AFGHANISTAN
Mobility mobilises han
According to estimates by the California-based NGO Wheelchair Foundation, there are 750,000 people in Afghanistan in dire need of wheelchairs.
and Afghanistan. Jenny Smith, Vice President Mobility Project, shares her future plans, experiences and views with Fakhra Hassan.
What projects are you currently
working on in Afghanistan?
We are shipping wheelchairs
through USAID's Denton Pro-
gramme for wheelchair distribu-
tion in October 2007. If we can
get the wheelchairs to
Afghanistan by the end of
September, we will send a team
of eight staff and volunteers to
distribute these wheelchairs and
other mobility aids in the Istalif
area, working with Sozo Interna-
tional. We will only be sending
60 wheelchairs at present, and
will work on finding storage fa-
cilities to continue sending
chairs on a regular basis for dis-
tributions of at least 180 wheel-
chairs twice a year.
Every wheelchair we donate
is first properly fitted for the in-
dividual. A wheelchair that does
not fit properly will only cause
problems. We educate each re-
cipient and/or the family about
health issues, such as pressure
sores, and wheelchair care and
maintenance. The Mobility Pro-
ject also hopes to implement
more sports camps during each
distribution in Afghanistan; the
purpose of these camps is to
show the recipient what they are
capable of doing despite having
a disability... whether it be play-
ing basketball or volleyball, or
working, going to school or car-
ing for their family.
How do you meet your funding
requirements?
Funding has been the most
difficult part of working in
Afghanistan. Shipping a con-
tainer of wheel-chairs costs
$9000 (PKR 549,000) approxi-
mately. We then need four staff
36 - NGO World - September 2007
members to oversee the distri-
bution as well as volunteers to
help with the seating and posi-
tioning. Our primary source of
funding is individual donations.
As a small organisation, it has
been difficult to maintain our
work in Afghanistan, even
though it is where we wish to
spend the most time. We are
trying to get transportation for
the wheelchairs through the
Denton programme. This will
greatly help us offset our ex-
penses.
What challenges do NGOs face
in Afghanistan?
The government bureaucracy
is one challenge. We recently
needed a Duty Free Letter to
ship wheelchairs through the
Denton Programme and this
took us at least a month - and
help from the US President's of-
fice - to get it. Financing our
projects is a challenge; the cul-
tural differences are a challenge.
We do not want to offend or be
culturally unaware, but yet need
to get our job done. As women
leading the organisation, it can
be a bit uncomfortable to be a
leader in this culture. On a per-
sonal note - as a wheelchair user,
the obvious difficulty is lack of
accessibility due to absence of
ramps, bad roads. The political
climate and concern for safety is RAISING THE SPIRITS: The Mobility Project, backed by California-base
not so much a challenge while promoting the institutionalisation of vocational training and sports for
in-country but convincing your Individual donors who con- In your view, what is the poten-
Board of Directors, who have not tribute to our organisation. tial for NGOs to do sustainable
been to Afghanistan, that the development work in
situation is okay is definitely a What other areas could NGOs Afghanistan?
challenge. get involved in Afghanistan? I believe it is very possible for
NGOs to do sustainable work, al-
Who will be funding your up- Adaptive, wheelchair sports though much of this is depend-
coming projects? programmes. ent on the stability of the political
www.ngoworld.pk
 AFGHANISTAN

ndicapped Afghans
. Mobility Project, a Washington-based NGO, has been providing services to people with disabilities in Costa Rica, Mexico, Thailand, El Salvador

ed NGO Wheelchair Foundation, is providing wheelchairs to Afghans handicapped by the senseless war and is encouraging and
r disabled.
situation.
How could development work be
expedited in Afghanistan? Could
a network of functioning NGOs
speed up development work? If
so, what would be the chal-
lenges?
Networking and working to-
gether is a key in being successful
and getting things done. If NGOs
could work together, I believe
progress could be made more
quickly. The challenges would be
deciding who is in charge of what
and who pays for which expenses.
Any future projects planned for
Afghanistan?
In October 2007, we hope to be
in Kabul and Istalif. Depending on
this trip and funding, we will hope
to return each Spring and Fall. We
also work in other countries. We
have upcoming outreach in Mex-
ico (two sports camps and a tennis
tournament in December and four
weeks in the Summer 2008), prob-
able distributions and sports
camps in Thailand and Morocco,
as well as interest from organisa-
tions in the US, Samoa and Pak-
istan. u

www.ngoworld.pk September 2007 - NGO World - 37