Electric Wheelchair for Anuruddika, November 2005
P.A. Anuruddika Samanthi, born 25 July 1992, was crippled by polio as a child. Every morning, her mother cycled 2 km to school with Anurudikka balanced on the crossbars. She is an intelligent, hard-working girl who is top of her class.
Anuruddika lives in the same village as Supurna Hettiarachchi, Yala Fund’s country co-ordinator. It was his dream to give Anuruddika her independence by providing an electric wheelchair. However, such chairs are almost unheard of in Sri Lanka. Even if they can be imported, there is no local technical back-up if they need attention.
Yala Fund made contact with London Mobility (www.london-mobility.com), a supplier of wheelchairs, scooters and power chairs. It recommended a Shoprider Sirocco powered wheelchair (cost: £1,760) which would be tough enough to withstand the harsh conditions in Sri Lanka. It comes with puncture-proof tyres and a kerb climber.
The Sirocco was air-freighted to Colombo by Key Air and Sea, based in Hayes, Middlesex, at a cost of £228. Anuruddika is now able to travel to and from school by herself. It has been a huge boost to her self-esteem. The family have donated her old, manual wheelchair to another disabled child.