Ahmaral and her family live in the Tashkent region of Uzbekistan. She and her brother Silbek have been diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. Together they shared an old adult sized wheelchair which was clearly too large for them. Working with our partner in Uzbekistan, we were able to give both Ahamarl and Silbek chairs that are a better fit.Ahmaral liked her pink wheelchair right away, and was so glad to move around by herself. Ahmaral has been working on her second grade studies from her home and last year received a good student award. She has wanted to attend school with her peers since it is not very far from her home. She isn't able to go on her own, so her sister helps her get to and from school. Our partner is following up to make sure Ahmaral has the support she needs, and sent these photos of Ahamarl's first day at school.

Jayrald Calingasan (age 23)  from Batangas, Philippines, worked as a bread delivery man on an "as needed" basis until his accident.  His 23 year old wife died of cancer just two (2) months after his accident.  His father is dead and his mother barely manages to support herself as a maid in Paranaque.  The family relies on his mother-in-law who works as a domestic helper in Kuwait.  His father-in-law is now caring for Joyraid's two daughters.  Jayraid has been in the Philippine Orthopedic Center's Spine Ward for over a year, but hopes to be discharged soon and find work he can do with his hands.  His wheelchair, donated by Wheelchairs of Hope through Mirai Ni Kibo was transported gratis by the Philippine Airlines.

Nguyen Thanh Han is a student at the Information Technology Training Program for People with Disabilities (ITTP) in Vietnam.

He was born 400km away from Ho Chi Minh City, and has had weak feet since birth. Though his parents were poor, they wanted to find the best educational opportunities for their two children. So when Han entered secondary school, his parents decided to move to Ho Chi Minh City.  Soon after the move Han's father died, and his mother who worked as a street vendor could not afford to have both of her children attend school.  Han decided to leave school and started selling lottery tickets to contribute to the family's finances.

In early 2012, Han found ITTP (Information Technology Training Program) on a website for people with disabilities and decided to apply for the graphic design course.  He said, “I want to learn a skill which fits with my ability and helps to change my life.” He joined the ITTP training course in June and  will finish in early December.

Han never had a wheelchair before  because his family cannot afford one. "Moving by crutches is slow and dangerous. It is much more comfortable and convenient for me now with this wheelchair,” Han said after receiving the wheelchair. “And, I am now more confident when applying as a photoshop technician in a photo studio because of the skills I am learning from ITTP and because I have this wheelchair in the work place” Han added.

Han is very positive about his future. It’s show in his face when he wheels  toward a group of his classmate at ITTP.

Nguyen Van Duc is the oldest child in a family with 3 children at a poor remote  village in the Do Luong district, Nghe An. Duc wanted to help his parents to feed the family so he decided not to attend high school but instead started working as a brick layer right after he completed grade 9 (secondary school).

Late 2003 he had an accident that resulted in the lower half of his body being paralyzed. His family then faced great difficultly because of Duc's medical treatment.

Duc left home for Hanoi 9 years after his accident. "I want to learn a job skill and earn some money to ease my parents'  burden and that of my brother who now also quit school and is working as a brick layer," he said.  Duc hopes he can find a job where he can work from home like photo processing or website design and management. That’s why he joined the one year training course on IT management at ESTIH, a partner of the Information Technology Training Program for People with Disabilities (ITTP) funded by CRS and USAID.

Duc has a wheelchair that he got it from a charity organization 8 year ago. Now it is broken and Duc has to share a wheelchair with one of his classmate, but it too isn't fully functional. Doc was happy to receive the wheelchairs.  “I  now can get to the classroom on time” he said with a big smile.