KOMU8 and the PET Project honored The Culture that Crawls by holding a dinner and broadcast special on December 11th. While PET volunteers and supporters gathered, KOMU8 broadcast an interactive special where viewers had a chance to text, email, call, tweet and Facebook comments during the show and see their comments appear on the air. There is also a text line where you can donate to the PET Project. (All you have to do is text 20222 with the words ‘iSupportPET’) We had more comments than we could post online, so here are some examples of what some people had to say:

“This is so sad to see people having to live this way. Everyone watching needs to send that text and donate the ten bucks.”

“Thank You for reminding us we have what we need and many more do not! We are blessed!”

“I just had knee surgery and can’t get around very well YET. I can’t imagine feeling so helpless and hopeless long-term.”

“Thanks for helping your viewers learn about those in other countries who can’t walk and the challenges that they face. Also for letting people know how they can help. Your stories have been very educational”

Hidden in corners, forgotten, and never once given a chance. In many cases, the lives of the disabled in the developing world is heartbreaking. KOMU8′s Alex Rozier takes one last look at a problem and a reality shattering families worldwide.

The first night on assignment in Guatemala David Vanningen the Chief Executive Officer of Hope Haven International told me the need is great for all people in Guatemala, but even more so for people with disabilities. That statement turned out to be so very true. Driving along the countryside I saw living situations like I never have before, and by the end of the trip I realized many of those people in those very situations are the so-called “fortunate” in Guatemala. Living with a disability is a curse to the family, that’s how many people see it. It’s sad. It really is. These kids, adults, sometimes senior citizens have been written off their whole life and never once been given an opportunity. That’s why I was so pleased to see the Wheelchair factory and what Hope Haven Guatemala is doing for these people.

One of the individuals I really connected with on the trip was our translator Omar Cruz. Cruz works at the factory in Guatemala and we picked him up on the way to Antigua. Our plane flew into Guatemala City, the same place where Cruz lives on the weekend. In the city, traffic is crazy, and people are absolutely everywhere. There aren’t actual bus stops, they just kind of slow down and people literally jump on. That makes it tough when you’re disabled. Our bus made a very quick stop, our driver lifted Cruz and his chair onto the bus and off we went. That was kind of the first sign that something wasn’t right for the handicapped. There wasn’t a wheelchair ramp, there wasn’t anyway he could have gotten on that bus unless someone physically lifted him. That’s not right. As the week went on Cruz showed us how he wasn’t going to let anyone tell him that he couldn’t do something just because he can’t use his legs. He was an inspiration to say the least.

Vanningen told me about Hope Haven’s mission to not only reach out to the disabled, but to embrace these individuals as friends. When I was able to take a few minutes and talk to these people, each and every one of them are just like you and I. The fact that they’re forgotten is tragic, and something needs to be done.There are several organizations worldwide working to help the disabled in the developing world and I encourage you, if you are able, to reach out to them with a helping hand. What I witnessed in Central America was unforgettable. I know we don’t see this everyday, but we must act.

Be a part of the solution and do something for the the disabled today.

KOMU 8′s Sarah Hill shared this latest The Culture that Crawls story. She looked at what it takes to help pick up the hundreds of thousands of people who crawl. The donations are not coming in like they used to.

If you can help fund a PET or a wheelchair, please visit the “How to Help” page on this site.

When you see someone down on the ground, crawling on all fours, it takes you a while to process exactly what you’re seeing. Is that an animal? Surely that’s not how that person usually gets around? Why isn’t that person using a wheelchair? Those are just some of the random thoughts that went through my mind the first time I saw an adult on the ground….crawling like an infant. I was in Vietnam and watched a grown man crawl up a set a stairs and then across a room. Polio made his legs lifeless. He could not afford an $850 wheelchair. So from a squatting position, he would use his arms to propel him forward and then tuck up and drag his legs behind. He did this modified crawling/squatting motion on the floor more than a dozen times to get across a room the width of about 15 feet. His arms were well defined with muscles from walking on his hands his entire life. His clothes were dirty from dragging himself on the ground.
In Guatemala, we also saw people crawling because they had no one to carry them. In this photo, is a boy named Jose crawling next to what appears to be vomit on the floor.

One person who received a PET in Vietnam told us he was so happy to be off the ground because he wouldn’t have to crawl through dog manure anymore. I found covering these stories of people who have to crawl in South Asia and Central America incredibly sad. Sad for the fact that there are people dying in their beds because they have no other way to get out of their homes and sad for the fact that national news organizations are not covering the plight of these people. Take for instance the plight of a Honduran man who crawled. He was beaten, robbed and had both of his legs burned off. As I was logging video for his story, our newsroom had CNN playing in the background. CNN was featuring for the second time in as many days a new breakthrough in “robotic legs”. A group of investors had spent more than seven million dollars to develop these bionic legs. Nothing against that company or the recipient, but I couldn’t help but wonder why our news media give so much attention to advancing mobility in the developed world….but little space and airtime to The Culture That Crawls in poor countries. In journalism school, we learned to seek truth and report it and to give voice to the voiceless. My hope is that someone will see this truth about what’s going on in poor countries and realize that this hidden crawling culture needs a voice. Are you listening?

