Feet are made for walking, and hands are made for holding. The addition of an opposable thumb on our hands offers human beings the ability to handle just about any object with ease. But that dexterity doesn’t exist in the foot.

That is, unless you’re Sentayehu Tishale. The 43-year-old woodworker who hales from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia lost his arms to polio during childhood. The limitations imposed upon him by debilitating illness propelled him into a life of begging on the streets of the Ethiopian capitol, until the love of a woman turned him around. According to the Huffington Post, Tishale’s spouse urged him to develop his mind and his artisanal skills. He taught himself to read and set out to develop his skills as a woodworker.

Today Tishale can be found building a variety of small projects for clients, including stools and even chests of drawers.