Written by: Nida Qasim
Posted on: December 22, 2021 | 
| 中文
Patients in a playground
Chal Foundation is a not-for-profit initiative designed to serve people with disabilities in Pakistan by assisting them in the following ways: by replacing missing limbs with prosthetics; by providing orthotics for skeletal deformities, and by providing mobility aids to those with spinal cord injuries. Chal foundation is currently in its 11th year since being a registered as a non-profit organization and has 10 centers around Pakistan. It has served over 36,000 patients, and has provided over 60,000 assisted devices to patients with disabilities thus far. While it initially started as a network by visionaries that saw the need for quality-based, community-focused rehab services to rehabilitate victims from the 2005 earthquake in the northwest of Pakistan, it evolved into a foundation by 2010, as its leaders recognized the need for regular rehabilitation centers for the sheer number of individuals affected by disability in the country.
Patients eating outdoor
About 15% of the urban population of Pakistan and 20% of the rural population is affected by disability in Pakistan. The lack of sustainable services for such a big section of our population is the core issue that Chal Foundation has sought to tackle. Their vision is simple – to provide mobility to people with disabilities and in turn, help facilitate them to become participating citizens of Pakistan. The goal of Chal Foundation is a sustainable one; that is to ensure that the patients that it serves are not only provided with mobility by the means of prosthetics, orthotics, or mobility aids but that it also facilitates rehabilitation and integration of these individuals into mainstream society. Chal Foundation is the only foundation providing services to the disabled that uniquely has a presence in all four provinces of the country and AJK.
A courgeous soul smiling
According to the World Health Organization, more than one million people need assistive devices in Pakistan. For these individuals to receive that help, more rehabilitation centers must be established, especially in the remote areas of Pakistan so that they too can become mobile, active members of our society. At Chal Foundation, the motto is, “Any disability is just a part of one's story, not the defining factor for all of it. At times we may overlook one’s potential due to their disability, but it's time that we move past sympathy and further our empathy.”
A patient and a doctor shaking hands
Chal Foundation provides that first crucial step in the process of helping integrate physically challenged people into a society where they can go to school, earn a living, run errands, and partake in activities that they love. This mobility is provided using a range of services at Chal Foundation: they provide pre-prosthetic treatment, prosthetic devices for patients with structural deformities, orthotic services which provide alignment and stability to deformed limbs, cosmetic appliances, and mobility aids such as wheelchairs, walkers, auxiliary crutches, etc. Other services include the repairing and replacement of mobility devices to the Children-Amputee Rehabilitation Program and the facilitation of linking its patients with other disability-focused organizations.
A kid doing gym
I recently visited Chal Foundation’s branch in Blue Area, Islamabad. Welcomed by kind faces, I was shown the three main rooms where the magic happens: the assessment room, where the assessment of disabled patients is done by trained staff, the workshop, where assistive devices or artificial limbs are custom-designed as per measurements and prescriptions from the assessment room, and finally the gym, where the patients receive gait training and physiotherapy sessions to help them adapt to the new appliances fitted to them. Chal Foundation also provides outreach services to people in remote areas that do not have access to one of its centers, by means of a customized vehicle that travels with a team of experts from village to village.
Football match
You too can contribute by sponsoring a device to a disabled individual, or by supporting Chal Foundation in establishing new rehabilitation centers in Pakistan. To find out more about Chal Foundation’s upcoming programs and activities, and how to contribute to the cause, you can refer to the following social media pages and website:
Visitors getting a tour of Chal Foundation
Website: https://chalfoundation.org/
Facebook: Chal Foundation
Instagram: @chalfoundation
Twitter: @chalfoundation
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