God is faithful

Just to update 1 out of the 3 patients I asked for prayer for earlier in the week went back to theatre and has healed since Monday! The other 2 were able to be transferred to the local hospital under the care of 2 maxillo facial surgeons who worked alongside our own Dr Parker here on board. Please continue to pray for them and their healing and thank God for working out all of the logistics and pratical arrangements through our hard working staff here.

Abra

Abra’s Joy

Abra sits quietly as she remembers the journey of her life. For 24 years, she has known suffering and great emotional pain. One day and one event changed the course of her life for over two decades.
On that day, many years ago, Abra went into labor. It was her fifth child, and she had managed all of her previous labors by herself at home. But this time was different. After struggling with the pain and pressure, she was taken to the hospital for a caesarian section. “There was no hope,” Abra remembers sadly. “Even the doctor lost hope.” The struggle was devastating. The baby died, and Abra remained in a coma for five days.
When she awoke, she learned that her husband had decided to leave her. Then, a few days later, she realized she was incontinent. The condition that Abra suffered from is known as VVF (vesicovaginal fistula). It is an injury caused by obstructed labor, and it results in a continual leakage of urine, feces, or both. Unfortunately, it is a condition that is much too common in developing countries, where women have little access to medical care.
The condition exacts a terrible emotional toll, as well. Abra was ostracized by her family, friends, and community. “Everybody in our area knows about my sickness,” Abra says quietly with downcast eyes. “All of them know.”
Over the years, people often mistreated Abra. They made signs and yelled insults at her. When she stood up, they often checked her clothes to see if they were wet. For a few years, she was able to stay with some relatives. However, when they died, she was on her own in the bush, secluded from the world. She was isolated from every kind of help and support – physical, mental, and emotional.
Abra says she only got through this time with God’s help. “In those times of challenges and pain, I did weep most of the time. I didn’t have anybody to come to my rescue. I spent most of my time in my hidden place, where I wept.” She struggled with depression that made it difficult for her to eat, and she longed for the day her suffering would come to an end. “So the only option is to wait for God’s time when I will join him after death, and it will be the end of everything. This was all I could tell myself before the ship came,” she says sadly.
Then, in 2010, Mercy Ships sailed into the port of Lomé, Togo. The arrival of the hospital ship brought hope for Abra – something she had not felt for a long time. Soon she was received a free successful surgery. After spending a few weeks in the ship’s hospital, Abra was able to go home.
She felt like a new woman, but her joy was short-lived. Tragically, a few weeks later, Abra was the victim of a brutal rape that ruined the surgical repair. She was back in the same nightmare she had experienced for two decades. “When my sickness came back, I was confused and lost,” Abra explains. Sadly, the ship had already left, and she had nowhere to turn.
Abra took refuge with her brother, who required her to be the housekeeper for the entire family. The work was very difficult for her. When she was unable to complete all the tasks, she was driven out of the home. She was only allowed to re-enter the house at certain hours to sleep. She had to awake every morning at 4:00 to leave the house and had to wait until late in the evening to return. She was not allowed to use the kitchen or even take a cup to drink from. She could not share in any of the food. Her brother’s family wanted to make sure she suffered because they were uncomfortable with her sickness.
Abra struggles to hold back tears as she recalls those days. “My brother did not agree with me. According to him, I’m telling a lie – I am not sick because I didn’t lose weight.” She quietly says a prayer and pauses before continuing, “My brother mistreated me. He mistreated me to the point that I got seriously sick.” The pain of her brother’s rebukes and abuse almost destroyed Abra’s spirit.
Finally, she found reprieve with her aunt. “She told me I smelled like a dead corpse before joining her. But the hands of God are upon me. Today I am here. I am still alive today,” she says.
Less than a year later, Abra’s daughter contacted her, telling her the wonderful news that Mercy Ships had returned! “For me, Mercy Ships has been sent from God to me, and I know that the ship is here to heal, I was hopeful. I didn’t know other people, too, have this sickness, I thought I was alone. But now, I know that I’m not the only one. I’m confident, and God is with me.”
Now, Abra has healed from her second surgery with Mercy Ships. She is living with her daughter and has been accepted back into the family. “I feel better now. No, rather, great! And I thank the Lord for the life of the medical team. May the Lord bless them, strengthen them, and give them long life. They will be blessed. God will reward them for ever and ever.”
Abra’s face radiates with happiness as she adds simply, “I have joy in me!”

