FromEverest at Kilimanjaro, to help those who are more unfortunate than him. Because Andrea Lanfri36 years old, from Lucca, does not pay much attention to his condition, but to the dramatic one in which hundreds of people with disabilities live in inconceivable conditions of poverty and hardship. There are no limitshe who with has already reached the supreme peak and who is now leaving for a new enterprise, the climb of over 11 thousand meters on the slopes of one of the highest mountains in Africa. The goal is noble: to raise funds to donate regenerated wheelchairs to disabled people (especially children) living in slum of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, and thus give a better life to those who cannot afford it. And he can’t even dream of it.
Challenge to disability
Instead Andrea his dreams, his desires, he never stopped chasing them. Having come down from Everest, the Paralympic athlete originally from Pieve di Compito (Capannori, province of Lucca) immediately started planning his next adventure and will now face a new ascent on some of the most famous mountains in the world: the 5,199 meters of the Monte Kenya and the 5,895 meters of the Kilimanjaro. But he will not be alone: his colleague from Biella will face the challenge with him Massimo Codaalso a climber with disabilities. Both with leg prostheses (Andrea lost them to one meningitiswhile Massimo was victim of an accident which involved the amputation of the right limb), the two are ready for the challenge, which has been called “KtoK: from Mount Kenya to Kilimanjaro for the fight against disability“. Through a campaign promoted on the platform of crowdfunding Eppelaaim to carry out a solidarity cooperation project that aims to respond to the needs of disabled people in the slums of Nairobi and improve their living conditions.
Living with motor disabilities in Nairobi
If that of Lanfri and Coda can be considered a noteworthy undertaking, especially for the difficulties in facing certain peaks even for those who move on their own feet, the real challenge is however the one that the disabled Kenyans who live in the slums face every day. , in posting from the floor to the entrance to the hut. For these people, greater mobility, given precisely by the use of wheelchairs, represents an important step forward it would favor inclusion and the opening to social life.
The African expedition of the two Paralympic athletes will make it possible to collect resources to recondition disused aids for the disabled in our country, and then donate them to patients in Nairobi who will need them. As the protagonists said before leaving: “In this way we create a virtuous circuit which involves countries with high resources, which every month dispose of large quantities of aids for the disabled ”. In the meantime, “interventions of health education for people with disabilities on issues of prevention and management of complications (such as infections, bedsores, constipation, urinary retention), as well as a series of professional training for Kenyan operators on the methods of reconditioning and recovery of aids for the disabled “.
The commitment of three associations
“The project will not only have a mountaineering flavor, but also a great charitable purpose: that of donating prams and prostheses to African children ”Lanfri wrote on his social networks. Andrea and Massimo’s mission has already started and yes it will conclude around September 4th, while the fundraising campaign, on the dedicated page, will continue until the 16th. Anyone can contribute with a free donation. The initiative was realized thanks to the commitment of three associations: Friends of the World – World Friends Onlus, which for over 20 years has been working in the informal settlements of Nairobi where it promotes patient rehabilitation programs with disabilities; Custom Regenerationcreated by Daniel Ragona and committed to recover disused wheelchairs to make them available to disabled people living in countries in difficulty; Over all Limitsfounded in 2020 by Andrea Lanfri’s father, Roberto, to help people with physical disabilities, offering them a path to face together with physical and psychological level.