Dick writes:
For the past 2 days I have been helping out with a Hope Haven wheelchair distribution in Antigua. During these 2 days we gave out around 30 children's wheelchairs. Most of these chairs were ones that were manufactured in Hope Haven's Antigua wheelchair factory. During this 2 day event many of the factory workers who are themselves in wheelchairs were active in seating those that came in to receive wheelchairs.
It was good to see Guatemalan's with disabilities being helped by fellow Guatemalan's who also had disabilities. I am seeing this take place at Bethel Ministries wheelchair shop in Chimaltenango as well and it is great to witness. It was not that many years ago that only a few of us (all Americans) did specialty seating but that is rapidly changing.
Am I worried about working myself out of something to do by helping train these workers? Not as long as there is so much need here in Guatemala. Besides that I think that it should be the responsibility of every missionary to train nationals to take over where ever possible. I am praying that some of my boys can someday do the same in other facets of this ministry. I don't have to worry that I will run out of things to do though because the needs here in Guatemala are endless.
I loved working with this mom and her daughter. This young lady could not even move her hands to point to the pictures, but clearly could indicate what she wanted by looking at one of two large pictures. As soon as I walked away, I turned around to see Mom working with her and the communication cards. This absolutely made my day!~~Pat
Pat Came along to the distribution on Friday and although see spent most of her time working on communication booklets with the kids she even managed to help work on a few wheelchairs. I was honored, and more than a little amazed that Dick actually allowed me to touch, let alone use his tools—guess he was getting tired since this was the last chair he worked on!~~Pat
Both Pat and I are continually amazed at the love that so many of the parents have for their children that they bring in for wheelchairs. Just today one of the mothers told us that she viewed her special needs child as a gift from God. It was not all that long ago that most Guatemalan parents looked at a child like the one pictured below as a curse from God. As I look back to when I first came to Guatemala 11 years ago I see a big change in not only the attitude of family members towards the disabled but also the attitude of the general public in general.
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