The annual wheel walk, which sees hundreds of wheelchair-bound people participating in a 5 km walk, takes place at the Sea Point Promenade today (21 March).
The initiative, the brainchild of Maitland resident Kamile Abbas, aims to empower physically challenged people.
Abbas explains that the walk takes place each year on Human Rights Day.
“A few years ago, I decided to do a wheel walk. I started with five wheelchairs and we grew to 50. At the moment, we have 250 wheelchairs.
“Able-bodied people pay R100 to enter, and they push the people in wheelchairs. We do a 5 km walk. When we return, I give them a goodie bag, medal and breakfast.”
Abbas says participants are people on his database.
“For the past few years, I go and look for people in wheelchairs. I go to their homes and I sign them up. On the day of the walk, I organise that dial-a-ride to collect them. I want to empower the vulnerable.”
Abbas says he wants the wheel walk to expand so that more people can participate.
“I want it to be bigger. People don’t always know how to work with cerebral palsy people, but once they work with them, they love them. We would like more people to buy into this. I want to reach 500 people in wheelchairs.”
Ricardo Lodewyk has been wheelchair-bound for the past 27 years.
Lodewyk says to him the wheel walk is about “feeling included”.
“To me, it is not just about the 5km race. It’s about being around other people who are also physically challenged. A lot of people who are disabled do not get to go to Sea Point. The wheel Walk is one day in Cape Town where could go to the beach and have an event, socially participate and be among your peers for the day.”
Lodewyk says there is a great need for more social inclusion within society for people with disabilities.
“Once you leave that event, it is almost like you are going back to your disability. But for that couple of hours, there is no such thing as disability. At that moment, we are all peers. No one feels uncomfortable. It would be nice if we were included in events like the Cape Town Cycle Tour. More of these types of events are needed.”
Abbas is also the founder of Things on wheels, a hunger relief organisation.
According to Abbas, he started the organisation 20 years ago when his nephew was born paralysed from the waist down.
The Maitland resident says he decided to start a feeding scheme to help vulnerable people.
“Those years, my family and I fed about 50 people per month. Fast forward to today, where we feed about 45 000 people per month.”
Abbas says they are also involved with local schools and provide about 600 sandwiches daily. They reach over 490 schools annually.
“We have 21 soup kitchens around the peninsula where I supply people with ingredients so that they can cook meals.”
Abbas says he is elated that, after two decades, his organisation still impacts people’s lives.
“I would never have imagined that I would still be running this, but by the grace of God, it’s growing bigger and bigger. We started small, feeding only about 50 people, now we reach 45 000 per month. God is great.”
