Last Saturday, I spent some time with AJ Nanayakkara at the Global Abilities fundraiser at World cafe Live in Philly. He and his wife Kelly started Global Abilities to help those with disabilities in developing countries.
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| AJ Nanayakkara and his wife Kelly Fisher |
AJ has been in a wheelchair for 17 years, the result of a spinal cord injury received when practicing karate flips with his martial arts partner. But AJ says he's fortunate to be living in America with his disability because of the resources available to help him and others live happy, productive lives.
Not the case, says AJ, in countries like Sri Lanka, where AJ lived till he was 10 years old. Sri Lanka is the first focus of Global Abilities.
I interviewed AJ for a piece that ran in the Weekly Press Wednesday. You can read it here.
Want to learn more about Global Abilities? Go to GlobalAbilities.org
Sri Lanka is so tiny it would hide in the frayed fold of a map. You'd mistake it for a cluster of dirt on a globe that squeaks when you spin it.
Sri Lanka is so tiny it would hide in the frayed fold of a map. You'd mistake it for a cluster of dirt on a globe that squeaks when you spin it.
It's a little island off the southern tip of India and between 1983 (when AJ and his famikly left) and 2009 a brutal, bloody civil war left 70,000 dead and thousands of others with disabilities--the same people who AJ and Kelly are now trying to help. It has a population of 21.3 million.
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