Monk's wheelchair repairs give disabled new lease of life

HÀ NỘI — At  二pm every day, Monk Đức Minh opens his toolkit, which includes screwdrivers, nails and spare tires, to start his job.

In a small yard of An Viên Ashram in a deep zigzagging alley in HCM City, Monk Minh repairs and upgrades old wheelchairs. These wheelchairs will later be sent to those who are in need.

Monk Minh has been doing this job for the past seven years. He has mastered the design of all types of wheelchairs and even adjusted some designs to make them fit and comfortable for each person with a disability, helping them find them easy to use.

An Viên Ashram turns into a 'factory' for thousands of special wheelchairs every afternoon as Monk Minh and other Buddhists clean and fix the old wheelchairs.

Monk Minh said each wheelchair would be repaired and made suitable for the owner, as each person with a disability had a different body defect.

“Some have disabilities in their hands, some in their legs, some suffer paralysis of their whole body, so each person needs a different vehicle,” he told the online newspaper PLO.

Monk Minh began collecting and fixing wheelchairs for disabled people after visiting hospitals with a charity group in  二0 一 五.

“I witnessed many people with miserable lives. They used to be healthy, but after an accident, they could no longer work. They were poor and couldn’t afford a wheelchair to move around,” he said.

Minh tried to buy new wheelchairs to send to those in need, but he couldn’t do it due to the vehicle’s high cost of between VNĐ 一. 五- 三 million (US$ 六 五. 三- 一 三0) each, so he decided to buy old wheelchairs with the hope of fixing them.

The old wheelchairs only cost VNĐ 三00,000- 五00,000.