Cheshire Home...

There are over 400 "Cheshire Homes" around the world that are part of an international organization established in 1948 in England by Lord Leonard Cheshire, a World War II R.A.F. pilot who dedicated his life to helping others less fortunate. In 1948, he turned his family home in Hampshire into the first Cheshire Home, taking in a war veteran whom he personally nursed. Word soon spread and others came seeking care and shelter.

These photos were taken at the Cheshire Home in Addis Ababa on the 2002 trip. They provide surgery, education, housing, physical therapy and prosthetic aids (shoes, crutches, etc.) for children that have been affected by the polio virus. The facility is somewhat self-sufficient with a dairy farm and vegetable gardens on-site. They have some shop facilities where they make prosthetic aids on-site including some arm-powered three-wheeled bicycles so those with polio-afflicted legs can get around. They have some specially equipped vans that travel outside the city to deliver custom made braces and shoes for those children that can't travel to the Cheshire home.

The on-site school facilities are necessary as unlike here in the US, people with physical or mental handicaps go to the "end of the line" for everything. It is very difficult for them to get help and many are shunned in public schools.

Our hope is as polio is eradicated in Ethiopia, there will be NO new patients coming here .