A young friend near Vavuniya

This is “P” (name withheld for confidentiality).  I first met P last summer when we traveled around Sri Lanka to learn about challenges facing the disabled community here.  P sustained a C5-level spinal cord injury when the bus he was traveling in struck a pole.  At 20-years-old, P still has many years to live, but he spends his days in a makeshift residential facility on the outskirts of town.  The ten disabled residents here do not go to school, do not work, and except for socializing with each other, rarely interact with the community.  P remembered that we had recently started Global Abilities and were hoping to help disabled people in Sri Lanka, so he asked whether I am here to help him.  I was told by several people that some organizations have come to Sri Lanka, guaranteed lofty goals, failed to deliver, and left the country without really helping the people as they had promised.  Global Abilities is developing a plan to help disabled individuals in Sri Lanka like P reintegrate into their communities, but we have not yet secured the funding to begin our long term projects.  I didn’t want P to get his hopes up in case our fundraising goals fell short and we had to delay our work.  So, although it was heartbreaking to say that I couldn’t help, I told him that we are still trying to figure things out.  I didn’t tell him about our Livelihood project to help disabled people earn a living, and I didn’t even mention that we had already built a wheelchair-accessible vehicle in Sri Lanka.  I did tell him that I would see him again, that we will grow as friends, and reminded him that one day I hope to be invited to his wedding.