23 Jun 2021
One of our high value Science STEM initiatives is working with Origin Energy and students implementing the ‘Helping Hands’ program brings Origin Energy volunteers and school children together to make simple prosthetic limbs for amputees in impoverished and war-affected communities throughout Asia. Of 300,000 landmine-related amputees globally, 20% are children, up to 50,000 of those are without hands, making basic daily tasks such as eating and washing incredibly difficult, and of course limiting educational potential as writing and keyboard operation can be well beyond reach.
Through Helping Hands, the assembled LN-4 prosthetics are distributed and fitted by international agencies at no cost to the recipient, allowing amputees to participate more fully in all aspects of community life. How does it work? The program is run by Origin’s philanthropic arm, the Origin Energy Foundation. We’ve partnered with Helping Hands, an Australian-based social enterprise, working to improve the lives of amputees throughout the developing world.
We bring Origin volunteers into our classrooms to run a workshop covering the prevalence and impact of hand injuries, the basic functions and anatomic structure of the hand, and demonstrating the contribution that science, technology and engineering can make to addressing global challenges. Students are then led through an activity, following instructions and using basic tools to assemble real prosthetic limbs which will be distributed in countries such as Cambodia, India and Afghanistan. As part of the activity, the students decorate a vinyl pouch with pictures and messages for the recipient. This helps to reinforce the human aspect of the task, ensuring the process of receiving a prosthetic limb is less intimidating for the recipient. From time to time, pictures of the recipients fitted with their limbs and holding the pouches are published on Helping Hands social media pages.
Thank you to the Origin Foundation and Reihana our Community Liaison Officer for facilitating this significant STEM initiative.
Tim Lloyd, Principal
