Changing Lives: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint's Wheelchair Project

"Changing Lives: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint's Wheelchair Project"
Elder Darrel L. Hammon

Being Welfare Specialists in the Caribbean Area Welfare Office is probably the best way to serve a mission. It is truly providentliving.org at its finest. We are able to do everything, including participate in humanitarian project reviews.

Brother and Sister Spencer

Recently, we had the wonderful opportunity to host the Brother and Sister Spencer who are Church’s wheelchair specialists from Ogden, Utah. They are the ones who create and review wheelchair projects all over the world. They came to the Dominican Republic recently to meet with ASOFIDIMO, CONADIS, and the Asociación Dominicana de Rehabilitación (ADR), three organizations that work with the Church in wheelchair distribution throughout the Dominican Republic.

               

Each of the three organizations had scheduled interviews with several wheelchair recipients. These people have become disabled because of many reasons—motorcycle (moto) accidents, stray bullets, wrong medications, birth defects, and others. But the amazing thing about every single person we visited was that they were happy, happy to be alive, happy to be with family and friends, and happy to have jobs albeit small ones. We learned their wheelchairs have enhanced their lives. Some of them received small business loans to start up businesses to add to their incomes.

Daniel showing us his mini-farm

One of our first visits was going to see Daniel, a wheelchair recipient who had received one of the small business loans from the ADR to start a little mini-farm way up in the mountainous community of Los Dajaos. The route to his home was incredible, the views fantastic. Here we were are on an island, but the vistas were stunning—lots of mountains, green trees, a small creek in the bottom of the canyon, pine trees, and a very narrow windy dirt/gravel road. We finally came to a place and stopped, thinking this was the place. We walked down this hill and found out we were in the wrong place. We should have turned left back up the road a piece.

We climbed back in the van with little a couple of young girls who ultimately directed us to where Daniel lived. When we approached his home, which is down off the road and at the end of a lane, he was in his wheelchair in his “office,” a small shack where he reads, paints, repairs shoes, plans out his next crop, and just contemplates life. His mother’s house is right next door. He then took us on a tour of the little piece of property he farms.

Daniel picking tayota

He can get around pretty well on his “Rough Rider” wheelchair. He also showed us the tayota crop he was growing with his family. Tayota is like a squash, only smaller and lime green. They put up wires around 48-55 inches high, and the tayota’s vines grow up and on top of the wires. The vegetable then hangs down. With him in a wheelchair, he could tend and harvest it well. But someone like me or anyone who is taller than 48-55 inches, it is terrible because you have to bend down to pick the vegetable. Interestingly, he showed me a small bud of one and said they could harvest it in about 8-22 days, depending how much water it receives. The more water it receives, the faster it grows.

Ramona and her family

After lunch, we drove to Ramona’s house. She is a young mother with a contagious smile, a husband, and two beautiful children. She is in a wheelchair because the hospital gave her the wrong medication, and she had a terrible reaction to it. In fact, it put her in a coma for six months. The result was complete paralysis for some time, but she came out of it and began therapy. Now she cooks, cleans, fixes dinner, and runs a little store, thanks to a small-business loan from ADR. She was quite amazing. Her husband stuck by her. He is a little older than she is. While she was in a coma, his friends told him to dump her and go after another. His response: I married her for good times and bad times. Congrats to both of them.

We also spent some time with CONADIS, visiting various participants in wheelchairs. We traveled with Rosalina Nuñez and Martin, the photographer. Rosalina is also in a wheelchair and loves the people she works with. She is one of those people all companies who loved to have. She is vigorous, well-spoken, enjoys the people she is with, and shares her enthusiasm for everything and everyone. People love her.

               

Mercedes and Brother Spencer

 With CONADIS, we met Mercedes, an incredible person. She was 17-years-old, she stood 6’4”, already skilled in basketball and volleyball and looked to have a promising career. One fateful day, she was cleaning her home when a stray bullet entered through the wall, slammed into her right side, and exited through her back, injuring her spinal cord. From that day, she has been in a wheelchair. Through all of this, she has gone to college, obtained a good job, lives in an apartment (3^rd floor), and continued to play basketball in a wheelchair. She even told us she is engaged to a young man who is finishing his medical degree. They plan on marrying when he finishes. She exuded confidence and happiness. We enjoyed visiting with her.

