Transforming Lives Through Love

Feb 11, 2025 | Enable the Children, Global Health

What a set of crutches or wheelchair can do for a child living with a disability in Liberia or Sierra Leone goes well beyond their physical needs. These pieces of metal and wood, fabric and plastic, mean so much more than mobility. They spell f-r-e-e-d-o-m for many. These tools, along with physical therapy, bring independence, hope and a positive outlook on life that spreads to everything they do.

Georgieta’s Path Back to School

Take Georgieta for example, a happy and seemingly healthy baby who walked at the age of one and began attending school when she was five. But in 2020, Georgieta became sick and was diagnosed at a clinic in Waterloo, Sierra Leone, with tuberculosis of the spine. This condition can cause total lower limb paralysis and loss of bladder control. Mary lives far from her school and had to drop out after she became unable to walk.

World Hope, through our Enable the Children (ETC) programs, stepped in and delivered a pediatric wheelchair that was donated by Wheelchairs for Kids. She started going to physical therapy treatments and is now reunited with her classmates and can both go to school and play, while using her wheelchair, which has transformed her life.

Kadie’s Journey to Mobility

Another little girl in Sierra Leone, Kadie, was born with Cerebral Palsy. This left her unable to stand or walk, play with her sister or speak any intelligible words. ETC began providing her with physiotherapy and occupational therapy in January 2023 to help strengthen her upper body and her lower limbs, which were very weak. She began engaging in weight-bearing activities, playing with toys and using leg frames and braces.

Now four years old, Kadie is not only standing but walking, playing with other children and pronouncing a few understandable words. Her mother said, “Thanks to Allah and ETC for the encouragement and improvement my child has made.” Kadie’s mother and her therapy team are both impressed with her progress and have high hopes for her future.

Georgieta and Kadie and their families now know that because of real, tangible assistance given to them by the generosity of Christ followers and ETC members who deliver a Christian message with their services, the barriers to a better life were broken. They will carry this with them for the rest of their lives.