Story from the Field: A Wheelchair of Her Own

For ten years, Norcaisa Macapasir has become acustomed to using her hands as legs as she lives with paraplegia. Despite her condition, the sixty-two year old is known to maintain a cheerful disposition.

After her husband passed away in 2010, Norcaida started feeling numbness in her legs. Not long after, her lower body was paralized completely. Now, she and her 25-year old son, Alanoding, live together in a bahay kubo in Saguiran, Lanao del Sur. To assist her with her personal hygiene, Alanoding made a hole in their wood flooring where she would defecate and urinate.

Because of Norcaida’s situation, Action Against Hunger in coordination with the municipal health officer (MHO) and the local government unit (LGU) focal for health provided her with logistic support by giving her a wheelchair of her own. On February 23, 2021, the wheelchair was personally delivered to her home.

“Thank you… I don’t have to borrow a wheelchair from the neighbors anymore whenever I have to do something important,” she says in tears, overwhelmed with joy from the assistance she received.

The logistic support received by Norcaida is one of the health and protection interventions under our ‘Response to the Unmet Humanitarian Needs of the Most Vulnerable Conflict-Affected Populations in Mindanao’ (REACH). The REACH project is funded by the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) and is implemented together with CARE Philippines, and their local partners.