Perfect Fit

This week has gone by very quickly, but it also seems that so much has happened we feel like we have been here for months. I (Josh) have not actually spent much time in the clinic but instead have been making many visits to people’s homes (as well as working on a special project). Before we came to Haiti, Julie sent us information on a few people that had a need for wheelchairs. We were blessed to be able to bring six different wheelchairs but it was not clear if these chairs would fit the patients. Before it was time to take the wheelchairs to the patients, I had to unpack and reassemble several of them. In the process, I discovered that an important bolt that supports the backrest had fallen out of the chair. I was very disappointed as this particular type of bolt is custom to this wheelchair and I was sure that we would not have a suitable bolt to replace it. I went ahead and looked in the kit we brought; there was one random bolt that someone had thrown in that was a perfect fit! That trend of perfect fit continued as we went to each patient’s home. On multiple occasions we selected a wheelchair to try with a particular patient and every part of the wheelchair was a perfect fit. It is clearly God’s hand guiding us and providing for the needs of our patients.

The special project was a custom lift built to help a mother transfer her child that has grown too big to transfer by herself. Many people pitched in to build and test the lift (thanks to Jessica, Neal, and Emily). It turned out great and will be a nice help to this family.

-Josh