Born into a family of six children in Sierra Leone, 14-year-old Lucy loves science and wants to be a medical doctor. According to her mother, Isatu, “Lucy loves school. Even when she is not in school, she loves to study. After school, she eats and then goes and studies and does homework.”  At home, she is a joy to her family.  

Mercy Ships serves its partner nations using a doubled-edged approach to bringing hope and healing – providing free and safe surgeries to those in need on board hospital ships, and empowering local healthcare providers with effective training and mentorship leading to better care for the people they serve. Mercy Ships drives the latter through our Education, Training and Advocacy (ETA) program, which involves identifying and understanding the gaps that exist in the health landscape of the country before contributing to the bridging of such gaps using training and advocacy.

When a father passes away, a son struggles to remember as much about his dad as he can. Some of Hassan’s final memories of his father involved living with him while contracting the same condition that ultimately took his dad’s life: complications from an abdominal hernia.