Story of Soammath: Trainee of Wheelchair Repair & Maintenance Project
Name: SomNath Rai
DOB: 23rd January, 1989
Father: Laxman Rai
Mother: Mina Kumari Rai
Family: 8 members
Wife: Jayanti Rai
Kind of disability: Spinal Cord injury
SomNath Rai is the second eldest son of Laxman rai and Mina Kumari rai. He is 32 years old. He is from Sankhasawa district. He was born normally. But at the age of 20 he was victim of landslide. He was caught under a mudslide where a big mass of soil and stone fell in his back. Later he was rescued by the villagers and taken to the hospital. Here he was diagnosed with spinal cord injury.
This event occurred on 23rd may, 2008. Som Nath was taken to Nepal orthopedic Hospital for his treatment. After the surgery he was not able to move the lower part of his limbs. After his operation he returned to his village. Due to lack of income he was not able to get physiotherapy related to spinal cord injury this made his situation worse. And he face difficult in digesting food and moving here and there. He used to take support from others for his toilet and other daily activities. Then he decided to come to Kathmandu with his sister. After that he went to Nepal Orthopedic Hospital which was suitable place for spinal cord injury. After 10 months rehabilitation he was provided with wheelchair in Nepal Orthopedic Hospital. And he started to learn new skills sitting on wheelchair. He learnt to play basketball. Recently, he is taking part in basketball tournament and so on.
Being active user of wheelchair he faced many problems in the wheelchair for the repair and maintenance of wheelchair he has to go to bicycle workshop, where most of the parts of the wheelchair were not available. Also he was not satisfied by the service. He also noticed that other wheelchair users around him are also facing similar kind of problems. So, he started repair his wheelchair by himself as he had some hardware knowledge. Then, he started to help his friends too. In this way he has developed interest in importance of wheelchair repair.
He came in contact with CDCA when team of CDCA went to BIA for the need assessment study of wheelchair repair and assistance program. Now he is actively learning to repair wheelchair and also has repaired 3 wheelchairs in his leadership.
