CityNews — The Foundation to Encourage the Potential of Disabled Persons completed their seventh construction of a donated handicap accessible toilet last week, in the rural village of Tung Hua Chang in Lamphun.
The latest donation went to a 55 year old woman, Ganda Pinvisu, who has been living with blindness for over 20 years. Local district government staff notified the foundation of Ganda’s difficult living situation, where she lives in an elevated rural style house that requires her to navigate a difficult set of stairs to an outhouse in the garden in the back of her property.
“Our foundation, in cooperation with the local government, donated the funds to construct a sit down flush toilet and shower on the same level as her living space. We added a septic system, water access, and a privacy door and a grab bar is on its way to be installed as soon as possible,” explained Don Wilcox, co-founder of The Foundation to Encourage the Potential of Disabled Persons.
The foundation estimates that there are hundreds of elderly and disabled residents living in rural elevated Thai houses that face a similar difficult situation, and has plans to donate as many improvements as possible.
“The labor for each toilet construction is donated either by family, friends or local government staff,” explains Wilcox. “Donated funds are used to purchase the materials. Each toilet costs us on the average of 12-15,000 baht.”
The latest construction is the latest in their continuous aid to people of need in northern Thailand.
For more information and to support The Foundation to Encourage the Potential of Disabled Persons, please visit http://www.assistdisabled.org/.