Day 7 - Wheels for the World in Jinja, Uganda 2022

Day 7 - Wheels for the World in Jinja, Uganda 2022

Team members and a young girl in her new wheelchair

We've got an amazing Wheels for the World team hard at work in Jinja, Uganda until the 18th June -- they'll be distributing and fitting wheelchairs to local disabled people with the partnership of our friends at RILD. Here's Rob's update from day 7 --the final day of wheelchair distribution. Thank you for all your prayer support over the last week.

Day 7:

37 people seen with 23 chairs given from only 15 usable ones in the morning! Last day of wheelchair fitting today. Tomorrow home visits.

What is always hard on the last day is having to adapt chairs which are too big for smaller people. Or having to decide that we have no appropriate chair for them.

The people pre-assessed had come. But many more came just because they heard about it. Around 8 children came right at the end! This was very sad, but Kathy was able to do a therapy session with them and Carol was able to give some small gifts and talk to them as well. And some went even with an adapted walker as a seat to be pushed on!

a young man with his new wheelchair, with his brothers on either side of himOne young man with cerebral palsy was a delight to see! His two brothers had brought him. He was fitted for an attendant propelled chair, which has to be pushed by someone. He kept point at the wheels and making motions of pushing a bigger wheel. We tried him in a self- propelling chair and he was so delighted he shrieked with excitement. Moving the wheel and the whole chair just a few inches back and forth gave him great delight. Suffice to say he kept the chair and was very happy!

A middle aged local taxi driver arrived with an elderly client. He was wide eyed and said to me “I have never seen so many people with disabilities together in one place. I didn’t even know people lived like this…”. A reminder that so many people are kept shut away and unable to move around.

Pastor Joseph took me aside and said so many people had been calling him to say thank you for their wheelchairs. One said they went to school for the first time in years thanks to their new chair! What encouragements!

Tomorrow we have some clinic visits to donate transit chairs, before some community visits to understand some of the local situations of 3 beneficiaries.

A hard day, but the team were sustained! Thank you for your prayers!

Some end of distribution stats:
Total for all days -
217 total consultations
116 chairs
67 people given crutches
12 walking sticks
9 frames (inc Zimmer and rolator)
6 wheeled walkers
6 advice only
6 chairs given to hospitals

Two people smiling - one is in their new fitted walker
a new recipient tests out their chaiar
A look across the distribution site, with people sitting waiting to be seen underneath a shelter
a young man with his new wheelchair, with his brothers on either side of him
a young girl in her new wheelchair with a family member
Team members and a young girl in her new wheelchair
Team members interviewed for the local news
One recipient kneeling as they make their way across the floor
A child and team member praying together
A child testing out their new walker across the distribution centre
Loading up a family and a new wheelchair on a motorbike
A team member and a mobility aid recipient smiling together after a fitting
a child in a yellow football top sits in his new walker
The wheels for the world team meeting the local partners
A rainbow spotted over the distribution site
A mother and child reading a book while they wait for a fitting
Assessing a potential recipient
Making adjustments to some foam and wheelchair parts
A child in a red t shirt in their new wheelchair
The team wheelchair races, as one team member celebrates crossing the line while another pushes them
Recipients and family gathered waiting in the distribution centre
One new recipients lifting up his arms in celebration
Fitting a buggy for a young child
Inside the team van after buying foam for wheelchair adjustments

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