ABOUT THIS BOOK
A TRUE STORY: CRUTCHES FOR PEPE
A teacher of village health workers was helping as a volunteer in the mountains of
western Mexico. One day he arrived on muleback at a small village. A father came up
to him and asked if he could cure his son. The health worker went with the father to
his hut.
The boy, whose name was Pepe, was sitting on the floor. His legs had been paralyzed by
polio, from when he was a baby. Now he was 13 years old. Pepe smiled and reached up a
friendly hand.
The health worker, who also had a physical disability, examined Pepe. “Have you
ever tried to walk with crutches?” he asked. Pepe shook his head.
“We live so far away from the city,” his father explained.
“Let’s try to make some crutches,” said the health worker.
The next morning the health worker got up at dawn
He borrowed a long curved knife and went into the
forest. He looked and looked until he found 2 forked
branches the right size.
He look the branches back or Pepe’s home and
began to make them into crutches, like this.
The father came and seeing the crutches, he said, “They won’t work!”
The health worker frowned. “Wait and see!” he said.
When both crutches were finished, they showed them to Pepe, who was eager to
try them. His father lifted Pepe to a standing position and the health worker placed the
crutches under the boy’s arms.
But as soon as Pepe put his weight on the crutches,
they bent and broke.
“I tried to tell you they wouldn’t work,” said the father.
“It’s the wrong kind of tree. Wood’s weak as water!
But now I see your idea. I’ll go cut some branches of
‘jutamo’. Wood’s tough as iron, but light! Don’t want the
crutches too heavy.”
He took the knife and went into the forest. Fifteen
minutes later he was back with 2 forked branches of
‘jutamo’. He began making the crutches, his strong
hands working rapidly. The health worker and Pepe
helped him.
ABOUT THIS BOOK A 1