Smart. Compassionate. Generous. loving. Strategic Planners. Fun. These words describe the women in this picture who made the "Going Far Together" campaign for wheelchairs possible. I am privileged to tell the story of their hard work and help them raise money to make a difference in their country.
A year ago, they sat with me with a poor area of their city. An area where electricity and indoor plumbing is something that exists outside of their suburban life. It's area where high incidents of handicapped children live with their mothers who carried them on their backs with the weight of how to care for them hangs on their shoulders.
We left the area but the women and their plight never left our hearts.
Maluba and Maureen went back to their near by houses filled with modern conveniences and me to America to enjoy the life of having what I need when I need it. But those women with their children never left our hearts. An incredible thing about living where I do in the time I do is I can chat with my friends I left in Southern Africa. I spoke with Maluba regularly and Maureen occasionally and eventually the conversation kept coming back to those women and the children they carried on their backs. We wanted to provide for them but kept running into roadblocks and stop signs. I gave up regularly. God would bring them to my mind and I would try again. All I ever found was another closed road sign.
But God hadn't forgotten the women and He wouldn't let me either.
Maluba, Maureen and I formed a partnership to help.
They visited the area.
They met the women and children.
They found the wheelchairs for the children in their country.
They found the wheelchairs with the best price.
They actually found a place with the best price that also had handicapped people to make the chairs providing them with employment.
They arranged for the wheelchairs to be fitted for the individual child.
They found women with handicapped children who didn't need chairs but needed help with food.
They figured out how much food to buy all of the women with their children.
They found a pastor with a big truck to pick up the supplies and wheelchairs.
They found a community center to distribute the food and wheelchairs.
I made a "Go Fund Me" page and asked my friends to help.
My partners are smart, capable women who can problem solve and execute on a vision. They just need resources to assist them. I will be writing about the success of the wheelchairs and food distribution over the next several weeks. I hope you will join me in the journey of coming besides these women to help.