This is another in a series of reports from a Rotary expedition to Ethiopia to End Polio Now.
For most people who get polio, the battle is not waged at the doorstep of the morgue, rather it is fought over whether a child will walk or crawl, beg or work, die single or raise a family.
Today, we visited the Cheshire Home Rehabilitation Centre here in Addis Ababa. Here, “clients” are provided with life changing surgeries and other treatments to allow them to walk.
The polio victims at Cheshire are now teenagers. The disease has been eradicated here for years. They come in crawling and they leave walking, usually requiring about six months. During that time they have surgery, sometimes more than one, and then receive extensive physical therapy and are provided with braces and crutches to allow them the dignity of walking.
The Centre does other work as well. On site, they manufacture wheel chairs, not only for their own clients, but for others as well. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S…