Change a life with Wheelchair Wednesday

Members of the Association for Persons with Disability (APD) Limpopo were at Mall of the North (MoN) on Saturday to drum up support for their annual Wheelchair Wednesday campaign during which awareness is created of the difficulties wheelchair bound people experience daily, and funds are also raised to buy needy persons wheelchairs.
The campaign will be run under the theme ‘Change a life – spend four hours in a wheelchair’ and was launched in Polokwane last Wednesday with the loyal support of MoN.
Companies and other organisations have the chance to enter employees into the Wheelchair Wednesday challenge at R6 000 per entry.
The sponsorships will go towards purchasing a custom-fitted wheelchair for a needy person. The entrants will have the opportunity to spend part of a day in a wheelchair and complete various tasks such as drawing money at an ATM, navigating from one floor to another, shopping for specific items or using the restrooms at Mall of the North with the aim of learning the difficulties of being wheelchair bound and in so doing creating awareness.
Participants will compete in the big challenge on 25 July.
According to Margaret Malatji, project manager, many shoppers displayed interest in Wheelchair Wednesdays and she and Hloni Rakolo, a volunteer, were able to disseminate a lot of information and pamphlets.
For further information or to participate contact Malatji or Christa van der Walt on 015 291 1787/8.

Story and photo: KAREN VENTER
>>karen@observer.co.za