FOOD for The Poor (FFTP) Guyana Incorporated, in collaboration with the St Francis Community Developers (SFCD), distributed 30 wheelchairs to applicants from the Disabled People’s Network and the Department of Education in East Berbice, Region Six.

The initial nine recipients were given wheelchairs in a simple ceremony held at the SFCD Headquarters at Portuguese Quarters in Port Mourant on the Corentyne Coast. The following persons were among the initial recipients of wheelchairs: Eight–year-old Deonarine Singh, called ‘Ajay’, of Angoy’s Avenue in New Amsterdam, who incidentally was the youngest recipient. His disability, discovered when he was just three years old, has rendered him challenged to walk. He attends the Special Needs School in New Amsterdam.

Dwight La Fleur, aged 18, and Sharmilla Goberdan, aged 40, both of Fyrish Village; and Haresh Prettipaul, aged 41, of Chesney Front — all Corentyne areas; Ernestine Alfred, aged 77, of Angoy’s Avenue, and Hilton Morris of Lot 52 Stanleytown, within the New Amsterdam Township.

Meanwhile, FFTP Senior Manager and Head of the Gifts and Kind Department of that organisation, Mr. Jameel Davis, accompanied to the event by Executive Assistant, Ms. Lizanna Gordon, noted that commencement of the countrywide distribution of the 550 wheelchairs, each of which is valued at US$50, ideally began in the Ancient County “since Berbice seems to be well organised”.

He said the initiative is being undertaken in collaboration with the Free Wheelchair Mission (FWM) of the United States. That Mission, founded in 2001 by Laurie and Don Schoendorfer, is an international, faith-based, non-profit humanitarian organisation which is dedicated to providing wheelchairs for impoverished disabled persons in developing nations.

Davis revealed that the current wheelchairs, dubbed the ‘second generation wheelchairs’, are designed to fit the specific needs of each recipient.

Currently, the FWM is designing ‘third generation wheelchairs’, and the local organisation is expected to be able to access those.

Persons desirous of having a wheelchair are required to submit a photograph of the intended recipient, along with an application and a reference from a prominent citizen in their respective neighbourhood, to the FFTP Headquarters in Georgetown, or the SFCD at Port Mourant.
In a plea, Davis said, “I am appealing to people who know anyone — a neighbour, relative, a friend — who is in need of a wheelchair to come in and apply for one, and we will definitely assist.”

In his brief remark, President of the SFCD, Berbice FFTP representative Mr. Alex Foster, also spoke on the initiative and encouraged recipients to take good care of the wheelchairs.

Expressions of gratitude were received from representatives of the Disabled People’s Network, the Special Needs School in Berbice, and the Ministry of Education.

By Jeune Bailey Vankeric