The eastern region of Africa just received a wonderful new transportation option in the form of an all-terrain and low cost wheelchair, designed by Janna, who is a Kenyan native that was inspired to create the contraption after being wheelchair bound for several weeks after an accident.
An unfortunate University casualty, that made the SafariSeat founder think about his old friend Letu, an immobile man due to Polio.
Janna met Letu as a child and found out that he had been a victim of Polio, a virus that causes paralysis and has left many people all over the world without use of their legs.
In his Kickstarter campaign Janna says 1 out of 200 people in East Africa are left in need of a wheelchair. His answer to the problem was the creation of an open source wheelchair for developing countries.
In his workshop in Kenya, he showcases what his team is doing to help.
Explaining via social media that “our mission is to design tools that help people lift themselves out of the poverty cycle.”
Also noting that, its the first of its kind because it is allowing people who once had no mobility due to a variety of circumstances like financial and the availability of wheelchairs in their community to go out and live their life.
Janna pointed to the example of Latu, a person close to his heart, who said because of the chair, “Now I can teach my son how to be a Samburu.”
The Samburu are a classification of Nilotic people that live in north-central Kenya and typically herd cattle as well as sheep, goats and camels.
So far, the Safariseat has over 700 backers and has raised $56,000 and counting for their efforts.