Give Mobility: Wheelchairs for Nicaraguan Children

Who is gifting children and adults with mobility in Matagalpa Nicaragua? A great team made up of three young men with auditory problems, one man who suffers from convulsions and one accountant supervisor consulting with two part-time therapists.  They have all received training in seating and fitting wheel chairs and two members have  been a part of the workshop from the beginning,distributing more than 2000 wheel chairs over the years of the wheel chair workshop

More than 26 young people have received training during the 14 years that the wheel chair workshop has been operating. This training  allows them to experience the excitement  of seeing children become more independent and mobile almost simultaneously as they receive their wheel chair or mobility aide.  Some of these young people have been former gang members some have been students some have had physical disabilities and intellectual disabiites but all developed a love for helping others and matching people with the wheel chair that will make a difference in their lives.  The current group have been there from the start, using their skills to help others learn how to work with wheel chairs.   

Over the last few months this team has been busy preparing wheel chairs which were sent in a container all the way from Minnesota USA to Matagalpa Nica.  in 2017.  They have been reparing wheel chairs for walk ins or maybe I should say roll-ins who need adaptation on their wheelchairs or maybe blew a tire or had another wheelchair malfunction or maybe just plain maintenance, which we teach wheelchair owners and encourage them to take care of their wheelchairs. 

There will be a brigade coming from Minnesota led by a father of a young woman who has spent her whole life in a wheel chair.  During the time this Brigade of Therapists is in Matagalpa they will distribute wheel chairs to the poorest children making sure each one has the correct fitting and type of wheel chair.  The skills that our young people have are much like a detective.  They search the different wheel chairs and wheel chair parts to find the chair that best suits each person.  maybe the person needs more support for their head or needs to be in a reclining posture or needs a sports lightweight wheel chair.  

This is discovered through team work as professionals share their observations with the team who in most cases begin inventing a new wheel chair.  These wheel chairs would have been thrown into landfills in the US but instead they were sent lovingly to Nica in an annual shipment; coming from a variety of donors from Easter Seals-Goodwill to individual donors who no longer need their chairs but still love them and want them to continue serving others.  

A recent addition to the wheel chair team is Heimy a young psychologist  who works in Special Families Social Employment Program.  Because of Cerbal Pasly she  has had to live her life in a wheel chair.  She is consulting with the team and at the same time making a decision to become more independent herself. She finished her University studies in Managua in a motorized wheelchair.  Now she is working to build her physical strength and wants to leave her motorized wheel chair for a more lightweight chair that she can get around in more places. Meantime she and the supervisor are engaging the team in a class of learning the deaf language of signs.  This weekly class helps all with their communication and creates more of a sense of dignity in the workshop as all disabilities are welcome to help others find mobility.