Smiles on Wheels in Chitwan - March 30, 2014
Chitwan is an area southwest of Kathmandu and is about a 6 hour trip by car. Their roads are rough and narrow and heavily traveled. Since we do not have a car, we hired a car and a driver and sat back and let him navigate the roads. We stayed inside Chitwan National Park at the Paradise Lodge. There were beautiful gardens and the room was not too bad either. Latter-day Saint Charities works in close association with NRSD, a Nepali NGO (non government organization) and their leader, Rakesh Hamel who is very, very good at finding those who need help and then getting help to them. In this case, it was wheelchairs. LDSC provides wheelchairs - standard wheelchairs and RoughRiders along with tricycles and crutches and white canes for the blind. Rakesh and his staff review wheelchair applications, transport our wheelchairs to the distribution points, and assess and fit wheelchairs to recipients. I didn't know until I got here that not all people should have a wheelchair, and all recipients need to have the correct wheelchair fitted to them. Those disabled who can't sit by themselves or have to be tied into wheelchairs should not have wheelchairs. The wheelchairs would harm them or potentially put them at risk for falls. But once wheelchairs are properly fitted to those who are good candidates for wheelchairs, it is like Christmas.
Jim and I are not trained to do wheelchair fittings, but we are asked to come for the closing ceremony. (Nepalese love ceremonies with dignitaries and certificates.) Many of the fittings were done before we get there, so we get to go in and visit with a lot of happy people. This was our first distribution and our Nepali language was not too good, but we smiled a lot and gave a lot of hugs. We were treated like royalty. However the real royals are those who are disabled who live in rough circumstances and find a way to get to a distribution point. Their families have to bring them in from villages and hamlets. Sometimes the disabled come on someone's back tied up in a sling. Sometimes they get to the distribution point in an old wheelchair that is worn out. Sometimes they just crawl to where ever they need to go.
Below is the distribution point in Chitwan. It was an assembly type hall on a hospital campus. There were people inside and outside; some were waiting for their chairs and some already had them. You will notice the boxes to the right that were once just wheelchairs parts that needed to be assembled. The good thing about the Chitwan distribution is that the warehouse where we keep our wheelchairs is here. The plan was to distribute about 45 -50 wheelchairs, but we had 62 qualified recipients. Since we had the warehouse close by, the staff could go get more chairs. That is not always the case. When we go to other areas, the staff goes up ahead of the chairs and they interview and take measurements of those who need chairs. Then the right number of chairs is sent to the distribution. But if someone has not contacted the office and they show up for a wheelchair, there are no extra chairs. Those people have to wait until we come again. That is hard for them and for us.
People have to get to the distribution point. They come in a myriad of ways. The Nepalese are very creative. This man below had modified his wheelchair. It is not an LSCS wheelchair. He put on pedals that he could use with his hands. He had a cover over his head to keep the sun off him. He brought in someone to get a wheelchair. The man to the left in the blue baseball cap is Rakesh Hamel. It is his organization that we work with to distribute wheelchairs. He is big believer that if you give the disabled a chance, they can do great things, but he is no pushover. I could tell you many of his success stories, but there is hardly room enough. Let's just say he has disabled people with prestigious scholarships, who own their own successful businesses, and are medical professors. He works hard. He employs many on his staff that are disabled and they do the work despite their disability. He is very highly respected here in Kathmandu.
The next two pictures are of one of our trained assessors. He is putting together one of the RoughRider chairs. He is pleasant and kind to everyone, but he is disabled himself. I have no idea if he has a wheelchair or not, because he didn't use one while we were there. He uses his hands and one foot to get around. He has another leg, but it is turned the wrong direction so he kind of curls it up under him and scoots around taking measurements for chairs and putting them together. He is fully employed and takes care of himself and his wife. Other disabled people like to be around him. He represents what they would all like to be. FYI: RoughRider chairs are for people who are a little stronger and have to go longer distances. They are made for people in more rural areas or who have long distances to travel. The wheels are bigger, but they would be difficult to take on city buses.
Below is a picture of one of the recipients in his wheelchair. I know he looks like a child but he is actually 21 years old. He has come with his caretaker, but he wants the freedom to have some sort of independence. A wheelchair can do that for him.
This is my favorite picture. The older teen/young adult below with the smile as big as a crescent moon is sitting in his new wheelchair. He has the best attitude. Once he got his wheelchair, he wheeled himself around and entertained and tickled the children who were there. He would make them laugh so hard that they would almost fall out of their chairs. Look at the boy to his left. He would just start to laugh when this young man would even come close. The day was long and hot and humid, but this great young man helped to keep everyone as happy as possible. I need to get to know more Nepali, but my hope for him is that he can now go to school, get an education, and use his talent for making people happy in some way that will provide him an income and his own independence.
The girl below and her mother were there when we first arrived. Her mother grabbed me and tried to talk to me in Nepali. Her daughter was not in a wheelchair but sat quietly in one of the plastic chairs. I could tell her mother was very anxious and upset. I sent over one of the staff to visit with her to see what was bothering her. She was obviously one of those who had shown up for distribution that we did not know was coming. Once they took her measurements and assessed that she could sit in the wheelchair on her own, they sent a truck off to get her a wheelchair. I was surprised that they gave her a RoughRider instead of a standard chair, but she must have needed it or they would not have given her that type. I was glad she had the chance to get one. It doesn't always work that way and those times are heart wrenching.
The ceremony is over and here is the room full of wheelchair recipients. Some are old and some are young with all ages in between. Getting a wheelchair is a relief to the recipient as well as the caregiver - most often a mother.
The man in the striped shirt below got his second wheelchair. He use to play basketball on a disabled team, but his wheelchair was old, and he couldn't play. Now he can get back to playing. Isn't that wonderful!!! I think he is also one of our peer trainers who helps other disabled learn to handle life in a wheelchair like getting in and out, bladder issues, sores, and repairing and maintenance, and more. The older gentleman is blind. He came to get a white stick which we also give out. Before he left he wanted to feel a wheelchair so he could "see" what they look like. The wheelchair person was more than happy to give this older man a tour of his chair with his hands.
The picture below was when we first arrived. There was a room full of people to meet and that is what we did. We did our best to get to everyone. "Nameste" was about the best greeting we could give in their language, but these people were warm and receptive and the fact that we moved to everyone we could was good enough for them. Sometimes the disabled are the "forgotten" people.
This is the closing ceremony. There are four of us missionaries (Jim is taking the picture) and the rest are government officials who came to speak. They all seemed to have something important to say, so we sat quietly and clapped at the appropriate places since we do not understand their language.
I don't know if we are doing just the right things done or serving all the people that we should be serving, but I do know this. We are happy to be here. The Nepali people are so kind and loving. They live in a beautiful land that has seen some difficult times, but they are working to correct their problems as fast as they can in a way that will work for them. Our way is not always their way and our way is definitely not always the best way. For those who are reading our blog, Jim and I believe that we are all God's children. And Heavenly Father expects us to serve others when we can. We believe we can serve anywhere too - in our home, in our schools, in our city, literally anywhere. So we have chosen to serve here. We have a deep belief that Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. That belief motivates us to try to be better everyday. Some days we do better than others, but we are trying. I suspect Jim and I will never look at things quite the same as we did before we came to our "Adventure in Nepal."
