Give Mobility: Wheelchairs for Nicaraguan Children

Alicia calls FE and very nervously asks “Do you have any wheel chairs?  My daughter was born with paralysis and she does not have a wheel chair.”  Mark visits the workshop, asking for a wheel chair for his brother whose chair no longer serves since he has grown and now cannot fit in the chair, so his mobility is limited.  We answer very nervously because we feel bad that we do not have any wheel chairs and we know the importance of  mobility. 

 But we do have hope and continue to tell the Alicias and Marks that we hope to get some and if any are returned to us we will call them.  We have a waiting list, and  we do have hope. Our staff continues to works on maintenance and repair of wheel chairs and giving out other mobility aides. They are trying to put together some wheel chairs from the pieces that we do have. There is no manufacturing of specialized wheel chairs and other mobility equipment in Nicaragua.  There is a workshop that does produce standard wheel chairs but sometimes it functions and sometimes it does not. 

In order to get wheel chairs we have 5 steps in USA  and 5  in Nica

 Outside nica USA

1. Organization to donate specialized wheels
2. Organization willing to collect and store  wheel chairs &  get them ready for shipping
3. Volunteers to load the container
4. Shipment company that specializes in sending containers for nonprofits 
5. The expenses are all taken care of in the country (USA)

 In Nica

1. We need an organization that can officially receive the container 
2. We need an organization that can exonerate the container fill out forms etc.
3. We need to get it shipped to Matagalpa
4. We need to pay for all expenses in Nica
5. Place to receive the wheel chairs (taken care of)

Unload the container celebrate with the staff.

 We have the five in USA thanks to Nicaragua Wisconsin Wheel Chair Project, and the desire to keep wheel chairs out of the landfills.

Before the crisis in Nica we were able to work all this out receiving a minimum of 1 container a year.  We are working continually to see how we can cover the 5 steps in Nica now duriong the crisis. We are slowly finding new contacts and working with new groups. We will not give up because we have  many Alicias and Marks in Nica who need mobility for their family members.. We had hoped to get into the rural areas and search for children there but if we do not have chairs that does not make any sense. Standard wheel chairs will not suffice and that is what most groups think will solve our problem. We believe anything is possible, so join us in this struggle. We appreciate your support because anything is possible and people need mobility now.

Links:

• http://www.wnwp.org/aboutwnwp.php