Brother Olly Pickett was building wheelchairs for children in a tiny workshop in Cambodia when he came across one of the youngest workers in the group. Brother Pickett told ABC journalist, Stephanie Dalzell, that the 15-year-old amputee was propped up on his knees, undeterred by the rough concrete floor he was kneeling on.
He was helping construct one of a dozen wheelchairs for children on the outskirts of the town who struggled to get to the local school each day.
Brother Pickett says at the end of his trip, the group decided to give the boy his own wheelchair.
“He was thrilled to bits, we gave him that wheelchair and honestly, I’ll never, ever forget that smile on his face,” Brother Pickett said to Ms Dalzell.
Brother Pickett has been involved in Wheelchairs for Kids since it first started in 1998.
The WA charity runs out of a factory in the Perth suburb of Gnangara, and on a typical day is filled with more than 100 retiree volunteers working to construct various wheelchairs.
They build hard terrain children’s wheelchairs from scratch and donate them to children all over the world, many of whom live in environments without roads and without hospitals.
The majority of the wheelchair donations have been sent to impoverished and disabled children in under resourced countries like the Congo, Uganda, Botswana, to devastated Afghanistan and Iraq and more recently to Libya, northern Lebanon and Syria.
“It’s very rewarding, helping these little children that haven’t got a hope,” Brother Pickett said to the ABC’s Stephanie Dalzell.
To donate to the Wheelchairs for Kids Foundation:
ANZ BSB: 016 261 – ACC: 267 255 563
Any school, association, organisation or individual that would like to assist WFKids please contact the volunteer foundation manager, Gerry Georgatos on 0430 657 309 or at gerry_georgatos@yahoo.com.au
Over the past 14 years, the charity has donated more than 26,000 wheelchairs to children.
“Sometimes they’re born with a disability, they’ve stood on a landmine, they’ve been injured at war or they have cerebral palsy and no one can help them,” Brother Pickett said to Ms Dalzell.
He says without intervention, some of the children are left immobile and unattended for most of the day.
“They just leave them in the corner, and the kids have to fend for themselves.”
OFF THE GROUND:
Beppie Dekuyer, 70, told Ms Dalzell that she wanted to be involved in the charity as soon as she heard about it.
“I could see how wonderful this project would be, to get children off the ground who have no way of getting a wheelchair.”
Ms Dekuyer told Ms Dalzell that all of their hard work was personified two years ago, when she met 21-year-old Edward in Vanuatu.
Physically disabled and incredibly impoverished, he’d been confined to a bed for most of his life.
“He would be lying down all day, and wherever he went, his parents had to carry him,” she said.
Ms Dekyer says the day they fitted Edward into a new wheelchair was one of the most memorable of her life.
“I think everybody was just crying, it was so moving and the parents were just so happy,” she said.
“To see the joy in not just the child’s face, but the whole family, they’re so thrilled that life becomes easier for them.”
Gerry Georgatos’ interest in the cause was piqued while he was working as the general manager of the Student Guild at Murdoch University and as the coordinator of Students Without Borders.
Mr Georgatos told Ms Dalzell, that in 2006, he was approached by an Iraqi refugee and International Studies student, Riyadh al-Hakimi who told him about the thousands of young amputees in Iraq who had no way of getting around.
It was then that he came across Wheelchairs for Kids: the program he would ultimately become involved with, raising funds to ship one container after another to impoverished countries, and early this year Gerry took on the volunteer management of the organisation’s fledgling Foundation.
VIDEO: Channel 10 news on Wheelchairs for Kids - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWs-os2HKo0
MIDDLE EAST DELIVERIES:
Mr Georgatos throughout the last seven years has been trying to raise funds to ship containers containing hundreds of pre-assembled wheelchairs to the Middle East.
Earlier this year he told Ms Dalzell, “The next one leaves for Lebanon next week, it’s going to northern Lebanon where there’s a lot of civil strife, and no wheelchair assembly factories, and no way other than us to get those wheelchairs to kids.”
Since that interview, the container of 351 children’s wheelchairs has reached Tripoli, Lebanon where children who did not have wheelchairs now do, for the first time. And since the that shipment, 350 children’s wheelchairs have reached Libya after the country having been devastated by civil war, and Syria which is in the midst of its tragic crisis.
He is currently in negotiations with the Israeli government to ensure another shipment headed to Palestine won’t be held up by authorities.
“Because of civil strife in the region sometimes they can get held up, so I’m trying to make sure they get to the children quickly.”
Mr Georgatos says while the organisation has changed the life of more than 26,000 children around the world, still many more are suffering.
“There are millions of children around the world without wheelchairs, and we only send thousands each year. But each one helps,” he said to Ms Dalzell.
And Brother Pickett says no one knows that more than the children themselves.
