Farming on Crutches

Farming on Crutches is a grassroots initiative in Sierra Leone founded by Mambud Samai, himself a civil war refugee. Sierra Leone's war left an estimated 28,000 people without limbs; twenty years on, many still live in poverty, excluded from physical work. Farming on Crutches exists to change that. On a three-acre demonstration farm outside Freetown, the program runs a one-week intensive training teaching amputees regenerative farming — seed saving, bokashi making, irrigation, and crop rotation — using only local resources. Guided by the ethos "We are not mere victims of war but Ambassadors of Peace," graduates leave with knowledge, tools, seeds, and a small sum to start farming. Since 2020, over 100 amputee farmers have been trained, generating livelihoods, strengthening local food systems, and proving that disability is not inability. Farming on Crutches is a programme by the Single Leg Amputee Sports Association (SLASA) in Sierra Leone.