In the streets of Tor Hayloch, wheelchairs once designed to carry people simmer in the rain, gazing out at the street and reminiscing about their past lives. These chairs have rolled into a second career as rain-drenched vending carts on a busy Addis sidewalk. Built for mobility but now hustling in the service of commerce, they show how the city refuses to let any piece of metal retire quietly. What was once a medical aid has become a street-side business model, proof that in Ethiopia, even wheelchairs get a new lease on life when the market calls and locally repurposed wheelchairs are often used to sell everything from snacks to household goods, turning mobility aids into fully mobile mini-shops.

[ssba-buttons]