It’s a journey unlike anything I’ve ever been apart of, and frankly, when I stepped off the plane I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I’ve always heard people tell me “be thankful for what you have,” but it really doesn’t hit home until you see the conditions some people are living in in the year 2010. Cardboard houses, no running water, electricity, or food for weeks. Here I sit complaining about the smallest of things and then quickly remember how much worse it could be.

My story this week really hit me hard. When I saw Jessica, it took me about ten seconds to realize she wasn’t well. Soon thereafter Dick Rutgers approached her and her mother with a translator and it became very obvious that her issue was far more serious than just the fact she’s immobile. 6 years old, 16 pounds, a diet of tortillas and coffee; that’s it. Her mother is a widow with six children. This family was broken. They didn’t have a voice, they weren’t being heard and they had no resources to find help. But Dick Rutgers came along and saved her life.

I’ve had the true privilege of sharing the stories of several incredible people over the past few years, and I find it to be a tremendous responsibility to do every story justice that I get the chance to work on. This piece took me several days. For several reasons. When I sit back and look at all the elements that make up the story, all of them touched my heart. Dick Rutgers is absolutely incredible. A big guy with a big beard and a heart that’s much bigger than everything just mentioned. Sitting in the edit bay I told my colleague Sarah Hill several times that I needed to take a walk around the building to gather my emotions because some of this video is simply not easy to watch.

I’m very proud of the piece we aired and I am proud of the people that are making this project a reality. There is such a great need for mobility and assistance not only in Guatemala, but in several countries worldwide. It breaks my heart to see kids not have any chance right from the start. It breaks my heart to see parents not have the means to provide for their families. And it breaks my heart to know that so many of us have never seen the problem, so we don’t know how bad it really is. We are so lucky, and I have never been so grateful for all the opportunities I have received. I’ve never been the richest kid in town, I drive a ’94 Buick LeSabre, but wow, my life has been so very good. I’m studying at the school of my dreams, I have a family that supports me in everything I do, I have some of the greatest friends in the world, and everyday I get to go to work and do something I love. I’m blessed. I really am.

“From those to whom much is given, much is expected.” Yeah, that’s true. I get it. Now let’s get back to work.
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ALEX ROZIER won the grand prize in an international journalism contest called Project: Report. This contest was made possible by YouTube and the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. Funds from the competition brought the team to Guatemala to help tell the story of the world’s mobility problems.

Here is the second compilation on KOMU-TV8. It aired for the first time on November 12, 2010.

Here is the first compilation on KOMU-TV. It aired for the first time on November 8, 2010.

Juan Geraldo Salvador has had polio since he was a year old. Now 30, he’s spent nearly every day of his life disabled.

Salvador considers himself one of the fortunate ones to have received a wheelchair, but in the beginning of September he received a P.E.T. or Personal Energy Transportation device.

“I now will be able to do some work for myself, because before I wasn’t really able to do much,” Salvador said.

While in a wheelchair, he repaired shoes, other wheelchairs, and some bicycles. Now with his P.E.T. he plans to start selling ice cream and pop, becoming more of a vendor.

Meet the others who are a part of the mobility struggle:

• Isaias Vasquez
• Antonia Lopez
• Gustavo Vasquez
• Mailee Andrea Ramirez
• Antonio Quinonez
• Oscar Costillo
• Maria Christina Mendoza
• Sabino Lopez

For much of Isaias Vasquez’s professional life he’s worked as a carpenter, but when Mark Richard spoke to him about opportunities at the Hope Haven wheelchair factory, it was an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Vasquez has had polio since he was one year old and spent his whole life disabled. Now, he has the opportunity to work with people in his same situation.

He met his wife at the wheelchair factory and together they have a 5-year-old girl. Throughout his life, he never has let his disability get in the way of what he’s wanted to do.

At the beginning of September, Vasquez took third place in a half marathon in Guatemala City on a tricycle that he built.

“I don’t really like for people to make me seem big or anything like that,” Vasquez said. “I’m the same as everybody. I just do what I have to do.”

Meet the others who are a part of the mobility struggle:

• Juan Geraldo Salvador
• Antonia Lopez
• Gustavo Vasquez
• Mailee Andrea Ramirez
• Antonio Quinonez
• Oscar Costillo
• Maria Christina Mendoza
• Sabino Lopez