"Stand Proud" is the English name of a non-governmental organization created in Kinshasa by an American USAID Officer, Jay Nash, and run by a British Embassy spouse, Lisa Seymour. Its mission is to rehabilitate children with lower limb handicaps: some are victims of polio, some of quinine shots to treat malaria (see Uganda: Post-Injection Paralysis - The New Polio at http://allafrica.com/stories/200712100090.html).
About 130 children of all ages live at the Stand Proud home, get surgery and rehab, and braces that the older children have learned to make from scrap materials bought at the local markets. Their workshop is around the corner. To make a brace, an outline of the leg is drawn on sheets of used paper taped together - just like you drew an outline of your hand in kindergarten. Then the braces are made to measure using steel rods and leather, with a locking hinge at the knee so the child can sit down as needed - this is enables them to use public transportation (tighly packed minivans).
When we visited the workshop, they had run out of money for materials, so no work was going on. This is the shelf where they keep the braces they're working on.
The home has rooms for the girls and the boys, who sleep on mattresses that cover the entire surface of the bedroom floors. This is an improvement for most of the kids. They go to school nearby. They may stay at the home for months or years, depending on their condition.
This is the bathroom where children of both sexes and all ages clean themselves:
Not much privacy! By the way, this standpipe is the only source of water for the kitchen and all other uses as well. In the background there is a garden patch where the children learn to grow vegetables for their own nutrition.
The toilets are much, much worse than the "bathroom."
After an appeal by Lisa, the International Women's Club scraped the bottom of their piggybank and funded the design and construction of real showers and toilets, two toilets and one shower for girls, and the same for boys, including grab bars and other special conveniences for handicapped kids. This will make a tremendous difference in everyone's health and comfort.
This is the corner of the yard where the new bathrooms will be built:
This structure will be removed, of course. Just around the corner to the right is the laundry area, with the kitchen all the way in the back, in another corner that has recently been roofed, for $200, so that cooking can happen even if it rains.
Here is a closeup of the "kitchen":
