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Roberto Bazzoni
Our Story
Geographic Location
The project
Inauguration
Next steps
The training project
End of phase 2
Results

Roberto Bazzoni was an orthopedic technician engaged in humanitarian missions in Kosovo. On November 12th 1999, a plane carrying 24 people, crashed near Pristina, leaving no survivors. Roberto was on board Onlus: a charitable non-profit foundation; an Italian acronym fororganizzazionenonlucrativa di utilitàsociale

Our Story

On November 12th, 1999, a plane carrying 24 people, 21 of whom were engaged in humanitarian missions in Kosovo, crashed near Pristina, leaving no survivors. Roberto Bazzoni, eldest son of Sebastiano Bazzoni was on board.

Sebastiano’s son, an orthopedic technician, and his best friend, Dr. Antonio Sircana, orthopedic surgeon, were flying to Pristina to help victims of the Kosovo conflict in need of orthopedic care: to help people who had lost arms or legs to be active again, or to walk again, with artificial limbs.

Twenty three of these war victims were assembled in the Catholic Church in Stubbla (south-east Pristina), waiting for the arrival of the plane when it crashed.

Honouring a memory... with a mission

Harnessing the tragic energy born of personal grief and loss, Sebastiano with many others who knew Antonio and Roberto, decided to find some way of continuing their mission. Gradually the idea emerged of;

Building a permanent structure-consisting of a rehabilitation centre, supporting on site production of prosthesis and providing training of local staff to run it.

Our Charity was officially registered on 17 March 2000.


Geographic Location

The project

The start up

• The project took shape with the co-operation of many people.
  
• April 2000 was devoted to organisation, May and June to presentations and fund raising and July to discussing tenders, local conditions, availability of the land for construction, always in strict contact and agreement with the local organisation of disabled people,Handikos. By the end of July we were able to order the prefabricated structure and to define the executive plans for the infrastructure work.
  
• Needless to say that we tried to assess the various difficulties of doing something in a country devastated by the war, without any of the infrastructures to which we are accustomed, like ordinary mail, telephone, fax, internet, mobile phone, electricity, building machinery, cranes, etc.
  

The help of the Italian army

Inauguration

Problems were gradually sorted out, and the Rehabilitation Centre “Antonio and Roberto”was inaugurated on 11 November 2000, just one year after the crash and it was a great event for the local people, for Handikos and its disabled associates.

Next steps

The work was far from finished.

Now that the building was completed,we had to start the training phase.This meant devising training methods which would produce high professional standards, in every aspect of treatment and care of the very large disabled population, from physiotherapy to psychological support etc.

These methods would also have to be approved by our Italian service providers and, of course,by the local disabled people themselves, (the “end users”).

Our Charity, together with the Don Gnocchi Foundation, Handikos and Handicap International, discussed and set out the technical side of the training programme requirements; and an itemised plan was made by the “Don Gnocchi Foundation”, with the aim of starting activities in April 2001.

The training project

The project began in April 2001.

It was carried out by two doctors and two therapists who established contacts with local patients and gradually continued their training operation methodically, all over the territory.

End of phase 2

We visited Pristinaon 15, 16 and 17 March 02 with the Don Gnocchi Foundation in order to officially close the training phase.

A general evaluation of the work accomplished was made on Saturday morning, by the two doctors and the two therapists, together with representatives of the Centres, in the presence of Handikos, the Bazzoni Charity and the Don Gnocchi Foundation.

The afternoon was dedicated to delivering the certificates to the 32 workers who had received training, in a ceremony held at the Rehabilitation Centre in Glogovc (nowDrenas). It was an emotional moment for all of us.

Results

The training they have received from the doctors and therapists has changed the whole approach of Handikos personnel towards the disabled people they are treating: they were in the habit of carrying out instructions mechanically and passively, but their new expertise and understanding enables them to make assessments and decisions based on their own knowledge and experience of the individual patient who, in turn, feels more valued and encouraged, and benefits accordingly.