TOAMASINA, MADAGASCAR APRIL 2, 2025: A nine-year-old girl can now reach for the stars after life-changing surgery from international charity Mercy Ships restored movement to her arms, years after severe burns at age two left them fused in place.

Servir avec Mercy Ships est plus qu'un simple travail ; c'est un périple qui transforme non seulement la vie des patients, mais aussi celle des bénévoles et de l'équipage de jour qui se consacrent à cette cause. Pour Josoa Mino, un jeune homme de Madagascar, rejoindre l’ONG a ouvert des portes à des opportunités qu'il n'aurait jamais crues possibles.

In anticipation of welcoming her eighth child, a heavily pregnant Ernestine had to make a two-day journey to the nearest hospital in the district of Mandritsara, Madagascar. She sat in a canoe and then walked for miles, eager to see her baby, but her joy was short-lived. Ernestine lost her baby during labor and had to travel back home in pain, walking with a health condition she had never heard of – obstetric fistula. Caused by prolonged and obstructed labor, obstetric fistula is a hole between the genital tract and the urinary tract or rectum, resulting in the leaking of urine, feces, or both.