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.