Muhammad is a Pakistani wheelchair user who acquired a spinal cord injury in 2016. After seeing the needs of people with disabilities in Pakistan, Muhammad decided to create the Special Welfare Organization (SWO). This organization is dedicated to supporting individuals with disabilities, orphans, and poor families. Some projects SWO is working on include:

• Providing hens to individuals with disabilities to sell eggs in the market.
• Providing food and money to the poor.
• Building wooden wheelchairs for kids who do not have access to manual wheelchairs in their size.
• Repairing broken wheelchairs.

Last year, we were able to raise over 7 thousand dollars for Muhammad to acquire appropriate tools to build and distribute wooden wheelchairs. Thanks to the abundant support, Muhammad was able to acquire land to develop a workshop to teach others how to build wheelchairs. He was also able to acquire a generator, and a welding machine. The only item that was not acquired was an All Terrain Vehicle (ATV), as its purpose was to help Muhammad up and down a hill to acquire resources in his village. Since the land he was able to acquire is close to his village and not on a mountain, there was no longer a need for an ATV!

SWO was able to provide quite a few wooden manual wheelchairs to individuals in Pakistan. Although wooden wheelchairs are a great alternative to metal, they are a temporary solution and can lead to shoulder damage over time for adults. Currently, custom wooden wheelchairs have been provided to children, as they grow fast and their wheelchair seating needs change rapidly over time. That is why we are hoping to raise funds for Muhammad to start prototyping custom manual wheelchairs made out of lightweight metal. It is very difficult to acquire custom light weight manual wheelchairs in the market, due to cost and lack of availability. Therefore, our goal is to acquire equipment to build lightweight manual wheelchairs. 

The vision for SWO is to provide these prototypes to welders in Pakistan and establish a wheelchair manufacturing facility. The cost to acquire one wheelchair from China is $60 USD. The wheelchairs acquired are hospital-grade, not suitable for the terrain of Pakistan. If the Special Welfare Organization is able to build wheelchairs inhouse, the wheelchairs will have a cheaper cost and become more accessible. 

A manufacturing facility to build wheelchairs needs equipment such as: raw materials, metal bending machines, and welders. Muhammad already owns a welding machine from last year's fundraiser. The cost of two metal bending machines is $540 USD, or 150,000 PKR. Out of the 150k PKR, 20K will be used for delivery of the devices from Lahore, Pakistan to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The rest of the funds will be allocated towards buying metal, tools to work with metal, and payment for welders to recreate the prototype manual wheelchair. 

If you have any questions or comments, you can reach out to Muhammad via WhatsApp. Feel free to follow Muhammad's journey on social media below!

Click here to learn more about Muhammad's life!

Click here to view last year's campaign!

Special Welfare Organization Instagram 

Special Welfare Organization Website

Special Welfare Organization Facebook

Special Welfare Organization YouTube