NOT IMPOSSIBLE LABS | PROJECT DANIEL | 2014
The Journey That Left "Impossible" Behind / NOT IMPOSSIBLE LABS "PROJECT DANIEL"
A 14-year-old boy who'd lost both arms said he'd rather be dead than become a burden to his family. A video producer who read that article flew to Sudan carrying a 3D printer, with no medical knowledge at all.
The problem
In Sudan's conflict, people kept losing limbs one after another, and prosthetics cost anywhere from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars - completely out of reach. Daniel Omar lost both arms, and the first thing he said when he woke up was that he'd rather be dead. Mick Ebeling of Not Impossible Labs learned of that article and of the doctor treating Daniel, and he decided to act.
The insight
Not Impossible Labs' approach is simple. Find one person's problem, solve it, and then leave the method behind on the ground so it can spread to many more people. Mick himself admits he has "no qualifications, no training" - what mattered more than expertise was the resolve to simply decide to do it.
The idea
They built a 3D-printed prosthetic hand out of $100 worth of parts, then carried solar power equipment and a fragile printer into the Nuba Mountains. Traveling through an area where the ceasefire had broken down, they taught villagers who had never even touched a computer how to use the printer, starting from scratch. On November 11, 2013, Daniel ate a meal with his own hand for the first time in two years. By the time the team left, the local young people were finishing new arms entirely on their own.
What happened
What is considered the world's first 3D-printed prosthetics workshop remained there in the Nuba Mountains. It won multiple awards at Cannes Lions, including the Titanium Lion.
Afterthought
Right after the return flight landed at LAX, an email arrived from the doctor on the ground: "While you were in the sky, we made two more arms." One man, neither a doctor nor an engineer, simply read an article and acted - and it led to this. Just thinking about that fills my heart.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2014
