Badly needed wheelchairs donated to N.W.C.
If you’ve got two legs and they’re both working fine, then chances are that you’ve never given much thought to the subject of wheelchairs. But if you’re not so fortunate, and the only thing between you and life as a recluse are those two big tires, then suddenly–as News 5’s Jacqueline Woods discovered–a wheelchair is a very big deal.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
We’re not sure how eight-year-old Lloyd Gillett felt as he tried out his first wheelchair, but having been born a paraplegic, Gillett has remained indoors for most of his life. Therese Gillett says she is happy to receive the gift that will help her son finally become mobile.
Therese Gillett, Lloyd’s Mother
“Well most of the time he is at home with his father or I stay at home with him because he’s heavy and we can’t take him all the time…It will help him because he is very heavy right now and I don’t have a wheelchair and so I am very appreciative to get one.”
The wheel chair is just one of hundreds that have been donated to the national Women’s Commission by the Wheelchair Foundation of the United States and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, better known as the Mormons.
Joan Musa, President, Nat’l Women’s Commission
“We are very, very grateful for this very generous donation. Apparently it is five hundred and eighty-three wheelchairs. And people might ask and we have been asked already, why do we need so many wheelchairs? But this will be distributed countrywide. We are doing this through a new organization, a new NGO, CARE Belize which hopes to help people with physical disabilities of all ages throughout the country. So we will be distributing it throughout the country to individuals, children who might need to go to school and also to institutions, for example, Helpage Belize, Mercy Clinic and the Special Education Units in the districts and the medical facilities.”
This morning during a brief handing over ceremony fifteen of the wheel chairs were distributed. The rest of the equipment will be given out over the next two weeks.
Garry Flake, Representative, Wheelchair Foundation
“This is the seventeenth country where we are giving wheelchairs to those in need.”
Jacqueline Woods
“It’s free of cost?”
Garry Flake
“It’s free of cost and of course we are working through the National Women’s Commission, a wonderful organisation here in Belize who are identifying those that cannot afford wheelchairs and can use them. It’s a donation; it helps improve the mobility of people who are so in need.”
However, as the N.W.C. helps to mobilize the disabled, Musa says they will also be working towards making facilities more accessible to those who are physically handicapped.
Joan Musa
“I think this is definitely something that we have to look at. Not just buildings, but also the streets where people will be walking and going already with the Belize Council for the Visually Impaired. We have a problem with our blind people on the streets, the drainage, so we will be focussing this on the coming months, because hopefully there will be more people out now with wheelchairs, there’ll be more people included in the society.”
If you know someone who is in need of a wheelchair, please contact CARE Belize at 227-7776 for more information. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.
The Mormon Church has been operating in Belize for over two decades. Its charitable work has traditionally focussed on disaster relief.
