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Hi Everyone!
On Sunday, I rode out into Baghdad with an Aegis security team to distribute more pediatric wheelchairs to disabled Iraqi children once again. These fifty wheelchairs were generously sponsored by the Aegis Hearts & Minds non-profit through my strategic partner Reach Out and Care Wheels, which provides a high quality non-profit pediatric wheelchair designed just for this environment.
This event has been in the planning / coordinating stages for a long time – since Summer 2008. Most of my distributions in the past have been organized and directed by military commands. This one, however, reached out to the disabled community through a national Iraqi charity - the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS). After months of emails trying to arrange distribution, all the loose ends finally came together a few weeks ago! A distribution event to give away all fifty wheelchairs was planned for 25 January, and it went off without a hitch thanks to Aegis and IRCS staff coordination.
Upon arriving at the distribution location on the morning of the 25th, we were escorted into a large meeting hall where the wheelchairs would be given to the children. The room was packed with families and their kids, but we were ushered to the front of the room to sit on the first row. The room was quiet, and filled with anticipation of a gift giving celebration.
The President of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society entered the room and took his place at the desk on the stage behind a microphone. He stood and invited me to join him at the desk in a place of honor. The IRCS President gave a speech filled with thanks and gratefulness towards those bringing gifts, then invited me to do speak also. Local Iraqi media was present rolling film as well as snapping pictures. I’m anxious to see the reports and coverage – but not sure that will happen as I don’t speak or read Arabic (thus I don’t watch their local stations or read their newspapers).
Soon, the first wheelchair was awarded to a child on the first row. As I was adjusting the wheelchair to the boy’s body shape, the IRCS Health Manager asked me to give a demonstration to all of the parents on the various adjustments on the wheelchair. As their children grow, the parents would be making the adjustments on their own with a tool provided with the chair. IRCS staff placed an empty wheelchair on top of the desk, and I demonstrated step by step all of the adjustments necessary to make their child comfortable in the wheelchair.
The next three hours was a blur, and passed quickly. Aegis teams combined with red-vested IRCS members worked feverishly to make adjustments to the wheelchairs so they fit every twist and bend of the bodies of the disabled children. As I walked around the room checking to ensure proper fitting, I noticed that each child’s eyes were filled with hope as they rested in their new wheelchairs. Many were smiling, as they realized they had just received something very special, sponsored by people half a world away who really cared about their needs.
For most of the children this is the nicest, most useful gift they’ve ever received, and this from total strangers they will never meet. For the families, they were extremely grateful also. Fathers were shaking my hand while patting me on the back. One mother even asked permission to kiss my cheek – as she was so grateful for the generous gift. Parents no longer will have to carry the kids everywhere, and the kids will have more opportunity to get out and into society – some even can go to school now that they have a wheelchair for easy transport.
During the event, the call to prayer was announced over loudspeakers. An interpreter later told me that some families were outside bowing down to pray, giving thanks for Aegis and me specifically for bringing them the wheelchairs for their children. I was extremely humbled to know they were so grateful – to pray for an American Christian during their call to worship. Even as I write this I’m taken by that monumental moment and have to pause and reflect. I’m honored by their prayers of thanks.
I have to say, interacting with disabled Iraqi children and their families in their time of need is always a life-changing experience for me. There’s something divine about helping needy innocent disabled kids on the lowest levels of society who cannot help themselves – then receiving smiles and tears of thanks from their parents offered in return which transcend all language barriers. Giving them something they really need, and otherwise would not have received makes any hassle, frustration or danger incurred worth the efforts put forth to get these kids seated in pediatric wheelchairs.
Thanks goes to Aegis USA and their non-profit Aegis Hearts & Minds. I was contacted in Spring 2008 regarding their desire to sponsor these wheelchairs for the kids. Aegis Baghdad’s Robert Lewis and his staff played a crucial role in helping to organize this event, sending their security teams to participate by helping adjust the children into their wheelchairs (you’ll recognize them in the photos by their tan color suits) and providing security/crowd control during the event. Aegis USA’s Katherine Hein came over from the states for the event to help! You’ll see her in the pictures below, talking with and helping kids into their new wheelchairs. Tim Salthouse was the Aegis Baghdad lead at the event, and his team even put me up in their compound in Baghdad for a few nights to make sure I was in the right place at the right time. Despite limitations in Iraq, the Aegis team grills great steaks!