Abra and her daughter

Story and photos from Mercy Ships' Marketing Team

Prayer needed please!

With 2 official days until the hospital closes I need to ask for prayer for 3 of our patients who have had massive operations and eventful, slow and complicated post operative recoveries.

Each morning this week on the ward rounds we have seen small improvements but humanly speaking I know we are all still worried about plans for their follow up care and healing after we are no longer able to care for them. It has become apparent that the logistical plans are difficult with trying to find an appropriate place for them to stay in Lome so a German physician, who moved here a number of years ago with her husband to run the 'Seamans Mission' opposite the port and who has been involved with serving on board over the past 4 months, has offered to run a free outpatient service for those who still need it from her home.

We are also experiencing problems in trying to provide the needed nursing and medical care for them as the services we have been providing on ship are simply not available, or are at too high a price when we leave.We have got some contacts in maxillo facial surgeons who are Togolese nationals and with whom we have been working so please pray for them as they seek to take control of these patients when we have left.

We also found out this morning that some of the patients from the northern parts do not know how to get home as they were driven here and had never previously left their villages or communities; this is posing a different kind of conundrum as we attempt to find links to navigate rural Togo!

The patients in need of particular prayer are little Maurice (below)

 Esther (in the middle of the picture)

Chara

Please pray for their healing and that God would have his hand over them as they leave here and that their fears and worries would be stilled. Thank God that he is sovereign and praise to Him who is able to do abundantly more than we could ever hope or imagine (Ephesians 3 v 20-22)

Thank you all, really appreciate your prayers

Afi

The story of one of our patients who had surgery to release burn contractures during the time when we were doing plastics. She is an amazing woman and spent a couple of months on the ward. She was always very joyful, praising God despite the hardships she had faced and encouraging other patients alongside her. She also attempted to teach me some of the local Ewe language; I think we got as far as 'oh foin' ('how are you')...I'm just a bad pupil!

Afi’s Release from Her Shackles

“Every moment of my life is difficult to survive. I struggle greatly, and I struggle alone,” Afi says with tear-filled eyes that testify to the pain she has suffered for the last four years. As she speaks of the suffering she has endured, she takes a rag to wipe the tears streaming down her scarred face and recounts her story with courage and grace.
Afi suffers from a disorder called epilepsy. She can suddenly have seizures that force her body into debilitating tremors. One day in 2008, Afi was cooking over a fire with her one-month-old son strapped to her back. Suddenly, she felt ill and thought she needed to sit down. Before she had time to react, her body went into a seizure, forcing her to fall face-first into the fire. She lay there in the fire, seizing helplessly. Luckily, her infant son was not harmed, but the damage to Afi was brutal. She suffered severe burns on her face, neck, hands, and legs.
Afi tried to go to a hospital to get medical help, but the hospital turned her away because she had no one to take care of her son. As her wounds began to heal, her skin started to contract, pulling her face down and her shoulder upwards. The injuries became her shackles over the next four years. Afi’s husband left her because he could not stand to look at her. Riddled with guilt, he ended up committing suicide, leaving Afi to be the sole parent to their three children.
People believed that Afi’s deformity was the result of a curse. She was no longer able to sell fruit in the market because people were too afraid of her. She was forced into a life of isolation, with only her children to help her. The village would no longer allow Afi to walk through the center, touch anything, or be near anybody. When children caught a glimpse of Afi's face, they ran away in fear. She had to hide in her home. If she wanted to go anywhere, she had to sneak around the outskirts of town.
Recently, she went to the hospital again, desperately seeking help. Catching a glimpse of a TV, she heard that Mercy Ships was coming to Togo, West Africa. Afi wrote down the dates. Leaving her children with her father-in-law, Afi tried to get to the port. Relentlessly, she made three trips to the port gates, each time being turned away by the local security. Finally, she was allowed through and examined by Mercy Ships crew.
It was a wonderful day when she was given her appointment card. “I know now that things are going to be better. I can tell my life will move in that direction,” Afi says as she spends her days on her hospital bed onboard the Africa Mercy. Afi’s surgery will release the contracted skin, allowing her neck and shoulder to move again. Her eyelids and lips will be released and repaired. She will receive function and movement again – release from the shackles, the injuries that have held her captive.
She has already had a taste of how much better her life will be. Mercy Ships crew are not afraid of her, and they look her in the eyes. This is the start of a new life, with new hope and a new future. She smiles through her tears saying, “Thank you for everything, and thank you to everybody. I now see a new life coming my way. I pray God will help me each step of the way.”

