Partnership for the Disadvantaged (January 2007)

Partnership for the Disadvantaged
Operation Mobilization Indeed Issue Fall, 2006

Teamwork can make a difference, even in a place like Iraq.  A recent effort in teamwork changed life for some disadvantaged people in that country.  By forming a strategic partnership, OM, Joni and Friends (the ministry of Joni Eareckson Tada) and FedEx sent 100 wheelchairs to Iraq where they were distributed to many children and adults who clearly need them. 
   
Operation Mercy, a ministry affiliated with Operation Mobilization (OM), has a humanitarian ministry in Iraq where they meet people without access to wheelchairs.  Joni and Friends, and organization that reaches out to the disabled across the globe, freely gave 100 wheelchairs to help meet this need.  The chairs had been donated to them here in the US and then refurbished in a state prison.

But there was still the challenge of getting them to Iraq.  When a FedEx security executive heard about this, arrangements were quickly made to get the chairs to the destination free of charge.  After several border crossings and come complicated logistics, all 100 wheelchairs arrived in Iraq.  The Operation Mercy team includes physical therapists who matched appropriate chairs to each person in need.  Each recipient received a summary of Joni Eareckson Tada’s life story.  Many expressed that they were touched by what they read.  The team will follow up with the families. 

After the distribution was over, a team member reported, “On a hot summer morning I was called by our receptionist to come and see someone who wanted a wheelchair.  Most of the chairs were already assigned.  I went out and saw a father with a nine-year-old daughter who was visibly disabled but smiling all the time.  The father told me they had already lost four children, and she was getting weaker every year.  As the father shared about his struggle to provide for his family, his love for the children was very evident, and tears started to well up in his eyes.  It was heartbreaking to share in the pain of his family.  He said that they had a very small wheelchair, which belonged to one of the children who had died, and it was too small for the daughter.  We found a suitable chair.  Both father and daughter left with bug smiles on their faces.  A small gift means so much to this family.” 

We thank Joni and Friends and FedEx for their partnership and generosity in providing aid to the severely disadvantaged.  Without their help, 100 people would still be struggling.  Many had no previous wheelchairs and had been carried by family members everywhere they went.


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