Salvos, Indians help disabled

By SHIRLYN BELDEN
ELEVEN people living with disability could not contain their excitement when they received brand new crutches and wheelchairs from the Salvation Army Boroko and Indian Association in Port Moresby.
About K5,000 was given to the Salvos by the Indian Association as a gift to assist its work to provide relief and assistance to people living with disability.
The money has been used to provide the 11 people with equipment to make life easier.
They said they always wanted such devices as a new wheelchair to help them move about.
Reginald Mata, of Eastern Highlands and Central and who has been living at Sabama in NCD,  was an excited recipient of a wheelchair.
He said he could not thank both organisations enough for their help.
Mata has suffered from a chronic disease and has been   paralysed since birth.
The devices were presented to the 11 people at the Salvation Army, Boroko, last Friday by Col Neil Webb.     
The recipients were identified through the settlement outreach programme of the organisation conducted every month by Major Michael Dengi.
Dengi said the programme identified that many people with disability lived in the city.
He said they were unable to reach basic assistance to improve their lives.
“There is a great need for the government and other relevant authorities and organisations to attend to because there is a growing number of people living with disabilities in the city who need help.
“What little we have, we are giving it to them. There needs to be a strategic partnership to tackle this challenge,” Dengi said.