Afi, prior to her sugery

Afi, after giving her testimony at one of the ward services

Story and photos by the Mercy Ships Marketing Team

Just some pictures to sum up more of life both on and off ship..

My workplace for part of the day..the admissions tent where we see the patients who are being medically screened for the next day's operations.

Little Sammy, one of the patient's brothers who was full of energy all the time on the ward.

Papakey and Toyi with their new noses, smiles and friendship

 Alex, post op playing with the other children on the ward when the maxillo facial ward turned into paediatric land!

Chara, a beautiful little girl who was operated on when we had the cranio facial surgery team here from Germany. She had been born with Crouzon syndrome. This meant that her skull bones had fused too early not allowing normal development of her skull or her brain. Without intervention she would have developed seizures and her life expectancy would have been shortened. She underwent the first of a number of operations where her skull was reshaped and moved forwards to allow her brain room to develop normally. She had an eventful post operative recovery so please pray for her continued improvement especially as we are facing the last week of the wards being open.

Chara with her Mum and the staff on D ward. She is always willing to give anyone a wave and smile; such a joyful little girl!

D ward with all the cleft lip patients post op including whisker style bandages!

Esther pre op, a teenage girl who has suffered with this massive facial tumour for many years. At the time of surgery it was close to causing her problems with her airway.

Esther post op with her nurses

My workplace and home for the past 5 months

Once every 6 weeks there was a community gathering on the dock after work with all of the crew and day workers to share a meal together and then to have a time of worship

Playing on the wards!

The beds on the wards; the caregivers sleep under the beds, can make for some interesting ward rounds especially as we can end up treating both!

Alex and his Mum

One of our cleft lip babies post op playing on Deck 7

Maurice following his operation to remove an encephalocele.

Lulu post face painting!

Fabrics at the market



Local sweet grapefruit drink



Grande Marche

Batik at the Artisan Market

The significance of a dress

Another type of surgery, which began in April, through our 5 month service here was that of gynaecological repairs, following obstructed labour. Vesico-vaginal fistulas are holes or tears, which occur following prolonged labour, which in the Western world would normally progress to an intervention before the baby or mother is put at risk. However, without proper obstetric care the pressure of the baby's head onto the surrounding tissues causes them to become necrotic and die, causing holes to develop between the bladder, vagina, rectum and other tissues. This leaves them leaking stool or urine constantly and outcast from communities and families. Many husbands will leave them and they are left to suffer alone. One woman on the ward this year told the nurses that she was made to live in a hut by herself and if she tried to go to the village well to get water people would throw rocks and sticks at her as they were afraid that she would pass the condition to them.

They would come to be admitted with their heads hanging in shame and would become very upset when they leaked but also came with an air of resignation as this had been something that they had been putting up with for so many years. You would see the transformation take place on the wards where often for the first time they were shown love, care and the fact that they mattered despite what they had been defined by for so long.

Many of the women in the photos below have been on waiting lists for fistula repair since the ship was last here in 2010 and the difference the operation makes to their lives is just impossible to explain. For some of them the incontinence has been there for over 10 years and has wrecked the normal life they knew before. Following their operations they are given a new dress and a service to praise and thank God for all his work in their lives. Some of the women are just so inspiring in their faith in God despite their past sufferings and even when the operations fail to have the so wanted impact they praise and trust in Him who holds all and who is faithful even when we may not understand.

There was one lady, Fati, who touched me the most as she had had recurrent and complicated operations to repair fistulae years after the initial delivery. Unfortunately she had a very eventful post op recovery and even with repeated attempts we failed to make her dry. Despite this, one day when I was examining her wound which had become infected, she lifted her hands and was full of joy praising and thanking God for bringing her here and looking after her. As the field service draws to a close she is still here as is not quite fit for discharge and we hope to be able to pass her care onto a nearby mission hospital. Pray that though we haven't been able to help her physically God would continue to strengthen and keep her, giving her perseverance and joy in Him who never leaves or forsakes us.


Some links to articles explaining more about the impact of VVFs on women in developing countries and the work of the Hamlins in Adis Ababa, Ethiopia.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/january/17.48.html

http://blog.christianitytoday.com/women/2011/03/mother_teresa_of_our_age_talks.html

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/january/18.53.html



A good book to read is Hospital by the river, describing the work of the Hamlins in Ethiopia.

