to copy this PRESS RELEASE and send it to any agency that could use it. How about putting it in your own magazine?
PRESS RELEASE
Contact Geoff Bone
Mobile 07717553797
e-mail geoffbone1@yahoo.co.uk
www.speeducation.com/herts (UK)
www.speeducation.com/yes (USA)
QUITE A DREAM!!!!
If someone approached you and
said they wanted to supply a
Wheelchair for every person on
the planet who needed one but
couldn't afford it, what would
you say?
My first question would be:
“How many wheelchairs is that?”
followed by:
“HOW MANY!!!?”
130,000,000 apparently. A number
too big for me to imagine, and
a task too huge for most of
us to contemplate.
Thankfully for the world's
disabled there are other people
with larger imaginations than
mine and whose thinking is not
limited by such mundane matters
as the impossibility of a task.
Geoff Bone is one such POSSIBILITY THINKER!
Geoff is a Wheelchair user himself,
having lost his legs after falling
under a train at Watford Junction
Station in 1972. Geoff though,
lives in a wealthy and developed
country (UK) where they rightly
assume that people in need are
generally taken care of.
Since the accident he has
received every possible
type of help he has required.
Surgery, Hospital Treatment,
Prosthesis, Disabled Living Allowance,
a Car and a great Qickie Wheelchair
with a 24/7 repair service on call!
No disabled person there goes
without a wheelchair if they need
one AND THAT IS HOW IT SHOULD BE!
Most of the world's disabled
people are not so lucky!
So it is that children and adults
crippled by disease or maimed by
landmines or accidents are often
condemned to lives too horrible
for most of us to conceive of.
Dependent on friends and family
to carry them, or crawling as
best they can through the filth
and dirt, their lives are severely
restricted and often poverty-stricken.
Their tears and pain do not reach
us because there is nobody to
speak up for them and they suffer
in silence as the world goes
about its business!
It's difficult to retain nobility
without mobility however great
one's spirit may be: dignity
depends a great deal on
independence and a Wheelchair
would give these people the
Mobility they need.
Already thousands of these
Wheelchairs have been distributed
and are in use.
They have changed the lives
of the recipients.
They can go to School or work
and move around their homes
able to have a social life as well.
The smiles on their faces says it all!
So it’s “THUMBS UP” for the
Geoff Bone Wheelchair Project,
an astonishing project that
aims to supply the Wheels that will
give mobility to the world's disabled.
The Wheelchair, designed and tested
by an MIT trained engineer and
manufactured in China for just £50
(us$100) each, includes delivery.
Minimum order is for 550 Wheelchairs
that are packed into Containers
along with the tools for
assembly by volunteers.
If a member of your family
is a Wheelchair user you may
have a good idea how much
wheelchairs normally cost.
The very cheapest are around
£100 and delivery is extra.
The average price is around
£1000 or more.
To make the chairs affordable
they are mass-produced in CHINA
with 'off the shelf' plastic patio
chairs for the seats and mountain
bike wheels and casters, mounted
on a purpose-made steel tube frame.
Recently, the design has been
refined and enhanced but still
without pushing up the price.
This is appropriate technology
for conditions and terrain
found in developing countries.
The chairs are comfortable and
durable, and cope well with
rough paths and tracks thanks
to the fatter pneumatic tyres.
But the most important thing is
that they are being produced in
huge numbers at great speed and
at a very low price.
£50 (US$100) includes delivery,
tools for assembly
- and a puncture repair kit!
The project really does seem a
near impossible task,
but Geoff and his supporters
believe there’s no reason for
not to going ahead with it and
already he has found a warm
response to the appeal with
one donation from internet
millionaire Andrew Reynolds
donating £1000 at the
World Internet Summit at
Wembley Conference Centre last month.
Find out more about the Geoff Bone
Wheelchair Project visit the website, at:
www.geoffbonewheelchairproject.com
or donate online at
www.bgitulsa.org
END
_________________________________________________
This story comes from our friend Scaria in Kerala, India.
I noticed this man crawling through the dirty road filled with water and mud from a recent heavy rain. His name is Johnson and he is 56 years old. He was leading a normal life as technician in the welding workshop. He had a massive electric shock and in the accident his body was parlayed below his waist. The family had to spend lots of money for his treatment which really made them very poor. In order to support the family of three now, the only option open to Johnson is begging.
‘After the accident, I lost all hope in life. Begging was the only option before me,’ said Johnson.
Johnson came all the way from Cochin, 80 kilometers from where I spotted him. He takes to train from village to village to beg to support his family. I immediately arranged to bring him a wheelchair. This is what he told me:
"In heavy rain and scorching sun, my wheelchair will be my best friend. In life I had learned that greatest gift is the gift of mobility. I lost that gift six years ago. Now again, I can go around in this wheelchair. I do not know how to thank the people who gave me this wheelchair. Convey my “BIG THANK YOU” to them. For me, life will not be same again. Now I have new hope in life. May God bless them all".
Johnson became very talkative and I see a great poet in him. While taking the wheelchair in an auto to the nearest railway station, he went around thanking all the people who gathered to witness this happy moment. With glittering eyes, Johnson read this poem:
”In Sun and rain, at night and day,
She will be my best friend,
In heavy rain and scorching sun
My wheelchair will be my best friend,
When I climb hills and go down the hilly roads
I will remember those friends who live across seven seas,
When I go through the fields and nice roads in my village
I will remember those friends who gave me my best friend.
_________________________________________________
(29/Sept/2006) This story comes from our friend Robert of Giving It Back to Kids (GIBTK) in Viet Nam.
"Though I have been part of several large distributions, I am still set back when I see all the handicapped. It is so difficult to comprehend. I see so many crawling or being carried, often by people that are the same size. Honestly I think I can never truly imagine what their lives are like. I am so grateful to the Donors for their continuing partnership. Through their generous contribution we have distributed over 6000 chairs in the last 12 months.
The 69 year old man riding on the back of the scooter is Tarn Hoi. Tarn Hoi has not been able to walk since a stroke 7 years ago. His children have all moved away. He depends entirely on his wife to do the simplest of things. His wife had worked the rice fields, but after finding him several times lying on the ground all day after falling down, she stopped working to take care of him full time.
They never dreamed of owning a wheelchair. How could they, as they barely had enough to live. One day he saw a neighbour receive a wheelchair from us, and he applied for one from the next possible distribution.
Tarn was approved, and with much excitement arrived today. He wanted to shake the other recipients’ hands and let them all know that he "understood" their sufferings and wanted to share in their happiness. He added that now both he and his wife will have a new freedom!
_________________________________________________
1 Waveney
|
Phone:
|
07717553797
|
|
 |
|