Mercy Ships Africa Blog

Discover the Changing Tide of Dental Care in Guinea

In October 2022, five dental students from Guinea boarded a plane to Casablanca, Morocco. The following year, they were joined by another. These young dentists form the pilot group of Mercy Ships’ dental education sponsorship program – a new program focused not just on providing care in the here and now but changing surgical systems for good.

The Future Holds Great Promise: Diarra’s Story

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For 25-year-old Diarra, stepping into the operating room of the Africa Mercy® was a moment more than a decade in the making. She had been looking for healing for a facial tumor for almost half her life. “I feel so good inside my heart,” she exclaimed about her opportunity for surgery. “I have been to many different doctors, but they couldn't heal it.” She couldn’t recall when the tumor began to grow. All she remembers is being a teenager and experiencing a toothache that led to a small growth. From there, “it just kept getting bigger.” Diarra’s parents took her to several hospitals. Each visit was a step in an uphill battle, made harder by their meager earnings as small-scale farmers. Medical costs loomed large, forcing them to choose between caring for their other children or seeking healing for their daughter. Eventually, they stopped looking.

Face-to-Face after Decades: Catherine and Aly Reunite on the Global Mercy™

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The last time Catherine Conteh saw the deeply familiar smile in front of her in Freetown, it was under dramatically different circumstances. Fresh off the plane from Australia on Sunday, Catherine arrived on the dock beside the Global Mercy™ where she was greeted by Aly Hogarth-Hall – a face she had not seen in person for 30 years. Without Aly, the last 30 years – as well as the life of her daughter and her grandson – might not have even been possible.

Meet Emmanuel, the First Patient of the Sierra Leone Field Service

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On Tuesday, September 12, Emmanuel was brought into one of the operating rooms of the Global Mercy™, where he became the very first patient to receive surgery during the field service in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The significance of this moment was not lost on him. Emmanuel, who had just celebrated his 43rd birthday a few days earlier, felt that the timing had turned his birthday month into something extraordinary. “It is a double portion of blessings,” he celebrated. A tumor on his neck began as a minor concern, a flicker of worry that he hoped would fade away with time.

Passing on the Healing: Hawa’s Story of Life-Saving Surgery

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There was much excitement on board the Global Mercy™ recently as a young woman named Hawa climbed up the gangway. Hawa, an aspiring nurse from Sierra Leone, had never set foot on this brand-new hospital ship. But she has walked this swaying path over the water before. Hawa boarded the first Mercy Ship, the Anastasis, as a small child, when a tumor was slowly encroaching on her ability to eat and breathe. It was there that her life was saved, and a new dream was born. This year, Hawa’s journey to hope and healing came full circle as she reunited with Mercy Ships once more.

Training that Saves Lives: Dr. Camara’s Story

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As a young boy, Dr. Abraham Camara was puzzled when relatives, friends, and neighbors came to seek medical help from his father, a high school teacher. “He was the only person who had gone to university, and he worked for the government,” explained Dr. Camara. Thus, “they thought he would know a lot about healthcare.” His father embraced the responsibility. He recommended hospitals, raised funds for medical bills, made appointments with doctors, and took neighbors to treatments when he could. Watching his father in action planted seeds of empathy in Dr. Camara’s heart. A dream to go into medicine was born. Dr. Camara grew up to make that dream a reality. For the past 12 years, he has been training to become a specialized surgeon. This dream is rooted in the desire to become the ultimate champion of his patients: “I want to be in the best possible position to help.”

The Global Mercy™ arrives in Freetown, Sierra Leone to Bring Safe Surgery and Education

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On August 22, a long-awaited day of hope arrived as the Global Mercy™ sailed into the port of Freetown, Sierra Leone. It was a moment more than 30 years in the making. The start of this field service marks the next chapter in a three-decade partnership between Mercy Ships and Sierra Leone, meaning the floating hospital ship’s arrival wasn’t a greeting – it was a homecoming.

Sierra Leonean Mercy Ships Volunteers Look Forward to Bringing the Global Mercy™ Home

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Ibrahim Bangura was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and he has family in the northern district of Kambia. Even as a native Sierra Leonean, though, he didn’t grasp the depth of medical need in his own nation until he joined Mercy Ships as a national crewmember. “I live in the country, but I’ve never seen people with such kind of sicknesses, with huge tumors,” he said. “People with cleft lips. … I've never seen that in my life.” Medical conditions often develop more severely in rural areas, where people have trouble getting to a hospital. In 2011, as Ibrahim began working with the Africa Mercy® in Freetown, he saw patients who had journeyed from all over the country to be treated. It was like nothing he had ever experienced. “This is where my journey started,” he said. “I got inspired.”

Sierra Leonean Mercy Ships Volunteer Gets Ready to Welcome the Global Mercy™

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When David Kpakiwa thinks about the surgical need in his home country of Sierra Leone, he gets emotional. It’s not just because he cares about his countrymen and women. It’s because for him, this issue hits close to home. “When I was a kid, my mom got sick and she needed surgery,” he said. “But in our community, they could not provide that.” David’s mother would have to leave their home in the Kono District to find treatment, but the travel was too expensive. David was young, but he carried a lot of responsibility as a provider for his family. He began supporting his family at the age of 8, working long hours on a farm to bring home money to his mother. “I spent a lot of time looking at my mom’s suffering,” he said. Although she was finally able to get the help she needed, David never forgot the experience. “The memories are there,” he said. “They’re fresh.” David’s family is not unique among Sierra Leoneans. There are fewer than three surgeons for every 100,000 people in the population, but those surgeons are distributed unequally across the country. That means surgical care is inaccessible to the majority of people. Estimates of the unmet surgical need in Sierra Leone reach as high as 91%. David’s mother was just one of those people who couldn’t access the care she desperately needed – leaving a lasting impact on those who loved her most. That’s why now, years later, as David prepares the way for the Global Mercy™ to arrive in Freetown, Sierra Leone, he takes his job personally.