“A wheelchair makes a huge difference, they can get to school, they can get to the market, they can play with their friends and it gives them some dignity by getting them up off the floor.”
He says that’s the most rewarding thing about his work.
“I know I’m doing something to make a difference to a child that has no hope.”
To donate to the Wheelchairs for Kids Foundation:
ANZ BSB: 016 261 – ACC: 267 255 563
Any school, association, organisation or individual that would like to assist WFKids please contact the volunteer foundation manager, Gerry Georgatos on 0430 657 309 or at gerry_georgatos@yahoo.com.au
In developing countries there are children who spend their days stuck in a bed or on the ground, sometimes on cold concrete or out in the dirt.
Wheelchairs for Kids volunteer CEO Gordon Hudson told WA Today journalists Aleisha Orr and Jerri Demasi that the organisation’s program is a one of a kind program, the only one of its type in the world. He told Ms Orr that they work with humanitarian groups to distribute the wheelchairs once they are transported overseas. Alongside Brother Pickett, Mr Gordon has seen the program grow from manufacturing and donating 35 wheelchairs a month to 350 wheelchairs a month.
VIDEO: Wheelchairs for Kids, making a difference in the lives of children and their families - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoBo7ImV2pk
Mr Pickett, who spends much of his day aided by crutches because of his own mobility issues, said wheelchairs gave children who need them a whole new lease on life.
He told Ms Orr, “Their lives would be much the poorer, for the simple reason that these little kids are on the ground and the governments sort of don’t give any help to their parents.”
“The children are on the ground, just waiting for someone to pick them up.”
“But a wheelchair makes a huge difference to them, not only to the children but also to the family, and the kids can get to school now, can get to the markets, just get out and have fun with the other kids.”
“It gives them a lot of dignity.”
Wheelchairs for Kids also provides a great outlet for retirees such as Mr Pickett, who donate their time to the cause.
“I love it. It’s certainly very rewarding in so far that you’re doing something for someone who’s far less fortunate than what we are,” Mr Pickett told Ms Orr.
“If you can get a smile on a little kid’s face because they’ve got a chance to have a life, just to get out and meet other kids and get to school, I mean it really does something for you.”
Mr Pickett said to Ms Orr that the volunteers enjoyed what they were doing so much that no one ever missed their rostered shift unless they were sick or on holidays.
Mr Hudson said to Ms Orr that a lot had changed since the early days of Wheelchairs for Kids, and the outfit had become very professional.
“In 1998, it was very small, we were making wheelchairs out of old bike frames in the corner of a workshop,”
“After about a year we realised we could make them new for about the same price as we could to make them out of the old bike frames,” said Mr Hudson.
“Four years ago, the World Health Organisation did a survey of wheelchairs supplied into under-resourced countries and they found a lot to be desired.”
“The ordinary folding wheelchair just didn’t stand up in the rough terrain and they found that wheelchairs needed to be fitted and adjusted to the recipient.”
“We now have a wheelchair made to World Health Organisation specifications, which is completely adjustable to all sizes to suit the growing needs of children.”
“Now we have 120 volunteers that work in shifts, across four mornings a week, we have about 30 retiree volunteers on each shift.”
“There are millions of children out there spending their time in the dirt, can’t get around, can’t go to school, can’t go to play with other children,” Mr Hudson said to Ms Orr.
“Giving them a wheelchair changes their life, and changes the life of their family.”
Gerry Georgatos volunteer manages the Wheelchairs for Kids Foundation, a task that poses challenges – more so now that the project has recently lost the regular funding it relied upon and also in having to keep in pace with rising cost pressures. But Wheelchairs for Kids will not cut back on its production wanting to keep on reaching at least as many children per month as it has during the last several years.
“Cutbacks always tear at the soul of an organisation. People power can’t really replace all the materials that we need,” Mr Georgatos told Ms Orr.
“We’d like to actually secure the future for Wheelchairs for Kids, for the children.”
To secure this future and help more people Mr Georgatos said to Ms Orr that the group needed to buy the factory.
“That’d give us the capacity to grow the output.”
“The more kids we can help, the more lives we touch and communities we help. Then they’ll have the opportunity for education – and that’s one thing that they’re definitely deprived of.”
To donate to the Wheelchairs for Kids Foundation:
ANZ BSB: 016 261 – ACC: 267 255 563
Any school, association, organisation or individual that would like to assist WFKids please contact the volunteer foundation manager, Gerry Georgatos on 0430 657 309 or at gerry_georgatos@yahoo.com.au
Wheelchairs for Kids is an organisation that was kick started by the Scarborough Rotary Organisation (in Perth) – a not-for-profit organisation.
There are many great stories from Wheelchairs from Kids, far too many to cover even a fraction. Over the past decade, the Al Muthanna and Basra regions of Iraq have challenged Angola for the unenviable record of the highest proportion of child amputees, Mr Georgatos told The West Australian’s Kate Bastians.
