Angola – The Most Disabled People on Earth Get Help

The Rotary Club of Los Angeles has matched ChevronTexaco’s sponsorship of 240 wheelchairs, which is then being matched by the Wheelchair Foundation to deliver the first 960 of 1,920 wheelchairs to Angola. Other Rotary Clubs will match the balance of the ChevronTexaco donation.

Located on the Atlantic Coast of Southern Africa, Angola has been plagued by civil war ever since its independence from Portuguese colonialism in 1975. The warring factions have brought about as many as 1.5 million deaths and the United Nations estimates that there are currently 2.7 million Angolan refugees. The average Angolan has a life expectancy of only 38.5 years.

From the standpoint of disability, the situation is equally dire. Millions of landmines lurk beneath the country’s soil, killing and maiming thousands of Angolans per year. A 1995 UN study estimated there were 70,000 amputees in Angola and, with 4,000 to 6,000 new victims per year, the number is steadily rising. It is these statistics that bring Angola the chilling distinction of having the world’s most disabled population. It is estimated that 20% of the 12 million people of Angola are disabled.

The Wheelchair Foundation thanks ChevronTexaco USA and Angola for sponsoring the shipment of wheelchairs to Angola. In June of 2001, the Wheelchair Foundation team was welcomed to Luanda, Angola by ChevronTexaco and First Lady Ana Paula dos Santos for our first distribution. Mrs. dos Santos and her Liwini Foundation participated in the distribution of wheelchairs and witnessed firsthand the delivery of hope and mobility to people that once only knew despair.

Liwini and Mrs. dos Santos were most prominently featured in the public spotlight when Princess Diana visited Angola in 1997 to raise awareness of the devastation caused by land mines.

John D. Gass, Managing Director of Chevron in Luanda said, “What I saw was tremendous gratitude and disbelief that they were receiving a wheelchair.” Gass continued, “We want to give something back and be a positive force of change in the communities where we operate. These 240 wheelchairs only scratch the surface here in Angola, and we will have to do more.”

Because of the success of the first 240-wheelchair distribution, ChevronTexaco generously offered to sponsor more wheelchairs to Angola, and the dedicated efforts of Rotarians have provided a match for that donation, and the Wheelchair Foundation is matching both.

Although the fighting has slowed down in recent months, Angola is still listed as one of the world’s most dangerous places to visit. It is by the dedicated efforts of ChevronTexaco and Liwini that the Wheelchair Foundation is able to continue our global mission of changing lives for the better every day. Upon receiving a wheelchair, children, teens and adults are now able to go to school, work, attend worship services or just go outside for the first time in many years or for the first time in their lives.

Thank you to ChevronTexaco and Rotarians worldwide for helping us save lives, one wheelchair at a time.