Ghana, Africa
March 2004

The March 2004 Ghana trip started at a ½ IronMan Triathlon held in La Jolla, CA, in November of 2003. The event was put on by the Challenged Athletes Foundation as part of their annual fund raising to provide prosthetics, medical help, training, and other support to disabled athletes who want to be able to participate in athletic events.

A young man named Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, who was born in Ghana with a deformed leg, spoke at the event. He was there on behalf of Challenged Athletes to participate, but also to share his life journey. More follows about this remarkable young man below.

When Emmanuel spoke, he didn't talk about himself or his needs. He spoke only of his desire to see more done to help the physically challenged in his home country.
And, one of the things he was most passionate about was seeing wheelchairs delivered to Ghana and, in particular, to his hometown for those in need.

A Free Wheelchair Mission Board Member happened to be participating in the race and heard Emmanuel's story. Emmanuel's faith in God, and his desire to live to serve others so touched this Board Member that he decided that day to see what we could do to help.

Over the next 3 months, a container of 250 chairs was ordered and shipped, with the help of Direct Relief, to Ghana to arrive in March. The Board Member and another Free Wheelchair Mission volunteer flew over to be there when it arrived.



This was just in time for a ceremony already planned by Emmanuel in his hometown of Koforidua. 100 chairs went to this town and were presented at a ceremony held in the local square under a blazing hot sun. The container had arrived late and the chairs were assembled the night before and right up to the time the ceremony started at 1:00pm. Over 400 people sat patiently with most of them arriving 4 hours before the ceremony started and waiting. Some were family and friends. Some were there to get chairs. Some were there hoping for a chair but were not on the list. The Ghana Society for the Physically Disabled brought together the recipients and had to make tough decisions as to who received one and who went home without one.

The look on the people's faces when the 100th chair was given out, and the realization that there were no more chairs, is not one you easily forget. The other 150 went separately to Jehovah Rapha, an NGO that is a link on the ground for Direct Relief. They will use these chairs over the next several months as part of their training and rehabilitation program to help the handicapped get off the streets and into productive jobs. As always, the rewards of seeing the disabled crawl across the ground and in an instant be granted mobility with their new chair are beyond comprehension. So is the disappointment of knowing hundreds and thousands never made it to the ceremony and still need mobility. So, who is Emmanuel, and what makes him so unique?

He wasn't born with the powerful arm of a quarterback, the condor's wingspan of a swimmer, or the locomotive heart of a marathoner. He was born, instead, with a badly deformed right leg. But, because he is a truly gifted athlete -- blessed with his own kind of strength, reach, and stamina -- an entire nation stands to win.
In his homeland, Ghana, an estimated 2 million citizens -- or 10 percent of the population - share his fate: They are disabled. Ghana's constitution includes a provision calling for disabled persons to be "protected against all exploitation, all regulations and all treatment of a discriminatory, abusive or degrading nature," but for the most part in Ghana, those born with disabilities are destined to a demoralizing and dehumanizing life -- either concealed from the public eye by ashamed family members, or thrown squarely into the public eye, as beggars. Ghana's streets teem with the disabled, who can pocket $10 per day worth of alms in a country where the average annual income is less than $400.

The day Emmanuel was born, his father -- disgraced by his son's deformity -- abandoned the family. But his mother neither concealed him in their home, nor sent him to the streets. Instead, Emmanuel attended school until leaving in his early teens, when his mother fell sick and could no longer work to support the family. Refusing to check his dignity at the street corner and beg for money, Emmanuel learned a craft. With his crutches, a box to sit on and tools to shine shoes, he left home against the wishes of his mother to work on the streets of Accra, Ghana's capital. After a couple of months earning two dollars per day, he returned home with support funds and proof that he could manage on his own.

Before she passed away on Christmas Eve 1997, Emmanuel's mother had taught him that disability does not mean inability. In the years after her death, he felt an increasing desire, if not duty, to share that message with a nation that all too often sends the opposite one. To reach as many of Ghana's 20 million citizens as possible, he decided to ride a bicycle across the country. Emmanuel had mastered pedaling with only one leg, but there was another obstacle: He didn't own a bike.

Through a missionary in Accra, Emmanuel learned about the California based Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF). He sent a letter explaining his aspirations and asking for the donation of bike. Intrigued by Emmanuel's story, the CAF sent him a mountain bike and other equipment to help make his journey -- and mission -- possible.

In September 2001, Emmanuel embarked on a bike ride across his homeland, wearing a shirt that read "The Pozo," slang for a disabled person. His journey was documented in newspapers and on the radio. He became a national hero.

