Peace Tips

While planning The Peace Project’s massive 2011 crutch distribution in Sierra Leone, we identified that getting crutches to those in need is just the first step and that providing resources to maintain the crutches is a critical follow-on. We were startled to learn that, although dozens of NGOs have distributed tens of thousands of pairs of crutches, within one month of use, the rubber crutch tips wear out, traction and shock absorption is lost, accidents occur, structural pain sets in, and rapid degradation of the crutches take place.

 

Because the international community is unable to continually resupply crutches and no sustainable solution for crutch tips has yet been developed on the African continent, war victims who have already lost so much are often forced to live in shame, crawling on the ground to move from place to place.

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After several years of trying to find a way to manufacture tips in Sierra Leone, The Peace Project began working with Thomas Fetterman, a leading crutch and crutch tip innovator, to find a solution. Peace Tips combine the design that Thomas Fetterman has perfected over the past 25 years with a unique twist — a peace sign where the rubber meets the road. With each step taken, a peace sign is imprinted into soft ground – transforming victims of war into messengers of peace. Plus, the life expectancy of these crutch tips is over a year!