José and his family

ASOFIDIMO took us to see José Enrique Cabrera, a 34-year-old young man with a beautiful wife and two beautiful children. He was riding his moto and was in an accident. Now, he has little use of his legs and limited use of his right hand. He is an entrepreneur and sells videos in the street. He is positive about his future and about his family.

We visited others along the way, but these are representative of the people who have received wheelchairs as part of the Church’s humanitarian project here in the Dominican Republic. Each recipient glowed with enthusiasm and was very appreciative of his or her wheelchair.

Our partners

Thanks to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and people like Brother and Sister Spencer who volunteer their time in help countries like the Dominican Republic to obtain wheelchairs. And many thanks to ADR, ASOFINDIMO, and CONADIS for their willingness to partner with the Church to distribute the wheelchairs. It is really the people within these organizations who make a difference—Dr. José Zometa, Leyda, Guadalupe, María, Rosa, Rosalina, and so many others. Thank you!

“Touring the Caribbean Area: A Vision Humanitarian Project in the Works”

“Touring the Caribbean Area: A Vision Humanitarian Project in the Works”

Elder Darrel L. Hammon

Elder and Sister Hammon and Sister and Dr. Christiansen

We love our mission! We are able to do so many things. One of those happened just last week. We accompanied Dr. Robert “Bob” and Sister Shannon Christiansen on a “fact-finding” vision humanitarian project to Puerto Rico, Dominica, St. Kitts, and Antigua. We began our journey in the Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on Friday, May 25, 2012 and arrived home on Saturday, June 2, 2012.

Sister Hammon, Christiansens, and local women

Dr. Christiansen is an ophthalmologist who lives in Salt Lake City (Sugar House) and who is a vision specialist for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a vision specialist, he and his wife travel to many countries, helping develop vision projects. On this particular project, we had an exciting time, visited government officials and other ophthalmologists, and helped members and non-members who have vision challenges.

Dominica—We flew into Dominica from Puerto Rico and landed in the dark. After renting a van, we headed to Portsmouth and traveled on one of the windiest roads we have ever been on. Now, couple the windy road with an extremely narrow road with hairpin curves barely wide enough for two small cars, deep rain gutters on both sides of the road, a van with the steering wheel on passenger side and driving on the left side, all in the pitch black and you have our trip to Portsmouth. It took us a little over an hour although the natives say they can make it in 45 minutes. We were extra cautious. We almost ran into a pick up coming up the road—actually he almost ran into us because we were in our lane on the left-hand side of the road. We passed by a gnat’s hair—literally. We breathed a sigh of relief, appreciating the prayer we said before we left the airport.

We spent the night in the Picard Cottages. The cottages we stayed in were rustic, but the view from our steps was spectacular. Basically, from our cottage, the ocean was just across the fence. Plus, the black sand was a wee bit different than what we have been accustomed to here in the Dominican Republic.

               

Portsmouth Branch Presidency

Portsmouth Branch Building

Francois Family in Dominica

We had a wonderful time at Church in Portsmouth. The Branch Presidency is comprised of young men who are attending Ross University medical program. They all want to become doctors. The branch building is highly colorful (see picture). While in Portsmouth, we were able to visit the Francois family, and Dr. Christiansen was able to do some eye exams for all of them. They are working toward attending the temple. They are just a wonderful family, dedicated to the Lord, and wanting to do what is right.

We drove to Roseau and stayed in Sutton Place, an older home now converted to a hotel. The Harris family has owned this place for several decades. It is located in downtown Roseau, close to the ocean.

Sutton Place in Dominica

The next day, we met with Dr. Hazel Shillingford-Ricketts, an incredible ophthalmologist, who does wonderful things for the poor in Dominica. Actually, she is really a one-woman show. She and her office folks do it all, including driving out the 11 clinics, scattered throughout Dominica.

