The character arc of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah
Born in 1977 in Koforidua, Ghana, with a severely deformed right leg, at a time when a disabled child was widely taken as a curse. His father left in shame. His mother Comfort refused to, and told him he could do anything. Between then and now sit a boyhood shining shoes to feed the family, her death, a ride of about four hundred miles across Ghana on one leg, a prosthetic leg, a courage award, and a foundation that now schools disabled children. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah?
One working leg, and he crossed a whole country.
He was born in 1977 in Koforidua with a severely deformed right leg, in a country where a disabled child was often read as a punishment on the family. His father left soon after. His mother, Comfort, carried him to school on her back rather than hide him, and told him again and again not to let anybody put him down for his disability. He hopped to lessons, played football with the other boys, and grew up certain his body was not the end of the story.
The certainty was tested early. He left school at about thirteen and went to Accra to shine shoes for roughly two dollars a day so the family could eat. When his mother fell ill he came home to her, and she died on Christmas Eve of 1997. He has said her last wish was that he prove what a disabled person could do, and in 2001 he set out to keep it: a bicycle from the Challenged Athletes Foundation, one strong leg, and about four hundred miles of Ghana to cross so people could see for themselves.
The ride changed how the country saw its disabled citizens, and it changed his own line entirely. Doctors gave him a prosthetic leg. In 2005 he won the Arthur Ashe Courage Award and his story became the film Emmanuel's Gift, narrated by Oprah Winfrey. He has poured the attention back into Ghana ever since, into wheelchairs, ramps and schools for disabled children. His line is worth reading because the thing that was meant to close it, one deformed leg in a place that pitied it, is the thing he made his whole point.
The moments
Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah's timeline.
The 1970s
Born with a deformed leg
Setback, and it changed everything. A severely deformed right leg in a country that often read a disabled child as a curse. His father left in shame. His mother refused to.
The 1980s
His mother said he could
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Comfort Yeboah carried him to school on her back and told him not to let anybody put him down for his disability.
The 1990s
Left school to shine shoes
Setback, and it changed his direction. At about thirteen he went to Accra and shined shoes for roughly two dollars a day so the family could eat.
His mother died
Setback, and it changed everything. She died on Christmas Eve. He has said her wish was that he prove what a disabled person could do.
The 2000s
Rode across Ghana
Milestone, and it changed everything. On one strong leg, with a bicycle from the Challenged Athletes Foundation, he crossed about four hundred miles of Ghana so people could see what disabled people can do.
Stay safe, or make the ride
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: ride across Ghana, taken, or keep shining shoes. The ride changed how Ghana saw its disabled citizens, brought him a prosthetic leg, a courage award, and a foundation that schools disabled children to this day.
Raced in San Diego
Milestone. The foundation invited him to the San Diego Triathlon Challenge, his first race outside Ghana.
Received a prosthetic leg
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Surgeons at Loma Linda University in California fitted him with a prosthetic leg at no cost.
Won the Arthur Ashe Award
Milestone. The Arthur Ashe Courage Award, shared with Jim MacLaren, for the ride and what it moved.
His story became a film
Milestone. A documentary carried the ride and the mission to the world.
Ghana passed a disability law
Milestone, and it changed his direction. In the years his campaign helped push, Ghana wrote the rights of disabled people into law.
The 2010s
Told in a children's book
Milestone. His life was retold for children so the next of them would hear it early.
The 2020s
Schools and ramps back home
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Through his foundation he now puts disabled children through school and builds ramps into buildings that had none.
The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is already everywhere: the disabled children he puts through school, the ramps into buildings that had none, and every person told their body was the end of the story who decided it was the beginning.
In his words
Quotes by Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah
In this world, we are not perfect. We can only do our best.
I just want to make life better, and help people benefit from my experience.
Your turn
Every story draws a unique line.
His is decades in and still building schools. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about three minutes.
Sources
- Emmanuel Yeboah (cyclist), Wikipedia.
- Yeboah, Emmanuel Ofosu, Encyclopedia.com.
- Emmanuel's Gift (2005), directed by Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern, narrated by Oprah Winfrey.
- The ESPY Awards record, Arthur Ashe Courage Award, 2005.
- MY HERO Project profile of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah.
- Ghana Persons with Disability Act, 2006 (Act 715).