One of our two chairs may have been this pediatric tilt-in-space donated from The Hattie Larlham Foundation
Dear Wheels of Hope family,
We have great news to share with you from The Wheelchair Project. We have just finished our first major Wheelchair Distribution in Yangon, Myanmar (formally Rangoon, Burma) with 41 Wheelchairs distributed, which Wheels of Hope helped make possible through their many donations. (Wheels of Hope chairs are in such high demand that they get snatched up really quick and it was the point in the year that we were just about to receive your container rather than just after. Because of this it looks like there were only two Wheels of Hope wheelchairs that we had available to take.) These distributions took place in Mae Sai and Yangon from January 27-30, 2016.
We ran into some difficulty in planning as the event dates were changed again and again until finally we were confronted with two overlapping distribution commitments: the Yangon distribution and one involving another 25 wheelchair recipients in Mae Sai, a town up at the northern Thailand border.This meant that we had to split our team …
God provided additional technical support in Mae Sai from the Rotary Club in Utteradit even though we did not have funds in the budget for them. They graciously shouldered all their expenses on their own. This greatly aided those of our team that remained in Mae Sai.
Despite the extremely cold temperatures for SE Asia, the distribution went very smoothly and was perceived and received as a great success. We have again seen how God has prepared the way to meet both physical and spiritual needs, and look forward to eternity where we will be able to see how God has used our feeble efforts.
The same thing goes for our distribution in Yangon, Myanmar. After a lengthy process involving a lot of phone calls to officials on both sides of the border, they were able to clear all the hurdles: moving the wheelchairs through customs and 350 miles by truck, a two day journey due to the present condition of the roads. The team was also granted complimentary visas, made possible through the cooperation of the highest levels at the Royal Thai Embassy in Yangon and the newly-opened Myanmar General Consulate in Chiang Mai. Thai officials from the Department of Mental health, Ministry of Public Health and the Royal Thai Embassy to Myanmar also came to diplomatically oversee the distribution. It is amazing to see how much Myanmar has changed even just in the past 3 years, and we are awestruck at the openness with which we were received.
Marveling at the many players that came together to make these distributions possible.
Myanmar locals also joined the team to minister to recipients. We were also able to distribute Burmese Bibles, delivered by a Myanmar volunteer who traveled almost three hours to Yangon. We were also able to translate a leaflet of Joni Earekson Tada’s story into Burmese. Her story has always been an encouragement to our patients here in Thailand.
An Invacare donated wheelchair is cause for rejoicing.
Her smile says it all!
After the distribution, others from the National Rehabilitation Hospital came to us requesting Bibles or any printed information we had. What a privilege and blessing that we had the liberty to openly serve in this capacity as well!
Every evening, during our hosts’ wonderfully prepared meals, we were able to talk to many dignitaries from both the Thai and Burmese sides with the consensus that we were invited to do further distributions in the near future. In summary, we can say that this distribution was historic and groundbreaking.
A new program to train the Myanmarese technicians involved in the distributions is in the planning stage. Please pray for divine preparation and timing for this program and future distributions, and join with us in rejoicing for all the good and glorious things our God has done for us.
Greetings and Blessings,
The RICD Wheelchair Project Team
Hope in Motion 