Week 15 English Language Foreign Newspaper Post

http://www.bangkokpost.net/News/23Apr2006_news01.php

NO LEGS, NO BARRIERStill behind wheel, despite disabilityStory and photo by WASSAYOS NGAMKHAM
Truck driver Chaliew Sonklin, 48, who lost his legs in a road accident, still drives the vehicle, which is modified to be "disabled-friendly." — Wassayos Ngamkham
Chaliew Sonklin has beaten more odds than he can remember in his life since he lost both legs in an accident and been forced to drive his 10-wheel lorry without them.
Being without legs has not held back the indomitable spirit of the 48-year-old Chaliew, now a struggling single parent, who also fixes his own truck. He climbs on a ladder to make repairs to the front
of his truck after it was dented in a recent accident, his first in more than 20 years of driving. He turns heads almost every time he gets out of the truck.
Passersby are baffled by the physical irony of a man steering a truck who is missing limbs most of us normally consider necessary to drive.
Mr Chaliew's life is no picnic. Since 21, he has driven trucks for a living, delivering top soil to and from construction sites.
Tragedy struck when he was 36 years old. He fell asleep behind the wheel on the Chaiyaphum-Khon Kaen highway and collided head-on with another truck. He woke up from surgery a week later to find his legs had been amputated from severe injuries.
''The first thought that raced through my mind was how I could work to feed my child,'' Mr Chaliew said of his 13-year-old son, Kachorn, by his first wife who died.
With accident insurance money he claimed from the Social Security Fund, he opened an auto repair shop in Khon Kaen. He hired people with mechanical experience while he supervised the service.
At the time, he had a new, much younger wife who helped expand the business. Mr Chaliew could now afford a down payment for two more trucks which he also used to transport soil.
The trucks, however, were in the name of the second wife who later left him. Mr Chaliew was in financial dire straits and he could not trade the trucks in for cash. The garage was also in decline as the mechanics swindled him.
The reversal of fortune forced Mr Chaliew to go back to driving the trucks in 1993. He paid to have one of his trucks modified to be ''disabled-friendly.'' Long steel rods are fixed inside so he can manipulate the clutch, brake and acceleration pedals using his knees. For a firmer brake, he sometimes applies pressure from the hand as well.
It took him several days to master the new driving apparatus. At the same time, his garage went under and he sold everything except the modified truck.
He managed to sell one of the trucks. The other he kept for making a living.
Hounded by debt collectors from the finance company for defaulting on his truck payments, he decided to move from Khon Kaen to Songkhla in the South, taking with him his son and the daughter Chuthmanee, 4, by his second wife.
Life on the road meant young Kachorn could not attend school. He can barely read or write.
After a year, he and his family headed to Phetchaburi where he found a buyer for his truck. The buyer paid off instalments with the finance firm and Mr Chaliew was left with 300,000 baht from the sale.
He put a down payment for his present truck with a 11,000 baht monthly instalment for 48 months. Mr Chaliew now settled in Bang Sai district of Ayutthaya and has less than 50,000 baht to his name.
Living in a small rented room with his children, Mr Chaliew said he is saving money for his daughter's education. He says that with his disability, he is afraid to look ahead and anticipate the future. ''Hope doesn't take me far,'' he said.
He said one of his biggest impediments is the law which prohibits people who lost both legs from driving. He is often stopped by police who asked for the driver's licence he will never possess. Sometimes, police let him go out of pity. Other times, he needs to ''pay his way.''
Traffic police commander Panu Kerdlarppol said the law permits disabled people without one leg to drive, but not both. With one leg, the driver may opt for a vehicle with automatic transmission. However, he said the issue may be open to legal interpretation.
Kachorn said his father is a role model. ''People should see him. He has no legs, but sticks to an honest job.'' Mr Chaliew has declined charity although he would like help for his children's education.

This man certainly seems ambitious, but I was surprised to get almost to the end of the article to discover that he is driving illegally. It is interesting too that he "declines charity". Many people here would not only expect charity from private and government sources as their right, but then complain that they weren't getting enough!