Yad Sarah, Israeli Volunteer Network, Aiding Angolan Land Mine Victims
Helped set up orthopedic equipment workshop in African locale

www.yadsarah.org.il

Jerusalem, August 2003: A new workshop for repairing rehabilitation
orthopedic equipment, opened in Huambo, Angola, this month, crowned more
than a year of cooperative effort between the African nation and Yad Sarah,
an Israeli volunteer organization.

A Yad Sarah team, sent to Angola, set up the workshop and taught members of
the local orthopedic center how to fit the right equipment to each disabled
person, how to dismantle and assemble wheelchairs and walkers, and various
ways to repair the equipment and replace worn parts. The joint effort and
aid were initiated and financed by the Israeli Ministry for Foreign Affairs
and the Israeli embassy in Angola.

An advance team from Yad Sarah went to Huambo in 2002 to assess local needs.
Huambo suffered more than any other city in Angola as the result of the
civil war that raged in the country for 27 years,and came to an end on March
2002. Landmines left tens of thousands of people with injured and missing
limbs.

During the past year all the necessary equipment for setting up the workshop
and spare parts warehouse was shipped from Israel: parts, tools, worktables
and storage units. At the same time a local team was found that could
operate the workshop. This summer (2003) ( in Angola it is actually
winter ) a team from Yad Sarah went to Angola and, via a translator, set up
the workshop and instructed the local team.

Participating in the colorful dedication ceremony were the Angolan Deputy
Foreign Minister and Deputy Health Minister, the Governor of Huambo, Israeli
Ambassador B. Mansour, and the Yad Sarah team. The hosts thanked the
Israeli Foreign Ministry and Yad Sarah for their help to the local
population. Ambassador Mansour stressed that the State of Israel would
continue to seek avenues of cooperation to assist the people of Angola. Mr.
Meir Handelsman, head of the Israeli team, thanked the Israeli Foreign
Ministry and the Angolan government for the opportunity to extend help to
more people. He spoke of the enormous experience that Yad Sarah has
accumulated in its workshops and is ready to share with other places in the
world.

Yad Sarah is a unique, community-based non-profit organization whose 6,000
volunteers and small paid staff, in 100 branches all over Israel, lend
medical equipment and provide a wide range of homecare support services to
anyone needing temporary or permanent help.