Rural Missouri - November 2010 - (Page 12)

Mobility’s best friend (continued from page 11) bers. Some crawled. Occupational therapists were on hand to treat medical needs and to help distribute 20 pediatric wheelchairs. Most would be receiving medical attention for the ﬁrst time. Diseases such as spina biﬁda, polio, cerebral palsy, malnutrition, birth defects and injuries from accidents or land mines were the main causes for many of the disabilities. Volunteers such as Dick Rutgers, who works with Hope Haven, attended to children with medical issues. One girl with cerebral palsy caught Dick’s attention as her mother carried her in. She was 6 years old, but only weighed 16 pounds. “The minute I saw her, I knew it was a life-anddeath thing,” says Dick. “She probably wouldn’t have held on another month if her mother hadn’t brought her in today. The problem is she is living on tortillas and coffee. When you have cerebral palsy and just living on that, you are burning up more calories than you take in.” Dick was able to give her some proper food and rush her to a malnutrition clinic. For the time being, the girl’s life had been saved. The pediatric wheelchairs given out were built by locals with disabilities at Refugio de Esperanza, a Hope Haven production facility in Antigua. The facility has 20 employees who assemble and fabricate the “KidChairs” from materials donated by U.S. companies. It is not only providing others with the power of mobility and a chance for a more normal life, but it is giving Guatemalans with disabilities a job and a way to support their families. Sandra Patricia Siquinajai is an employee at Refugio de Esperanza who has been in a wheelchair for most of her life. Sandra met a fellow employee who was disabled. They fell in love and got married a few months after that. They even have a 5-month-old. “This job is like a dream come true for me,” says the 29-year-old Sandra. “Not only did I ﬁnd a job, but I now have a family.” One by one, the PETs were assembled and handed out to children, parents and grandparents. Even some of the locals pitched in with the assembly. “It is always a lot of fun putting the PETs together,” says Terry Furstenau of Fayette who has helped with production in Columbia and has participated in other distributions. “We usually end up with a local crew that loves to help out their fellow neighbors. It takes them a while to work up the nerve to come over, but once they do, they can’t get enough of using the power tools, because they had never had the chance to use them.” Some PETs were modiﬁed with coolers for the user to have a “mini-mart” on the back of the chair. “These modiﬁcations are great,” says Chuck Thompson from Fayette, another PET volunteer. “Not only are we able to custom ﬁt them for a chair, but we can set them up for a job to ﬁnally bring some income to their families.” At the end of the day, the volunteers are worn out, but they leave with a good feeling knowing they have had a huge impact on somebody’s life. “It is tiring, but this is such a good feeling at the end of the day because it is about 40 lives being changed,” says Chuck. “Seeing the excitement when they received their PET was heartwarming, but I would love to be around their kitchen table later and hear what they were saying.” Giving the gift of mobility and changing people’s lives is the mission of PET and Hope Haven. “We seek to provide mobility to those in the greatest need and with the least resources in poor or underdeveloped countries,” says Steve. “We have so much in abundance where we come from. It is hard to travel around the developing world and not feel guilty. But with the blessings we give, we are making this world a better place.” To ﬁnd out more about PET International and how you can donate, visit www.giftofmobility.org. For more information on Hope Haven International Ministries visit www.hopehaveninternational.org Gregoria Sabán stitches together garments at Guatemaltecas de Corazon Sociedad in Santo Domingo Xenacoj. Sabán and other women sell hand-crafted household goods they make from donated fabrics and sewing machines to provide ﬁnancial support for families of local single mothers and abused women. Groups provide jobs and educational classes for abused Guatemalan women In the macho “We started society of Central out wanting to America, women give meals to misare not treated treated women, with respect by but we had to their male counﬁgure out a way terparts. They to come up with are often beaten, funds to pay raped and forced for the meals,” into domestic sersays Maria. “We vitude. In some were able to get cases, women are donated sewing out cast by their machines and The hand-woven goods sold on the streets made by the husbands for hav- women come in bright colors and many styles. goods and got to ing an unwanted work.” or disabled child. In nearby A group of women in the small village towns, more women’s groups are forming of Santo Domingo Xenacoj is trying to to make products and provide a place for put an end to women’suffering. battered women to go to work and learn. After being beaten by her father and “Beyond jobs, we want to stop violosing partial vision in her left eye, Maria lence towards women and eradicate illitFelipa Boj Chile helped jumpstart Guateeracy,” says Gloria Busch, a worker at a maltecas de Corazon Sociedad. Her misnewly started group in Sumpongo. sion was to give women a safe place to The women receive no salary for their work and learn. work. Instead, they rely solely on the sales The women are not only getting the from the goods they make and sell on the basic education they were deprived of, streets. but they have jobs making household This makes it imperative for them to goods using sewing machines and fabric keep making products to sell to visting donated by the PET facility in Missouri tourists. and Hope Haven International Ministries. “If it was not for these jobs, most of us More than 20 women split work shifts would be homeless or forced into doing during the week at the facility making domestic work such as cleaning houses aprons, blouses, curtains, blankets and and washing clothes for very little pay,” other household goods. says Maria. “In the educational classes, they are learning how to read and write,” says Support in Guatemala is growing for Maria. “They are also taught about family these groups, but they need more sewing planning, self-esteem and rights of indigmachines, fabrics to continue their work enous women.” and support their families. If you would like When they are not working or in classto make a donation, please contact PET’s es, they are making meals for each other’s Columbia ofﬁce at 573-886-7877 or visit families and other women in the village. www.giftofmobility.org. 12 RURAL MISSOURI http://www.giftofmobility.org http://www.giftofmobility.org http://www.hopehaveninternational.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rural Missouri - November 2010

Rural Missouri - November 2010
Contents
Comments
Columns
Mobility's Best Friend
Mail Bag
Rural Issues Explored at AMEC Annual Meeting
Out of the Way Eats
The Missouri Connection
Big Screen Savings
Hearth and Home
News Briefs
Best of Rural Missouri
Lest We Forget
Marketplace
Around Missouri
Neighbors
Just4Kids

Rural Missouri - November 2010