It was October 2006 when our friend Scaria brought Shaji a wheelchair. Shaji was a woodcutter and a coconut picker in Southern India. He fell from a tree and broke his back.  He was the lone bread-winner of a family of five living in an 8 foot by 10 foot home.  Shaji told Scaria that he sometimes wept all day, seeing the hardship he placed on his family, as they scrambled to survive financially and to tend to his broken body.

One morning, 18 months later, Scaria met a young woman waiting to speak with him. He recognized her as Shajie’s wife; she told Scaria that Shaji had died. Scaria thought for sure that she was going to ask him for financial help, but her request was totally different:

"Sir, you took many photos while you gave Shaji his wheelchair. We were all so happy!  Can you please give me a copy of just one photo? We have no photos of him at all.  As my children grow up, I need to show them their loving dad. They will need that picture to show to our next generation."

Photos are not an affordable luxury for most people in India. They didn’t even have wedding pictures. Scaria asked if she could take a photo during the burial function.

"Sir, I do not want a photo of my husband in a coffin. If I could only get a photo of that day you came.  That was the happiest day!"

Scaria searched his files. He searched again and again: Nothing. Then he asked us. We have thousands of photos in our database and it turned out that Scaria had sent us copies from the 2006 distribution! We sent it back to him and Scaria had enlargements printed and framed. You can tell from the photo in this story how happy it made this family! Scaria also learned that Shaji’s wife had recently become a Christian. She plans to pass Shaji’s wheelchair on to another villager in need.

Thank you, Scaria, for being such a good and faithful servant!