Two disabled sisters voiced gratitude to all the people they will never meet who have brightened their lives.
A neighbor brought 15-year-old Dudu to a recent Luke Commission outreach.
Dudu walked on her knees; her lower legs were under-developed and non-functioning, as was her right arm. Her mother died in 2009, and her father lives in South Africa. She obviously needed a wheelchair.
A neighbor made arrangements to get 15-year-old Dudu to TLC’s outreach with the hopes of raising her off the ground into a chair of her own. Hope becomes reality. |
Dudu did not say much, but her eyes glowed when she spotted her new wheelchair from Free Wheelchair Mission. And she nodded enthusiastically when we talked about Jesus.
Then came a surprise request: “I have a sister. Please help her.”
Another disabled person in the same grandmother-led homestead? Hard to imagine! Gogo (grandma) didn’t have the strength to walk to the outreach, and the sister certainly couldn’t.
Further inquiries located an aunt waiting for medical treatment. “Can you bring her?” we asked. Without hesitation, Auntie dashed up the nearby mountain to a homestead seen in the distance. An hour later, she returned, sweating, smiling, and pushing a young woman in an old wheelbarrow.
Auntie pushes Lwazi down the mountain. |
Giggling as she bumped along was Lwazi, who told us her name, and then declared, “I heard at church that The Luke Commission was coming. I knew I would get my chair today.”
How did she expect even to reach the outreach? No transportation had been arranged.
Such faith!
Lwazi “just knew” this was her day… Her face confirms happiness and expectation. |
For all her 26 years, Lwazi had moved from here to there on her stomach and elbows. Her misshapen legs were permanently curled under her torso.
A Liswati staff member built Lwazi a pull cart, donated by a Mobility Worldwide affiliate in the U.S. The pull cart looks like a large wagon with a comfortable chair in its bed.
“Now I can sing,” Lwazi laughed as she clapped.
No one “planned” these encounters. No one but God, Who orchestrated all details to get TLC to that rural Liswati community that particular day, and then to “find” two sisters who needed to be there.
by Janet Tuinstra for TLC
Dudu (left) gives smiles of gratitude with two other Free Wheelchair Mission recipients at a recent Luke Commission outreach. |