Obvious

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Meet Obvious, he is from a farming community in Kalomo district here in Zambia. He is 12 years old and stands at less than 3 feet tall. He was born with a defect, his twin sister was fine. Obvious travels 3 kilometers each day just to get to school.
Today Obvious was blessed with the gift of mobility. We needed to put a brick under his feet so he could sit on the edge of the seat and pedal as his feet couldn’t quite reach the floor. Within moments he was pedaling and zooming around! He told us he dreams to be a teacher one day.
This gift of mobility has helped Obvious to have hope, dream, and changed his life forever!♥️

Daniel

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Meet Daniel, he is 52 years old and lives with his 69 year old mother in Mukuni Village. At age 3 Daniel developed Polio. He has spent his life dragging himself on the ground. He spends his days carving wood and cow bone into curios that he can sell.
He explained how difficult life has been, especially the everyday things like going to the toilet. He has to drag himself away from his home into the bush and drag himself all the way back, often burning his hands and knees in the scorching hot sand. Every day struggles most people can’t even imagine. Life has not been easy, but Daniel just keeps going!
We delivered his P.E.T. yesterday and he dragged himself onto it and quickly sped off, we had to run after him!
In a moment his life has been changed, mobility has been restored, and the possibilities that once were a distant dream have now become possible!

Mama Janet

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Meet Mama Janet, she is 59 years old. She has been a 4th grade teacher her adult life, passionately sowing into children’s lives.
In 2020 she lost her first leg to diabetes. In 2021 she had her second leg amputated as well. She has 6 children, 16 grand children and now lives with her two youngest daughters.
I asked her how she is coping and she said she doesn’t want to give up. She wants to keep teaching, but getting to school has become difficult.
As we placed Mama Janet onto her P.E.T., her eyes lit up and she began to pedal and laugh. She thanked us over and over for this gift. today her life has been changed!♥️

Oscar

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Meet Oscar, he is 15 years old and in grade 7. He started losing feeling in his legs and his knees began to swell at age 12. His mother took him to the local clinic but they could not find a cause. They decided to try treating him for TB and any other option they thought could be related. After nothing worked they referred him to a hospital in the capital of Lusaka. Because the mother did not have the resources she did not take him there.
Now, three years later Oscar has lost all strength in his legs and can no longer walk and has stopped going to school because his friends can no longer carry him there. Being an excellent student with great potential, two of his teachers brought him today hoping we could help. Tomorrow he can attend school again! He told us he hopes to pursue his dream of becoming a primary school teacher!

Susan

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Meet Susan, she was born with cerebral palsy and her mother died in childbirth. She is 9 years old and lives in an orphanage. This little girl was brought on a mat to the last distribution we did in Kalomo. We did not have enough mobility devices with us then to give her one. She was unable to sit up so we said we could modify the P.E.T. into a Pull P.E.T. So her caretaker could pull her around. I was asked by the teacher working with her to please give her a regular P.E.T. To see if it could help her cognitive development first.
Yesterday we brought Susan her own mobility device. She laid on a mat on the ground unable to sit. We placed her into the P.E.T. and tightened the seatbelt so she couldn’t fall out…it was like a light went on for her. She got so excited she managed to sit up on her own and started to pedal with one hand! She could not stop laughing with joy as she tried with all her might to drive with both hands.
We all watched in awe, as this miracle took place before our eyes and hope bubbled up in this little girl’s heart!

7 PETs to Kalomo

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Today we traveled an hour and half outside of Livingstone to Kalomo with 7 P.E.T.s in tow. The Ministry of Education there reached out to request for help for 7 children in their district in desperate need of mobility. Most of the children had been traveling on crutches, on the back of a bicycle, or by being carried on someone’s back for nearly 3 kilometers each way, every day to get to school.
We were met by the teachers advocating for the children from the different schools, the District Manager of Education and a local news person recording the event.
I sat with the children and listened to each of their heart wrenching stories of disability and daily trials. We reminded the children that God has a bigger plan in all of this and they have a calling and a purpose, even in the midst of their struggles. We told them that God sees them…and calls them blessed. This gift of mobility is just a reminder that He loves them and knows their hearts. He never leaves them and will always bring help when we cry out to him in our struggles. ♥️

Joyce

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Today I traveled to Lubuyu primary school to meet Joyce. She is 15 years old and desperately wants to attend school, but it takes her mother over an hour to carry her on her back to get there so they have stopped taking her. She was born with both legs disabled and has had one leg amputated. Life is hard for Joyce, but what amazed me is the joy and giggles she had when I talked with her. I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up and she said her heart wants to be a nurse. This week she will be registered in Grade 3. We worked with the teachers so she can drive her P.E.T. (Personal Energy Transport) into the classroom in the back and park next to her desk so she can now attend with ease. She was one beaming ray of hope today!

Two PETs to Zimbabwe

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Reverend Test traveled two days through Zimbabwe, morning and night, by local bus to cross into Zambia and pick up two PETs for recipients in desperate need. He runs a disabled home over 20 hours away and will make the two day return journey tonight with PETs in tow. No distance is too far when the impact of mobility can drastically change a life forever! What a glorious sacrifice and servant heart, I am thankful to have met Mr. Test, and excited to hear the testimony of the disabled girl who will receive one of them in a few days, what a blessing and encouragement!

20 PETs Delivered to Mufulira

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Over the weekend, we delivered twenty PETs to Mufulira. We worked with Pastor Zemba Wellington with the SDA church who has worked with us many times over the years to help identify those who need help with mobility. In one beautiful act of kindness and selflessness, one woman who had claimed a PET saw others who had come too late and willingly gave up the claimed PET saying “Please give this to someone who needs it more than me.”

We pray that all twenty people will be able to become more active and involved in their families and in their communities now. And that we can continue to provide PETs to those that need them, including that selfless woman. That in providing this gift to others, we can show the love of Christ to a group of people that are too often forgotten.

Everyday Life

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Someone using their PET to get around their community and to a shop. This is what every day use of a PET looks like.

Those who have use of their legs don’t think about walking to the shop to buy some bread, or walking to a bus station to get into town to run an errand, or to get to school, or to work. We take the ease of mobility for granted. But for those who are disabled and a have no help with it, their world is much smaller. They are confined to their home or immediate area around their home. For the determined, they crawl to the bus station or the store. For some, a family member carries them around so they can get somewhere.

But when this person- who is loved and cherished by God- is given crutches, a wheelchair, or a PET, their whole world opens up and changes. They are no longer dependent upon a loved one to get somewhere. They can now go to school, work and church; they can grow and work a garden; they can run their errands in town. This image represents that. It shows how this disabled person is now a part of their community and can engage with it like others do because they received the gift of mobility through a PET.