Like I said yesterday in my post, on Monday Ben and I travelled to Usa River Rehabilitation School where we met with a professor and five students.
When we arrived at the school, I quickly noticed that everyone there had some sort of physical disability. We were walking behind this woman who had ducked feet. I’ve seen people who have a slight angle to their feet. This woman’s feet were at a 90 degree angle, with her toes pointing towards each other. She had some difficulty walking, but for the most part was able to move well on the paved sidewalk.
Daniel walked us over to a table where there was a man who was wearing a dress shirt and sweater vest. (Sweater vests are very popular here, and I am tempted to buy one.) We introduced ourselves, and he introduced himself as Gabriel, a faculty member at the school. He was a medical practitioner and physical therapist at the school, and began working there about ten years ago. He gave us an overview of the school and its purpose. The school was started in 1988 for the disabled in the range of 16-35 years old. The students go to the school for three years, where they learn English, and then either tailoring, shoe making, or carpentry. After their three years, the school helps the graduate find work or begin their own small businesses. It cost 650,000 TSH per year (so $430/year).
Talking to Gabriel was very insightful, but somewhat discouraging about the disabled communities situation. He pretty much told us that when they are young, they are neglected at home because taking care of a disabled child is very expensive. Very rarely do they get to go to school, and so then when trying to find work, they are usually left to fend for themselves. The school has been trying for the last 20 years to get the government here to aid in disabled assistance, including increased handicapped accessible areas of town. The government has just ignored their pleas. He also talked briefly about how difficult it is for wheelchair users to take daladalas.
We then asked to talk to a few students at the school. Since we decided to go to the school at the last minute, we had not prepared as well as we should have, so when 5 students wheeled in together, it was a bit overwhelming. We started off trying to get to know them. There was Erasto, Delphian, Nishaki, Agnes, and Cathbert. All of the students were at school for tailoring, besides Cathbert, who was studying shoemaking. Daniel translated for us, as none of them knew any English.
Erasto is a twenty year old man who got his first wheelchair in 2008, shortly after being paralyzed in a car accident. I had suspected this, as he was in very good shape and had pretty good posture. He also talked up the most, and at the end of talking with them asked him if he would test our wheelchair.
Delphian is around 18 and used crutches until 2009 when she was given a wheelchair. Nishaki who is also around 18, began using a wheelchair after she was in a car accident as well. They talked the least, and mainly giggled at how we talked and the questions we asked.
Agnes is in her thirties, and has been in a wheelchair since 2003. Before getting her chair, she crawled everywhere, including school when she was younger. She would crawl to school, about 2 or 3 km. I immediately felt bad about all the little complaints in my life, such as slow internet, not enough peanut butter on a sandwich, and not enough leg room on a 3 hour flight. She was the only one of the five without a chair that was built by Daniel’s shop. When the buses continued to reject her wheelchair, she had to return it in exchange of a donated chair from the US, which folded like a hospital chair. She didn’t like this chair as much, as it had two castor wheels, so did not work well off of paved sidewalks.
Cathbert is around 16, and began using a wheelchair last year. Prior to his chair, he crawled around, but never went to school. After our questions, we asked them if they had any questions for us, unrelated to wheelchairs. Cathbert was the only one who spoke up, asking us if there was anybody who made shoes like he did in America. We told him no, and that there are people who make the machines which then make shoes. He seemed delighted by the answer, though a bit confused. (Im not too sure about how our shoes are made, but didn’t want to say that people in china make our shoes…)
When telling them about our project, they seemed enthusiastic about our chair. Though they do not have to worry about it as much right now, as they live at the school, they will eventually need to take the daladalas on a more regular basis. Currently, they take a bus home for their breaks twice a year. They said that taking their chairs with them are a pain and expensive, costing 3,000 TSH, plus the 2500 for themselves.
We also asked them what could be improved on the chair, hoping to come back with another project for M-Lab next year. They only stated simple things, such as a way to have an umbrella attachment, a basket, and drawers on their chair for storage. Erasto also told us that even with the cushion Mobility Care provides, the seat is uncomfortable, and creates pressure sores. (Pressure sores are very serious. Because a person may not be able to feel the area of their body on the seat, they do not shift around the way we do when we become uncomfortable. This discomfort is caused by pressure on the seated area, and will soon turn into sores if they do not shift around. These sores can become very infected and dangerous for the person.) I know there is a lot of research in this area of wheelchairs, and there are probably some very expensive solutions, but definitely something to look into.
The interview was enlightening, and helped us clear up some doubt in our project. It was nice to get the student’s view of their chairs before they got out into the real world and focused solely on transportation. We knew that we would have more interviews with people who work, and could get a different view of their chairs.
(I already wrote a post for Tuesday)
Ben and I woke up this morning figuring we wouldn’t have power, but satisfied in the amount of work we got done yesterday. I had a goal set for today to visit the steel shop where Mobility Care buys their steel from, and then begin designing the jigs on Solidworks (a Computer aided design program).
