Miracle in Pakistan

The inmates worked tirelessly to refurbish the last of the wheelchairs. Supported by Joni and Friend’s prison ministry, they had worked for weeks on the 300 chairs that would soon make their way to Pakistan.

With the wheelchairs restored to a like-new condition, Joni and Friends contacted Global Operations and Development (GO&D) to make our shared vision-providing villagers in Balakot, Pakistan with desperately needed wheelchairs and orthopedic supplies - a reality. GO&D had developed this project in collaboration with Joni and Friends and Compassion Radio to address the lack of essential aid reaching Pakistan.

Plans developed quickly as GO&D filled boxes with over 300 pieces of orthopedic equipment including wheelchairs, crutches, and walkers. Volunteers from local rehabilitation homes worked alongside GO&D employees. They shared in the excitement that very soon countless men, women, and children disabled by the devastating earthquake would receive the gift of mobility.

GO&D volunteers such as Jerry T. eagerly shared the joy derived from working to help others. “I like coming here because I know the work we are doing is for a good cause, helping people who would not be able to afford these types of things it blesses me at the same time.” Jerry, a volunteer who has been coming to GO&D for the past seven months knows what it is like to go without before being rehabilitated; he spent months living on the streets. With this painful history behind him, he is thankful to know that there are people out there with good hearts willing to help.

Villagers in Balakot urgently need our help. Balakot was virtually destroyed by the 7.6 magnitude earthquake, widely acknowledged to be one of the worst natural disasters to hit the region in decades. The village’s remote location and the historical lack of resources necessary to adequately provide for its impoverished community compounded the devastation wrought by the quake. Eight months after the earthquake, injured children and adults living in Balakot continue to await critical medical care and medical resources.

The wheelchairs packed and shipped by GO&D are now en route to Peshawar, Pakistan. A local church will distribute the chairs in Balakot where professional fitters from Joni and Friends will be on hand to ensure that all beneficiaries receive orthopedic supplies that are comfortable and usable. For one such fitter, Dana Croxton, the trip to Pakistan will be his 23rd wheelchair fitting excursion.

For the past six years, Dana has traveled around the world using his health background to serve the neediest. Dana cites the fact that in the United States, anyone who needs a wheelchair, regardless of their ability to pay, will receive one. This unfortunately is not the case in many places including Pakistan. However, it's not just a matter of cost; Dana has traveled to regions with no available wheelchairs, where disabled men and women live invisible lives.

In many developing countries, the disabled are considered to be 2nd class citizens. This is exacerbated by their inability to participate in society because of the critical lack of orthopedic supplies. Dana describes the miraculous changes that occur when an individual who has been locked away due to a handicap is given the gift of mobility; the change to a person's life, the change to an entire family, it can be absolutely overwhelming to stand there and just see what happens to them. That someone loved their disabled child, the family is changed just seeing a bunch of strangers loving their disabled child.

Dana recognizes that he is now being called to travel with GO&D to Pakistan. There is a need and an opportunity to change lives for the better to help those who were either born handicapped or handicapped by the recent natural disaster.

This is GO&D’s core mission - to serve the unfortunate. Pakistan is one of many countries in which GO&D is fulfilling this mission. After the wheelchairs arrive, GO&D President John Ditty will travel with our partners and with the wheelchair fitting team to assist with the distribution process and follow up work.

You can help give the life-changing gift of mobility to disabled men, women, and children in Pakistan. We need $36,000 to send all of the needed supplies. Compassion Radio will match the first $9,000 we receive. Please partner with us as we respond to the medical needs of the people of Pakistan. Your gift of $50 will put a disabled man, woman, or child into a custom-fitted wheelchair and give them the life-changing gift of mobility. Please click on the donation button now and you will enter a secure web page. How many lives would you like to change forever?

We hope that you will continue to read these emails as the story unfolds moment by moment: Wheelchairs providing hope for those who have been waiting for a glimpse of light.