Our biggest ever shipment is complete: 1,500 legs sent to 35 centres across 15 countries...

Since emerging from hibernation, we’ve been quietly working on something BIG here at Legs HQ, something we’ve never done before, and we’re finally ready to share the news. Deliveries are AFOOT, and boy are there a lot of feet!

It started as a simple idea: with the knowledge that our beloved Deliver a Leg project would have to take an indefinite hiatus, we decided to search for some reliable shipping options to send legs in boxes rather than suitcases, hoping to deliver to 2 or 3 centres in harder to reach areas of Rwanda and Tanzania.

But with our last delivery going out back in March, we had feet and legs piling up to the ceiling in our little workshop. We needed to think BIGGER.

A few weeks later that workshop was buzzing with activity as we banded together to pack up the ENTIRE workshop with the idea to send legs to every hospital and mobility centre who has partnered with us. That’s 70 boxes, totalling 2450 kg and around 1500 legs sent to 35 centres across 15 countries.

Each partner would receive two boxes containing components to make around 40 legs, as well as small tools and other resources signposting our new support services. We would use a combination of independent sea freight companies and international couriers, and keep our fingers crossed customs would look kindly on our leggy packages!

Over the last month, these boxes have been making their way, wave by wave, to our friends across sub-Saharan Africa; old friends in Gambia, Ghana and Tanzania, and new friends and those we’ve never been able to deliver to before, like Benin, Burkina Faso and Liberia. While we do miss sending our legs off in suitcases with intrepid travellers, we now have the freedom to send components without relying on where our volunteers happen to be travelling to. This means we can provide a more regular service, and deliver to partners in remote areas that aren’t so frequented by tourists.

It’s been a strange old year, and it seems like good news is hard to come by these days, so we’re very grateful for these smiling faces, and hope to see many more as boxes of life-changing components continue to make their way to the clinics that will provide mobility to those who need it.

Thank you to the prosthetists who have worked diligently through this pandemic to safely provide care and support to their patients; to the limb centres who have kept us stocked with legs; and to you, friend, for your support that has allowed us not just to carry on but come back bigger and bolder than ever.

Stay safe, stay hopeful, and stay tuned!