Wheelchair Hand-Over

On Monday, we were asked by the Humanitarian missionaries in Kampala to go to a "Wheel chair hand-over" here in Gulu, to represent the Church in their behalf.  They were not able to get here in time and we were happy to do it.  The church recently donated 350 wheelchairs to this area and they have all been given out but they also donated some money to a company here in Gulu to make some more.  It was a wonderful experience for us.  We had driven past a place several times with a sign that read "Disabled Persons Union" and wondered what it was.  Now we know.  They employ many handicapped persons and also help many others.  There are a lot of land mine victims in this area and the victims run a pottery shop there where they have a large wood fired kiln and make pots, besides their main product which is ventilator bricks for construction.  Right now it is shut down due to a lack of good clay but Monica, it's head person, showed us around and told us all about it.

There were 5 wheel chairs given out on Monday, and then again on Thursday they gave out some more. The Beckles, the humanitarian missionaries were present for that one.  They spent Wednesday night with us and that was fun!

The Recipients

This man is the non paid chairman of the citizen's Union  and talked about how the
 Disabled Person's Union came to be.  He is also in a wheelchair.

This little girl is 4 years old  and she has cerebral palsy.

The man on the left is Fred and he is the managing director of the Disabled Person's Union.  He is paralyzed from the waist down from falling out of a tree when he was 10 years old.  He's a very friendly, talented and committed advocate for the handicapped.

This little girl was very upset at first when put in the wheelchair but after I took her picture and showed it to her she was happy again.

A better look at Fred, the director.

Thursday's recipients with Elder and Sister Beckle, the humanitarian missionaries.

The wood fired kiln where they fire the ventilator bricks and other pottery.

Ventilator Bricks which are placed over windows to allow air movement in and out of the house.
Fred is also a ceramics artist.  He's not able to use the kick wheel but does sculpturing.

The machine that makes the bricks.

Monica is the director of the ceramics program at the Disabilities Union.  She lost her right leg and her baby when she stepped on a land mine about 15 years ago during the war here.  She also has burn scars on both arms and has an artificial leg from the knee down.

This is Monica's office.