During this field service, which will last through most of 2022, Mercy Ships will provide surgery to patients from across all 14 regions of the country. Many of these patients have been awaiting their opportunity to receive life-changing care. With the help of our local partners and volunteer professionals from around the world, Mercy Ships is honoured to fulfil that hope and complete our promise to return.
In addition, our collaboration with local healthcare professionals aims to further strengthen Senegal’s own capacity and assist the Minister of Health in creating a dynamic national surgical plan.
Health and Safety During a New Season
During the early outbreak of the pandemic, Mercy Ships made the difficult decision to leave our field service in Senegal earlier than planned to protect those on board and in-country. The decision to return for a new field service comes after much research, planning, and prayer. Mercy Ships is committed to making a safe return for all patients, caregivers, crew, visitors, and partners in Senegal.
What does this safe return look like?
Mercy Ships is following several policies and vaccination requirements, which will allow us to operate in a safe and responsible way while providing life transforming surgery to those who need it most. Some of these COVID-19 protocols on board include:
“Mercy Ships is committed to ensuring we can return to Senegal in a COVID responsible way. Whilst we know all missions involve some degree of risk, there are multiple measures we have put in place to reduce that risk whilst still being able to bring hope and healing to the people of Senegal,” says Dr. Miriam John, Mercy Ships International Chief Medical Officer.
2022 is an incredibly special year for Mercy Ships in many ways. Not only is it the renewal of a field service in Senegal, but also the newest Mercy Ship, the Global Mercy®, will dock in an African port for the first time. In 2022, Mercy Ships will also celebrate 30 years of work and partnership in Africa.
In honour of this milestone occasion, Mercy Ships will participate in the International Symposium on Strengthening Surgical, Obstetric, and Anaesthetic Care Systems in Africa by 2030. This symposium, organised in collaboration with the government of Senegal, will gather many current and future healthcare leaders together in a time to share and learn from each other.
During this time, the government of Senegal will also host an event with many African heads of state to commission the Global Mercy, our newest vessel – not just a floating hospital, but also a floating training centre. We cannot think of a better way to start this new chapter together.
Would you like to join us in Senegal? Find out all the ways you can help others by serving with Mercy Ships at mercyships.org.au/volunteer
]]>Every day, Fatmata brings little Aicha with her to the market, where they sit for hours selling oranges. Due to the cataracts clouding her vision, the sweet, impish two-year-old can’t see the colourful world around her — a fact that brings her family sorrow.
At the Mercy Ships eye screening, Aicha’s response to the flashlight’s beam of light was an indicator that there was hope. “It amazed me that something so small like seeing light was worth smiling about in her world of darkness,” Larina Brink, Mercy Ships volunteer ophthalmic clinical technician said. “I just knew that the surgery would turn out well because of her being able to follow the light as I moved it around. My heart was filled with joy to be able to offer her surgery that would open the world up to her.”
“When they removed the bandages, I saw my daughter as a woman for the first time,” Fatmata said. “I saw that everything people said about her was wrong. She was like a new person. She was dancing and laughing.”
“People in the market say, ‘Aicha is a new person now; her witchcraft is gone; it’s unbelievable,’” Fatmata said. “They say it’s magic — but it was no magic. She was sick and now she is healed. I have no words to express how happy I am.”
There’s no force fiercer than a mother’s love for her child. Fatmata proved this day by day saying, “I love my baby, no matter what people say about her.” And now, this little one will be able to grow up seeing her mother’s love firsthand, reflected in her own eyes.
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Since the day she went into labour, Gisele’s life has been shaped by shoulds. She should have delivered her baby normally. When she did not, she should have had emergency obstetric care. Perhaps she should have had a cesarean. She should have become a mum. Today, she should have a 21-year-old son.
But now Gisele is 48, divorced, and childless.
During a prolonged obstructed labour in her Congolese village , Gisele lost her baby. Due to the trauma of the delivery, she developed a childbirth injury called obstetric fistula that creates a hole between the birth canal and urinary tract, leaving the mother incontinent. While the nature of Gisele’s condition was terrible, her physical pain was now nothing compared to the emotional burden that came with the loss of her baby.
With surgery, obstetric fistula is often repairable. As news spread that Mercy Ships was coming, Gisele began to hope. But it wasn’t until she found herself sitting in a hospital bed on board that she allowed herself to believe that she might be healed.
Since her surgery, Gisele has been smiling. Graceful and bird-like, she knits with perfect posture and hums between conversations with the women on either side of her.
Gisele should have had this surgery long ago. While she may always carry with her the grief of the child she lost and the pain of the years of suffering, she will carry it with her head held high because now she knows her worth.
]]>The morning sun is already hot, and the lines of people waiting to have their dental problems relieved are long. In the island nation of Madagascar, dental care is expensive and beyond the reach of most. Outside the local hospital gates, 17-year-old Ronaldo stands with the men, waiting in a line to be examined by the Mercy Ships dental team. Next to them stretches a restless queue of children of all ages accompanied by their mothers. In the final column, the women patients stand beneath the shade of their colourful umbrellas.
Every eye is on the handful of little yellow appointment cards held by dental team supervisor Robbie Lerma as she begins screening and selecting patients. She randomly stops at one line and then another, examining patients here and there. Her seemingly haphazard selection makes it pointless for people in line to “save a place” for someone else. The result is that each person waiting has an equal opportunity to receive dental care. Balancing these kinds of factors requires God’s daily wisdom when faced with so many in need.
Ronaldo lingers in line with his schoolbag slung over his shoulder, hoping for an appointment ticket and the opportunity for serious decay around and between his front teeth to be treated without charge. He explains, “I have a sister who came here before. She said, ‘Go there if you want to fix your teeth.’ So I came to see what they can do. I thought my front teeth would fall out. I don’t have money to spend at a dentist. Thanks to God I’ve been received. I did not expect it because it was a long line, and I was at the end.”
