The Freedom of a Wheelchair

Hi, I’m Joni, and being disabled in a poor country overseas? Let me tell you, it is so very hard. You and I, we take so much for granted here in America – even though our health insurance needs reforming, in a country like Guatemala or Ukraine or Uganda, disabled people wish there were such a thing as insurance! Or even good, ethical procedures to oversee the quality of medical care, if it’s available. Take what happened to Karina in El Salvador. 

Many years ago, this young woman suffered a traumatic brain injury when she tragically fell from a bridge. Karina is poor, and she and her small family live on very little. Thankfully, there was a free clinic in her community and so she was grateful when she was accepted there for treatment. The doctors at the free clinic could only do so much and, in fact, surgical complications left her paralyzed from the waist down. It was so sad; I mean, here she went to the clinic to be treated for a head injury and she left a paralytic. And in a country like hers, there is no recourse when things like this happen; there wasn’t much Karina or her husband could do about it. 

To add insult to injury, she left that clinic without even a wheelchair. They didn’t give her a wheelchair! Karina went home to her husband and two daughters – he works to provide for the family, and those two children – they’re the ones who have to care for their mom. And without a wheelchair, even in their little house, well, Karina has had to drag herself from one room to the other, her legs being pulled behind her. Life is incredibly hard for this woman – not to mention the challenge of preparing meals, cleaning, helping her little girls. 

But all of it changed when Wheels for the World came to her town in El Salvador. And as soon as she was placed in her new, properly-fitted wheelchair, Karina’s face brightened – I mean, her life had been transformed. From her new wheelchair, she’s now able to care for her two daughters, participate in church, do chores around her little house, and get out into the mainstream of life. And you just gotta see her incredible smile, so visit joniradio.org today to see a photo that I’ve posted of Karina, right there in her brand-new wheelchair. 

Karina has a few people to thank for that special wheelchair. Of course, she’s most grateful to the Lord Jesus for his salvation and his Word, and the gift He gave of mobility. And, of course, she thanks our Wheels for the World team, but Karina is also grateful for the disabled person in America who donated that wheelchair, and the volunteers who brought it to Wheels for the World. I mean, what a wonderful story, and you can be a part of a story like this. Proverbs 14 says that when we are kind to the needy, we are actually honoring God. And you can do that by helping us collect wheelchairs in your area. I mean, we depend on people like you to provide us used but serviceable wheelchairs, which we then restore and shape up and shine up and make them look like showroom new. From there? Each wheelchair is carefully wrapped and shipped to give to people like Karina. 

So, this being Wheelchair Collection Month, I’m putting out a call for you to serve with our Wheelchair Volunteer team. That’s made up of several hundred people across the US who find those wheelchairs, collect them for Wheels for the World. And for more details, I’ve got a link to our wheelchair page on joniradio.org. Again, that’s joniradio.org. And as you help us give wheelchairs – and you might want to even sponsor one, donate to support one – help us give them to needy disabled people like Karina – you are being kind to the needy. And best of all, in so doing, you are honoring God! Yep, visit joniradio.org, where we love sharing hope through every hardship.

© Joni and Friends