When Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah was born, his mother saw him as no others did—and she loved him with all her heart.

It was 1977 in rural Ghana, West Africa.

And Emmanuel was born missing his right shinbone, making his foot dangle uselessly from the curled-up stump of his lower leg.

He was disabled…a pozo (Ghanaian slang for a disabled person)—traditionally considered a curse and assumed to be the result of a mother who had sinned. So, as a disabled infant, Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah could have been poisoned, could have been left to die or could have been hidden away.

But he wasn’t.

Instead, his mother (after his father had abandoned the family upon Emmanuel’s birth) encouraged her son to educate himself in the free public system.

She carried him 2 miles…each way…to school, until he was old enough to hop there on his good leg.

He was the only disabled child among the 250 students.

And oh, how they teased him!

He wasn’t allowed to play sports. What could a legless boy do anyway they wondered, thinking he was useless.

But Emmanuel continued going to school—that is, until he was 13-years-old.

Living in a tiny home without electricity or plumbing, and having the dirt packed floor for his bed, Emmanuel decided to earn some money.

His mother was ailing.

So he quit school.

Disabled people in Ghana were expected to beg for a living, but Emmanuel didn’t want to do that. Instead he shined shoes—for $2/day.

On her deathbed 7 years later, his mother told Emmanuel, “Don’t let anybody put you down because of your disability.”

“What my mother told me,” Emmanuel says, “was a gift.”

It spurred him to show everyone that physically challenged people can do something—that being physically disabled doesn’t mean you are mentally disabled…you can still use whatever gifts you have been given. You don’t have to beg.

And so, starting with a 600-kilometer bike ride around Ghana to raise awareness about the disabled, Emmanuel, with one leg, transformed the lives of Ghana’s estimated 2 million disabled people.

He’s a celebrity. He has won the respect of fellow Ghanaians…as well as the king.

In 2002, Emmanuel did the Triathlon Challenge in California. It took him seven hours to complete the 56-mile bike leg of the event. The following year his leg was amputated (free of charge at California’s Loma Linda hospital) so he could wear a prosthesis.

Now he no longer uses crutches…he runs…he plays soccer…he’s married…and he has a daughter, Linda (named after the hospital).

And he created the Emmanuel Education Fund in Ghana, saying:

“My goal is to make sure that children with disabilities get an education, receive proper medical care, and play sports whenever they want.”

But he’s done so much more than that!

Now go and rent the movie, Emmanuel’s Gift, but be sure to have Kleenex with you when you watch it.

And be forewarned…you will be inspired to greater heights!

Melanie Hack
Author of Who Killed My Sister, My friend
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