Monrovia – The Jerry Cebulski African Disability Foundation (JCADF) is calling for subsidy from government and supports from other humanitarians, due to limited support from its international sponsors at this time of a lethal pandemic.
The foundation team in Liberia said, the global COVID-19 pandemic has created hitches for financial support in providing needs for people living with disabilities.
“Donations are down due to Covid-19 and there is a tremendous financial instability that we never thought we would see in America. Because of their difficulties, we now are being affected and fear the times are rapidly approaching where we will no longer be able to provide humanitarian aid to so many of our countrymen,” Henry Theoway, Country Director of JCADF told FrontPageAfrica Wednesday, May 6.
This, according to him, is a result of the effects the pandemic has had and continues to have on the United States of America, where their sponsors reside.
Currently, he said the foundation is unable to effectively carry out its regular distributions to counties of concentration where several other disabled are residing, due to ‘financial instability.’
As part of their responsibilities in Liberia, Theoway said: “Every month, we distribute food, medical/surgical care, clothing, and specialized equipment (wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, braces and prosthetics) and we provide education, shelter and the basic necessities needed to survive for all in the program.”
“We are constantly on-call for emergencies, even in the middle of the night. Now with Covid-19 in the country, we have had to curtail some of our activities.”
Mr. Theoway said the team in Liberia will be able to help hundreds of persons living with disabilities in the country, if the government subsidizes them.
He said, no official in Liberia has ever interacted with them concerning any provisions of aid, noting that the situation may worsen for them if the government does not subsidize efforts by their international partners.
“Now is the time for our government to step up. We would be extremely grateful if the Liberian administration could provide us with food, additional hand washing buckets, medical supplies, personal protective equipment and a vehicle to help us reach others in the various communities and villages our disabled and their families live in,” Theoway stressed.
“We also would like additional information from health professionals on Covid-19 that we could distribute to all our neighbors, both young and elderly.”
Equally at Risk
For his part, the Deputy Country Director Matthew Nyumah said the team in Liberia fears that those under the foundation sponsorship and other persons living with disabilities in Liberia are vulnerable to the disease due to lack of approved medication of the disease.
“The symptoms are extremely similar to those of malaria and typhoid, so it is difficult to tell if someone is suffering from Covid-19 or from another similar illness. There is no one alive today who has ever experienced a pandemic where so little is known about the disease,” Mr. Nyumah stated.
However, he said they have created innovative ways and techniques to protect each of their members from the disease.
He stated: “In order to function on a daily basis, we have found it is easier to look at everyone as if we are all infected. In this way, we are careful with each other because, in reality, we do not know who is carrying the virus or not.”
“Our distribution team wears our own version of protective gear including masks, gloves and raincoats. In the end, it all comes down to the fact that, whether able-bodied or disabled, we are all equal.”
At the same time, he has expressed the importance of prayer in their daily activities while fighting the disease through preventive measures. “Without God, we can do nothing!”
As part of the measures to prevent the spread of the disease, Nyumah said they have distributed flyers with instructions for persons living with different kinds of disabilities, as well as others for community dwellers.
He in the same way noted that one of their fellow disabled is currently producing face masks which are being distributed to those who are in need.
For her part, a member of the JCADF, Lovetta Kelly said their ‘biggest regret’ is that, their former head Sister Sponsa Beltran is no longer around to guide them.
Kelly said during a time like this, it was not unusual for Sister Sponsa to be flown out by government to the bush in the middle of the night to treat severely ill cholera victims and help control epidemics, only to be returned days later.
JCADF is a non-profit NGO and the continuation of the work and vision of Sister Sponsa Beltran, OSF, a Bernardine Franciscan nurse missionary who spent over 35+ years of her life caring for the poor and disabled of Liberia.
In 1970, Sister Sponsa was assigned to Cape Palmas, Liberia to run a clinic for the poor and to deliver medicines in a jeep to the surrounding bush country.
In the mid-1980’s, she encountered a disabled child for the first time and quickly learned about their plight.
“In Liberia, the disabled are considered by many to be cursed or “witched” and as a result, are often neglected by society, even by their own families! Sister decided to create a rehabilitation center on the clinic grounds, and so, Our Lady of Fatima Rehabilitation Center was born,” she asserted.
Today, the former Our Lady of Fatima Rehab has become the Jerry Cebulski African Disability Foundation, named after Sister Sponsa’s oldest nephew who was killed in a car accident on his way to work in the mid-1990.
“Yes, the children, who were considered “witched” by their own society and abandoned to the care of this American nun, are now making tremendous strides in assisting the handicapped throughout their own country. Many of us have college degrees and we all have special talents that are being used to provide for the least of Liberia”
She maintained that although the parent NGO is based in the United States and is run by Sister Sponsa’s family and her college classmate along with an American Board of Directors, their local team works with them to provide basic necessities to the handicapped in this program.
“We not only care for the disabled, but we also provide for their families, because as handicaps ourselves, we are totally aware that the disabled in many families will benefit nothing unless the entire family is also helped,” Madam Kelly continued.
“We survived the Ebola outbreak, following strict instructions as to how to act to protect ourselves and our families. We are proud to say that in caring for almost 500 persons, we did not have a single life lost to Ebola. We learned much.
Now, with the coronavirus, we have expanded our precautions in keeping our clients educated about how to protect themselves and their families. We pray that God has mercy on all of Liberia, especially on the disabled.”