The Addis Guzo Center is located in one of the poorest neighborhoods of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, a metropolis with about five million inhabitants. The central goal of our assistive device supply is to ensure and improve the mobility of people with impairments. We are convinced that the ability to get around is a basic prerequisite for:
° Independence
° Access to education
° Participation in society
° Social and professional integration
Addis Guzo, with its wide range of products and repair service, is one of the most important contact points for people with impairments in Addis Ababa. Every year, we deliver around 700 individually adapted wheelchairs. In addition to our commitment in Addis Ababa, we serve five other cities in the Oromo region. These include Adama, Fij, Bischoftu, Ambo and Sabeta. Seven wheelchair mechanics work in the wheelchair workshop in Addis Ababa. At the beginning of their work at Addis Guzo, they complete a basic training as wheelchair mechanics, a profession unknown in Ethiopia. Through further training by experts from abroad, they are continuously broadening and deepening their expertise and are now in a position to pass on their knowledge and train other colleagues.
Professional fitting of wheelchairs helps to prevent subsequent physical damage, relieves the burden on relatives and caregivers, and thus improves the quality of life for all concerned. The professional fitting of wheelchairs is a novelty in a country like Ethiopia, where suitable aids are rare and the profession of rehab technician is largely unknown. After a careful assessment, our wheelchair mechanics select suitable wheelchairs from a wide range of different models, which are modified or additionally equipped according to the individual needs of the beneficiaries.
The repair service of our workshop offers maintenance for almost all wheelchair models. Our partner organization rollaid regularly supplies all the necessary spare parts. Thanks to this service the delivered wheelchairs remain in use much longer. Every year we carry out about 3000 repairs. Thanks to this service, the delivered aids remain in use much longer.
Our partner organization rollaid (Interlaken/Switzerland) collects wheelchairs and additional aids such as rollators, walkers, crutches, toilet chairs, etc., which cannot be reused in Switzerland. These are reconditioned as part of a program for the social and professional integration of young people and young adults, then loaded into containers and shipped to Ethiopia.
Aids that cannot be repaired are dismantled into their individual parts and fill the spare parts stores in Addis Ababa. In very rare cases we purchase new spare parts (for example flat tires). A large part of the donated mobility aids comes from the Swiss Disability Insurance (IV) aid depots, which are managed by the Swiss Working Group for Aids for the Disabled and Aged (SAHB). Other suppliers are specialized stores in the field of rehabilitation technology, institutions for elderly and disabled people as well as many private persons. The material is supplied by rollaid to Addis Guzo free of charge.
Is a Swiss non-profit organization working with and for people living with disabilities in Ethiopia.
Copyright ©2023. Addis Guzo
Design by Negat Creative
