The Guatemalan IANSA member group Transitions has taken its award-winning wheelchair basketball team to London as part of its international advocacy work on the plight of the disabled in developing countries. The group’s co-founder, Alex Galvez, was shot and paralysed when he was 16. Many more of the Transition’s members have been sentenced to life in a wheelchair through gun violence.

The team played a match against the Great Britain Paralympics team. They also participated in the Wheels of Change seminar at the House of Commons, meeting with politicians and policymakers.

It is estimated that about one million people are seriously injured by guns each year. Guatemala is a country devastated by endemic gun-related violence and poverty where services for survivors are scare. Alex was shot when he was caught in gang crossfire. He was wearing his school uniform at the time. His dream, which has become his reality, is that Transitions would create a way out of despair and disadvantage for himself and others.