Transformed Lives
Volunteers and staff with Mercy Ships -- no matter where they serve or what their role is -- are dedicated to bringing hope and healing to the forgotten poor. Every patient has a story to tell -- here are just a few of the thousands whose lives have been transformed.
A smile says it all
Fatmata, a fourth-grade student, faced some monumental problems that no thirteen-year-old should have to face. She left school to give...
A free surgery revolutionizes the life of a young woman
"Sometimes, I would just sit down and cry,” said Sally with great emotion. For 17 years, people laughed at her and mocked her because...
Trained to train others
“Doing ten [cataract surgeries] a day, I thought I was the best eye surgeon in the world,” said Dr. Ayo Bello. But then he met Dr....
I Will Not Be a Beggar – Bambay’s Story
Sierra Leone’s violent 10-year civil war devastated its people and left the country in shambles and deeper poverty.
Noma no more for Namina!
A healthy baby girl at birth, Namina Yillah suddenly began to see swelling in her face at 18 months old. One morning the swelling...
Abdul Vandi
The villagers called Abdul the “devil child” because of his deformed, curled-in feet. Although abandoned by his mother, Abdul’s father...
Seeing Life in Full Colour
Fatmata sat quietly in the admissions tent cuddling her 16-month-old daughter in her lap. She had been searching for over a year for...›› read story
New Smiles for Mom and Baby!
Babies born with deformities in West Africa often start life as victims of the West African superstition that abnormalities are signs...›› read story
Josephine’s miraculous rescue
Josephine’s parents were scared. Their two-year-old had inhaled something that seriously affected her breathing. David and Judith...›› read story
Espoir stands tall
FOOTBALL! Just the mention of the word grabbed the attention of four-year-old Espoir. Espoir is a bright and very active little boy...›› read story
Abla’s Golden Ticket
Abla, a woman living in Togo, West Africa, has been pregnant seven times. Seven stillborn babies. Seven crushing disappointments.
Hope for my Children
Amavi and her baby sister, Kossinovi, are from a family of eight children. They share a distinctive characteristic – they were both...
Akuavi can face life again
For 30 years, Akuavi suffered with an expanding growth over her right eye that no scarf could adequately cover. The problem began as a...
Bagnangui’s wait comes to an end
Bagnangui, the carpenter, is a gentle man from north Togo who suffered stoically for 16 years with disfiguring growths.
A future and a hope
Imagine your world being torn apart in an instant. You are orphaned, homeless and alone. Too young to work. Too weak to beg for food....
Akissi’s hope returns
Akissi is a spirited teenager. Her gleaming white teeth brighten her contagious smile. Some things get lost in translation, but not...
Walking through adversity to a new life
Growing up with backwards legs, 11-year-old Abel refused to let deformity stop him from being a goalie. Now, with straightened legs,...
Newborn’s surgery saves his life
Five-day-old Kossi won’t remember the surgery on his tongue onboard the Mercy Ship that saved his life, but it is one day that his...
Cross-eyes Now Straight
Baby Claudine’s mom waited for her newborn to open her eyes. But nothing happened and the doctors could offer no reason why the baby...
Noma – no more: Aissa’s new face
Seven-year-old Aissa weighed 11 kg when she arrived onboard the Mercy Ship where a team of maxillo-facial surgeons reconstructed her...
Christian’s Crystal Clear Future
More than anything, nine-year-old Christian wanted to play football and learn to read. Now he can do both, thanks to free cataract...›› read story
Back from the brink of death
Lawson faced slow death by starvation and suffocation. That was until he came to the Africa Mercy.›› read story
Oceane's miracle
Baby Oceane underwent a complicated operation to remove a "second head" resulting from a birth defect. She's now living life to the...
Saved from a life of rejection
Oscar and his mother Florentine sit together in the Africa Mercy ward before Oscar’s surgery. “I felt a very, very big pain in my...
Maomai: Saved from Suffocation
Baby Maomai would have died of suffocation and/or starvation had not Mercy Ships doctors intervened with vital surgery.
Siblings See the Light
Two young brothers and sister blinded by cataracts gain the gift of sight.
20 years of Pain and Anguish
Kotiam thought there was no way out of his condition -- until he heard about some foreign doctors operating for free…
A Mother's Love Overrides Superstition
Baby Odilon's cleft lip and palate prevented him from feeding properly, leaving him almost starving. Onboard the Africa Mercy, he...›› read story
20 years of waiting!
Victories’s victory In 1995, life took a tragic turn for Victorie Adandadjan, of Benin. In her hospital bed, this mother of 10...
Double Vision: Twins Blind from Birth Receive Their Sight
Assan and Alusan - Two-year-old twins, Assan and Alusan, had never seen their mother’s smile. Born with cataracts in both eyes, the...
