Custom Buggies Bring Freedom to 85 Children in Rural Communities

A Life-Changing Convoy of 114 Buggies Heads to Bloemfontein

Photo Credit: Boikanyo the Dion Herson Foundation via Facebook

There is nothing quite like the moment a child experiences independence for the very first time, and this month, that magic happened 85 times over.

Bloemfontein, South Africa (25 February 2026) – The incredible humans behind the Boikanyo the Dion Herson Foundation, The Paige Project, and the Rotary Club of Rosebank recently returned from the Free State Psychiatric Complex in Bloemfontein, after what the team could only describe as an extraordinary outreach!

Last month, Good Things Guy shared how the charities would be delivering buggy chairs to disabled children in rural Bloemfontein, and not only did it happen, but the impact was truly life-changing.

As part of the Chair’ished Children outreach, they hosted a Buggy Recycling Workshop for countless therapists and distributed mobility buggies to a province that, for the most part, has had very little access to them.

Children from some of the most rural, impoverished, and deeply affected communities were fitted with custom-made buggies – 85 children in total.

“We fitted very disabled children who were born with or live with cerebral palsy into very specialised chairs that we call buggies. We cannot afford to buy the buggies ourselves, so we do is collect from hospitals, predominantly in Gauteng. We bring them out into the rural areas where we renovate them totally. They are stripped, cleaned and repaired, and we buy new components for them. We bring children in to fit them,” shared Marilyn Bassin from Boikanyo.

With the guidance of a physiotherapist, each buggy is customised to fit a child depending on the unique support and comfort they require, because every child with cerebral palsy is affected differently.

One of the mothers, Dimakatso, who had brought her son, could hardly hold in her joy at receiving a buggy, expressing how it would afford them both the freedom to move around better and take walks without having to carry him on her back.

In many of these rural areas, a heartbreaking stigma still surrounds children with disabilities. It was visible and confronting. But alongside that, there was overwhelming goodness.

Another mother brought in a profoundly disabled little girl and explained that she was actually her niece. Her sister had passed away. When a therapist said the child was lucky to have such a caring aunt, the woman gently corrected her: “I am no longer her aunt. I am her mother.”

The oldest recipient was 66 years old.

“If a person is small enough to fit into a buggy, we will provide one, no matter their age. In these deep rural areas access is limited and need is immense.”

Elderly gogos carried heavy adult children into the hall. The relief, gratitude, and dignity these buggies brought them cannot be overstated.

Therapists from across the Free State worked tirelessly, phoning every contact they had and driving long distances to find patients and ensure no one missed out. Their dedication was nothing short of inspiring.

Everyone left the outreach moved, inspired and with full hearts.