Training for a Lifetime

In a paradise land of rolling hills with luscious green vegetation and rich terracotta soils there is a formidable killer. This is a place where overwhelming volumes of deaths occur daily. Tragically, children are the most vulnerable in the high mortality rate.

This is Sierra Leone, with a population of 4.7 million, primarily threatened by hopelessly poor sanitation and medical facilities combined with lack of basic hygiene knowledge. The most common cause of death will take your breath away; diarrhea as a result of swallowing harmful bacteria.  These bacteria are often associated with poor sanitation so maintaining good hygiene and nutrition is key in protecting lives.

This is especially important in consideration of the limited medical facilities available. In accordance with the World Health Organization there are only five main hospitals with a handful of satellite hospitals in the towns supported by twelve district hospitals in the provinces.

The realities of these statistics have become increasingly evident during many of the previous Mercy Ships missions.  There have been numerous occasions when medical crew often extended their roles to provide basic healthcare advice to patients. In a floating hospital ship relying on professional volunteers, every second counts to bring hope and healing to the West African nations, therefore it was quickly recognised that health education was a valuable need. So the Health Education Program, designed for patients was created as an Off Ship Program co-ordinated by Becca Taylor.

The aim of the program is to take a preventative approach to sickness by understanding hygiene, nutrition as well as diagnosing and treating common ailments and diseases.  Typically, the range of topics includes hygiene, nutrition, causes / treatment of diarrhoea, basic first aid, malaria prevention and common diseases such as measles.

In light of the minimal and often desperately poor medical facilities available in Sierra Leone, this basic health education offers a lifeline especially for the little children whose chances of survival are currently one in five.

The hospitality unit at The Hope Centre providing pre and post-patient care is the chosen location for the training. At The Hope Centre, the patients are often not immediately aware of the importance of the training. This is likely to be contributed to the relaxed safe environment resembling a home. They usually attend motivated by curiosity or the strength of their relationship with the Trainer. It is therefore the training format which is critical to keep them engaged and focused.  

For instance, in one training session, the use of the shower rooms demonstrated how to use the water to wash their bodies and clothes as well as advice about hygienic toilet training for the small children. This training was presented in the shower facility; aided by pictures on the wall and fun props such as a brightly coloured shower cap (an item not widely available locally).

All the training consists of basic information relayed through informal presentations, demonstrations and activities. It is the practical element that is critical for their involvement as this will teach them skills to implement at home. The first consideration is to bring fun and laughter in an interactive approach with the patients so they will be motivated to listen and learn to the simple clear messages provided by the Trainer.

In the session covering cleaning hands, the concept of germs and transferring germs through dirty hands needed to be communicated.  The method chosen was presenting clear colourful images on card supported by another presenter with hands dipped in flour touching objects and shaking the patients’ hands. This two-fold approach was chosen to communicate the concept of transferring germs.  The doughy white powdered handprints were a visual illustration of transferring germs if people forget to wash their hands.  Creative visual demonstrations are an effective tool to communicate concepts as many of the patients have little or no experience of structured learning.

The presentation closed with a demonstration of the hand actions required to wash all the germs away accompanied by a hearty rendition of the renowned “Tenki Papa God” (Thanks you Father God) song.  Bringing music into the sessions brings the patients together as a community as well as foot-tapping and clapping to the harmonised melodies lifting their hearts and minds.

 

Then the fun escalated as the practical activity began. The patients were required to wet their hands, plunge their hands into a large bowl of flour before touring the garden to leave white handprints on coloured paper on various items. After the tour they queued at the garden tap to give their hands a good scrub with soap to remove the half dried sticky flour mixture singing a 20 second verse of the Tenki Papa God  song.

This activity closed with a group photo of arm waving, laughing patients.

 This was a success in the positive communication and interactions between the patients which will aid their memories to remember the often valuable messages in the training. If the patients learn the health knowledge and practical application to take home then they can prevent or minimise sickness and contribute towards saving lives of their loved ones.



Getting their hands dirty! Some of the training team joined in the washing hands activity (from the left, Photographer,Debra Bell, and Translator, Bassey Akpan)



Petals of Opportunity: Chapter One

She is a beautiful girl with a tranquil nature. Her quietness has a delicacy of an exquisite flower. It is rare to find such beauty and elegance in a young girl. She is Musa Sharif.

Her endearing humble spirit and genuine modesty are qualities distinctly prevalent on first impression.   It is easy to conclude these qualities have been cultivated from a sheltered life surrounded by love. This is only true in her distant past. Her fairy-tale childhood was shattered.  She now lives a daily nightmare in a disturbing reality.  

Upon her arrival at the ship Musa was vulnerable and terrified

Musa is an outcast. Every day she struggles with social exclusion defined in the endless bouts of bullying and provocation. These desperate circumstances were generated from an innocent accident in her early infant years.

