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Project Daniel

Just before Thanksgiving 2013, Not Impossible's Mick Ebeling returned home from Sudan's Nuba Mountains where he set up what is probably the world's first 3D-printing prosthetic lab and training facility.

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After losing both his arms, a boy in the South Sudan said he wished he had died rather than be a burden to his family. So Not Impossible brought a prothestic lab to him.

When bombs were dropped on his village in the Nuba mountains of Sudan, Daniel Omar, then 14, was injured so badly he had both his arms amputated. When we heard Daniel’s story, Mick and Not Impossible Labs—equipped with 3D printers—covertly crossed into the Sudan, designed and printed an arm for him. Thanks to NIL and Intel, Daniel fed himself for the first time in two years.

The Absurdity

More than 50,000 people in the Sudan have lost limbs due to ongoing conflicts and lack reliable access to prosthetics.

The Goal

Provide affordable, ongoing access to prosthetics for those most in-need, and off-the-grid, in war-torn South Sudan.

The Solution

3D printing an arm

Develop a method for 3D-printing prosthetics in the field and collaborate with locals so that they can continue to leverage the solution.   

Onsite in Sudan

The Not Impossible Labs team landed in Sudan with Intel 3D printers and a blueprint for how we we were going to make Daniel an arm that could improve his life. As with most plans, they never play out as expected. Commit first and figure it out.

Empower the Community

Our goal was not to just make Daniel an arm, but to ensure that the local community was empowered and equipped to make limbs for anyone in the community, long after we left.

Investors + Partners

Our project partners and individual collaborators are some of the best in advancing our mission of creating Technology for the Sake of Humanity®.