Destined to be confined to a wheelchair after a car accident in 2002 left his lower limbs immobilised, Honduran mechanic Raul Arturo Flores decided to take a different road.

He decided to continue with his trade, but offered a new service to his customers: Modifying cars for people who cannot walk.

In his small workshop in the neighbourhood of Pueblo Nuevo in Tegucigalpa, Mr Flores gives an opportunity of mobility to those who are unable to walk.

The modification work takes a day. He places a harness in the car, a column in the steering wheel, then installs devices that he manufactures which function as the "legs".

"The device can be used with only one hand. It brakes and accelerates, and it does not give me any problems," he says.

He has done about 30 modifications so far.

"People tell me that I have to register the patent, but that is not what I am interested in," he says. "What I want is to help people."

"Since I was in this wheelchair, I have had the strength, I am working. I will always need assistance because my legs do not function, but my heart and mind function and every day I will continue to move on, because life continues and it is beautiful."

SAMAI TORRES/EL HERALDO (Honduras)