What is the idea of The Hand Project (Helping Hands)?
It is estimated that more than 1,000,000 people worldwide have lost at least one hand to landmines, accidents or congenital defects. One person dies every 20 minutes from landmines alone or is maimed in the explosion.
The estimates are
110 million active landmines worldwide.
Children in particular are the victims as they pick up these land mines during play or herding animals...
In developing countries there is hardly any adequate medical care and certainly not high-tech prostheses.
The idea of
The Hand Project
(helping hands)
is to give as much as possible to each of these injured people
a completely free hand prosthesis
to provide. And unlike donations of money or food, with this social program there is no opportunity to use the assembled hands for anything other than their intended purpose. The concept of
The Hand Project
, from research and development through manufacturing and quality assurance to distribution by Rotary International, prevents "black market" and improper use.
How did Helping Hands start?
It all began in 2006 when the American Ernie Meadows, due to a private stroke of fate, had the idea of designing a functional hand prosthesis for children and young people who were victims of landmines. From the first idea to the prototype and series production it was still an arduous path... but today the Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation organizes the production and
free distribution of hand prostheses . Since then, more than 30,000 Helping Hands have been distributed and customized for FREE in more than 80 countries worldwide.
each Helping Hand Kit consists of approx. 30 individual parts, made of plastic and metal. A simple mechanical hand prosthesis is assembled from this. The hand prosthesis can be used by both children and adults thanks to its simple construction. And it can be used either as a left or right helping hand. The hand is extremely robust and low-maintenance, washable and impact-resistant. The fingers can be moved and fixed individually and unlocked again with a simple tap. The holding arm and the Velcro straps make it easy to put on the prosthesis later. It is important that each recipient of the Helping hands that can also be done all by yourself without outside help.
The Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation (EMPHF), is a non-profit organization in the USA. It researches, develops and manufactures the components of the hand prostheses. The Odyssey Teams Incorporated in USA provides these components for the individual kits
together and sends them to partners worldwide.
In Germany they will Helping Hands at the moment only from companies as part of team building events
assembled and funded with CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility).
The each assembled Helping hands goes back to the USA for quality and function control after the team event.
The distribution on the so-called "fitting days" to the recipients takes over predominantly
Rotary International or other non-profit organizations.
The cost of each Helping hands are made up of the components of the prosthesis itself, research and development, freight costs, customs duties, storage and the costs of conducting each individual team event. The calculation for the hands and the team building events should be cost-covering, but not profit-oriented.
It starts with a small presentation to give the participants a Helping Hands Team Building Program the content and meaning of Helping Hands and bring the course of the next few hours closer. For many participants or employees of a company, it is initially not clear what it is all about at Helping Hands and how great the global demand for hand prostheses is. The individual participants should not only use their intellect and skill, but also be motivated with personal understanding and empathy in the next few hours.
Then they will Helping Hands Kits handed out to the small teams of 3 – 4 people. Each team builds from approx. 30 individual parts, with simple instructions for use and simple tools “his” helping hand together. The individual steps must be discussed and implemented in the team. Since 3 hands are often required to carry out the individual assembly steps, communication and mutual support are very important factors for mutual success. In addition, each team member "works" with only one hand, the other hand cannot be used during assembly... At the latest then everyone will once again realize very clearly what it means in practice to carry out the simplest activities with just one hand. Of course, this situation at the conference table has very little to do with the real life of the mine victims, but everyone has an idea of how it could be... and why a prosthetic hand represents such tremendous value to the recipient...
Once the hand prosthesis has been built, each team can carry out a function test: grasping, writing, making a phone call, tying shoes, drinking... there is a small transport bag for each helping hand. This is individually painted and designed by the team. In addition, a small letter is written to the future recipient somewhere in the world and packed in the bag together with the Helping Hand. Then a photo of the team with the bag is taken - and Bag & Helping Hand goes on the journey. First back to the USA for a quality and function check. The Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation (EMPHF) then works with Rotarians to distribute it across the globe. on so-called Helping hands are distributed on "Fitting Days". and adjusted. Hundreds of people often gather there to to receive “their” hand prosthesis. A touching and moving moment!
When the Helping Hands are handed over, if the recipient agrees, a photo is taken with the previously painted transport bag. This "Thank you - photo" will then be sent back to Germany and given to the team.
Request your The Hand Project event directly!
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Tel: 033702 60490
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Mathias Tauchnitz
Koschewoi-Ring 3, 15806 Zossen OT Wünsdorf
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Inquiry@Team-Events.Berlin
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