The Empty Chair - February 12, 2008

As you have previously read from Mark Brown, on the day of the NID (February 10) several members of our TEAM were dispensing vaccine drops in the village of Nusera - on the outskirts of Sohna. While there, they came across a family, the dad, Zahid Hussin and his wife Hussan Buseri, and their children. They have a fourteen year old son, Igbal Buseri, who has been confined to sitting in a chair - a hard wooden chair, for the better part of his life. He is crippled and paralyzed and sits day after day in his chair. When visiting with the family, members of the TEAM, Jerry and Joanne Larson from Nipigon, Ontario and Tom and Shirley McCaughey from Newfoundland (don't forget the accent is on the last syllable!) spent a good deal of time talking with then, with the help of an interpreter. They looked at this boys contorted body and his withered limbs and learned that he had been in this condition for several years, and the family feared that he had contracted polio. To compound the situation, the same family's youngest child, Sakil Khan (a boy of about two years) had signs that he, too had been stricken with this horrific disease. His tiny leg had withered and simply hung down - lifeless.

As is the nature of Rotarians, the group assured the family that somehow they would see to it that Igbal (the fourteen year old) would have a wheelchair, but more important, the group would also provide him with a commode. You see, when Igbal has to void or move his bowels, he is picked up and carried to the edge of the street where he relieves himself. If nobody is available to assist him, Igbal simply is forced to relieve himself while sitting in the same chair that he calls his "home". We, in western and supposedly more civilized countries, are so blessed and so often take for granted, that we are able to take care of our personal toilet activities, by entering a bathroom, closing the door to provide privacy, and using a flush toilet and being able to wash our hands in a proper sink with running (and safe) water. In this village, as in so many others throughout India (and I might add, in the cities, as well) practice is to go to the curb, relieve oneself and move on. Someone often comes and pushes the excrement into a ditch, which runs along the curb, collecting waste from the general populace, where it flows very often into nearby rivers and streams. A breeding ground for water-borne diseases? You bet!

Well, by the time the group left Igbal and his family, they had promised to look into medical care for the family and the rest of those who live in the village, as well as providing the wheel chair and the commode. Within minutes back on the bus, the TEAM members had already raised the necessary funds to pay for the wheelchair and the commode. Now, it was only arranging for the purchase of these items that stood in the way of the TEAM delivering on their promise!

When we all arrived back at the farm, these folks shared their stories with the rest of us, and we all felt a sense of urgency in making this happen. Sanjiv arranged that someone from the Rotary Club of Delhi-West would purchase the items and get them delivered to the farm within the next 24 hours. Since Jill Wooolacott was to leave the following day, it was arranged that whoever was driving out to the farm to pick her up to take her to the airport to fly back to Australia, would bring the wheelchair and the commode to the farm for us to deliver. As it happened, although there was a huge traffic snarl en route from Delhi to the farm, and Jill (I believe this is correct) had to ride on the back of a motorbike to be taken down to the car that was tied up in traffic - the chair and the commode finally arrived.

On the following morning, Logan Roberts, Cari Roberts, Anna Looby, Sarah and Jake Mutchler and I placed some GOODBYE POLIO... THANKS ROTARY bumper stickers on the metal sides of the wheelchair, while Cari exclaimed, "Now THERE is a pimped out wheelchair!" A group was gathered who would deliver the items to Igbal and his family, and I was privileged to go along on the trip.

We drove for about an hour to the village and then walked through the streets and alleys to the house. With us was a medical officer from the area, upon we relied to possibly make a positive diagnosis not only for Ikbal, but also his little brother. We included Audrey Athavale in the group to provide interpreter's skills. R I Director Kjell-Ake Akesson also was a part of this group. Naturally, with all of us walking through the streets, we caused quite a stir and again, served as the Pied Pipers of Nusera! We arrived at the home, only to see Igbal sitting in his hard wooden chair in the sunlight. His father was called, as well as his mother (who remained in the shadows with her face covered). It appeared that perhaps Igbal may have recognized Joanne Larson and Shirley McCaughey, who had been with him a couple of days prior. There was a hint of a smile on his face.

Logan Roberts and Jake Mutchler wheeled the chair and carried the commode to the front and set up both. With some effort, we helped lift Igbal into the wheelchair and to prop him up with a soft hand knit blanket behind his hunched back. Shirley McCaughey had also brought along a new, clean, soft tee-shirt which she was able to pull down over his head and cover his bent body.

The medical officer who had accompanied us examined Igbal and pronounced his diagnosis that this young lad suffered from Muscular Dystrophy, rather than polio. Although this is somewhat a relief, the child's suffering nevertheless rendered him relatively helpless. By providing him a commode, we hopefully restored some of his dignity. By providing him a wheelchair, we gave him mobility and within only a few minutes, Igbal had disappeared, as some of his friends had wheeled him away in his new "chariot" to explore the streets and back alleys of his village - something that he could only have done by being carried by an adult, and which would undoubtedly fall low on the priority list for his family.

With respect to his little brother, Sakil, the medical officer examined him and diagnosed him as a definite victim of polio. HE informed us that custom is to wait for a couple of years before performing any corrective surgery to determine just how debilitating the polio would be on the child. He did, however, assure us that he would personally monitor this case and arrange for regular check-ups and eventual surgery for the child. Additionally, he assured us that he would arrange for more regular visits by a medical officer in the future to this village, to provide well-care and basic treatments for the people of Nusera.

Before leaving, I spoke directly (through the medical officer) to Igbal's father. I said that true to the word of the Rotarians who had visited his home only two days previous, we were good to our word. We had returned and provided his son, Igbal, with a wheelchair and a commode. I said we had met our obligation and our challenge. I then challenged the father to promise that now that his son was "mobile" that he would arrange to have a boy in the village attend to Igbal and to push him to and from school - that he would promise to have his son receive the education provided to all of the village children. The doctor translated for me, and the father paused for a very long time before answering. The doctor informed me that Muslims do not make promises lightly. He went on to explain both to us as well as to the father that when a Muslim man makes a promise, he KEEPS that promise, no matter what. After more thought, the father reached out his hand to me, took my hand in his, and said that he promised that Igbal would receive all the education he could. That one moment was one of the most touching and humbling moments of my life - that this farmer with six or seven children, who barely eeks out a living to provide for his family, who has not one but two of his children who are afflicted with some sort of paralysis, had agreed, had promised to make sure his son would be taken to school. His son, Igbal would no longer be confined to a life in a hard wooden chair. This chair would remain empty!