Hope is Delivered to Cambodia

October 27, 2003, was a special day in Cambodia.  Contributions from the Wheelchair Foundation Organization and Latter-day Saint Charities provided 500 wheelchairs to the Cambodian Red Cross.  A program was held to honor some of these recipients.  Elder Daryl Garn, 2nd Counselor in the Asia Area Presidency, Sister Hughes, 1st Counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency and Gary Winters from Salt Lake City were among the honored guests present.

Several touching experiences have followed this program.  One of the staff brought a young man to the Service Center whom he met on the street and badly needed a wheelchair.  His legs were only about an inch around.  Elder & Sister Scholes were called and brought the wheelchair to him. 

He must have let others know where he got his wheelchair, as early the next morning one of the staff coming to work saw a group of people outside the Service Center that said they wanted a wheelchair.  Sister Day, who with her husband manage the Service Center, went to meet them.  She was shocked at the sight.  Some of them didn’t have arms, some didn’t have legs, and some had small stumps of legs with feet on the end.  One jumped off the cyclo and hobbled over and greeted her.  Each one followed with a Khmer greeting and a big smile.  They were most kind as they asked her for a wheelchair and said that if they had a wheelchair they could go to school.  She asked them if they could wait a few minutes while she made a phone call. 

Sister Day asked if she could take their picture and they graciously agreed.  She also gave them candy.  They each said “Thank you” in pretty good English.  The one little boy only had stubs of arms but unwrapped the candy and put it in his mouth.  Sister Day unwrapped the candy for another one.  They were so appreciative.  These young men were in ages from 13 to 19.

Coming back into the Service Center she called Elder & Sister Scholes and through emotions said, “There are four little people here to get wheelchairs.  What do I do?”
Elder & Sister Scholes said they would have to contact the Red Cross, since the Red Cross wasn’t allowing them to distribute any more wheelchairs by themselves.  The Red Cross wanted to participate in the distributions.  The Scholes gave the address of the Red Cross and mentioned that they would be there at 10 a.m. to meet with Dr. Sam Ath, the director.  They said they would watch for these people.

When they arrived at their meeting, there were no “little people” there.  They went in to talk to Dr. Sam Ath.  He reiterated that the wheelchairs were donated to the Red Cross and that they wanted to participate in all future distributions.  As the Scholes left his office and went downstairs they saw the four “little people” on the sidewalk.  Elder Scholes returned to Dr. Sam Ath’s office, told him there were some young men outside needing wheelchairs.  Elder Scholes asked, “What do you want to do with the young men downstairs?” He replied, “Send them up here!” Elder Scholes told him, “But you don’t understand.  These little people are only two feet high with no legs and can not get up the stairs.” He replied, “I will call the warehouse.  You can take them over and give them wheelchairs.”
In the meantime, Sister Scholes arranged to get some food for the boys and their mothers who accompanied them.  She purchased 7 meals of rice, meat and vegetables.  Elder & Sister Scholes loaded 7 people into the van and headed for the Red Cross warehouse.  They arrived during the “lunch hour” and had to wait a few minutes for the man to come and unlock the doors.  While waiting they unloaded everyone and took them to a table in the shade and gave them the lunches.  It was amazing to see how independent they were in feeding themselves.  The warehouse man arrived, brought out the 4 wheelchairs and helped set them up.  The boys were placed in the chairs, had their pictures taken for the Wheelchair Foundation records, then given a short talk about the three organizations that provided the chairs for them.  It was emphasized that the wheelchairs were to help them improve their lives and they were not to sell them.  The young men and their mothers were shocked at the suggestion that they might sell them.  They thanked us over and over again for the gift.  Elder Scholes suggested that they needed to thank the warehouse man from the Red Cross who took his time to get the chairs for them.  He was appropriately thanked.  The family loaded 3 of the chairs onto moto’s (small motorcycle) and sent them off to the King’s Palace where they were staying during the Water Festival.  The fourth boy did not have funds to hire a moto and started down the road wheeling his chair by himself.  The Scholes caught up with him and helped find a moto driver that would take him to the Palace and paid the $1 cost to the driver. 
There were no TV cameras and no media publicity, but this was one of the most heartwarming experiences we have had.  No publicity is needed when doing the Lord’s work, just the affirmation that we are helping to improve their lives.  When Sister Day was told what had happened she couldn’t hold back the tears.  This was a special experience for all of us.