Former sister missionaries

Later that afternoon, we went to the building where the LDS groups meets. They are not a branch yet, but they are faithful people. Elder and Sister Rea, two amazing senior missionaries from New Mexico, organized everything, including the eye clinic.  People began coming in to have their eyes tested and receive free reading glasses. What was going to be a two-hour clinic turned into a four-hour-plus vision clinic. Almost 80 people showed up, some members but mostly friends and neighbors of the members and the Reas. We enjoyed ourselves so much. In fact, some of people who came to the clinic began singing the hymns.

St. Kitts—We flew to St. Kitts next. Elder and Sister Martínez, another incredible senior couple, picked us up and were our chauffeurs for the entire time we were on St. Kitts. We stayed at a member’s condo, Sister Mayer, from Florida. She and her husband just received their mission call to serve as temple missionaries in the Montevideo Uruguay Temple.

Elder and Sister Terry Hanley and Family

Elder Terry Hanley, a local Church-service missionary, set up visits with hospital administrators, vision specialists, representative from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), an ophthalmologist from Cuba (Dr. Morales), and others about their vision needs in serving the poor.

The Pasaud Family from Guyana, now living in St. Kitts

The Farrell Family in St. Kitts

We also did an eye clinic at the branch building, which is a beautiful building sitting on a large piece of property with lots of mango trees. The members can pick mangos to take home, if the monkeys haven’t eaten them first. The Branch President, President González, and his wife, actually are Dominicanos but live and work in St. Kitts. They have a delightful family. The people who came—members and non-members—were very thankful to receive an exam ad some glasses.

Elder/Sister Burdick and Sister Hammon

Antigua—Our next stop was Antigua. We met Elder and Sister Burdick, another wonderful senior couple, at the airport. While at the Avis counter renting a van, we began talking to the agent. She said she needed reading glasses; so, Dr. Christiansen fitted her right there. She was so pleased.

Before we had our meeting at the hospital, we went to the Antigua Branch building. What a beautiful building in a great location with lots and lots of land. President and Sister Roberts met us there, and we explained our potential project. We also discovered prior to going to Antigua that they had just lost their first baby, stillborn after eight months. They were devastated. The Lord knew their needs because Dr. and Sister Christiansen also had lost a baby and were able to share their story and give some comfort to them.

Dr. Ian Walwyn

We had a delightful visit with Dr. Ian Walwyn, an ophthalmologist and Rotary Club president. What a phenomenal young man he is. He and I had a couple of conversations before this visit. I was looking forward to meeting him. He met and exceeded all expectations. We also had time to visit with their Rotary Club out on at the “Rat Trap,” a dock on the ocean.

Unfortunately, because of the time factor, we were not able to do a vision clinic; but, like the rest of the islands, we left a box of 300 pairs of glasses for Elder and Sister Burdick to disperse.

The Heritage Hotel in Antigua

We stayed at the Heritage Hotel, located just off the dock where all of the cruise ships tie up.

Puerto Rico—Our final stop was Puerto Rico. We had stopped there first before going to Dominica, had dinner with Presidente Alvardo and his wife and Elder and Sister Tower, and did an eye clinic in the Caguas Stake. Presidente Santos, the Stake President, and his counselor, President Martínez, wanted us to return; so, we did. We also did a clinic in Ponce, which is a large city about two hours from San Juan. Elder and Sister Tower, a member of the mission presidency, picked us up and drove us to Ponce where we met with the zone leaders and senior couples in Puerto Rico. We had a good visit.

Then came the eye clinic in Ponce. Elder and Sister Tesch, another one of those incredible senior couples, had set up the entire clinic, invited the members to bring their friends, and then helped with the clinic. We had numerous people who took advantage of this opportunity. We had a good time. It started around 3:00 p.m., and we finally closed up shop around 7:00 p.m.

Elder and Sister Stecker who serve in the San Juan Puerto Rico Mission Office drove us to our hotel in Caguas, which is about a 45-minute drive from Ponce.  Presidente Martínez from the Caguas Stake picked us up the next morning and took us to the stake center where we held another eye clinic. We met some wonderful people who received the miracle of better sight.

We made it home on Saturday evening, exhausted, exhilarated, and spiritually-fed. What an incredible journey we have had this past week. We visited with numerous people, including members of the Church, who have great needs. We hope we can accommodate some of those needs through a vision humanitarian project. Our main conclusion is this: We serve in the best mission ever!