Each time we join a new community, we set the purpose for which we will collect funds. If you’ve been following us all these years, then you know how this works.
At Operando, we usually donate the money to the communities or missionaries that then divide it among the people who need it most.
We changed the purpose
When we joined the Ksaverians, we wanted to follow our established pattern. If you remember, we first started collecting money for a computer classroom that the missionaries would use to educate people near the mission.
However, when we joined the Vincentians and the volunteers who visit the poorest families in Hortolandia on one of their visits to some of such families, we knew we had to change the purpose.
When Fabio left
These people live in such modest circumstances and are so heavily dependent on the benefactors that we never second-guessed our purpose. We changed the purpose and encouraged you to help collect money for Ina and her son Fabio; a family that has been marked by a rare genetic disease.
Fabio had been lying on a mattress in a modest little room for years, completely dependent on his mother, and never went outside because Ina couldn’t afford a wheelchair for him.
With the money we collected, we wanted to buy a wheelchair but we had to change the purpose because Ina’s son, just like her father-in-law, husband, and daughter before him, passed away. We are glad that he finally found his peace.
Wheelchair for Zuldia
Wheelchair for Zuldia does for her son who isn’t able to move. As I have already written, Gilberto has been suffering from meningitis since he was a child. Since then, his body has been deformed and disfigured and he too is completely dependent on his elderly mother.
When we first visited her, she told us she could barely lift Gilberto and carry him to the couch, let alone take him out of the house and walk with him in the fresh air. A wheelchair would be the perfect solution.
By bends
We were able to buy a wheelchair with your help but getting there wasn’t easy.
A wheelchair that is needed by people like Fabio and Gilberto must fit completely and has to be custom-made. Therefore, the process of buying a wheelchair can be lengthy and in no way cheap.
Fabio died at the time when we found a wheelchair for him and we’re looking for options to customize it to fit his body and illness, based to the uncontrolled movements caused by Huntington’s disease.
Race with time
After Fabio’s death, we started the whole process again, this time for Gilberto, but we didn’t have much time.
We wanted to buy a wheelchair before we left our mission. Namely, we had enough time and influence to make the process of buying and customizing the wheelchair run fast.
If we simply donated the money to the Vincentians and they would continue the process, everything would definitely go slower.
Not that the volunteers aren’t diligent, consistent, and motivated. The problem is that everyone also has their own job, family, and children.
Indeed, it would take them a lot of time before they could make the purchase, arrange everything, and customize the wheelchair. A lot of time would be spent at the expense of Zuldia and Gilberto.
There was a solution
When we called to Campinas, where they manufacture and sell wheelchairs, they told us that it could be made in two months, which was absolutely too late according to our plans.
However, we were pointed to a man who had his own workshop where he fixed and customized wheelchairs. He proposed a solution that seemed perfect to everyone at once.
Namely, he had one used wheelchair available that was perfect for Gilberto. He brought it from Campinas to Hortolandia, directly to Gilberto’s home.
At first, we were quite skeptical because the wheelchair seemed pretty worn out. We couldn’t imagine how it would look when fixed. The last thing we wanted was to “throw the money away” and leave Gilberto without a wheelchair.
Affordable and with warranty
But after the man explained the procedure to us and told us how the wheelchair would be fixed and reinforced, and especially after assuring us we would pay for the wheelchair after we saw it renovated, our doubts were gone.
The price of the wheelchair was affordable too. A new wheelchair would cost 5,600 Brazilian Reals, which is more than 1000 €, this one, including the renovation, would cost half less. For us, this was more than acceptable, since we will give the rest of the money to the Vincentians to help other poor families.
Custom made
We agreed. Zuldia brought Gilberto out of the room and we put him in the wheelchair. Gilberto was making faces as if to say: ‘This is what you’ll be driving me around?’
But he had to sit on it so that the man could measure everything and assess the length of the cushion, where the protection would be installed, and how the cushion would be designed so Gilberto could sit comfortably. ‘Don’t worry, Gilberto, when you sit on a new one, you’ll laugh.’
Completely renovated
After two weeks, the wheelchair was finished. Exactly as we agreed. We got together at Zuldia’s house and what we saw now was a completely different image.
The wheelchair was a new one. Stable, reinforced, in new colors, and completely customized to Gilberto. The padded backrest was slightly indented because the boy’s spine is curved and will now be able to fit the chair perfectly. Excellent! We were excited.
This is it!
We will never forget the moment when Gilberto was put on a wheelchair. Everything was worthwhile.
At first, he was a little scared because many people were standing around him. Not only of us, but also of Mr. Dersiv, who took the responsibility for this project among the Vincentians, Father Lucas, whom we invited to bless the wheelchair, and two other people from the service company.
But Gilberto’s face soon cleared up, and his lips widened in a big smile. This is it!
Only when Gilberto was on the wheelchair, the service technician could mount the protective pillows, seat belts, and backrests on the sides.
But it didn’t take long before Zuldia could take her son for a walk after such a long time.
Finally outside
‘When was the last time Gilberto was outside?’ we asked her before we went out of the house.
‘Two months ago, when we took him to the dentists. Before that, I don’t even remember,’ she told us.
Also the expression of gratitude on her face was something that was worth the effort. Zuldia came to us and thanked us in tears.
‘Zuldia, this is not our gift,’ we explained to her. ‘It’s a gift from people from Slovenia, those who heard your story and wanted to help you and your son.’
And now, on behalf of Operando as well as in Zuldia’s name, we express our gratitude for your generosity and help.
That day, we changed one person’s life together.
Operando.
