Amputee creates prosthetic legs for physically disabled people

Wilfrid worked as a welder. During the 2010 Haiti earthquake, a wall of his garage collapsed and crushed his right leg. Because he was unable to get to a hospital soon enough, his knee became infected and so the doctors had to cut off most of his leg. This led him to become an amputee.

One day, in 2010, he got to know an institution that is run by Haiti's Episcopal Church in Port-au-Prince since the 50’s. Here, disabled workers were creating prosthetics and giving them to disabled people. They mostly help victims from the 2010 earthquake. These workers are all taught by a 60-year-old man called Emmanuel Celicourt. He can’t speak and has been working there for decades. This his where Wilfrid got his first prosthetic leg.

Because he had experience as a welder, he decided to join the team. It took Wilfrid three days to develop his first prosthetic leg.

Wilfrid still works there as of 2019, having built more than 3000 prosthetics since he first joined the team.

“We're still seeing new patients,'' he said, adding that an elderly woman who lost both legs in the earthquake recently came by the centre. “She wants to move, go to church”, he expressed.

Wilfrid plays football and has also been teaching physically disabled athletes to play using crutches.

“People understand me better than someone who has two legs. We try to provide service mostly to those who have nothing. When someone gets amputated, he thinks that is the end of his life... But [a prosthesis] is like a new beginning for a patient”, he noted.

Adapted from: https://bit.ly/2kh0WUY