Six months ago, Immanuel Mombi's face showed frustration and melancholy.
The 10-year-old has cerebral palsy, and when he watched his classmates ride around North East Valley Normal School on their bikes during lunch breaks, it was plain to see he wanted to join in.
But with his condition comes poor balance, and riding a bicycle was just not an option for him.
"He's got a really beautiful nature,'' teacher aide Kirsten Kane said.
"He just wants to be friends with everybody. He wants to be involved in everything.
"He watched his friends riding, and he was thinking, 'Why can't I do that?' I think he felt really left out and sad about it.
"I kept looking in his eyes and he was so sad. I couldn't deal with it any more. I thought, this isn't cool; I've got to do something about it.''
So she contacted local engineer Steve Ward and asked him to custom-build a bicycle for Immanuel.
The result was a BMX-style bicycle with no pedals and two front wheels for stability - all built with donated spare parts at the Valley Community Workspace.
"After Immanuel got the bike and he went around the yard for the first few times with the other kids, he came back with this huge grin on his face and he just said, 'fun','' Mr Ward said.
"He can't speak much, so that was a huge endorsement.''
Mrs Kane said the bike had made significant changes to Immanuel's mental and physical wellbeing.
"He loves coming to school. All he wants to do is ride the bike.
"We've watched him go from being almost bent over double last year and finding it difficult to walk, to standing almost straight since he has been riding the bike. It's helping with his balance. He doesn't fall over as much now.
"Watching him ride his bike is my favourite part of the day.''
The only problem now was finding ways to encourage him to get off it when it was time to go back to class, she said.