A year later, the CAF flew Emmanuel to San Diego to compete in a triathlon. Arriving with two crutches under his arms and three dollars in his pocket, he rode a 56-mile bike segment as part of a relay team. That day, two employees of the renowned Loma Linda Medical Center raised the idea of having Emmanuel evaluated by doctors. It was determined that his leg could be partially amputated and fit for a prosthetic that would free him of his crutches. Loma Linda arranged a procedure that normally costs tens of thousand of dollars for free. The local staff even personally donated the equivalent of his daily income for the time he was in the United States for the procedure so his family wouldn't suffer in his absence.

Emmanuel has since turned his focus toward improving the lives of Ghana's many disabled citizens. He has developed a close relationship with Ghana's Minister of Education, Christine Churcher, who vows to lobby for the bill in Parliament in the upcoming months to aid the disabled. "It is my prayer," she says, "that through Emmanuel, I shall never see any disabled on the streets of Ghana."

And recently, Emmanuel was awarded a Casey Martin/Nike Grant of $25,000, and Challenged Athletes Foundation matched that with another $25,000. He will use this money to help other physically disabled Ghanaians.

A five-year plan has been instituted to further educate Emmanuel and provide him with the tools to become a stronger leader. The funds above will be used to educate other disabled children from each of Ghana's ten regions, and with additional funds, to build a sports academy for both able-bodied and challenged athletes.

Part of this plan included Emmanuel forming a relationship with the King of the Okyenhene tribe. Ghana is moving forward economically but wants to keep its African heritage. Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin II is one of two major kings in Ghana and his territory includes 2.5 million citizens. He is a champion of the disabled, a deeply spiritual man, and an outspoken leader who is unafraid of political consequences. He speaks out on resource conservation, Ghana's need to become self-sufficient and to welcome partners like Free Wheelchair Mission. He is particularly outspoken on the rights and need to change attitudes on the physically challenged and his tribe is donating the land for Emmanuel's Sports Academy.

Free Wheelchair Mission established a relationship with the King on this trip, and he will partner with us on future and larger shipments. His position will help with customs clearance and vastly reduced fees and his estate can be used as a warehouse and distribution center for the container loads of chairs.

Emmanuel's story is so compelling that a documentary of his life is being filmed. LOOKALIKE Productions film producer Lisa Lax and her identical twin sister Nancy Stern are Producer/Directors out of New York who have years of documentary film experience including over 10 years of working with the Olympics and NBC.

They have spent a good part of the past year filming his story. It's scheduled to be released the end of this year and will be called "Emmanuel's Journey". Filming has taken place everywhere from La Jolla for the triathlon event to Loma Linda and his surgery to many weeks of shooting at several locations in Ghana itself. Free Wheelchair Mission and the distribution of chairs on this trip are going to be included in the film. When finished, it will be submitted to the Sundance Film Festival. Discovery Cable has expressed a very strong interest in showing it worldwide.

Emmanuel has turned his disability into a tool to help inspire others. His desire to be of service to others beyond his own comfort is the same driving force that compels Free Wheelchair Mission. Because of his passion, relationships are built and lives are changed. Emmanuel and the King have both been invited to come and speak at our annual fund raising event in July. Arrangements are not finalized but there is the possibility that one or both will be there.

Some Facts About Ghana:
Ghana was formed from the merger of the British colony of the Gold Coast and the Togoland trust territory. Ghana in 1957 became the first country in colonial Africa to gain its independence. It's an area slightly smaller than Oregon with a population of 20,000,000 located near the equator on the west Coast of Africa. It is rated politically and socially very stable among other African countries.

Well endowed with natural resources, Ghana has roughly twice the per capita output of the poorer countries in West Africa. Even so, Ghana remains heavily dependent on international financial and technical assistance. The annual average income is $2100. Ghana has a very aggressive program of AIDS awareness. Estimates put the prevalence rate at 3% in adults.63% of residents are Christians. Early Missionary work here has produced fruit. The country is known or its friendly people.

The history of Ghana is marked by a strong European influence for the past 500 years. This is seen in the multitude of colonial forts and castles that anchored the European trade in gold, ivory and slaves.

Working with African chiefs who sold their own people or who sold captured prisoners of war, it is estimated that the slave traders sent close to 30 million slaves to the Brazil, the Caribbean, and the United States. Thirty-six of the forty-two slave fortresses were located in Ghana and many are well-preserved points of interest.

Read short biography of Emmanuel

Read about the movie: Emmanuel's Gift