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.”

Healed After 27 Years: Coumba’s Journey

Coumba was at her family’s farm on the day that her life changed forever.  “Our mother used to cook with fire,” she said. “It was a big farm, so my mother would start a fire in one place, then go to another. My little brother was playing by the fire, got too close, and started to burn.”  At just 4 years old, Coumba rushed in to save her brother as the fire grew.  “I fell on my left side, so I burned there,” Coumba said. “My brother was then crying a lot, which my mother heard, so she came to us, but I was already entirely burnt on my left side.”  With her left arm fused in a bent position and her hand damaged, Coumba adjusted to life with only one functional arm and hand. She grew up to marry, work as a maid, and raise three children on their rice and vegetable farm in northern Senegal. Coumba longed to take care of the farm herself, like many other women do in Senegal, but her limited range of motion made this dream impossible.  After decades of living with a bent arm, surgery on the Africa Mercy® meant that at the age of 31, Coumba’s life was about to change. 

‘The Gifts Within’: Hamadou Finds Hope

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Hamadou was 4 years old when he came to the Africa Mercy® in Senegal. By then, he had learned to cope with the physical limitations of his cleft lip, a gap in his upper lip that impacted his ability to swallow and eat, as well as how his teeth were growing. But the cleft lip continued to hold him back socially, even within his own family. People in Hamadou’s community drink their water from a large pot that they share with other members of their household, as well as any guests. “People would not want to drink from the same water pot as him,” said his mother Hawa. While Hamadou was isolated in some ways, his mother was always by his side providing constant support.

On the Frontlines of Healing: A Nurse Mentee’s Story

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In any profession, mentorship and knowledge sharing are at the heart of empowering good workers to become great ones. This is especially true in the medical field, where skilled practitioners are responsible for providing exceptional care to those who need it most. In 2022, when the Africa Mercy® visited Senegal for a 10-month field service, over 50 medical professionals participated in training and mentorship programs to hone their skills and improve patient care. The very last of these professionals was Sawdiatou Mbodji, who joined the ship’s nursing team for one month of mentorship.

Daouda, 13, who struggled to eat or speak due to tumour receives transformational surgery in Senegal

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A teenage boy who spent years seeking surgery for an expanding facial tumour that left him struggling to eat or talk has received successful surgery, thanks to a surgical charity. Dauoda was only four when a tiny node emerged on his upper jaw. The condition would be picked up earlier by a dentist in other countries but was much harder in his home country of Senegal where there are only just over eight dentists per 1 million people.

Partnerships are vital building blocks of effective universal healthcare systems

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Sub-Saharan Africa has an especially urgent need to strengthen surgical care systems. Surgery has long been a neglected component of health care for people on the African continent, and equitable integration of surgical and anaesthetic care remains the key challenge to strengthening health systems and achieving universal health coverage in Africa. If we get this right, we can greatly reduce the rate of mortality and morbidity from surgically preventable and treatable conditions on the continent.

Khoudia’s Story: A Long-Awaited Successful Surgery

When a person has spent years living with a medical condition that they are told is inoperable, it is easy to lose any expectation of healing.   For Khoudia, after eight years with a growing facial tumor, a referral to Mercy Ships stirred a long-awaited glimmer of hope.  “I never thought that this tumor would be removed from my cheek,” the 18-year-old said. “So when they told me they were going to do it, I said, OK,’ but I never imagined that they would remove it all.” 

After Years of Waiting, Healing Has Come for Sira

The day 6-year-old Sira returned from the Africa Mercy® in Dakar, neighbors swarmed their home to see the change.They knew she had gone away to receive surgery for her bowed legs. “Some of these people had seen her with bent legs most of her life,” Ibrahima, Sira’s father, explained. One by one they took in the sight, awed that her legs were now straight. Sira smiled shyly, letting them look. This kind of attention wasn’t new for Sira. She had been getting stares since her legs started curving outward when she was 4 years old. 

Family love leads to Awa’s new smile

In a rural town in southern Senegal lives 5-year-old Awa, surrounded by her loving family. She has always been close with them – especially with her Uncle Woury. Since the moment Awa was born with a cleft lip, her uncle’s greatest wish was that she would someday find healing.

Zackaria’s Hindered Sight

After Zackaria was born, his mother, Binta, began seeing signs that he was suffering from cataracts — a condition that her eldest child had experienced. “I knew about Zackaria’s eyes when he was still very young, as I had the same experience with my firstborn,” Binta said. “Elimane had an operation, but his surgery was not successful. I wept when I saw that my new baby was looking and moving in the same way.”