This post is reblogged from "Through a Porthole" . . .
Our precious, vulnerable patients are arriving from all corners of
this undulating island* seeking help for conditions sometimes shocking
in their appearance. Their courageous journeys to find Mercy Ships are
often epic and heart-rending. Here are just two:
Patient screening is taking place in 12 far-flung locations around Madagascar. Pic: Mirjam Plomb
Tiahana’s family is typical of many rural Malagasy – they farm in a
remote area and live on less than NZ$1.25 a day for all their needs. At
church they heard Mercy Ships is providing free surgeries to help
people like 23 year-old Tiahana. Her mouth is being melted away by the
flesh-eating disease noma, and she could only manage half a sweet smile
with what remained. In desperation, the family sold one of their
precious zebu (cattle) to fund the arduous 1000 km (600 mile) trip for
Tiahana and a family friend to get to the coast and find the Mercy Ship.
For days they braved hot, crowded mini-buses and the
humiliating stares of strangers.
On Tuesday she shyly pulled her brilliant green scarf a little
tighter over half her face, and firmly squeezed my hand as she shared
her story (through a translator.) I was totally blown away at the sheer
human COST of her hope for healing.
Yesterday I met Viviabet. A couple of days ago she brought tiny
Hiango to a Mercy Ships’ selection day for potential patients in her
mountainous rural region. At six months , Hiango measured less than a
baby’s normal birth-weight. Her bi-lateral cleft-lip and palate had
stolen her ability to breastfeed. The tiny girl’s situation was so dire
that the nurses asked Viviabet to come back to the ship with them on a
flight scheduled for the next day.
Viviabet had walked for a few days from her even-more remote village
with her mother-in-law and her three other children to get to the
small-town screening location. Then she undertook the heart-rending,
desperate choice to leave her other children, to go with foreign people
she had never met before, to trust us to bring her fragile daughter back
from the brink of death, to fly on a plane for the first time – without
being able to send word back to her village. It was a life and death
choice to go, or to stay. The bravery of her decision to trust us
absolutely humbles me!
*Madagascar is an island nation the length of New Zealand, but twice
the land-mass. 90% of the 23 million Malagasy live in extreme poverty,
80% in subsistence farming.
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