When asked what caused the cavities in his teeth, Ronaldo replied, “I don’t really know, but one of my friends said it’s because I’m drinking really hot water and, after that, really cold water. I often do that.” Ronaldo no longer feels pain in his front teeth, so he does not realise that his health is a ticking time bomb. He is just concerned about preserving his fabulous smile.
After receiving his numbered appointment card, Ronaldo strolls into the Mercy Ships purpose-renovated dental clinic within the Malagasy hospital. He is examined by lead dentist Saulo Gamarra Gonzales, who is pleased that Mercy Ships gives quality dental care to the poor. “I will treat these patients the same way I would treat my patients at home,” he declares.
Dr. Gamarra explains the seriousness of Ronaldo’s condition to him. Decay has eaten away at his front teeth’s enamel and caused a major infection to spread from the damaged nerve. As a result, there is now a fistula or split in his gum above the affected tooth. It requires immediate intervention. After considering Ronaldo’s age, the dentist decides to perform a root canal to save his front tooth from extraction. He will also fill the other cavities.
Antibiotics to control the severe infection accompanied the dental work, and Ronaldo got the result he really hoped for – the restoration of his engaging grin.
He is graduating from high school soon, and Ronaldo hopes for a career in Customs and Immigration. He has leadership ambitions, and he really feared entering his adulthood and future profession with his front teeth missing. “I’m not going to lose my teeth when I’m older! Thanks for helping us in need!” he said.
]]>Thérèse’s husband was already struggling to provide for their family when Elisabeth was born with a cleft lip and palate.
Elisabeth was unable to breastfeed successfully due to her malformed palate, and she began to lose weight dramatically. Even her father thought that she would die.
Thérèse had never heard of anyone having this condition before and had no idea how to care for her tiny daughter. She kept the newborn alive the only way she could think of – by feeding her diluted sweetened condensed milk from a spoon.
“I was really sad because I was thinking about her future,” shared Thérèse. “I had in mind that she would have this problem all of her life.”
Then one fabulous day someone at church told Thérèse about Mercy Ships. They were sure Elisabeth’s condition could be fixed on board – for free! So Thérèse began an anxious wait.At three months old and weighing a fragile 2.1 kg, Elisabeth was screened for the Mercy Ships Infant Feeding Program. Under further care from dietitian Jillian, it took just eight weeks for Elisabeth double her weight. Then she was strong enough to undergo surgery on her cleft lip, and her appearance dramatically changed. Then, once she reached 10 months old, she underwent a second surgery to correct her cleft palate.
“Even though I am poor, I feel a lot of things have gone from my shoulders now,” reflects Thérèse. “Before I was so worried about the future, but now my baby will look like everybody else.”
Thérèse’s neighbours were completely shocked when mother and daughter returned home. Elisabeth looked beautiful. “It’s done! It really happened!” the villagers exclaimed.
Because of supporters like you, Mercy Ships is able to provide free surgical and medical care for people like Elisabeth.
]]>Imagine a child whose life has been spent in shadows and darkness because of a simple cataract. For most people in developed nations, a quick trip to the ophthalmologist would resolve this issue, but for those who have little to no access to quality health care, their world continues to dim.
For over 40 years, Mercy Ships has been dedicated to providing hope and healing to those in need. Still, our mission would be impossible without the dedicated volunteers who join us on our hospital ship to provide surgical and medical care. Today, we want to honour one such volunteer —Dr. Glenn Strauss.
Dr. Strauss joined the Mercy Ships volunteer family back in 1997 as an ophthalmologist with the Caribbean Mercy. Over the years, he and his wife Kim continued to support and volunteer their skills for short-term missions, helping many find healing where there once was none.
After years of serving, Dr. Strauss and his wife decided to close their practice at home and commit their lives to serve with Mercy Ships full time.
“We felt like we were in a position where we had a lot of years that we could really be offering our best,” Dr. Strauss said. “Sort of the ‘first fruits’ idea, where we want to offer our best to the Lord. So we joined full time.”
Dr. Strauss and his wife became involved full time in 2005, where they developed Mercy Vision —a training program incorporating spiritual and medical skills training for surgeons and paramedical workers of Central America and sub-Saharan Africa.
While serving with Mercy Ships, Dr. Strauss had the opportunity to perform the very first surgery on board our current ship, the Africa Mercy, but he never forgot his first passion —teaching others. For years, Dr. Strauss had the opportunity to train professionals in countries where medical training was nearly impossible to find. Over time, those students began to teach others, resulting in even more healing.
“I had ‘grandchildren’, essentially since the surgeons that I had trained, were now training surgeons in Africa,” Dr. Strauss said. “They were being very effective. And so there was a desire to see if we could maybe scale that or incorporate that into some of the other mentoring work that was being done with Mercy Ships.
“Eventually, his passion for educating and training took him away from the surgical table and into the classroom. Dr. Strauss’s last surgery was the final one for the 2019/2020 field service, which was cut short due to COVID-19. Now,Dr. Strauss has the opportunity as the Programs Medical Capacity Building Director to share his experience in the OR with even more medical professionals.”
What is so interesting to me is that I’ve been part of the story of the Africa Mercy for all these years, and have been able to build a training program in ophthalmology that I believe has been effective both spiritually and professionally with the surgeons that I’ve been working with,” he shared. “Now I have the opportunity to expand that into other areas within Mercy Ships with the new training programs we are developing for our future projects. I think it’s exciting to see that there’s a new area we’re able to tap into. To go far beyond what we’ve been able to do so far.”
We are so thankful for those like Dr. Strauss, whose dedication to the mission of hope and healing will see generations changed.
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