“I’m healed from inside, not just from outside… that’s the most important thing.”
Sitting after work in his red deck crew uniform, Sheku Conteh scrolls through old photos of himself. The images take him back to a chapter of his life he has never forgotten.
Sheku was just fourteen years old when he first encountered Mercy Ships in 2002. He was living with a life-threatening facial tumour that was slowly reducing his ability to breathe. His family searched for help at hospitals across Freetown, Sierra Leone, but none could treat him.
Hope came through an unexpected conversation with friends who told him about Mercy Ships.
In 2003, long-time volunteer maxillofacial surgeon Dr. Gary Parker performed Sheku’s first surgery aboard the Anastasis in Sierra Leone. Years later, Dr. Parker also performed a follow-up skin graft surgery on the Africa Mercy®, placing Sheku among the few patients who have received surgery on two different Mercy Ships vessels.
Looking back, Sheku speaks with deep gratitude about Dr. Parker. “For me, he’s [like] an angel. That’s how I see Dr. Gary,” Sheku said.
More than two decades later, Sheku still describes the surgery as life-saving. But as significant as his physical healing was, he says another transformation shaped him even more deeply.
“I have been transformed inside and out,” he said. “The transformation is not just physical, but spiritual. Even when life is hard, conviction keeps you going.”
That conviction eventually brought Sheku back to Mercy Ships, this time as a volunteer. He spent five years serving in the engine room on the Africa Mercy in Togo and Sierra Leone.
One responsibility stood out to him: operating the medical waste incinerator late at night. While others may have seen an ordinary task, Sheku saw something deeply personal. “Every time I was doing that work, I felt like somebody once did something for me,” he said. “It was my way of saying thank you to Mercy Ships.”
From 2024 to 2026, Sheku continued serving as a national crew deckhand on the Global Mercy™ in Freetown. While cleaning decks and supporting daily operations, he often shares his story with patients walking their own healing journeys.
Beyond Mercy Ships, he also serves as a youth leader at his church and participates in prison outreach ministry.
As he looks ahead, Sheku’s plans remain simple. “I just want to trust God, listen to Him, and see what He has for me.”
Sheku once arrived at Mercy Ships in need of hope. Today, he offers that same hope to others through the life he now lives.
Be part of the transformation, learn more about how you can use your skills to volunteer.
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