Thondwe, Malawi … During the past five years a joint working relationship between the Malawi Project and the Free Wheelchair Mission in Irvine, California has resulted in the successful shipment and distribution of 2,200 wheelchairs to Malawi. Wheelchairs have been distributed into all three regions of the nation, and have reached villages, hospitals, prisons, churches, and government offices.
Requests are handled through the Malawi Project warehouse manager in Thondwe, Malawi, Wilson Tembo. This is one of the major distribution sites for supplies going into Malawi, and in the past two years has handled two of the shipments of wheelchairs.
Suzi Stephens, Malawi Project’s Medical Director, and one of the founders, notes, “The request for wheelchairs has increased many times over each year as more and more people throughout Malawi have learned they are available through this program. They are increasing as well in all of the agencies and groups we are assisting. We even receive requests at our offices in the U.S. on a weekly basis. The need is just so immense, it is hard to explain to someone who has never traveled to this part of the world.”
The most recent shipment of wheelchairs reached the warehouse the middle of 2010, and a recent request was sent to Wilson Tembo to reply with the inventory of wheelchairs still in the warehouse. Since a picture is worth a thousand words the following pictures vividly reflect his answer. The first picture is the wheelchair inventory in September 2010, and the second picture is that same location today.
Dick Stephens, one of the founders of the Project indicates, “Another shipment of wheelchairs is waiting to be sent to Malawi. Free Wheelchair is anxious to work with us. We have a great, on-going relationship with them. All we need is the final $5,000.00 that for transportation costs.”