Voice 1
Hello, I’m Mike Procter.
Voice 2
And I’m Marina Santee. Welcome to Spotlight. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 3
“Look at his funny ear!”
Voice 1
These words made little Wyatt Mowray want to cry. A crowd of children surrounded him. They would often say horrible things like this. They would speak very loudly and ask him if he could hear what they were saying.
Voice 2
Wyatt was not like other children. He had been born with only one normal ear. The other one was very small. It was not shaped in a natural way.
Voice 1
Wyatt’s mother is Judy Mowray. She was very sad about the way the other children were treating him. She tried to say things to make her son feel better. But he just became more and more unhappy. Judy became very worried about him. She prayed to God and asked him for help. She wanted to find some way to solve this problem. And then one night while watching the news on television she heard about a very unusual man. Her heart was filled with excitement! It was possible that this man could help her son.
Voice 2
The man she saw on television was Robert Barron. He had lived a very unusual life. And he had some very unusual skills. When he was young he had a talent for painting. His pictures looked very real. People believed them to be photos from a camera. He had also loved to build things. When he made something, every small detail was correct.
Voice 1
Later, he accepted a job at a secret United States government organisation - the CIA. Here, Robert did not use his talent to create art. Instead, he used his skills to help the spies who worked for the CIA. He worked hard to create disguises that could completely change a person’s appearance - the way the person looked.
Voice 2
One day he went to a conference to learn how to improve the disguises that he made. He met many people there who were experts in the design of false body parts. This branch of engineering is called prosthetics. The experts wanted to build prosthetic arms, legs, and other body parts. They wanted to help people in need.
Robert saw many pictures of people who had suffered terrible changes to their appearance. Some had lost noses and skin because of disease. Others had lost body parts through accidents. Seeing these things had a strong effect on Robert. When he left the CIA he decided to use his talent for making disguises to help people who suffered with these problems.
Voice 1
When Robert heard about Wyatt Mowray he was sure that there was something he could do. He first created a prosthetic ear to replace the one that Wyatt was missing. Then he attached this false ear to the side of Wyatt’s head. Finally, he painted the ear in exactly the colour that it should be. When Wyatt looked in the mirror he was so happy. He decided that he looked just like any other little boy.
Voice 2
Robert Barron has been able to help many people like Wyatt. He has made prosthetic noses for cancer victims. He has made false fingers for people who have damaged their real ones. And he continues to make many other prosthetic objects for those who need them. Robert is very happy with his new work. He says:
Voice 4
“God gave me this talent. He is using me to help people.”
Voice 1
Far away in the Indian city of Jaipur, another man had been using his unusual talent to design useful things. This man was a sculptor - an artist who could create beautiful images by working with stone. People could see Ram Chandra’s sculptures in many important buildings around the city.
Voice 2
Ram also worked at a local hospital. He would teach patients how to make useful things with their hands. At the hospital, Ram saw many people who had lost the lower parts of their legs. He wondered if he could use his talent for designing sculptures to help these people. Ram took his ideas to Dr Pramod Karan Sethi, who was also working in the hospital. Together the two men tried to design false feet and legs. They used many different materials. But they were not successful.
Voice 1
Then one day, Ram was riding to the hospital on his two-wheel bicycle. He rode over something sharp in the road. It made a hole in the tire. All the air escaped. While he was having the tire fixed, an idea came to him. The tires were made from rubber. They were light and strong. And they lasted a long time. Rubber could be the perfect material for the prosthetic feet that he was trying to create!
Voice 2
Ram Chandra and Dr Sethi started to work with this new idea. The result was the ‘Jaipur Foot’. The basic foot and the toes are made from separate blocks of rubber. The ankle is made of wood. The pieces of the foot are held together by rubber with material in it, like the material that makes tires strong. Finally the whole foot and ankle has a rubber cover that is made to look just like human skin.
Voice 1
The Jaipur Foot is now used in many countries of the world. It is popular because the materials used to build it are not hard to find. Many people have learned how to build these prosthetic feet. Most important of all, they only cost a small amount of money - less than thirty [30] US dollars! Before the first Jaipur Foot was made, a common prosthetic foot cost thousands of dollars. Very few people had enough money to buy one. But today thousands of people have a Jaipur Foot.
Voice 2
Ram Chandra and Dr Pramod Sethi have become famous. But this was not the reason for their work. Ram Chandra says:
Voice 5
“People said I would be a rich man if we had taken money for every Jaipur foot that has been made, but it’s enough satisfaction for me to see the joy on a little girl’s face when she walks again.”
Voice 1
Robert Baron, Ram Chandra, and Dr Pramod Sethi are all unusual men. They began their lives in very different ways. But they all shared the desire to help people in need. Each man used his special talent in a way that no one had expected. And together they showed that great things can be achieved when people use the skills that they have been given.
Voice 2
The writer of today’s programme was Nate Hobson. The producer was Marina Santee. All quotes were adapted for radio for this programme. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United States. Computer users can hear our programmes, read our scripts and see our word list on our website at www dot radio dot english dot net. This programme is called “Hope from Prosthetics”. |