We invite you to the Bikes Not Bombs Hub at 284 Amory Street at 7pm on April 10th for a showing of Emmanuel’s Gift, projected on the big screen! This award-winning documentary, filmed in Ghana and narrated by Oprah Winfrey, tells the story of Emmanuel Yeboah who is partnering with Bikes Not Bombs to start up a new bicycle project in Ghana.

On April 26th, BNB will send a shipment of nearly 500 donated bicycles to get the project started. (see a separate Event listing for details on how to volunteer to help load the shipment.) The 40 foot shipping container will be put on the ground, with doors and windows cut in the metal sides so that it becomes part of the structure of the new workshop. The shop is being designed to fit the reach of mechanics in wheelchairs and will employ a full staff of disabled mechanics.

Introducing the film, and continuing after, will be a discussion with David Branigan and Carl Kurz. David is a BNB Bike Shop staff mechanic who also has 3 years of Peace Corps experience in Ghana. David is a perfect choice to spend the first 8 months with the project, training the mechanics and setting up the workshop.

Emmanuel Yeboah was born with a severely deformed leg. The stigma of disability is strong in Ghana – Emmanuel escaped the infanticide that is not uncommon for disabled newborns, but his father abandoned the family. Emmanuel’s mother enrolled him in school and taught him that he deserved the same opportunities as everyone else, but when she fell ill he left school and took up shining shoes on the street to support the family. After his mother’s death left Emmanuel an orphan he began a personal campaign to spread the empowering philosphy he learned from her. From foreign aid workers he heard of a foundation to help disabled athletes and he wrote a letter requesting a bicycle, with a dream of cycling across Ghana to raise awareness and respect for the disabled. Emmanuel received the bike, made the cross-country trip using one leg, and his determination coupled with his unusual story led to more opportunities: a trip to the US to compete in paralympics, a prosthetic leg, a second cross-Ghana bicycle trip, the film Emmanuel’s Gift, recognition from government officials including a new law in Ghana mandating improved access for disabled people, and lastly a foundation to create employment and sports opportunities for disabled Ghanaians. It is this foundation which is partnering with Bikes Not Bombs to create this exciting new project!