Two MSIA ministers, Holly Engelman and David Morton, are traveling in Pakistan and Afghanistan doing humanitarian aid work for Wheels for Humanity in collaboration with the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA). MSIA Minister, John Morton, had been traveling and serving with them as well, but returned home on January 26. Holly & David will be returning home on January 31. This article is a continuation of articles about their ministry
From an email Holly sent to John Morton on January 26
Hi Friends and Family,
John, I wanted to keep you updated on our progress since you left to start your journey back to LA.
Thursday, David and I went back to Quetta to get a clear picture on the status of the Wheels for Humanity containers still in customs, etc. Thursday evening we were dinner guests at Faisel’s home. I mentioned that I had never met any of the doctor’s wives or their children. So he took me upstairs to meet his mother, his wife and his 3 children. I also met his sister-in-law and her son. His whole family lives in the house — 8 grandchildren, 2 grandparents, and 6 parents! The home felt warm and filled with love. I greatly appreciated the inside view of their lives.
The next day, Friday, we sorted through all the items stored at the hospital. We hired a truck for the wheelchairs, crutches and some blankets to be brought to Chaman. We saw it off in the dark and did I mention that it was very, very, very cold? John, you left dodge just in time. We also met with the commissioner of all the refugee camps in Pakistan for a cup of tea and a chat. He gave us the needed paperwork to get two more containers out of storage, one of which had 300 boxes of winter clothing and blankets. And then in the dark we went to storage and actually saw the contents, as best as we could in the dark.
David and I stayed in a small hotel that was built when the English were here. It was quaint and cold. We awoke on Friday morning to snow and no water. After much discussion with the front desk we were able to use the shower in another room which was delicious…nice and hot. Since the truck left so late Friday night, we decided to stay over again and went back to the same hotel, and this time stayed in the room with the hot shower, only to wake up to no water again. Once again we had to go to another room for a shower.
We left Quetta early this morning and arrived in Chaman around 10:00 a.m. We then went to Spin Boldak and sorted through all the items that came on the truck and actually did our first distribution!!!!! We finally broke the ice, both literally and figuratively.
The distribution was at the PIMA center in Spin Boldak. When we arrived there were about 50 plus people waiting for us, mostly men, and the majority had at least one missing limb. These injuries were from land mines there since the Russians were in the country. We did not work with anyone with an injury from the recent “conflict”.
We started interviewing each person and realized that many of them did not need a wheelchair but crutches. Of course they all felt that they needed a wheelchair, but we explained to the individuals and the PIMA staff that giving them a wheelchair would actually be detrimental to their well being because it would make them weak since they would not be having any exercise and they would lose their upper body strength. After all was said and done and the crutches were fitted, we ended up giving out 9 wheelchairs — 5 to children (mostly Polio victims) — which was magical as always.
Dr. Zhubar said that he was very impressed by the way that we worked and said that we made him aware of all the disabled that are in the refugee camps, a fact that PIMA had not realized before. We discussed almost each potential recipient with him and he agreed with our decisions. I also made a list of the refugees that needed prosthesis work which can be done at the hospital in Quetta. I also took a picture of them (thanks John for the use of your Polaroid).
We sent a truck loaded with the rest of the wheelchairs and some of the blankets to Kandahar. Yes, we are returning to Kandahar tomorrow for two days.
We all agreed that it was a very successful day! PIMA now knows just how much time a distribution can take and said that they wish that we could stay longer so that we could travel to some of the outlying villages to work with the disabled there and to distribute the blankets, etc. Maybe next time!
John, we are going to send you some photos via email from today’s distribution, we are sorry that you were not with us.
A funny side note….everyone keeps asking me where my other “Morton” is.
All for now. Hopefully we can update you on our experience in Kandahar before we leave for the states. Please continue to send the light.
Thanks.
Love, Holly
Click here to read Holly & David’s report from Kandahar on January 29
Click here to read Holly & David’s report from Kandahar on January 28
Click here to watch a Moment of Peace with John Morton in Afghanistan
Click here to read Further Observations on Pakistan & Afghanistan by John Morton
