This story comes from John Sexton. He led the Ghana mission in February 2005:

"We drove a truck loaded with wheelchairs around the streets of Accra. Someone saw a man sitting on the sidewalk, behind a tiny bench, repairing shoes. He crawled out from behind the bench and across a narrow plank over an open sewer ditch. Once on the street, he pulled himself into his new wheelchair with his strong arms. His name is Takove. He had polio and does not remember ever being able to walk. He has been saving for a wheelchair all his life. He told me his home is five miles away. It takes him 2 hours to crawl to work, and 2 hours to crawl home!


The next day we justhappened to see Takove on the street in his new wheelchair. He saw us and waved us down. He said it only took him 30 minutes to get to work in his wheelchair. Then his sister came running up, and neither one could stop talking. She said 'We expected my brother to come home at his usual time.He was due home shortly after 6:00 pm. After 9:00 we started to worry. He finally came home at 10:00 pm and was just fine. For the first time in his life he went out on the town, on his own. He went up and down streets visiting friends.

Takove said that having a wheelchair makes him feel like he is driving his own car. In fact, he had made a copy of a Ghanaian license plate for the back of his wheelchair!"