SPECIAL MEASURES TO PROTECT THE PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED PERSONS.

SPECIAL MEASURES TO PROTECT THE PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED FELLOWS.
Article 5 of the Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons stated thus "Disabled Persons are entitled to the measures designed to enable them to become as self reliant as possible.
Article 8 of the same Declaration stated that "Disabled Persons are entitled to have their special needs taken into consideration at all stages of economic and social planning.
Article 10 provided thus "Disabled Persons shall be protected against all forms of exploitation, all regulations and all treatment of a discriminatory, abusive or degrading nature.

From the provisions of Articles 5, 8 and 10, it shows that it is at the heart of United Nations just as Living Water Foundation has taken it upon itself to fight disability and empower the vulnerable groups with skills to overcome disability and live a fulfilling life of Dignity as a productive member of the society.

APPEAL: The enormous task facing this Foundation cannot be funded by one man, but requires the solidarity of kind-hearted persons such as you and I who are minded to serve humanity. We appreciate your presence here today and appeal to you to support the Foundation materially, financially and even in your prayers in its efforts to meet the needs of the disabled, old persons and less privileged in Developed and Developing Countries.

Support our projects by joining us to Promote, Protect and Empower the Less-privileged through our Rally donation channel below:
https://rally.org/livingwaterfoundation

Basic Human Needs

Basic Human Needs:
Every human is born into the world with certain needs: physical (food, clothing, shelter, etc.), mental (education), spiritual. Everyone also has needs of the heart which are just as important as the others but often misunderstood or neglected.
What are these needs? a. Love Everyone needs to feel they are loved. Often parents try to show love by meeting material needs, but this alone isn't enough to communicate the love God wants us to learn from our parents.
There are different ways in which love needs to be communicated.
• Through words - Children can know they are loved by hearing words of kindness, praise and appreciation. In many cultures, however, it is difficult for parents to say, "l love you", "I'm proud of you". Either they feel embarrassed or fear they would spoil their children if they expressed their love in such ways. The absence of sweet words can have just as negative an effect as bad words (Pr 12:18; 15:4; 18:21; 28:21). God is never reluctant to say, "I love you"! We are His treasured possession (Dt7:6).
• Through affection - God also created us with a need to receive physical affection. Again this can be difficult in some cultures except in the case of very young children either because of embarrassment or fear of it taking on sexual connotations. This is very sad because we all need hugs.
• Through meaningful time spent together - A father or mother who takes time to listen to, play with, or just be with their child communicates, "You're important to me", "You are worthy of my time and attention." A message of importance and worth is communicated to a child when interest is shown to him. It is especially important for church leaders to show love to their children. Often the children get neglected because the people in church get their attention. It's hard for the child to feel important when he feels, "My father gives time to everyone but me."
• To be credible, the above expressions of love need to be backed up by the provision of the physical and mental needs.
b. Security Every child needs to know the world into which they were born is a safe place to live. Quite often, children can feel insecure through: - lack of love between their parents; when parents love one another there is peace in the home - being abused by their parents in some way or parents making excessive demands on them - disease or death in the family - extreme poverty - conflict in the family or community Children need to know their parents are there to protect them from harm. A sensed of security also comes when children know that adults in the community are making sure life is safe for them.
c. Significance and Purpose Every person needs to know that their life has a purpose and value even if they are handicapped in some way. Every child needs to know they have something to contribute to the world and that the world is an enriched place because they are there; something would be missing if they weren't there. Our value is in who we are in God and not in what we do or don't do. God has a purpose for every life. When there is conflict in a nation, society robs us of all these things. Some people are already traumatised because of their childhood experiences even before they got exposed to a national conflict.
Lacks
Even though God planned for everyone to have their needs met, it doesn't always happen. Parents are also wounded and maybe they can't or don't know how to meet the needs of the children. Lacks in any of the above areas can damage us as much as a traumatic experience. Often we don't realise it, thinking that our lives were 'normal'. God, however, understands our need for healing.