Thanks also to the Iraqi Red Crescent Society. Dr. Mahdi Thiab, head of the Health Section at IRCS, identified the neediest recipients (mostly children disabled with Cerebral Palsy), sponsored a location for families to receive the wheelchairs and provided refreshments for them as they waited their turn to receive a wheelchair. He also contacted local Iraqi press and made sure they were present to cover the event.
Per CNN, UNICEF reports one in seven children in Iraq is disabled. Mercy Corps says one in ten Iraqis is disabled. With a population of roughly thirty million people, that’s almost three million disabled people who need a wheelchair. If even five percent of those three million are children, then 150,000 disabled children need pediatric wheelchairs. Once all the wheelchairs I currently have on hand are distributed, only 750 disabled kids will have received the wheelchair they need since I’ve been doing this from 2005 forward.
Helping 750 disabled kids is honorable, and has changed a significant number of lives – lives of parents as well as children. But out of 150,000 to 200,000 – 750 is only a mere scratch on the surface of the great need which exists in Iraq for a neglected disabled population.
The 750 wheelchairs were primarily sponsored from grass roots individuals and non-profit organizations. To begin making a more serious impact on the need for the tens of thousands of more pediatric (and adult) wheelchairs, I’m in search of greater funding sources which can sponsor large lots of pediatric and adult wheelchairs to be manufactured here in Iraq by trained Iraqi technicians. If anyone can help identify favorable funding sources to help continue and expand this effort to help the disabled population of Iraq, please contact me at Brad@WheelchairsForIraqiKids.com.
I’ll always need grass roots donations from individuals, businesses and non-profits to continue these missions, so please consider sponsoring a high-quality pediatric wheelchair for a disabled child in a war zone. To donate online via PayPal now, go to my website WheelchairsForIraqiKids.com and click on the “ROC Wheels Iraq – Donate Here” tab in the middle of the page.
Thank you again to Aegis Hearts and Minds, the Iraqi Red Crescent Society and Aegis Baghdad staff who contributed greatly to the success of this event. Like I told them – without help from my distribution partners, I would just be a guy with an idea to give wheelchairs to disabled kids!
More good news to come from Iraq!
Brad Blauser ‘92
Seated at head-table with IRC President
The families and their children, about to receive their wheelchairs
Teaching parents how to adjust the ROC wheelchairs to fit the needs of their child as they grow
Families came from near in Baghdad to as far as Baqouba to receive their new wheelchairs
Many of these children are afflicted with Cerebral Palsy. Others have disabilities, cause unknown.
Very cute girl
As these children grow, they really become an armful. Lots of parents complain
of back pain from having to lift the children so many times every day. The
wheelchairs are a huge blessing for them in that the kids are now easily transported,
and in some cases can move about on their own strength.
First boy is carried to his wheelchair
This was one boy who understands thumbs up! I think he liked his new wheelchair.
Aegis’ Katherine Hein and Tim Salthouse present a disabled boy with his first wheelchair.
Many families request further medical attention for their children, as they are in great need of
physical therapy or special medicines to help their children’s conditions. This family made a
request, and I will be working on this to see if we can get this little girl the help she needs.
Aegis team members (Beige color uniforms) were key players in adjusting
wheelchairs to fit the needs of the children receiving them. Their enthusiasm
reminded me how people from all walks of life can be moved when helping
children. Their assistance was invaluable, as they also speak the local language.
I lifted this boy while adjusting his wheelchair, and my hands felt every rib
through the boy’s shirt as I held him. My intent was to pass him off to his
mother, but he put his head on my shoulder and latched on as soon as he
touched my chest.
The mother in this picture is the one who asked to kiss me (on the cheek of course!).
Katherine was great with the kids. She talked to them, and they liked her smile.
This picture will go on my website soon.
This boy’s arms are locked stiff, but he was able to get his hand in mine by
swinging his shoulder back to shake my hand and give me a big smile.
I was worried that this boy had been too close to a bomb when it
exploded, but the child had just come out of surgery. He’s been
unable to walk, and the surgery was meant to stretch the tendons
in his legs so maybe his legs will flex enough to allow him to walk again.
This was our last child waiting to have his wheelchair adjusted. Because of his size and condition, it required more time than usual.
At the end, we were all glad to have the children in their wheelchairs and families taking them home. The smiling faces on the families
and their children reflected their appreciation for the gifts sponsored by caring people from the Western world.
Going home!