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Canadian Forces to Distribute Wheelchairs in Afghanistan

afghan_canada_largeConservative MP Russ Hiebert, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence, announced ‘Operation Mobility’, a special initiative that will see Canadian Forces personnel in Afghanistan deliver over 500 wheelchairs to disabled Afghanis.

“These wheelchairs send a message that Canadians, including Canada’s Armed Forces, care about the people of Afghanistan,” said Hiebert.

“The wheelchairs our soldiers will distribute are going to dramatically improve the lives of disabled Afghanis, giving hope and opportunity to each of them and their families,” he said.
Due to decades of warfare, and millions of landmines and un-exploded ordinances, Afghanistan is a nation where an estimated one in five adult males is missing at least one leg.

“Our Canadian Forces are in Afghanistan to help rebuild that shattered country.  With this special project our soldiers will be helping to rebuild the lives of many individual Afghanis who have lost limbs to landmines,” Hiebert said.

The aid project, Operation Mobility, is a joint effort between the Wheelchair Foundation of Canada, the Canadian Forces and CIDA.  The project was made possible by an anonymous donor from British Columbia, himself a former soldier and veteran of the Second World War.

To view the “Afghanistan – Canada” video, please click here.

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The Wheelchair Foundation Distributes Over 5,000 Wheelchairs In Afghanistan

The Wheelchair Foundation joined today with the U.S. Departments of Defense and State to distribute more than 5,000 wheelchairs to disabled Afghans, opening the project with a major distribution at Camp Watan, a high security counter-terrorism training facility in Kabul.

Wheelchair Foundation founder Kenneth E. Behring of Danville, California, was accompanied by Defense and State officials, Afghanistan Minister of Martyrs and Disabled Abdullah Wardak, as well as several private contributors, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Knights of Columbus, who helped sponsor the wheelchairs.  David Sedney, U.S. Embassy Kabul Charge d’Affaires, represented the United States.

“We are here to show the love and friendship of the people of the United States of America,” Mr. Behring told an audience of over 300, seated beneath a bright yellow awning in the center of Camp Watan.  “We are here to show that we care.  Our hope is to give you hope ? to help provide freedom and dignity, so you can more fully enjoy life.”

Many of the recipients were victims of landmines who crawled to the event to receive a wheelchair.  Others were carried on the backs of family members and friends.

“The Wheelchair Foundation is part of the American spirit of giving and sharing,” Charge d’Affaires Sedney told the gathering.  “This event never would have been without Ken Behring, his vision, and those who support the Wheelchair Foundation.”

Minister Abdullah Wardak offered an overview of the years of war that have ravaged his country and disabled over 2 million Afghans.  Denouncing the Soviet invasion and terrorists who continue to create strife in his country, he said: “The disabled of Afghanistan have not lost their limbs on accident, or without meaning.  They have lost them as sacrifices for freedom.  The wounds of the Soviet invasion had not yet healed before we fell victim to the terrorists.” He thanked Ken Behring and the Foundation for their work and announced the formation of an official committee to oversee the distribution, training and maintenance of wheelchairs.

The goal of the Wheelchair Foundation is to provide a wheelchair to everyone in the world who needs one, but cannot afford one.  Today’s distribution was part of ongoing public-private American partnership to aid in reconstruction and humanitarian relief overseas.

Since 2000, the Wheelchair Foundation has delivered more than 160,000 wheelchairs in over 100 countries to victims of war, disability and disease.  An estimated 100 to 130 million disabled people worldwide need wheelchairs, with the greatest need existing in developing countries.

“The Afghan people have suffered a great deal, and we are blessed to have the means to help lighten their load a little,” said Mr. Behring, who has personally distributed wheelchairs to many war-torn nations.  “When I see the happiness on the faces of the people who get a wheelchair, I feel that this is the best thing I have ever done in my life.”

The leading cause of disabilities worldwide is landmines, particularly in developing nations like Afghanistan.

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Openly Dancing

afghan_dancing_largeNasir Durani is the president of an indigenous Afghan/American Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Afghanistan named The Afghan Center.  Upon completing a recent wheelchair distribution in Kabul, Nasir filed a report, which read in part:

Kabul – Wednesday, June 25, 2003 – The capital of Afghanistan was a scene of emotions and jubilation as it witnessed the distribution of brand new wheelchairs to 240 disabled people. Many had lost both legs as a result of amputation for shrapnel wounds. Their conditions were primarily caused by land mines, grenade explosions or polio.  The Wheelchairs were donated by The Wheelchair Foundation and the Seton Institute of Redwood City, California, and were distributed in Afghanistan by he Afghan Center.

Today, Afghan Television reported in its 7:00 pm prime time news: “The only way I can describe Kabul today is a grateful city.  Our disabled sisters and brothers heard that for the first time, an Afghan/American NGO, the Afghan Center, in partnership with the Wheelchair Foundation and the Seton Institute, and the Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled of the Transitional Islamic Government of Afghanistan, distributed wheelchairs in one of Kabul’s largest humanitarian assistance efforts, freeing 240 individuals and their families from imminent danger of total paralysis and confinement to their beds.”

Mothers, brothers, sisters and neighbors accompanied their disabled loved ones, all becoming overwhelmed with jubilant emotions and crying out with joy and happiness.  Tears were raining down their sunburned and freckled cheeks.

According to the UN and the Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled, there are 24,000 disabled individuals registered with the two organizations.  Over 1,000 of these people from all walks of life, ethnicity and gender attended with their friends and relatives at their side. They came from across the capital, from as far away as Paghman, 25kn West of Kabul, on whatever modes of transportation they could find, including mules and donkeys.

Working with district representatives, the Afghan Center identified 240 of the most qualified disabled persons in the area.  The crowd was overwhelmed by feelings and emotions when some 25 women and children were carried to the distribution site, and once settled into their wheelchairs, their facial expression and emotions could only be described as giving a person a second chance to live.

Despite Afghan cultural constraints forbidding girls and women from expressing their feelings in public, the recipients could not refrain from dancing openly.  Their eyes brightened and, along with hundreds in the audience, they started moving their hands and started dancing.  Words cannot possibly capture the true picture and emotion of the scene.

Since my arrival in Kabul 2 weeks ago, I have been watching a 19-year-old boy named Najib who lives next to our local office.  He has been confined to his bed for the past year and a half from an accident.  This morning the bed was folded and there was no sign of Najib.  Looking out from the second floor window of the office, we noticed a large crowd outside.  Najib was the center of attention; he was the hero.  He was proudly briefing children on the operation of his new wheelchair.  He was surrounded by dozens of curious children asking him how he felt and touching his wheelchair.  He said, “I do not want to go home.  I want to go to the shop down the street, and school and play outside, to feel the outside air.”

The Wheelchair Foundation, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and The Knights of Columbus are currently sponsoring 5,000 wheelchairs to the disabled citizens of Afghanistan.  In conjunction with the United States Department of Defense, and the United States Department of State, these wheelchairs are being transported and distributed in Afghanistan by various NGO’s currently working with the disabled population.  Wheelchair Foundation founder Ken Behring and an delegation of dignitaries will be traveling to Afghanistan in September of this year to take part in wheelchair distributions in and around Kabul.  An additional 5,000 wheelchairs are scheduled to follow shortly thereafter.

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