A New Smile: Mariama’s story

MERCY SHIPS UK

Mamadou and Alimatou could not wait to start a family together and were delighted when Alimatou gave birth to a baby girl, Mariama. Mariama is now 7 months old and is a lively and healthy baby, but she was born with a severe facial cleft that strained her joyful smile. This facial cleft affected little Mariama’s lip and her nose, making it difficult for her to eat. Her parents searched for help, but sadly they and little Mariama are some of the five billion people worldwide who do not have access to safe, surgery when they need it.

Each year, 18 million people die from conditions that could have been treated with surgery. That’s more than those who die from malaria, HIV and TB combined. This is a global surgery crisis. A crisis which is only deepening as the current global pandemic weakens healthcare systems everywhere.

Mercy Ships specialise in using hospital ships to strengthen healthcare systems in the poorest parts of the world. While we work to train and mentor local healthcare professionals and refurbish medical facilities, we save and transform thousands of lives through free surgery. Lives like Mariama’s.

Mariama’s facial cleft made feeding very difficult. Infants suffering from a facial cleft can die of malnutrition, despite the mother’s desperate efforts to feed her baby. It isn’t just the danger to life, but also the social stigma that these children and adults can experience. Many of the people Mercy Ships serve have hidden away, fleeing the mockery and persecution of others.

Local doctors, unable to heal his daughter, directed Mariama’s father to Senegal’s capital city in hopes that he might find help there. He heard about a hospital ship docked in the port, which was full of volunteer medical professionals offering life-changing surgeries to those in need. The ship was the Africa Mercy.

“I give thanks to God first, and I am very grateful to Mercy Ships,” Mamadou said. “I’m happy. Thank you!”

After her surgery, Mariama and her family stayed at the Mercy Ships outpatient centre where her parents learned how to make nutritional baby formula and learned about the importance of continued nutrition for their child. Once she had recovered from her surgery, Mariama was able to return home with her family, happy and healthy!

Founded in 1978, Mercy Ships has worked in 56 countries, performed more than 100,000 surgical procedures and trained over 44,000 medical professionals. Right now, Mercy Ships is continuing to support medical professionals in Africa by providing online training and donating resources where they are desperately needed to fight COVID-19. As soon as the global situation allows, we will return to Africa. We were there for the continent post-Ebola and we will be there post- COVID-19.

The Africa Mercy is staffed almost entirely by volunteers, meaning that all donations go even further towards providing healthcare, training and changing lives. This amazing legacy of change is only possible with donations and support from members of the public, people just like you.

If you’d like to find out more about having a Will made at no cost to yourself, or if you’d like to amend an existing Will to leave a gift to Mercy Ships and help bring hope and healing to thousands every year, visit: mercyships.org.uk/legacy

Registered Charity No: 1053055 Registered Charity in Scotland No. SC039743 Company No: 3147724 (England and Wales)

This article appears in the November 2020 Issue of Life and Work

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