Our charity for children with amputation has been forced to close, but it gave them wings
3 min read
Alan White’s recent ‘Editor’s Welcome’ email (2nd May) referred to legacies; it gave me pause for thought about a legacy in my life, relating to my late mother, which – since she died in 2007 – has changed the lives of hundreds of children in developing countries, who live with amputation.
Her legacy was a charity called Elizabeth’s Legacy of Hope (ELoH); it was set up in 2011 by my twin sister and myself, four years after a London bus tragically struck our mother (Elizabeth) whilst she was on her way to see me in hospital (I had just had a baby). Elizabeth was with my sister, Sarah, and her daughter Pollyanna – who was just two years old at the time. Pollyanna lost her right leg below the knee and my sister, too, was badly hurt.
The establishment of our charity came about for a number of reasons: we wanted to make sense somehow of our mother’s untimely death, we were learning about the challenges of amputation – knowledge we never, as a family, ever expected to gain; but predominantly, too, because part of that learning was the shocking realisation that thousands of child amputees across the world had very little – or no – access to prosthetic support and, as hard as life was for Pollyanna, because of the NHS we knew her amputation would not leave her immobile.
ELoH has since helped child amputees in east and west Africa; Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Liberia respectively, and in India – amputee orphans living in Andhra Pradesh. The provision of a prosthetic for these children is life-changing in every conceivable way – without it many remain uneducated because they simply cannot travel to school, many are also shunned and excluded in their societies because amputation is considered a curse. Amputation for these children is a cruel life sentence, completely undeserved.
The provision of a prosthetic for these children is life-changing in every conceivable way
Many in the lobby and around Parliament will be aware of our work, and we have had much support from Westminster’s many corridors and corners. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all readers of The Housemagazine who know of us and have supported us.
However, the Trustees of ELoH have now made the decision to close the charity; we, in common with many charities, have noticed a decline in income as the cost of living bites and demands for charitable giving are ever more extensive. The partnerships we have worked with over the years no longer truly need us to be ‘interim’ partners – our (your) funds have paid for limb clinics and the training of staff – indeed we have now funded the infrastructure needed to keep our work going.
However, we are continuing to fundraise with a very special poetry book, called Elizabeth’s Poetry of Hope; it is £10 and available on Amazon. All the proceeds go to ‘our’ children in Africa and India. It contains words of the amputee children themselves; such as: “Though I have eyes, I have no legs. I thought I would never fly this world, but ELoH has given me wings. I am able to go to college with the legs given by ELoH without any difficulty, and it has shown me the light of the world. This organisation has shown me the way.” (Guthala Mohini, aged 14, from India.)
If you would like to support child amputees please do so by buying our book: Elizabeth's Poetry of Hope: Amazon.co.uk: Bacon: 9781399910682: Books. I have also set up a fundraising page for Liberia (linked to World Hope International UK, reg. no: 1185384, who provide the care): www.stewardship.org.uk/pages/HouseMagLiberiaAmputees; If you would like to give to India, please do so by donating directly to the care provider ‘Health and Education for All’ (HEAL): sort code: 05-06-67, account number: 46295170, referencing child amputees’ (reg. no: 101334.)
