Amputee’s great trek to raise funds for others

December 2, 2011 | Filed underPopular News | Posted by editor
Helping create awareness … Paul Steyn hopes to raise funds for people who need prosthetic limbs by walking from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town
Life has not been easy for Paul Steyn who lost a part of his leg when he was 13-years-old. The 24-year-old’s passion for people has driven him to undertake the mammoth task of walking from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town to raise funds for prosthetics.
Steyn’s leg was amputated just below the knee after he was involved in an accident at school. He spent nearly six months in hospital but after gangrene set in doctors decided to amputate.
He was placed in foster care after experiencing family difficulties and was later taken in at a children’s home in Potchefstroom.
Steyn decided to further his education but was rejected by various institutions because of his dyslexia. When he was finally accepted at Boland College in Worcester, he thrived and even became a member of the SRC tasked with community and fundraising projects.
Steyn has starred in movies and television series as a stuntman where he was used for scenes utilising his amputated leg.
He decided to quit his studies last year and dedicate himself to community projects full time. Steyn is in the process of registering his Paul Steyn Foundation as a Section 21 company.
This non-profit organisation’s main purpose is to raise funds for the provision of prosthetic limbs to those who cannot afford it.
A prosthetic limb can cost more than R100 000.
Steyn plans to start his walk on February 2 in Port Elizabeth and walk the about 70 kilometres to Jeffrey’s Bay on the first day.
The last leg of the 770 kilometre walk will be the 27 kilometres between Brackenfell and Cape Town on March 12.
Steyn also plans to walk the Freedom Trail – a route on which an annual mountain bike race is held – in the future. It stretches from Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal to Paarl in the Western Cape, over a distance of some 2 300 kilometers.  For more information, log onto www.paulsteynfoundation.org.za.
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