- +18177039953
- info@theiredefoundation.com
- 5A, Gwynns Mills Court, Owing Mills, MD, 21117
We inspire action so child amputees, their families, and caregivers can live independent and limitless lives
Every child amputee, a champion, living without the limitations of a missing limb. As a result, we will empower child amputees to live self-sufficient lives, free of social stigmatization, through education and encouragement.
The IREDE Foundation (TIF) is a registered 501(c) non-governmental organization in the US, dedicated to empowering child and young amputees in Africa , to live limitless and independent lives.
Our work in the US commenced in 2023 following our start up in Nigeria in 2012. We have been providing prosthetic limbs and comprehensive support to child amputees between the ages of 0 and 18, and their families, breaking down the barriers they face and providing opportunities for them to rise above their challenges and become champions.
Through our programs and advocacy efforts, we bring the issues faced by children with disabilities in Africa to the forefront of social discourse, working towards the all-round inclusiveness of people with disabilities both in Africa and around the world.
We believe in the potential of every child amputee, and that no child should be discriminated against in any aspect, irrespective of their ability. We continue to be a continual source of motivation and encouragement for child amputees and their families, making a difference in their lives, one limb at a time.
In 2009, Our Founder, Crystal Chigbu gave birth to her first child, Beulah. Hours after Beulah was born, the doctors told Crystal and her husband that their daughter was born with a rare congenital limb deformity known as Tibial Hemimelia. This caused Beulah to have a missing bone in her right leg and kneecap, with the implication of this medical condition being that Beulah’s affected leg had to be amputated and she would need a prosthetic limb.
Hearing this news left Crystal and her husband distraught and unsure of how to handle the situation with the taboo and discrimination around disability in Nigeria and Africa at large, making it worse as this news was not received well by both their families, with a lot of finger pointing and accusations on what or who might have been the cause. After a lot of deliberation, Crystal and her husband decided to amputate Buelah’s affected leg at 27 months, and she has had to use a prosthetic limb since then.
Crystal then began to blog about her experience, and this led her to encounter the mother of a double lower limb amputee in 2012, for whom she raised funds from her then colleagues to get both prostheses for the child, helping him to go back to school and allowing his mother to go back to work. This experience lit in her a desire to help more child amputees and their families, and to this effect, she founded The IREDE Foundation in 2012 in Nigeria.
