Film about overcoming disability coming
to Cine Capri

Dolores Tropiano
The Arizona Republic

SCOTTSDALE - When Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah was born in 1977 with a severely deformed leg, his West African parents were encouraged to poison him or leave him to die.

His father and village abandoned him, but his mother believed in him and taught Yeboah to believe in himself.

Yeboah's story of triumph over misfortune and the power of persistence was captured in a movie showing at the Harkins Cine Capri, 7000 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix, for a one-night fund-raiser.

The screening of Emmanuel's Gift, narrated by Oprah Winfrey, will be at 7 p.m. Monday, and benefits New Day Centers, which provides food, shelter and other assistance to homeless and low-income families. Tickets are $30 and include a limited-release DVD.

The documentary, which won numerous film-festival awards, reveals chilling beliefs in countries such as Ghana: Children born with disabilities are cursed and should be hidden from society or killed.

Emmanuel's Gift is being brought to Harkins by Paradise Valley resident Bob Hobbs Jr., a former vice president of Naumann/Hobbs Material Handling. The executive turned inspirational speaker triumphed over his own problems with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

"It is a wonderful movie with an outstanding message," Hobbs said. "People should never give up. They should follow their dreams."

After Yeboah's mother died in 1997, he decided to teach others with disabilities how to live full lives.

The film depicts him learning to ride a bike one-legged and deciding to take a 372-mile bike ride across Ghana to help change perceptions of the disabled.

There was only one problem. Yeboah didn't own a bike. He wrote a letter to the Challenged Athletes Foundation in California and requested one.

In 2002, the bike arrived in Ghana. One year later, the organization flew Yeboah to San Diego to compete in a triathlon. He rode 56 miles as part of the bike-riding team.

The foundation later had Yeboah evaluated and fitted with a prosthesis. He returned to Ghana to help other disabled people.

Yeboah received the 2005 ESPY Arthur Ashe Courage Award.