About The Hand Project
The Hand Project is all about providing people who have lost one or both hands with more dignity and possibilities in their lives.
The Hand Project provides mechanical prosthetic hands to people in developing countries completely free of charge. In various forms, The Hand Project itself has been going for 5 years, and our involvement in this cause for well over 12 years.
The hands are 100% mechanical and are operated by the user using their remaining hand or, in the case of bi-lateral amputees, the residual limb or any other suitable object.
With it, the recipient can write, eat, ride a motorbike, and many many things that we take for granted. It makes the quality of their lives much better and provides more dignity.
In the countries we distribute our hands, most amputees can simply not afford a prosthetic hand.
The hand prostheses provided through this project only come into existence via corporate team building events. The events are our ‘assembly line’ and also the project’s funding model.
The project is run from Germany, which is also where the parts for hands are manufactured. In each of the countries where we distribute hands, we work with either charities or NGOs who have the local knowledge and contacts to make the project successful.
To make the project sustainable, we work with local orthopaedic technicians and train them to a level where they can fit hands and arms alone. This way, we are able to send them shipments without the need for lots of costly travel.
Ambassadors
Our Ambassadors are past recipients of our hands who now help us to promote the project, to help mobilise beneficiaries, train them and also provide counselling.
Veronica Mollel – Tanzania
Veronica is our first The Hand Project Ambassador – her tragic story prompted her to start an NGO called Voice of Women Africa. O Voice of Women Africa – dedicated to promoting the equality of women in Tanzania and beyond. She is an absolute inspiration!
Kamanzi Mutabani – Uganda
Kamanzi was one of the first people fitted with our mechanical elbow and really put it to amazing use in his profession as an engineer. His story can be see in the Case Studies & Videos tab. A passionate and motivated young man, we are always excited to have him with us.
Orthopaedic Technicians
Andrew Ocol – Uganda
Andrew Ocol, a Ugandan prosthetist and orthotist, is very serious and concerned about changing the lives of people with disability, through The Hand Project and in many orthopaedic rehabilitation systems.
Sadick Ampadu – Ghana
Sadick is a prosthetist and orthotist from Ghana. He is very passionate about helping people with The Hand Project.
Tony Salah – South Sudan
Meet Tony Salah, an Orthopaedic Technologist from South Sudan. He communicates effectively with diverse audiences and has a great desire to give dignity and a passion for making a positive impact with every step.
Isaac Makula – Uganda
Isaac from Uganda is a passionate and dedicated professional in Prosthetics and Orthotics, embodying love and dignity in his work to empower individuals with disabilities. His commitment reflects the transformative impact of compassion and expertise in enriching the lives of others.
Secilia – Tanzania
Secilia from Arusha in Tanzania
Julius – Tanzania
Julius from Mbeya in Tanzania
Semu – Tanzania
Semu from Arusha
Our Team
Germany Manager / Logistics Manager – Dörthe Fischbacher
Dörthe joined The Hand Project in 2022 and has taken on the huge job of ensuring logistics happen seamlessly, as well as managing team building events in Germany and beyond. Having experienced fitting hands in Ghana, Dörthe is fully engaged in ensuring that the project runs as smoothly as possible.
West African Manager – Ogidi Wiredu (Ghana)
Ogidi is a trained orthopaedic technician, as well as a director of his own charity First Rate Charity Foundation. Ogidi is the master organiser and mobiliser. Having successfully implemented the project sustainably in his own country of Ghana, he now supports The Hand Project by organising the project in other African countries.
Rijk Crolla – The Hand Project Netherlands
Rijk joined The Hand Project in Uganda in 2023 and is now working tirelessly to promote the project in the Netherlands. His enthusiasm for the project is contagious! He can be found at https://handproject.nl
Director – Chris Gulley
Chris has been involved with providing dignity to upper limb amputees for many years. He started The Hand Project in 2019 after seeing the need for more than just hands for amputees in developing countries and the limitations of other similar projects. He splits his time between his native New Zealand, Germany, Canada and travels too much to distribute hands in Africa and the sub-continent. He has personally fitted over 1,200 hands!