Social activist and adrenaline seeker Paul Steyn finished his 7 000 km walk across the country at Cape Town Stadium earlier today. To raise funds for his organisation, the Paul Steyn Foundation, the amputee travelled throughout all nine provinces on his prosthetic limbs, making stops at numerous communities whilst on the trip, which lasted 15 months.
In 2000, at the age of 13, Paul was involved in an accident at school that cost him his leg. After a six-month-long hospital stay and numerous attempts to save his leg, the doctors were forced to amputate it below the knee due to gangrene.
During his studies at Boland College, which he later left due to challenges in meeting academic demands, Paul developed a passion for voluntary work in communities, enticing him to launch his own charity initiative. Since its in 2012, he has worked to make 16 prosthetic limbs available to those who require or are unable to afford them. Six of these were purchased from funds gathered from the trek he completed today, a huge achievement as prosthetic limbs are immensely expensive, priced at R60 000 per item on average.
Photography Courtesy image