Interview: Prosthetic Legs Open Doors for Godly Hope in Ghana
Saturday, Jun. 16, 2007 Posted: 2:57:01PM EST
A unique Christian ministry that provides prosthetic legs to amputees left the United States for Ghana on Thursday to offer not only supplies and American expertise, but also hope found in Jesus Christ.
Also, as part of their trip, Standing with Hope founders Peter and Gracie Rosenberger, joined by their 15-year-old son Grayson, will introduce Grayson’s $11 Bubble Wrap cosmetic covering for prosthetic legs that won him first place in a national Bubble Wrap contest sponsored by Sealed Air Corporation.
Before their departure, Peter Rosenberger spoke to The Christian Post about his wife’s tragic car accident, which left her a bi-amputee, and the strength and hope their family has found in Christ to overcome their difficult situation and share their hope and the Gospel with other amputees in Ghana.
CP: I want to backtrack to the start of Standing With Hope’s outreach in Africa. What is special about Ghana that made you and Gracie want to start an evangelistic prosthetic limb ministry there?
Rosenberger: We were actually looking at Eastern Europe where there are victims of landmines. But Joni Eareckson Tada (founder and CEO of Joni and Friends International Disability Center) said if you can make it work in Africa then you can do it anywhere.
Africa was not on my radar and it certainly was not on Gracie’s radar. She says it’s hot and there are a lot of bugs over there (laughs). But they have a pretty amazing operation going on in Ghana and we had some connections in Ghana. We had some people in Nashville that were very much involved there and it was one of those things that was very clear from the Lord that this is where we are suppose to be. So we went.
CP: Does the clinic continue to run throughout the year even when you are not there?
Rosenberger: Yes. This is Ghana’s Ministry of Health. This is why this partnership is a little bit different then a lot of others. We are not doing our own thing over there but we are coming alongside their infrastructure and partnering with them. When we got there, it was rudimentary. They had some rudimentary skills but what we try to do is help them create high-tech legs in a low-tech environment and it’s working.
CP: When you come twice a year what do you do that they don’t do normally?
Rosenberger: Now we are just continuing on their training. The first time we showed up we began a training process. First off we gave them a lot of supplies – better supplies than what they had and more consistent supplies. Then we teach them how to do this in their environment so they can build high quality limbs.
I can say when we got there it took two and a half weeks for them to carve a wooden leg. Now they are making an endoskeleton system, acrylic resin socket with carbon fiber in it and so forth in about six hours. I mean these are great legs; Gracie wears these kinds of legs. They are doing it on their own which is incredibly rewarding.
CP: How many prosthetic legs has your ministry help make?
