Around 2000 children are born with clubfoot in South Africa every year.
Children born with clubfoot are unable to walk, run or play due their feet being rotated inwards or downwards or legs being unequal lengths. Left untreated, the child will live a life of disability, and face further psychological and socio-economic burdens. But it doesn’t have to be this way, clubfoot can be treated with the highly effective and non-invasive Ponseti method.
“A child born with clubfoot needs effective and early treatment. Neglected or untreated clubfoot leads to permanent disability and is a barrier to participating fully in economic and social life.” – says Luke Engel, marketing manager of non-profit organization STEPS.
Founded in 2015 in the Western Cape, STEPS has ensured that thousands of children have access to effective treatment, who would otherwise have lived with a preventable disability.
“As the only organisation working to assist children born with clubfoot in South Africa, STEPS responds to a huge regional need where it is estimated that 2000 children are born every year with clubfoot, but only 8% of those children will have access to health insurance or means to pay for treatment.” says Engel
For the month of September, STEPS, have launched a national “STEPtember” campaign to raise R50 000 to assist in funding clubfoot operations; training of doctors, parent education, clinic support and clubfoot brace distribution.
With the campaign on donations based crowdfunding platform, BackaBuddy, supporters are encouraged to set up their own campaigns to support the organisation and commit to walking 10 000 steps a day, to stand up for those affected by clubfoot.
“We currently reach about 50% of children born with clubfoot and have a goal to make that 100% by 2022. Accurate diagnosis, early intervention and referral is critical. For every R2500 we raise, we’re able to support these initiatives with full treatment support for one child. We hope the public will support our BackaBuddy campaign through a direct donation or by signing up to our STEPtember challenge” – says Engel
Join the STEPtember Challenge
Sign up for the STEPtember challenge on BackaBuddy here
Decide how much you would like to fundraise!
Motivate why you are passionate about this cause by writing a short story or put together a short video to let your friends and family know what you are doing!
For more information on raising funds for this cause please email info@backabuddy.co.za.
A quick way to count your steps:
Cycling for an hour: 7 800 – 12 000 steps
Shopping for an hour: 4 200 steps
Gardening for an hour: 1 000 steps
Swimming for an hour 10 000 steps
Support STEPS directly by donating here
Alternatively make use of this Snapscan code:
For additional information please contact:
info@backabuddy.co.za
luke@steps.org.za
or Connect on Facebook
Follow BackaBuddy on Facebook here
Follow Kingfisher on Facebook here
Set up your own crowdfunding campaign here
