Chaplain LTC Carl Fisher (great name for a Chaplain!) connected me with CPT Scot Tebo, the Brigade Surgeon for the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division to distribute 200 of the Roughriders in Baghdad’s Sadr City area.
Upon CPT Tebo’s departure, he introduced me to CPT Robert Hart, Brigade Surgeon for the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne. CPT Hart, or Bob as I call him, responded enthusiastically to the call to pick up where CPT Tebo left off.
Here on base, MAJ Victor Estes, who helped with the logistics support of sending the adult Roughrider wheelchairs to CPT Tebo out in Baghdad was also departing. He was able to pass off To 1LT Trimeka Rivers, 225th Engineers from Louisiana who also stepped up to assist the WFIK project in storing as well as distributing fifty of the wheelchairs.
Within a few weeks, two hundred ROC Wheelchairs arrived at the Baghdad Airport military terminal via C-130 transport thanks to USAID’s Denton Program – free shipping for humanitarian supplies. 1LT Rivers and her troops were able to provide transportation from the airport to their storage area to hold the wheelchairs until they could be distributed.
Soon, CPT Jessie Stewart and his team from the 5-73 Cavalry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne 3rd Brigade Combat Team picked up the wheelchairs for distribution in Eastern Baghdad. The 82nd ABN Paratroopers joined forces with the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police to identify disabled children as recipients of the wheelchairs, and invited them to the distribution events.
I was allowed to accompany CPT Stewart and his team out on two distribution missions to ensure the wheelchairs fit the needs of the children. This is an incredibly rewarding experience each time – I mean – how many US civilians go out with military on their missions, working side by side, elbow to elbow to help some of the most needy kids in the world – kids affected by war? Check out my photos on my Google Picasa photo site: http://picasaweb.google.com/BBlauser , and see the moving pictures and heroic actions of US and Iraqi troops to help these little ones in need.
Iraqi media covered the events, and Ernesto Londono, a Washington Post reporter, covered the second event. A story should be out soon in The Washington Post news giving the scoop on the ROC Wheelchair distribution at the Al-Fahdil Clinic in downtown Baghdad!
The parents and families of the children were very excited to receive the ROC Wheelchairs, as pediatric wheelchairs are not common in Iraq. They will no longer have to carry their children around, and the children will now be able to stay off of dirty floors and live healthier because of their wheelchairs. Also, they will be able to develop better social skills as their parents are able to get them out into public more often. Life will become so much closer to normal for them now, as they are not such a burden for their families to transport.
Thank you to all donors and sponsors, whether you gave $10 or $10,000. Thanks to the TV and print medias, including Wayne Drash at CNN for the incredible coverage in February 2008 which generated interest and funding for so many wheelchairs. Thank you to now eleven-year-old Ben Werdegar in the San Francisco area for playing his guitar on most weekends to raise more than $13,000 for sponsoring over forty ROC Wheelchairs! All of you made it possible to provide these wheelchairs free of charge regardless of their ability to pay for disabled Iraqi children who would have never otherwise had the use of a pediatric wheelchair.
One hundred more wheelchairs are ready to ship now, however after this shipment there are no more funds to pay for more wheelchairs. Donations and sponsorships are still needed, as Iraq needs many more ROC Wheelchairs (hundreds of thousands) to provide for the need. Please consider donating to this worthy cause, giving our troops the tools to win hearts and minds as well as helping disabled children in combat zones the pediatric wheelchairs they need so desperately.
Brad in Baghdad
www.WheelchairsForIraqiKids.com
Brad@WheelchairsForIraqiKids.com
Iraqis deliver wheelchairs to the distribution site
Unloading wheelchairs from arriving truck
82 children’s wheelchairs stand by waiting to assist kids who will receive them
Discussing the plan with the Commanders
CPT Jessie Stewart carries a girl much to the relief of her mother. The mother had carried the child almost two miles to bring her to receive a pediatric wheelchair.
Disabled children wait with their parents to receive their first pediatric wheelchair
Iraqi media was present to cover the event
Iraqi Police Colonel addresses the crowd gathered for the event
Mayor of Rusafa interviewed by TV media
Iraqi Army preparing wheelchairs for distribution
Air Force security dogs provide protection at the event
Adjusting children into their new wheelchairs at the door before they depart for home
Soldier holds boy while his wheelchair is adjusted
Iraqi Police Colonel awarding first wheelchair to disabled Iraqi child
Disabled children in their first kids wheelchairs!
NOTE: Many of these pictures were taken of the kids
before adjustments were made to their wheelchairs.
Before they left, each child's wheelchair was
properly adjusted to fit their needs so as to
ensure the straps and seating position were correct
in order to prevent injury or discomfort.
Wheelchairs for Iraqi Kids
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