Saba Trust IEWS Receives another Donation
of 2200 Wheelchairs
Over the past few years Saba Aslam Education & Welfare Trust/International Education
& Welfare Society has distributed thousands of wheel chairs in Azad Kashmir,
NWFP, Karachi to Islamabad and other places. These wheelchairs were donated by the
Free Wheelchair Mission.
“We are thankful to the Almighty God that we were able to help many people of all
ages from different villages and cities. We want to share with everyone a very interesting
story of a student named Muhammad Rafi,” says Mr. Saghir Aslam who heads the
Saba Trust. Mr Aslam adds: The student had no transportation to get to school
and heard about Saba Trust donating wheelchairs. He came to the office and I met
him and listened to his heartbreaking story. He had tears in his eyes and indicated
that he wanted to go to school but had no way of going because he didn’t have transportation,
he didn’t have a wheelchair. More tears flowed from his eyes and he said “I hope
you will be kind and generous enough to donate to me a wheelchair because I can’t
afford to buy one.” He continued to say, “Sir please don’t say no because I really,
truly need a wheelchair. Please donate a wheelchair so that I can continue
with my education.” I was happily surprised when I saw him again for the second
time when I was in Pakistan last month. This time he had a big smile on his face
and he said, “Sir, remember me? You gave me the wheelchair that you see here in
front of me. I am so thankful to you. Because of this wheelchair I have been able
to continue my education. But Sir as you can see this wheelchair is worn out.”
As he spoke tears came to my eyes. He continued, “I took very good care of it as
I wanted to have this chair to last me a long time. But as you can see the wheels
are practically worn out and it is very difficult to use it anymore. I have tried
to continue to use it as much as I could. But I am here so that you can give me
a new wheelchair.” I embraced him and gave him a big kiss and said I will
be delighted, honored and proud to give him another wheelchair. This is one of the
most productive uses of the wheelchairs that I have encountered.
There are many other stories not exactly like this particular one but people have
came and have been very thankful and very appreciative of the donation of the wheelchairs.
In some situations we have heard from people that were not able to move for months,
sometimes years, and the donation of the wheelchairs had made it possible for them
to carry on with their lives. We have heard these wonderful stories from young,
old and middle aged, from boys, girls, men and women, each and everyone of them
having said that a wheelchair is the best thing that ever happened to them. They
have stated that they continuously pray for the people who are making the donation
of these wheelchairs. It has been a tremendous help for those who have received
the wheelchairs.
With the new shipment have come improvements in the wheelchairs. They have
added a new footplate that will need to be added to the footrest bar and adjusted
for each recipient. This will help stabilize the wheelchair recipient and
offer them more comfort in using their wheelchair. The footplate comes
with a wrench attached so that each recipient will be able to make adjustments.
Free Wheelchair Mission have developed a user manual for every recipient to take
home with them.
The wheelchairs are donated to us by Free WheelChair Mission for which we are very
thankful to Almighty God first and then to the Free WheelChair Mission. I wanted
to mention that for each container our cost to distribute approximates $5,000. Now
that we are focusing mainly on orphanage and our educational projects it is becoming
extremely difficult for the Trust to continue to bear the cost of distribution of
the wheelchairs. I would hate to see this program discontinued as it has helped
so many people in so many different ways in every walk of life.
Below is our contact information, the tax ID number which you can benefit from
and be a part of this great program. You may mail your tax deductible donations
to: 20 Truman Irvine, CA 92620. Tax ID #: 33-0716944. For any further questions
please send email to saghiraslam@aol.com
or saghiraslam@sabatrust.org or you
may call 949-654-3944 USA/51-550-8351 PAKISTAN.
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