Children make up more than twenty per cent of children amputees in Iraq, and are victims of war, high levels of radioactivity and unexploded landmines from the Gulf War.
“Many of the affected children will never be able to walk. And there are more than 50,000 amputees in Iraq, many of them women and children.”
With Riyadh al-Hakimi having returned to Iraq after having fled as a child with his family in 1993, Mr Georgatos has fundraised to send one shipment after another of wheelchairs from the organisation. 2,288 children’s wheelchairs have reached Iraq from the volunteer organisation, the 2nd highest amount of wheelchairs sent to a country of the 68 countries that the organisation has managed to reach. To date, Vietnam has received nearly 6,000 wheelchairs.
Mr Georgatos told Ms Bastians that Mr al Hakimi is working on a project to develop a wheelchair assembly factory in Iraq.
“If we can secure some financial donors to help us underwrite a wheelchair assembly factory… and in the near future manufactured from local resources, we will begin the journey for the demand for wheelchairs to be met.”
Mr Georgatos said to Ms Bastians that such a development would give rise to other resources being sourced locally, such as prosthetic limbs and medical services.
The land for the site has been bought by Mr al Hakimi.
Mr al Hakimi said to Ms Bastians, “It is important Iraqis run the project because it empowers them to do more for community and it makes them less reliant on foreign aid.”
“There are many heartbreaking stories of disabled children in Iraq. They place further burdens on families who struggle to feed their children.”
“In Iraq, disabled children are excluded from social activities as there is no infrastructure, and many disabled children will not let their parents carry them on their shoulders, being too embarrassed. Many have stopped going to school,” said Mr al Hakimi to Ms Bastians.
“In the street I live in there are six disabled children however only one of them was able to receive a wheelchair from (a recent) load we sent.”
RIYADH AL HAKIMI:
In 2003, as a young Perth university student visiting Iraq for the first time since his family fled, Mr al Hakimi was brought to tears watching a small Iraqi child drag himself along the street. The stump of his right leg left a trail in the dust as he dragged his body inch by inch. He vowed to do something for the children of his war-torn homeland.
“I watched as he dragged himself, leaving a pitiful trail in the dust. There are many of these trails in Iraqi towns. Like many thousands of other Iraqi children who have lost limbs during years of war in Iraq, there was nothing that could be done for the boy. Our country has been devastated by the war, and it takes every effort to find the strength to cope with each day.”
“The years of sanctions have deeply affected Iraqi society and people have learned to survive individually and have lost the sense of community and caring for others.”
“As a result of the 1991 Gulf War the province of Al Muthanna is littered with thousands of unexploded landmines and missiles.”
“There are many heartbreaking stories of disabled children in Iraq.”
To donate to the Wheelchairs for Kids Foundation:
ANZ BSB: 016 261 – ACC: 267 255 563
Any school, association, organisation or individual that would like to assist WFKids please contact the volunteer foundation manager, Gerry Georgatos on 0430 657 309 or at gerry_georgatos@yahoo.com.au
SHAOQUETT MOSELMANE:
In 2012, NSW parliamentarian Shaoquett Moselmane wanted to assist and did. On December 4, 2012 Mr Moselmane coordinated a fundraiser among Sydney’s Arabic community – more than $30,000 was raised in less than an hour – and which enabled shipments of children’s wheelchairs to Iraq, Libya, Lebanon and Syria.
Since Mr Moselmane first assisted Mr Georgatos in helping the children otherwise near helpless in many of our world’s troubled regions, Mr Moselmane despite his heavy schedule as a parliamentarian, and as his State’s shadow minister for Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, has struck a bond with Wheelchairs for Kids, and now organises regular fundraisers for the shipment of wheelchairs not only to North Africa but to Asia and Africa.
“The witness of a child amputee dragging his body across a road at least need not occur,” said Mr Moselmane.
“We live in an affluent nation and we have therefore a responsibility to help those less fortunate, these are in effect all our children the world over.”
But despite the great generosity of individuals such as Brother Ollie Pickett, Gordon Hudson, Beppie Dekuyer, Gerry Georgatos, Riyadh al-Hakimi and Shaoquett Moselmane, and the hundred fifty volunteer retirees, this one of a kind organisation is always in need of financial donations to buy the hundreds of thousands of dollars of materials to build the wheelchairs. The organisation has no paid staff.
Donate to the Wheelchairs for Kids Foundation:
ANZ BSB: 016 261 – ACC: 267 255 563
Any school, association, organisation or individual that would like to assist WFKids please contact the volunteer foundation manager, Gerry Georgatos on 0430 657 309 or at gerry_georgatos@yahoo.com.au
More here: http://thestringer.com.au/wheelchairs-for-kids-assisting-children-in-68-...