Since birth, her home has been in Kotobo, a large town, in the outskirts of Bo, Sierra Leone.  There she lives with her mother, four brothers and four sisters. Prior to the accident she already endured a tragic loss when her father died. This left her mother to solely provide for the whole family. Fortunately for Musa, from an early age, she had formed close bonds with her brothers and sisters who protected her until the disastrous event occurred.

This happened on a typical day. Her mother, with the older siblings, applied themselves to their daily chores as usual.  It was clear and bright so Musa and her brother wandered into the bush. As they played in the searing heat of the day a stick suddenly fell from a tree.  Her brother said “it came out from nowhere and hit her eye.”  It had struck Musa directly in her left eye. 

The inevitable happened. Her eye became acutely inflamed and sore. They had no money to visit a clinic to seek medical advice. It was a pressing challenge just to provide a daily meal for the family.

With poor nutrition and polluted water the severity of the wound escalated over time. A swelling developed behind her eye which steadily grew over time pushing her eyeball out of its socket.  It was this protruding eye that caused distress and grief leading her into an isolated existence.

Musa is now eight years old. She has never been to school nor been educated. She has no friends. Yet in her desolate life there is a faint hope that the future may change. It is this hope that feeds her inner strength. The evidence of this is apparent in the early morning when she sings traditional African songs to life her heart whilst everyone is asleep. 

Then one day she was taken by her family to stay with one of her brothers who had moved to Freetown. Her brother was studying at College. He took Musa to be screened at Mercy Ships.  She was admitted as a patient on board the Africa Mercy.

She was now no longer just isolated but alone and terrified of the alien surroundings. For the first few days she sat silently in her hospital bed with her eyes cast downwards and never uttering a single sound.

Over the next few weeks Mercy Ships crew embraced her with loving kindness. Even her brother joined in to gently and affectionately nurse her broken soul.  However, her surgery was delayed because the cat-scan machine had broken.  The scan was required to provide the details for the surgery.

Despite this Musa started to emerge from her silence. Firstly she raised her head high enough to glance around the ward. The Mercy Ships crew encouraged her curiosity and looked into her eyes when chatting to her. She was startled and bewildered.  It had been so long since anyone had accepted her and talked directly to her.  She started to murmur single replies.

Over time the crew discovered she had a life dream to go to school. So they provided colourful crayons, took her hand in theirs and wrote her name. Her capacity for learning is phenomenal. After only the first time she copied her name with no assistance.

This was the moment there was a breakthrough. A radiant smile lit up her face. In her shyness she kept glancing down but unable to contain her joy she repeatedly looked up beaming to the whole ward. This is when she realised her faint intangible hope to be healed was actually happening.



During her stay on the ship Musa emerged from her silent cocoon and

achieved one of her dreams; to write her own name. Her smile was priceless.



Then the idyllic bubble burst. It was taking some time to mend the cat-scan machine so Musa was sent home with her brother to wait. Her dream world had ended. Distraught and quivering with fear Musa left the ship unknowing what the future held for her. Would she return to be healed?

Mamadu Madieu Jalloh

Wide eyed little Mamadu only knew a life of fear. Apart from his close family, his only friend was a toy motor car.  He would play with this toy for endless hours every day. It took him into his own make believe world where no-one called him unforgiving names or kicked dust in his face.  At the tender age of fifteen months his future looked bleak.

Mariama, his mother, had met her husband in a village and soon they settled and had their first son. Initially it was a contented family with his father fortunate to have a relatively stable job as a butcher whilst his mother was a housewife looking after the baby.  Their second son Mamadu was born but his birth would change their comfortable happy routines into a daily struggle.

Born with a cleft lip he had been rejected by society.  They were not kind to physical imperfections especially a facial disorder that was impossible to hide. His safety could easily be jeopardised by a few distracted moments so his mother watched over him at all times.



Mamadu’s life had been traumatized

by fear and sadness before he arrived

at Mercy Ships for cleft lip treatment.



One day, they received news that could change the course of Mamadu’s future forever.  An uncle told Mariama about a children’s clinic in Aberdeen, Freetown. It was a long journey taking several days but Mariama seized the opportunity and took Mamadu to the clinic. The doctor examined Mamadu before relaying disappointing news that they were unable to treat the condition.

Mariama tried to conceal her sadness as her world began to crumble. She knew this had been Mamadu’s only hope to receive treatment. However, the doctor then smiled and handed her a leaflet telling her that Mercy Ships can heal this condition and the ship had arrived in Freetown.

Mamadu was accepted for treatment at the Mercy Ships screening day. Within a few weeks Mamadu received treatment from the world class medical teams aboard the Africa Mercy. This ship is unique in that all the crew are professional volunteers from around the globe taking part in the Mercy Ships West African mission to walk in the footsteps of Jesus to heal the forgotten poor.



