Tumanburg, Bomi County- Wednesday, February 21 was a jubilant day for people living with disability in Tubmanburg, Bomi County as a local non-governmental organization (NGO) donated wheelchairs and crutches worth USD$ 5,000 to the disabled Community in the county.
Florence A. Tolbert and Disabled Advocates (FATDA), the group that made the donation, said it was a way of helping disabled people in dire need of the items.
Presenting the items at the Liberia Government Hospital in Tumanburg, the Founder and Executive Director of FATDA, Sam Dean said the main goal of the organization is to help disabled people.
Dean said he’s passionate about helping his fellow disabled.
“I think it is exactly ten years when we assembled here to this same place to distribute wheelchairs and crutches to our disable people, and I will go on to do more with the help of good citizens at home and abroad to distribute over eleven thousand units of these same wheelchairs, crutches and portable commode throughout Liberia,” he said.
Dean said his organization’s donation to the disable community in Bomi County intends to enhance the capacity of the physically challenged and buttress the government’s Pro-poor agenda.
“Given that disabled (people) are the poorest of the poor and we pray that this pro-poor agenda is not just a hypocritical rhetoric but something that will improve the disabled life,” he said.
“We as disabled, we have suffered for too long. I have seen my brothers going through extreme difficulties on the streets begging for their daily bread.”
“They are fifth class citizens in their own country. It is not a crime being a disabled, and all we want is our own share of the national cake which include employment and a society that is accessible to us.”
The Founder and CEO of FATDA used the occasion to call on President Weah to improve the living conditions of the disabled communities in the country, citing public facilities like school and hospital as major challenges.
Susannah Moore, a beneficiary of the items, said she was forced to drop out of school due to the lack of wheelchair. She noted that with the help of FATDA she can now resume school.
“I am happy to receive this wheelchair today from the Florence A. Tolbert and the Disable Advocates because I had to drop from school some time ago due to the lack of wheelchair,” she said.
Sao Saetuah, a student of the Bomi County Community College, commended FATDA for the donation.
“From now onward with this nice wheelchair my movement will be more accessible.”
“But at first, it was more challenging with my old wheelchair especially moving among the rocks, but now it will be easier for me to move easily,” he averred.
Report by Jackson F. [email protected]/0770195412/0888132331