Helping Hands project a team effort
- Health & Leisure
- Tuesday, 03 July 2012
Organisational psychologist Matt Henricks is bringing a new form of team building to Australia.
His 'Helping Hands' project is one of the first of its kind in Australia and a unique way for companies and not-for-profit organisations to work on their team dynamics at the same time as helping land mine victims in less developed countries who normally cannot afford prosthetic hands.
With more than 100 million active land mines in 60 countries, there are around 2,000 land mine accidents a month (one every 20 minutes). There are currently 300,000 land mine-related amputees globally - 20 per cent of them children who have lost hands.
The Helping Hands project l builds artificial hands which are then distributed to less fortunate people around the world.
"Every day companies around Australia are spending enormous amounts of money on team building activities. With our activity, participants change the life of someone on the other side of the globe," said Henricks, director of Henricks Consulting.
During the activity, small groups of people assemble 30 pieces of plastic and metal to make a genuine hand that can hold or pick up an object.
All hands are quality-controlled using a range of checks and once approved, they are shipped to areas of need.