It didn’t end here.  About a week later, another young man came to the Service Center seeking a wheelchair.  Again, Sister Day called Elder Scholes and asked what to do.  As instructed, the young man had to go to the Red Cross office.  Sister Day had one of the staff go with their driver to take him.  Dr. Sam Ath was out of the country but permission was given to get this young man a wheelchair.  However, he needed the Scholes’ signature.  The Scholes came to the Service Center and helped this young man get a chair.  When asked how he would get home, he said that a friend had brought him.  Outside the gate was one of the four young men we had helped the week before.  He had a small cart hooked to a bicycle that he could pedal with his hands.  We wondered what he had done with his wheelchair and if he might have sold it.  We had a Khmer person ask and he said, “Oh, I would never sell my wheelchair.  If you don’t believe me, come to my home.  I just had to bring my cart so I could bring my friend.” Tears filled our eyes and we had a huge lump in our throat for the generosity of a friend.  But, more tears were shed when we watched this young man in his new wheelchair hold onto the cart of his friend as he pedaled and pulled his friend down the road toward home.
Pictures of these young men are attached.  1. When we met them, 2. Transporting them to the warehouse, 3. In the wheelchairs.  4. The friend being “towed” home on his new wheelchair.  Having been in Cambodia for the wheelchair presentation, we think you will enjoy these pictures, and their stories.

Our second story has to do with a distribution to an island in the Mekong River near the City of Kampong Cham.

Dr Sam Ath called and told us we must go to the distribution of wheelchairs on an Island by Kampong Cham.  He didn’t ask us to go, he told us we “must”.  We had submitted the names for this distribution. They were given to us by a member who was raised on this island. We left at 5:30 am on a 2 1/2 hour drive to Kampong Cham in a small SUV (6 of us) because our van was too big to go across the Bamboo Bridge.  When we got to the bridge, we wondered how even a small car could safely cross.  The bridge has to be rebuilt every year after the rainy season and the river gets smaller.  During the rainy season, it is under water and you reach the island by ferry!  It is made of only bamboo and is about the width of a small car.  There is no passing on it, you just have to wait your turn to cross.  It is mostly used by motos and bikes.  That was an adventure just to cross it!
After driving around and through the villages on the Island, we found the Wat where the ceremony was to take place, but there were only about 11 people there and no wheelchairs.  However, we could soon see a boat coming down the river, carrying the wheelchairs.  To unload the 53 wheelchairs, two men had to carry them box-by-box up a long, steep cement bank.  We felt sorry for them…the boxes were almost as big as they were.  By the time we started the ceremony, another 10 people arrived.  A lot of them came in pony carts, as they were very disabled.  The man who drove us to the island is not a member of the Church, but he asked if he could speak to the people, this was the place where he was born and raised.  He spoke very positively about the church and it’s charitable efforts for the people of Cambodia.  He also told the people that we lived by the teachings of Jesus Christ and that they should live by them too.  By the time the ceremony was over, and we were ready to go, all but 19 people had showed up to get their wheelchair.  We delivered a couple more, one to our driver’s father and one to his aunt.  The Red Cross on the Island agreed to deliver the rest of the chairs.  It was very difficult for many of the disabled to get to the ceremony, the mode of transportation for most people doesn’t allow them to go very far from their homes.  The wheelchairs did provide them a new ability to at least get out of their homes and into the sunshine again. 

Then we got to have the fun ride back across the Bamboo Bridge!