Fundación Esperanza Nuestra is a nonprofit organization that provides inpatient and outpatient rehab for people with spinal cord injuries. Their director, Patricio, and fellow administrator Rosanna are in wheelchairs themselves. Patricio had polio as a child and Rosanna was in a car accident that left her without the use of her legs.
This project included the donation of 300 wheelchairs, along with gel cushions, walkers, forearm crutches, axillary crutches, and canes. Three different types of wheelchairs were donated: standard, active, and all-terrain.
A three-day basic training course was held to train fourteen clinicians and technicians that are employed/contracted with the Fundación. Also in attendance were community volunteers and twenty students. Each person who completed the course was certified according to World Health Organization standards.
The course consisted of two days of training, and one day of clinic, where potential wheelchair recipients were evaluated, prescribed, fit, and educated using the wheelchair user’s guide. Sixteen wheelchairs were donated on the last day of the course. The remainder of the chairs and mobility devices will be donated throughout the coming year. We will monitor monthly, by making home visits and auditing the foundation records.
Let’s back up a little. The wheelchairs arrived in Chile at the port in Valparaiso on October 12 and we have spent a month trying to get them delivered. We have had a small army of people working from Salt Lake and from Santiago to get the release from customs authorized. We have lost sleep over this project! Every day we were told they would be delivered the following day, but weeks went by with regular requests for more money or a new form that needed to be filled out. And so, our trainers, Matt Daybell (Rexburg, Idaho), Oscar Corbo, and Edgar Nunez (Paraguay), arrived Sunday night with the wheelchairs still at the port. Guido Lucas, our supervisor from Buenos Aries also joined us.
Monday– we set up the classroom space- no wheelchairs.
Tuesday– we were supposed to be assembling wheelchairs but since they had not arrived, we took our trainers on a tour. Edgar had never seen mountains, so we drove up a very windy road to the local ski resort, Valle Nevado. Because there were so many hairpin curves, they were numbered. The poppies on the hillsides were beautiful and the condors put on quite a show for us. Edgar touched his first snow at the top. He was so curious and excited about all the new things he was seeing and experiencing. Edgar had another request- to ride the metro. So, we rode the subway to a restaurant for a Peruvian dinner.
Wednesday– Day one of training- still no wheelchairs!
Thursday- Day two of training and no chairs in sight. Our trainers modified their teaching schedule from plan A to Plan B, C, D, and E.
After fielding many phone calls, a truck pulled up with a huge container at 4:30 p.m. Class stopped and it was all hands on deck unloading the chairs. Missionaries from the Santiago West mission came to help. The chairs arrived just in the nick of time as recipients were scheduled to receive chairs the next day. As boxes were unloaded students began to assemble the wheelchairs. We pled with Heavenly Father that the chairs would be delivered in time for this training. It came to the point that there was nothing else we could do to fight the bureaucracy. Richard, our buyer, who has hounded customs for the last several weeks said, “There is only one way these chairs are going to be delivered in time and that is by the Lord’s intervention.” I think these things happen sometimes to remind us that this is His work, and we are totally dependent on Him. We are so grateful for our wheelchair miracle!
Friday- This was the day we had all been looking forward to. We witnessed sixteen people receive wheelchairs. The smiles and tears on the faces of the recipients were very moving. One sweet lady sobbed, and her sweet husband tenderly wiped her tears. Others were just beaming- their smiles lit up the room! This was a never to be forgotten experience.
It was a privilege to work with this dream team this week.
Over 70 million people, an estimated 1% of the world’s population, need a wheelchair. In developing countries, less than 10% of these people have received one. Latter-Day Saint charities is working to provide more people with wheelchairs and walking aids. Through our wheelchair initiative, we are helping to increase independence, inclusion, mobility, health, and educational and economic opportunities for people with physical disabilities. Currently, Latter-Day Saint Charities wheelchair initiative includes partnerships with 90 local government agencies and nonprofits in 70 countries.
We squeezed in a visit with our Seventh Day Adventist friends (ADRA) since the Director for South America was in town. We have several humanitarian projects we are collaborating on with them.
After training each day, we went into the office until midnight to catch up on emails. We are exhausted!
We had the lovely sister missionaries who serve in our area over for lunch on Sunday. Hermana Jones (New York), Hermana Burr (Utah), Hermanas Ruiz & Leiva (Argentina).
Abrazos, Élder y Hermana Lamb, (aka Ed & Debbie, Mom & Dad, Pop Pop & Tu Tu)
Lambs in Central Europe 