A film which details more of these women and their suffering is A Walk to Beautiful, which also shows the Fistula Hospital and follows a number of women from their struggles from their home villages to their operations.

The work amongst these women reminded me of the story of Jesus healing the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years (Luke 8 v43 - 48). Praise to God who sees the suffering of these women over all the years and has compassion upon them. Many of those who came to us were from the North of Togo, where the majority are Muslim, so pray for our women to go back home having seen and heard, maybe for the first time, more of Jesus. May they declare of his power and compassion to those villages and communities they live amongst.

Dress ceremonies with the patient life team

Fati and Molly

Grace

I just wanted to share about a little baby with a cleft lip and palate who had been seen by those in the infant feeding programme (this serves to bring those babies who are underweight and malnourished up to weight in order for them to be able to have their operations).

Her name is Grace. She was born to parents who are missionaries in Benin and is 10 weeks old. She weighs 3kg and has not put on weight since her birth despite her parents feeding her as much as her tiny body will allow; a few drops every half and hour. I was called to see her by the dietician who was concerned that she was looking much worse. Most of the tiny volume of formula that they have been able to get down her seems to be going into her lungs. Add to this her cleft lip, palate and the congenital malformation of her jaw and the work of her breathing is maximised and laboured. When I saw her she looked very distressed and sick and I knew I was faced with the difficult decision of what we could do.

Ultimately we are not a medical facility; we are a surgical ship, which is able to do a limited number of specialised operations. This may seem like a hard and callous boundary to draw but I have learnt over the time being here it is an important distinction to make. Ultimately our patients generally tend to be medically healthy and the bed a medical patient takes up is one which could potentially block another of the countless patients we have turning up to the dock every day. Also, as we have a limited period of time being in a country, this is something which has to seriously be taken into account. These are questions which are almost impossible to ask and even more difficult to answer. Who are we to be choosing? Struggling with these kind of quesitons over the weeks I have learnt the only thing we can do is to bring this all under the will of God and attempt to discern the answers in some way, trusting in his sovereignty and direction.

After many discussions with the chief medical officer, anaesthetists, hospital managers and other people we came to the decision that we had to do something to help to get her over her acute illness, if possible. A feeding tube was placed and she was started on antibiotics to help with her chest infection. We also saw God's amazing hand of provision and grace as the staff working both on the day shift and night were intensive care paediatric nurses, completely at ease and very excited about a familiar kind of patient for them!

Unfortunately after a seemingly promising first day she took a turn for the worse. Her breathing became more laboured and she began to no longer tolerate the feeds. We did a chest X-ray, which showed that her heart was massively enlarged. We do not have the technology here to further diagnose or clarify but this showed us that she would not be able to tolerate an operation, even if we could get her to the weight needed. Add to this the likelihood that her heart will continue to fail without a massive surgical intervention and it was down to us to tell the parents that her condition was incurable and without a miracle would cause her life to be shortened.

Her parents are missionaries in Benin and have been working there for the past 8 years, ministering to the voodoo villages and strongholds in the south of the country. They have another 3 girls; 10, 8 and 5 years old; Testimony, Favour and Miracle. The mother had been through so much over the months prior to Grace being admitted with us; she had just lost her mother, had been admitted herself to an ITU being critically ill with complications from diabetes and had been struggling with Grace's birth and coping with the subsequent 10 weeks.

We were waiting for the father to arrive from Benin, where he was with his other children, before telling them the news. We had called them to come as soon as they could as we didn't know whether or not she would survive the night with her oxygen saturations being so low.

I was paged later on that evening to say he had arrived. He had been found at the port gate, exhausted and hungry. They had spent the last of their money searching desperately for a cure for Grace. They had been promised that through various investigations something could be done, but they had just given all of their money away. He had set off from Contonou, Benin that morning but as he had run out of money had had to run between the taxis he could afford.

Speaking to him that evening was so difficult; he kept on clutching at any hope we would give him. This involved questions about taking Grace to the West and when I said that a baby as broken as Grace may not survive in a western hospital he suggested the option of taking her to a pastor in Nigeria to have her prayed over. Trying to put it as directly as I could that she may not survive the journey to either of us these places, let alone even last the night. He said simply that we would have to trust God for the miracle and that whatever his will was was the right plan.

