Trike Crate Shipped

4/27/10 Today we sent out our first crate filled with one completed trike and 15 trike part kits to Ethiopia. We sent the crate to the state of Washington where they will be loaded onto a container and shipped to Soddo Christian Hospital (SCH) in Ethiopia. SCH has an orthopedic surgeon who does surgery on many patients in need of a trike. The hospital also has a workshop on the grounds and a local welder who will weld them together.

SCH is also one of the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS) is one of the teaching sites in Africa where doctors in this surgical program come for training. Having the trikes at SCH will increase visibility throughout the world as African doctors in the PAACS program come and visiting professors from many nations give courses for PAACS students at SCH.

Here is a story from Dr. Duane, SCH’s orthopedic surgeon about the impact a trike had four years ago on Melessa, a young man with polio deformities. After operating on him a few times, “Melessa came to me with a request for a new set of crutches,” Dr. Duane asked him to help pay back some of the work by volunteering in the Operating Room (OR). He did, only he worked until 11 pm. So I thought I will hire this young man not knowing his language ability. Wow. What a blessing he has been to me personally. There is no one more loyal than him to me and the LORD. Praise the LORD for Mellessa.

“Melessa continues to be a blessing to us here in Soddo. He now speaks 6 languages-Kambata his native tongue, Amharic(the national language), Hadia, Alaba, Wolaitta(he has picked it up in one year and translates for me in this tongue as well and prays fluently in it as well) and he is very good in understanding English. He is heavily involved in

Bible study, sharing the gospel and doing anything and everything for me in my clinic. He takes off casts, arranges patients, translates into all these languages and holds the hands of frightened people in the OR when no one else knows their language. He makes rounds with me at 7am, goes to school at 8, returns at noon from school (fifth grade) works in our OR doing whatever and stays until my clinic is over anywhere from 5-7pm. Despite his disability he does everything that he can.

Thanks to a sponsor they bought Melessa a trike built in Ethiopia that cost $450 U.S. dollars. SCH has experienced the blessing of giving a trike with dignity and receiving a blessing by having Melessa give back for the trike. We are excited to see all that God has planned for the 16 HWI trikes headed over to SCH.