AdvenChair goes to World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal.
Christina Nguyen on a pilgrimage to World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal in the AdvenChair. Photo courtesy of Beth Nieva.
In its relatively brief period of existence, AdvenChair has made some seemingly impossible physical endeavors quite doable for people with disabilities – reaching Machu Picchu and venturing to the bottom of the Grand Canyon to name a couple. But now, thanks to an intrepid youth group from St. Stephens Catholic Church in Renton, Washington, it can add a life-changing spiritual sojourn to its list of accomplishments as well.
Christina Nguyen, a 23-year-old member of the diocese, was born with Cerebral Palsy. Last summer, she wanted to take part in a pilgrimage to World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal with 29 other young adults from her diocese. Centered around an inspiring address by the pope, World Youth Day would draw about 1.5 million young adults from all over the world, an international gathering larger than the Summer Olympics and the World Cup combined.
Since the group also had plans to take an additional week-long venture on the Camino de Fatima, a rambling unpaved path similar to the Camino de Santiago in Spain, Christina knew she wouldn’t be able to handle all the walking and standing with her usual crutches.
“I originally thought I could 'MacGyver' an old wheelchair to help Christina get around,” said Beth Nieva, the Parish’s Young Adults Group Leader. “But after discovering the AdvenChair online, I decided it would be a much safer (and cooler-looking) alternative.”
After contacting AdvenChairman Geoff Babb and arranging to rent an AdvenChair for the trip, Beth found it to be a Godsend in more ways than she could’ve imagined.
“Portugal is known for its cobblestone streets that are beautiful to look at, but horrible to travel on,” said Beth. “The streets we were on were like 1,000 years old and the edges of the cobblestones were so worn away, there was sometimes a 1.5” gap between the stones. So a crutch or even a traditional wheelchair getting caught in one of those gaps could’ve easily thrown her [Christina] for a header. With the AdvenChair, we were able to float right over the gaps – with and without the front wheel.”
Photo courtesy of Beth Nieva.
Five days before World Youth Day (WYD), the group arrived in the village of Fatima, where they had planned to follow the Camino to Lisbon. However, after finding that there were no places along the route that could accommodate 30 people all together, they decided to stay in Fatima and make a series of day trips in various directions. These excursions not only gave the team a good understanding of Portuguese culture and history, they helped everyone get familiar with operating the AdvenChair before dealing with the crowds of Lisbon.
“World Youth Day in Lisbon is where the real adventure started,” said Beth. “I have never experienced crowds that intense. But the AdvenChair was great! We had to constantly get on metros into the city, where the chair barely fit within the width of the train. There were thousands of people taking up every inch of space on these trains. Then, when everyone got off, there would be a swell of humanity all shoulder-to-shoulder, moving in the same direction. You would grab on to the backpack of the person in front of you and hold on for dear life.”
To make things even more challenging, the train stations did not have working elevators or ramps for wheelchairs. Thankfully, the gripping points on the AdvenChair made it easy for a few strong team members to grab each corner and carry Christina up and down flights of stairs in order to change trains numerous times a day.
Photo courtesy of Beth Nieva.
Lisbon is known as the City of Seven Hills, but it’s not famous for its wheelchair ramps and accessibility for the disabled throughout the rest of the city either.
“Steps and stairs were everywhere,” said Beth. “And although Christina offered to use her crutches that were stored in the back of the AdvenChair, it was much quicker for us to just lift and carry her, not to mention much safer for her to stay in the chair.”
When it came to dealing with the crowds and other difficulties of World Youth Day, AdvenChair rose to the occasion again and again.
“There were 150 countries and dozens of different languages represented at WYD,” said Beth. “But we quickly found out that ‘wheelchair’ is a universal word, and it became my battle cry. They started to call me Moses, because every time I yelled, ‘Wheelchair!’ I was able to part the Red Sea of people and roll right through.”
Naturally, the bright orange AdvenChair caused a few double takes, which opened up a lot of friendly conversations.
Photo courtesy of Beth Nieva
“It was cool to see how many people from different countries would come up and offer to push the chair for us or ask if we needed help. It became the focal point for an international fellowship that was awesome to see.”
While the AdvenChair can easily be handled by one person on level and rolling terrain, it really shines when it brings people together as a team. The St. Stephens group practiced together a few times before going over to Portugal, but when they got to Lisbon, they found that Christina kept getting hit in the head by backpacks because her head was right at that level.
“I was really impressed with how our team worked together,” said Beth. “We learned to put a person on each side of the front wheel, two people on either side of Christina to protect her, and one person behind the wheel (usually me), who had the easiest job, because we weren’t moving too fast among the crowds.”
Photo courtesy of Beth Nieva
And if dealing with the massive mobs wasn’t hard enough, toward the end of the event, temperatures rose to more than 100 degrees and there was no water available anywhere.
“We had to collect enough water for 30 people before we left the inn each day,” said Beth. ”It just happens that there’s an adjustable footrest near the front of the chair. We found we could load it up with our water and we could carry even more in the back. Because of the intense heat, we ended up using Ubers to get around, rather than suffer on the trains. With the removable wheel, my team was able to break down the chair and put it in the back so fast, we would be on our way in no time.”
All in all, the group couldn’t be more grateful for being able to rent an AdvenChair for their pilgrimage.
“I can’t thank the people at AdvenChair and the entire group at St. Stephens enough for giving me the opportunity to attend World Youth Day,” said Christina. “Hearing the pope speak and meeting many young people from around the world was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Yet it was just as uplifting to watch my teammates make it all possible for me.”
“After searching all over for an all-terrain wheelchair, finding the AdvenChair was truly a blessing,” said Beth. “I don’t know if I’ll ever organize and lead a trip with a disabled person like that again. But if I do, I won’t go without the AdvenChair.”