To make part of the chair, I had to take a 6×6 cm rectangular bar, cut, and reweld to dimensions of 6×3.5cm. This is not the most fun process, as it is tough to cut perfectly straight pieces. So I wanted to see if the guys at the shop could bypass this laborious task. They had a 6×4 cm extruded bar at the steel shop, which I think will do for its purpose on the chair, and may even provide some extra benefits.
After the long walk to the store, I knew that we were only a short daladala ride away from Shanga, the glass bead making shop that I had visited during my first weekend in Arusha. I knew that they employed the deaf, mute, and physically disabled to work there, and had seen several wheelchairs around the shop. I knew this would be a good opportunity to talk with wheelchair users in the work force.
After getting shown around the shop again, we started our interviews off by talking with Mr. Beads. I suspected that talking with him wouldn’t be too helpful, as I had correctly guessed that he rarely used his wheelchair. Unless he was travelling long distances away from daladala stops, he crutches everywhere, and never needs to take his chair onto a bus. Instead of dismissing him, we just tried to get as much information from him as possible. And we were super glad we did talk with him. William has been a bead designer ever since he was little when his mother taught him how to make beaded jewelry. He used to work in his home, and people would come to him and make requests for jewelry. He did this until three years ago, when he began working for Shanga. When we asked him what his biggest concern was, he told us that there needs to be a way where the disabled can get aid to start their businesses. He told us the steps necessary to do this:
- Find someone interested in helping start a business
- Bring three or four disabled people together to work as a group
- Make sure at least one of the group know the business that they intend to go into well
- The person who knows what he/she is doing goes around, picks out materials needed to start the business, and take that list to the donor
- Start building some of the pieces/parts/whatever they are making
- Begin marketing
- Sell their product, and use that money to continue their work
Mr. Beads is very passionate about this, and has helped many disabled people he know get work (and Mr. Beads knows pretty much everyone in Arusha). In addition, he gave us the names of two companies in Dar es Salaam that do similar work with the disabled as Shanga. I plan on looking these up later, but they are Wonder’s Welders and Daggie (?)Tricycles.
After talking with Mr. Beads, we talked with another man, Zakaria. Zakaria tested the wheelchair that Tish made, and so we were hoping he would agree to testing ours as well. He has worked for Shanga for three years now, mainly taking small, flat pieces of colored glass and decorating candle holders, lanterns, and mirrors. Some of his work is very cool, as we got to see him working as we walked around the shop. We asked him what he did before Shanga, and he told us he was in between jobs. He had previously been a welder for the Money Maker Pump, an MIT project from about 15 years ago that allows small farms irrigate their crops. (Some good info here: http://kickstart.org/tech/technologies/micro-irrigation.html
He only had to search for 3 months to find a job at Shanga. We asked him about the availability of jobs to the disabled, and told us that most employers in Arusha are Indian and do not employ the disabled. He told us more American and European employers are more willing to hire them, but many times the disabled workers have very little experience and even less education.
I was surprised that he worked as a welder prior to working at Shanga, so I figured he had gone to school. In fact, he did go to Primary school, and then went to Usa River rehabilitation school where he learned how to weld and make the hand tricycle wheelchair that he uses. This wheelchair is a three-wheeler with a hand pedal that drives the front wheel. He takes it to work everyday, which takes about 40 minutes. I asked him, if he had a wheelchair that he could take onto the daladala for no extra charge, would he prefer this? He said yes, but only if it the conductor did not charge any extra. I am not sure if he was saying this just to please Ben and I. He was willing to have the chair we make for a few days, where he has multiple tries at taking the chair on the daladala with him and can get a feel for its everyday use.
The only thing that he would like to see improved on his tricycle is a motor powered chair. Last summer, some guys went to Kenya to test a motor powered chair. They said it was very dangerous and doubled the cost of the chair. I do know that Mario, our class instructor, designed a cool gear system where going one way on the pedals drove the chair in a low gear, and the opposite direction, a high gear. This would help solve the problem of going uphill.
Finally, we talked to a woman named Mary. She has worked at Shanga making jewelry for a year and a half. Like Mr. Beads, she worked at home making beads before finding a job at Shanga. She explained that it is very difficult to run a business that way, as it is hard to get the materials needed for the jewelry.
Mary has been in a wheelchair since 1992 due to a spinal chord injury. She went to primary school for a while, but it became too difficult, and couldn’t go to secondary school. Her only complaint about the chair was that she wanted it to fold like a hospital chair. We explained to her this would not be do able with a three wheeler, as it would ruin the purpose of its stability and strength. Ben and I don’t think she understood, and we felt as if she was just trying to tell us what we wanted to hear. It may have been this way because she spoke English pretty well, but we don’t know.
Of the 9 locals we talked to, only Gabriel, Mr. Beads, and Mary knew English. It was really the first time I have ever needed a translator for a long conversation, and it was quite the experience. Ben and I got a lot of good feedback, and feel very confident that a folding wheelchair can make a big impact of a disabled person’s life.
We are hoping for power tomorrow, but if we do not get it, then I will spend most of the day designing jigs, so that we can be as efficient as possible when building
