Alex Lewis and the Wild Wheelchairs team set off on their Ethiopian adventure
On 17th September, Alex Lewis and the Wild Wheelchairs team paid a courtesy call on Ambassador Fesseha ahead of their trip to Ethiopia, which will see Alex, a quadruple amputee, embark on a monumental challenge – ascending Ras Dashen, Ethiopia’s highest mountain.
Joining Alex on the expedition will be Emebet Ale Dires, a double amputee from Bahir Dar in Ethiopia, as well as a team of supporters.
Alex and Emebet will scale up the mountain using a unique hand-cycle, designed and built by a team of students from the University of Southampton.
At 4,550 metres, Ras Dashen is the highest mountain in Ethiopia – and the tenth highest in Africa – and is part of the Simien Mountains National Park located in Gondar, Amhara Regional State.
The hand-cycle can only take him up to a certain point, so Alex and Emebet will be rock-climbing the last few hundred metres of the mountain.
Founded by Alex Lewis and David Collinson, the Wild Wheelchairs Project is raising money to finance the construction of a wheelchair manufacturing facility in Bahir Dar and to support ongoing programmes to help the disabled in that region.
Thanking Alex and the team for choosing Ethiopia for their first expedition, Ambassador Fesseha reiterated the Embassy’s support in all their endeavours and wished them the best of luck in their upcoming challenge.
To find out more information about the project, go to http://bit.ly/WildWheelchairsProject.
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