Patrick K. in Northern Zambia

Patrick is paid in part by Africa Imports to work at his personal passion of helping handicapped people to survive in Africa. He spends most of his time teaching basic life skills to people in wheelchairs or on crutches. He also ends up helping people to do the things needed in day to day life that they are not able to do otherwise.

To hear the details of how handicapped people live in most of rural Africa sounds exceptionally difficult to us in the United States. The handicapped are looked down on by many people in their communities. A wheelchair is not only expensive to buy, but difficult to maintain. When the tires go flat, they are not able to go outside where the wheels sink into the mud. Many of these people also live in very simple housing. A few weeks ago, the home of one of the people who Patrick works with collapsed during a heavy rain, and she now has no place of her own to live.

There is so much more that could be done for handicapped people in Africa with more money. Right now however, the help that Patrick gives to the people he works with are crucial to their lives.