After 56 years with a cleft lip, it took just a two-hour surgery to change Samba’s life. Samba, a widower with four children, worked as a cattle farmer in rural Senegal, where he faced discrimination due to his lifelong condition. He had grown used to his cleft lip...
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...
FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE, SEPTEMBER 13, 2023 – A 43-year-old man who feared he would have to live with a tumour on his face for life was the first patient to receive a life-changing surgery on board the world’s largest civilian hospital ship, the Global Mercy™...
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...
There’s a moment from her daughter’s birth in Sierra Leone that still plays over and over in Catherine Conteh’s mind, 30 years later. She had been in labour for four days straight. Catherine was writhing with untreated pain and crying out to God. The doctors said that...
Baba had a kitchen accident at his home in Senegal when he picked up the lid of a pot. Minutes later his hands and arms caught on fire, leaving him with burns so severe that he could no longer use his arm. He was used to manual labour as his family were peanut...