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In the first world, a wheelchair can represent a very important financial investment that is not suitable even for some pockets. This expense and the possibility of accessing one is even more difficult if we transfer the need to people in the third world. In these cases, one of these small vehicles can simply become a utopia or a desire that is not always possible, due to the lack of economic availability, in the foreground; but also to the nonexistence of these solutions.
Faced with this social injustice, a group of students from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia decided to make a contribution so that their ingenuity could help transform the lives of people in need, such as the group of boys and girls with cerebral palsy who are in a small town. of Uganda, Tororo, five hours from the capital. All of them represent – in one of the poorest countries in the world – a very vulnerable group of children who, on occasion, are even abandoned due to the burden it places on families.
Patricia Ricci and Armando Domínguez, from the Higher Polytechnic School of Engineering of Vilanova i la Geltrú and Pau Sànchez and Carlota Regales, from the Higher School of Industrial, Aerospace and Audiovisual Engineering of Terrassa have ended up designing, with the contribution of Professor Adrià Sallés, a 'low-cost' wheelchair available to people who live in countries without these resources.
It is a mobility tool made of PVC material, which can be assembled and disassembled in a few minutes, thanks to a very intuitive tutorial and an instruction manual in the purest Ikea style. However, before getting here, this group of university students has been perfecting the chair, evolving it in material and design, since it was originally made of hardware store material.
The objectives set by the young engineers were to contribute to the social development of people with disabilities in developing countries; improve mobility for people with few resources and promote the use of own resources to manufacture the chair.
The invention of these young people has been very well received by the entire community, "since this represented a true revolution, because no one can afford the price of a wheelchair," explains Carlota Regales while remembering the emotion involved in delivering them to their beneficiaries. . "The joy with which they received the chair was incredible, some had never had one, for others their chair was already too small due to growth and others had never had one," adds the student.
And beyond the wheelchair, Riccia, Domínguez, Sànchez and Regales also developed other projects such as a wooden chair so that the boys and girls in a deaf-mute carpentry workshop could build wooden structures so they could go to the toilet with greater comfort. The young cooperators also thought of providing sanitary pads for the girls and laptops to carry out computer training actions for teachers and students.
Throughout this first contact they established last July in Tororo, the boys and girls of this area have benefited from a total of 57 wooden chairs and 13 PVC, plus those that are currently being built.
'Chairs for Tororo' is a cooperation project that receives the support of the UPC Development Cooperation Center.