This simple, child like faith that God could and may fulfill his promises challenged me. Am I being too worldly and medically focused? If it was possible is this not a miracle? Am I limiting God to my own thoughts?

Please be praying for them all as a family, as they go through these deep waters. That they would know God's presence and comfort and would be able to say as with Job 'The Lord gives and takes away, may the name of the Lord be praised'.

Joy and sorrow

The past week has been difficult, filled with a mixture of sadness and joy at God's gracious hand in the midst of seemingly impossible sitatuations and sorrow.

We had been trying to get Chantal into a more appropriate place for her to spend her last few days and had arranged for the Missionaries of Charity to visit to decide whether or not they felt able to take her.

Missionaries of Charity are a Catholic hospice/medical charity founded by Mother Theresa in 1950 to provide free care for those who are suffering and at the end of life. Many people here have been reading the book 'Finding Calcutta: what Mother Theresa taught me about meaningful work and service'. This describes the experiences of a woman who went to live with the sisters in Calcutta and from the little excerpts I have read, it is one of those books where every other sentence makes you stop in your tracks and consider your own heart and attitude towards God and the poor.

It is evident from the numerous references in the bible that God's heart is for the poor and the downtrodden; those society ostracises.

Two particular passages in scripture challenging me with regard to my heart for the poor, especially when considering medical mission and mercy ships before I came this year.

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loosen the cords of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter - when you see the naked, to clothe him, and to not turn away from your own flesh and blood?


Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.


Isaiah 58: 6-8


³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
   ³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
   ³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Matthew 25 v 31-40

Gathering around Chantal's bed on Thursday morning, after a particularly painful and fatiguing dressing change we all were attempting to make the seemingly impossible decision of whether or not we should attempt to transfer her home to die, as this had been her wish before she became too unwell. However it was easy to argue both sides as we did not know if she would be more comfortable with the care given on board or if she would even make the journey 2 hours home. Praying for wisdom at 11am that morning, we prayed that God would give us clarity regarding the best decision for her so we would know before her uncle came the next day.

That afternoon the team of amazing nurses caring for her came up with an idea to allow Chantal to see the sea and feel fresh air, for the first time in a number of months. A side entrance was opened and her bed was wheeled close to the water where she could look out to sea. She sat there for about an hour with Clementine, head of the patient life team and the nurses singing and talking about Jesus. Clementine later revealed that during this time Chantal had been struggling with pain at one point and had cried out 'Who would save her?' She later replied 'Jesus is here. He is sitting beside me'. What a blessed time and one all who saw and experienced will treasure forever.

Later on that evening, while the monthly gathering for sharing food and worship with all the crew and day workers was happening, I received the news that Chantal had just passed away.One of the day workers had been with her and while she breathed her last Chantal had told her that 'Jesus is here'.

Praise God that his plan for her life was far greater and of more eternal significance than any of us could have ever imagined. His wisdom and ways, as always, are above ours and since 2006 he had been using Mercy Ships to pursue her with the word of God and by his Spirit to bring her to himself, both here on earth for a short time and also now eternally in Heaven.

Everyone on board, whether working in the hospital or not, was touched by Chantal and the story of God's grace and salvation through her. Her illness and death also served to remind that this life is not what we are living for; too often I know I can get taken up in this world but we are merely passing through. Her testimony gave us a small glimpse of eternity.

The reading in Spurgeon's Morning and Evening the following day;

Hebrews 2 v 14 'That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death'


O child of God, death hath lost its sting, because the devil's power over it is destroyed.


The distance between glorified spirits in heaven and militant spirits on earth seems great, but it is not so. We are not far from home - a moment will bring us there. The sail is spread, the soul is launched upon the deep.


When the eyes close on earth they open in heaven. Then, O child of God, what is there for thee to fear in death, seeing that through the death of thy Lord its curse and sting are destroyed? And now it is but a Jacob's ladder whose foot is in the dark grave, but its top reaches to glory everlasting.



Chantal with one of my friends and nurses; Steph

Chantal

Have been meaning to write this one for a while now but everytime I have thought of how to put it all into words have struggled. I don't fully understand God's plan for her or why everything which has happened over the time we have been here has come into pass. I do know however that we trust a God who holds everything in his hands and who has ways that are far above ours, achieving an eternal purpose.