LACK OF FACILITIES TO SUPPORT THE CONDITIONS OF THE PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES As the term implies, disabilities are conditions of abnormal physical disposition which requires some measures of support to enable the victim of both the non-sighted or the lame to facilitate his movement. The basic and oldest known method of assisting the non-sighted disabled persons to effect easy movement is by another person (sighted) helping to lead the non-sighted by holding his arm or by use of a stick. This was improved upon by the use of trained dogs, and recently the sensory sticks which enable the non-sighted to go about unaided. The situation only applies to the advanced countries. In the developing countries the blind and the lame are still in their traditional stage of using sticks to aid their movements. In the northern Nigeria where the tradition of begging is more or less the way of life of the disabled persons, they employ young children who take them around. They have no information about how to improve their movements by the use of trained dogs and the sensory sticks. Even if they have, they cannot afford the cost of these paraphernalia. Similar condition is applicable to the lame. Majority of them who have turned professional beggars are assisted by either hired children or siblings who put them in wheel barrows or cart and traverse the cities in all weather conditions. In other cases some young cripples float on locally constructed platforms with disused castors which they roll on vehicular tarmacs begging for alms from moving motorists at queues. Often times these beggars get crushed by motorists who want to speed up to beat traffic lights.The reason for the use of these make-shift aids is due to lack of funds to purchase wheel chairs and specially designed auto bikes or vehicles. The most cherished concern of the blind disabled persons is how to decode information contained in books. He relies solely on the brail to access information. Unfortunately, in developing countries there is no technology to produce the brail and the average non-sighted relying on the brail must order from overseas at very expensive costs, with problems of cumbersomeness and difficulties in the postal system of developing countries. This cannot be relied upon for local information. Join us to support this cause by donating some facilities to ease the movements and support the conditions of the vulnerable groups. You can reach us per mail at lwfm@cox.net.

OTHER MAJOR CAUSES OF THE SUFFERING OF THE VULNERABLE GROUPS IN THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. The true position in developing countries like Nigeria is that the majority of the physically challenged persons are literary starving to death on account of poverty and depends purely on the uncertain charities of other impoverished citizens. They do not have access to decent food, water, clothing, adequate housing, basic education, primary healthcare and other basic necessities of life. Recent tales of woes and lamentations from Oji River Rehabilitation Centre for the Civil War Veterans (Nigeria) paints a picture of complete abandonment of the physically challenged fellows by the three tiers of government in Nigeria. The inmates of the Centre, according to them earn their living by begging for arms which has brought shame and humiliation to them and their family, with their children dropping out of school. Meanwhile no effort whatsoever has been made by the government to develop the potentials of these people and make them employable or to provide for their food and health needs. Thus their wheelchairs are worn-out and begging for repairs. Ladies and Gentlemen, who can bell out the situation? WEEP NOT! Living Water Foundation has come to give the life of these people a meaning. But not without your support. Contact details: Tel: +1-757-391-4756 Website: www.livingwaterfoundationministries.org

ABUSE OF THE RIGHT OF HEALTH OF THE VULNERABLE GROUPS. Right to Health is synonymous with Right to life, that is why various International Instruments especially ICESCR provided for Right to highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (Article 12) to all persons including children, physically challenged and older persons. The Covenant requires countries to create "conditions which would ensure that all medical services and medical attention are made available in the event of sickness." For older person integrated approach, combining of preventive, curative and rehabilitative health treatment has been recommended by the U.N Committee, while for persons with disabilities both the Public and Private Health Sectors are enjoined to provide health services to them without discrimination. Unfortunately, the Rights to Health of the vulnerable groups appears to be only on paper especially in Sub-Sahara Africa like Nigeria which has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world i.e. 1050 deaths per every 100,000 live birth and also has the second to the highest record of Infant mortality rate in the world. In Nigeria the Health Budget is in most cases half of the Defence Budget which is a non productive sector. This shows how unserious the policy makers take the health of its citizens. www.livingwaterfoundationministries.org