For the majority of us, ‘wheels’ have an unpleasant association with expensive car insurance, lengthy traffic-jams and the search for that ever-elusive parking space. Not so for the children of The Chaeli Campaign. For these children - many of whom are either born with or develop disabling impairments - ‘wheels’, wheelchairs that is, are gifts of independence and vehicles for improved quality of life.

Chaeli Mycroft was born with Cerebral Palsy and later developed a degenerative neuropathy which left her unable to use the muscles in her arms and legs to full potential. The Chaeli Campaign, was initiated in 2004 when Chaeli, her sister Erin and three friends (the Terry sisters: Tarryn, Justine and Chelsea), began a fundraising campaign in order to buy Chaeli a R 20 000 motorised wheelchair which she had test-driven. Within seven short weeks they had raised the money for Chaeli’s chair by selling home-crafted flower pots, which they called ‘Sunshine Pots’, and hand painted cards. This first successful campaign encouraged them to continue raising money in order to help other children in Chaeli’s position.

Today, The Chaeli Campaign is considered ‘the only non-profit organisation in South Africa founded by children who have functional roles as members of the Management Committee’. In the 3 years since its inception, the project has provided wheelchairs, hearing aids, laptops and standing frames to over 180 children and has implemented exercise and physiotherapy programmes in four major Western Cape communities; namely Ocean View, Masiphumelele, Sive Nathi and Stikland.

Chaeli and her co-founders continue to play an active role in raising awareness for The Chaeli Campaign, writing copy for the online newsletter and participating in school presentations which raise awareness about the experiences of differently-abled children. The project is currently looking to expand its reach to provide therapy programmes throughout all of the nine provinces in South Africa.

‘At The Chaeli Campaign we don’t merely give wheelchairs, we aid improved independence’ says Zelda Mycroft – CEO of The Chaeli Campaign. ‘We don’t just provide hearing aids – we open up a hearing world; we don’t simply supply laptop computers – we create a canvas on which young children can express their thoughts and feelings. Our goal is to breathe hope into the lives of children with disabilities as we pay forward the blessing of Chaeli in our lives.’

An additional aim of the organisation is to empower impaired children by promoting and maintaining the inclusion of differently-abled children within every-day society. ‘All our programmes aim to achieve the outcome of changing the perspective of able-bodied people to move away from an exclusionary outlook, to one that is more empathetic and empowering of differently-abled persons,’ says Zelda. ‘People with impairments have abilities’.

Chaeli alone is proof of this. She and her ballroom dancing partner, Jess Randelhoff, have just competed in the 2008 Wheelchair Dancing World Cup in Holland, where they achieved a fifth and bronze-medal placement in the Latin and ballroom competitions respectively.

The work of those responsible for the Chaeli Campaign has not gone unrecognised. In 2005, Chaeli –age ten – was a finalist in the Shoprite Checkers Woman of the Year Awards and in 2006 the project won the Nation Builder of the Year Award at the Proudly South African Homegrown Awards held in Johannesburg on 24 May 2007.

If you feel that you would like to get involved with or support the Chaeli Campaign’s fund-raising events, programmes and initiatives, please contact the Chaeli Campaign by calling 0861-242-354, emailing info@chaelicampaign.co.za, or by visiting www.chaelicampaign.co.za