Help us change plastic into wheelchairs.
This was the challenge by Aubrey Nappie from the PSA Free State office about their exciting new project.
PSA is a national union for public workers including teachers.
The Free State office in collaboration with Tswellang Special School launched a project aimed at assisting the school to acquire much-needed wheelchairs for their learners.
PSA is already busy with the Clips & Caps for Wheelchair Project nationaly in which bottle caps for milk bottles, cold drinks, bottled water and plastic mayonaise caps as well as clips on bread bags are collected and exchanged for wheelchairs.
“We want to collect 4 500 kg of clips and bottle caps in Bloemfontein before end of November,” Nappie said at Tswellang on Thursday (27/07). They can get one wheelchair for 450 kg of bottle caps or 50 kg of bread tags.
“I have nou doubt that we will succeed, but we do need the public to give us a hand.”
If they succeed in their goal, they could get 10 wheelchairs for learners at Tswel
lang by the end of the project.
Madré Ferreira, physiotherapist at Tswellang, explains that they constantly need wheelchairs.
“Around 100 of the learners at the school use wheelchairs to get around.
“They grow and need bigger wheelchairs around every two years until they reach adulthood,” she explained.
“Many of these children also need special wheelchairs that need to be adopted for their spesific needs.”
She explained that a standard wheelchair cost around R4 500 and if it is more specialized, it can cost anything between R6 500 and R20 000.
“We have a technician at school that help us to do modifications to wheelchairs where it is needed,” Ferreira explained. “We also service the wheelchairs as well as some of the chairs of former learners.”
Verna Vorster said many learners that use wheelchairs, have one at school and one at home. “Transporting wheelchairs are costly, so it is easier to have one for each user at school and at home,” she explained.
The public are invited to take part in this project by collecting and donating bags of these clips and bottle caps at the PSA office in 24 First Avenue, Westdene or at Tswellang from now until 30 November.
