ADRA begins to distribute wheelchairs in Mexico’s Inter-Oceanic region

ADRA Inter-Oceanic Mexico’s Director Martin Olvera presents Gudelia Cuevas of Iztaccihuatl after she received a brand new wheelchair during a special ceremony in Cuautla, Morelos, on Jan. 16, 2016. Some 135 persons with physical disabilities will receive much needed wheelchairs across poor communities in the states of Guerrero, Hidalgo, Morelos, Oaxaca, Tlaxcala, Tabasco and Veracruz. Images by Gregorio Vázquez/IAD

February 9, 2016 | Cuautla, Morelos, Mexico | Sharon Dominguez/IAD Staff

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) in Mexico’s Inter-Oceanic region began distributing wheelchairs to people with disabilities in Cuautla, in the state of Morelos, Mexico, during a special ceremony last month.

Young people, adults and the elderly were among the beneficiaries of what ADRA is considering to be the start of a large project that will see some 135 people with their very own wheelchairs, said Martin Olvera, ADRA director for the Inter-Oceanic Mexican region.

“This initiative was really born out of a visit ADRA made to a conference during which local church members asked for help for a fellow disabled church member whose family transported him in a wheelbarrow,” said Olvera. Soon more requests came in from different churches across the territory. District pastors and church elders were assigned to investigate the requests.”

According to Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography, in 2015, 6.6 percent of its population, or 6.1 million, reported that they had at least one person with a disability in their home. In other words, there is a person with some form of disability in 19 out of 100 homes in Mexico. Most of these cases, the data shows, have to do with people unable to walk, followed by vision disabilities, hearing and speech impediments, mental illness, personal care, and attention difficulties.

ADRA Inter-Oceanic Mexico’s office purchased 135 wheelchairs to be distributed across communities in seven states during the coming weeks and months.

Gudelia Cuevas was among the first five recipients of a new set of wheels last month. Her son had met David Hernandez, a church head elder, who had come to the poor community in Iztaccihuatl with a group of church members to distribute food and survey the needs in the area. Cuevas’s son asked Hernandez for a chair for his mother, who had struggled to move about after one of her legs was amputated.

Hernandez went back to church and shared with local church leaders the different needs they found in that small community and the ADRA Inter-Oceanic office took notice.

“It was very difficult to use the crutches so I prayed for God to provide a free wheelchair because I could not afford one, and God did answer my prayer,” said Cuevas.

Olvera knows this is just scratching the surface. “We know that a wheel chair will not solve the growing needs of a disabled person, but we strive to contribute to ameliorate their situation somewhat,” said Olvera.

During the next months, the nine church regions in Mexico’s Inter-Oceanic territory will distribute dozens more wheelchairs donated by ADRA in communities across the states of Guerrero, Hidalgo, Morelos, Oaxaca, Tlaxcala, Tabasco and Veracruz.