Chantal...there's so much to say, she was one of our burn contracture patients who came to us in Togo 2010 for surgery. We operated, releasing the contracture which held our right arm flexed into her body. She met us at screening this time, with her right arm and shoulder covered in a blanket and a stench coming from the wound which had broken down shortly after we had left. Over the past 2 and a half months we have treated her with many courses of antibiotics, daily dressing changes and physiotherapy, tube feeding and she has returned to theatre multiple times, in an attempt to cover the gaping wound with skin grafts and flaps to allow healing.

She has had so many ups and downs throughout her stay with us and at many points we could see no way forward but God provided. We found out that she was HIV positive and that threw up many problems as we cannot provide free anti retovirals for patients. Within a few weeks her Uncle was bringing a montly supply of tablets and a local HIV doctor was involved within her care.

However, as if often the case, God has reminded me through her that his ways are far above ours and his plans are eternity focused. Man looks on the outside but God looks upon the heart. Though when we first admitted her my plan was to allow her to walk from here back to her 4 year old daughter and family in Ghana fully healed, I have been struggling to come to terms with the fact that this may not be God's will for her. She came to us, not knowing Jesus, in fact where she had been staying with her uncle is a voodo stronghold in Togo. A few weeks ago we found out that she prayed with a day worker, asking Jesus to be her Lord and Saviour!

Last weekend things with her took a turn for the worse and we found she was not responding to the last antibiotics her infection had been shown to be sensitive to. She subsequently has developed a pneumonia and the difficult decision was made to shift direction with her care and to palliate symptoms.

I have been struggling with questioning God over what has happened with her but was reminded by someone here that what better outcome could she have had spiritually; her eternal destiny has been changed! May God give us his love as we seek to care for her and may he give her a peace that surpasses all understanding and a real knowledge of his tangible presence with her. May we all know that we serve a God who is sovereign, loving and ever merciful and may her testimony continue to witness to him and his glory.

Post op

Have been realising that though I've been telling many stories of the patients coming to us and the planned operations, I have been failing to show God's grace and goodness in the outcomes and results we've seen.

So often it is too easy to focus on the massive need here and concentrate on those we cannot help, yet forget how God is working not only through those who have had successful operations but also in the many other ways I see everyday but too readily overlook.

Edem and his Mum

We went to a church service at the Hope Centre a few sundays ago. This is the centre in Lome itself where we send patients who are recuperating from their operations and still needing some kind of input regarding dressings, nutrition or simply needing somewhere to stay because their homes are too far. It has a brilliant patient life team, similar to the one who works in the hospital,  who work to show God's love in looking after the patients in all ways. They have services every evening and on sundays and we joined in for one of these. Was great to see Edem and his mum again, especially as she gave her testimony as to how God had brought them to the ship. The mass on Edem's face had been growing for many years and she had sought medical attention at some of the hospitals near to them in Ghana. However after giving all the money she had available they told her there was nothing they could do. Her husband subsequently kicked her out of the family home and she sought refuge with her parents, all the time still desperately praying for a solution. She heard of Mercy Ships and our visit to Togo through some other friends and arrived with Edem on our screening day. She spoke of God's goodness and mercy to them and just spoke of giving him all the praise for the immense change he had brought about in giving Edem back his childhood.

Lulu post op

Lulu was a little girl who suffered burns to both her feet and came to us to have the scar tissue, which had formed following this, released. She had poor mobility before but is now able to walk around and has some very special bright pink shoes which she loves!

Togan came to us after receiving radiotherapy treatment to a lesion on his jaw, which resulted in destruction of his mandible. His surgery and post operative recovery were difficult, leaving him needing to be on a feeding tube for a month following it. At times the skin around the wound looked so fragile and friable we didn't know if it would heal and slow granulation took place a millimetre at a time. Many people were praying for his healing and after just over a month on the ward we were able to let him go home. It really was our pleasure to have him as a patient for such a prolonged time as he was so inspiring with his faith and joy as at all times, whether things were going badly or not, he would be reading his Bible and would always greet you with a smile and greeting! He also became the comedian and father of the ward, looking after all those who came and went.

Tani

Sibi had a cleft lip repair and here she is with her Mum following the operation.

Papakey and Toyi both proudly stand showing their new noses!

Psalm 115 'Not to us, LORD, not to us, but to your name be all the glory'

A verse I know I've shared before but one I just feel sums up all our work here, without God who cares so intimately about each of our patients and their stories and who has brought them to us and will continue to look after them in the palm of his hand, we would have nothing.