After surgery, Mamadu was reflective and quiet as the

 smile began to form with each day of healing.



Mamadu’s Muslim family discovered a greater depth of happiness during Mamadu’s treatment by Mercy Ships than they had ever experienced before.   When it was time to go home Mariama said she can now plan to send Mamadu to school so that he will one day become a doctor.  As they left the Outpatients room a beaming Mariama said “I am very happy. There no longer daily stress. I am so thankful to Mercy Ships for what they have done.”



The once fearful little boy was happy and relaxed when he prepared to return home with a beautiful smile.



Dancing into friendships

Alone. Her parents abandoned her as a tiny fragile baby. A child with bow legs was feared as being cursed by evil spirits. So, she had barely lived in the world for a month when they considered raising this child too great a burden. They fled in the night leaving her on a doorstep. Simply a doorstep.  A new little life, neglected; waiting for the terrors of the night to devour her.

Yet, in this heart-breaking event, there were angels to guard and protect her. There was a plan for this beautiful life. The next morning her Grandmotherhad become aware of the horrors of that night and hurried to her rescue. Shewas saved. Mariama Feika’s life was beginning.



Raising a granddaughter in Africa presented severe hardships.

Yet, this courageous lady confronted each challenge with admirable strength striving to give her a bright future.  Mariama needed this strong belief in her future to survive. There were mounting daily frustrations. It was becoming an exhausting struggle for her Grandmother to work so hard, good nutrition was difficult to find for merely a few pennies, and the torments towards Mariama’s physical condition continued to escalate.

However, as she grew into a little girl, Mariama fought for the flicker of hope her Grandmother believed in.  Her feisty nature emerged which has given her the determination to survive the traumas she has suffered. Despite the daily battles, a strong bond grew uniting them.

This is evident when her Grandmother fondly remembers the times she held little Mariama’s hand so she could stroll to the mosque with Mariama skipping beside her. Then came a time when she chose to send her to a Christian school which offered the best education. This was a grave sacrifice. She graciously opened the door for Mariama to enter into another religion “…in support of the best learning opportunities for her future”, she smiles reminiscently.

At four years old Mariama embraced Christianity with her heart. Her daily strife was relieved in joyous bursts of gospel songs and flamboyant African dance. Where some children would have retreated this little girl had solid determination supported by a walk of faith. She believed whole-heartedly that God would heal her legs. It was just a small matter of timing.



Mariama and her Grandmother’s
close bond was displayed during
their stay on the Africa Mercy.



Then one day her Grandmother heard a radio jingle announcing Mercy Ships had arrived in Sierra Leone. At the screening Mariama received an overwhelming offer for treatment. There had never been such a whirl of excitement in their simple home as they prepared for the trip.

A few days later they boarded the ship. Her Grandmother was suddenly wrapped in anguish. Mariama felt a wave of vulnerability wash over her for the first time in her young life.  “It’s just a matter of walking through the storm” her Grandmother recalls.   However, there was no storm awaiting instead, they were greeted by a room of smiling nurses who immediately swept them into their reassuring compassionate world.

Mariama made an immediate impression. With her burgundy twisted hair in a pineapple ponytail she was known to mischievously peep out from behind the hospital beds. For the first time her charismatic spark disguised her determined fiery attitude.

Mariama’s mischievous ways return after the heavy casts are removed from her legs

Her world was a wonderful place before the surgery. Nobody tormented her. She was free to revel in this new happiness.

After the surgery the pain set in. Every day became tougher as the pain increased. Her legs were encased in thick casts restricting every movement. Her Grandmother feared she would never walk again which cast a new shadow of sadness on their existing troubles back at home. Mariama fought this as she knew how. She was consumed by anger hitting out at all those caring for her.

The kindness and compassion surrounding her continued. As the pain subsided, her anger dissipated.  Below her feisty persona there was an abundance of love ready to shine when her life’s troubles were momentarily forgotten. 

Surrounded by caring compassion Mariama discovers
happiness aboard the hospital ship

 As this love stirred up inside her heart she began to sing her favourite gospel songs. With great delight the ward joyfully joined in. The music flowed through her like water and then the beats began to catch her heart and her body erupted into rhythmic African moves.  In these moments her heavily cast legs were no longer a burden.

 

Mariama receives a wonderful surprise
gift of new shoes for school

It encouraged her to practise walking. Soon the casts were removed and she was preparing to return home. Then sadness cast over them once more. As Mariama’s health had been restored her feet had grown. She had no shoes. Without shoes she was unable to go to school. On the last night before she went home she received a surprise gift.  A crew member touched by her gospel faith had observed this potential trouble and bought her new pink sandals for school.

Mariama was elated! Her anger was long forgotten and she was ready to tackle the world with love. She had brought new happiness to her Grandmother who smiled “Praise God!”

Mariama’s smile ready to light up the world before returning home