The Old Man and the Tri-Cycle

During January we where so lucky to get 3 tri-cycles from the boss of Alexander.
Here follows a short report of what we did with them:

The first one we handed over to an old man who had a very old tri-cycle to begin with.
One the pictures you can see him in the old one and moving over to the “new” tri-cycle.
He gave his old tri-cycle to a friend who had none but needed one.
His story is a nice example; with the old one he has been going around every where to sale “bulat” the betel leaves people like to chew over here, producing the red juice they spit out sometimes ( one of our volunteers got afraid of that thinking it was blood and the person chewing it had cancer or tbc). This way he earned his living and also the mobility he gained from having the tri-cycle gave him the chance to go on pilgrimage to Kataragama. The long distance to Kataragama (180 km one way) took him 29 days to go and come back. During this trip he was selling his “Bulat” on the way and earned his money. He was very excited with his new transport because he wanted to make this trip again. We heard later that he was seen at Matara going to Kataragama! The man is 70+ so it’s quite an undertaking.

The second man we gave a tri-cycle can now start to sale lottery tickets again to earn his living, on the pictures you can see that he had a wheelchair but after he lost his tri-cycle during the tsunami he has been unable to earn his living. Now he is selling tickets again and has an income.
The third tri-cycle went to a Tamil boy of 17 years old. The boy is mentally and physically handicapped and on request of our good friend Father Nihal Fernando of the Christ Church Parish in Baddegama (a Anglican Church), we where earlier able to supply him with a wheelchair and now with the Tri-cycle he is able to go around on the thee estate where his parents are working and the whole family lives. You can see on the pictures how happy he is!

We are very grateful for this donation of tri-cycles and hope to receive some more because we received a few more requests of people who need one.