Saturday, September 13, 2014

Wheels Down in Trinidad--Post #3

Today we distributed 25 wheelchairs.  We also visited a Hindu Temple, and in an odd sort of way, those to things are connected.  Let me explain.


The Rotary Club here in Trinidad has, as I've mentioned, distributed hundreds of wheelchairs.  As a result they have the process extremely well-organized.  It begins with referrals.  Folks who know of their work recommend potential recipients.  After an application is filled out, the club makes certain the potential recipient meets their criteria, including actual need.  A day is set for distribution, and folks are scheduled to come to the school where the Club issues the chairs.  Everybody has a specific job, ranging from greeting recipients to finalizing paper work. 


The folks issued chairs today ranged from a young man who had been paralyzed at the age of three in a car accident, to an elderly woman who was a double amputee.  There was even a little girl who had outgrown her wheelchair and was turning it in for a larger one.


Seedaws Sadhu returned from service in the Pacific during World War II in one piece--unlike many of his comrades.  A devout Hindu, he decided to build a Temple in gratitude for his safe return.  He started construction on the Temple on what turned out to be land owned by the state, and so it was torn down.  But Sadhu was undeterred.  The sea, he reasoned, belonged to no one--and so he would build the Temple some 90 meters off shore.  Each evening, after a full day of cutting sugar cane, he came down to the waters and worked on his project.  He carried foundation stones to the beach on his bicycle and then waded out to build the site--included, over time, a causeway.  He worked on his project for 18 years every single day.  While incomplete at the time of his death, the Temple stands today as a testimony to the marvel of how one stone stacked on top of another, can, over time, amount to a thing of beauty.


We passed out just twenty-five chairs today, but over time the Club here on Trinidad has kept at the work month after month, year after year--and today thousands of folks in the Caribbean lead fuller lives because of their dedication.  Dedication as admirable as that of a sugar cane cutter who wanted to build a Temple so many years ago. 

(Photo Credit:  Don Thomas)


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