Saturday, July 23, 2005
It was one of those days that just makes you feel great, even if you haven't done all that much, but were involved in making something good happen. I had hired a taxi, and another teacher and I picked up Savera from her hovel in Sweya and took her to Mwanza to receive a gift hand-operated tricycle, courtesy of the Rotary Club of Southington, UK by way of the Mwanza Rotary Club. Savera is a wonderful woman - 27, hump-backed, with scrawney useless warped legs all twisted beneath her, limited arm movement and only one good eye, thanks to polio. But she is always cheerful, and you often find her a mile from her home, wearing flip-flops on her hands and pulling herself along the ground. She was so greatful for the tricycle, as was her Mother and all her friends when we got her back home with the new tricycle.
Four tricycles were given away yesterday. I helped to get her one that works fairly well - some were really pretty rough. All of them make you think that there just has to be a better way. They are cobbled together from bicycle parts, using lots of steel rod and rebars crudely welded together. They are heavy and very cumbersome. The front wheel is the drive wheel but most of the weight is on the back wheels so it tends to slip, especially when you are trying to use it on an unpaved road. And Savera lives a mile down a long hill from the nearest paved road, poor woman. Even with all this crappy, heavy construction, these babies cost $90 each and even the Rotary Club with its connections can't get a better price or decent workmanship.
Still, if that is all there is, Savera is a lot better off with this beast than without it. Hopefully she can find friends to push her along, using the tricycle basically as a cart but giving her a bit more feeling of being in control. I cannot imagine her having enough strength to actually go anywhere with it. You see some guys using them on the roads, but they have upper bodies that look like Samson and even so they are working hard.
Four tricycles were given away yesterday. I helped to get her one that works fairly well - some were really pretty rough. All of them make you think that there just has to be a better way. They are cobbled together from bicycle parts, using lots of steel rod and rebars crudely welded together. They are heavy and very cumbersome. The front wheel is the drive wheel but most of the weight is on the back wheels so it tends to slip, especially when you are trying to use it on an unpaved road. And Savera lives a mile down a long hill from the nearest paved road, poor woman. Even with all this crappy, heavy construction, these babies cost $90 each and even the Rotary Club with its connections can't get a better price or decent workmanship.
Still, if that is all there is, Savera is a lot better off with this beast than without it. Hopefully she can find friends to push her along, using the tricycle basically as a cart but giving her a bit more feeling of being in control. I cannot imagine her having enough strength to actually go anywhere with it. You see some guys using them on the roads, but they have upper bodies that look like Samson and even so they are working hard.
