Food For Life

 

For many of our patients, access to good nutrition can be the difference between a life of health or one of struggle. For 9-year-old Sema, a lack of nutritional food contributed to the curving of his legs as he grew, leaving the young boy struggling to run and walk.

This orthopedic condition, commonly called "bowed legs," often begins at a young age due to malnutrition. In Sema's case, it started when he was just a toddler. Sema was raised by his grandmother, Aminata, who had difficulty providing for the 10 people living in her home, so even the thought of paying for medical care for Sema was out of the question.   "I didn't even want to take him to the doctor to get looked at — I knew they would only tell me a price that was too big," she said. "There was no way we could pay anything. It made me so sad. When you have children and grandchildren, you would do anything for them… but I couldn't do a thing for him; I had to put my heart to God."

God answered Aminata's patient prayers in the form of a hospital ship visiting with volunteer crew from around the world. Sema came onboard the Africa Mercy for surgery, which straightened his legs and helped them heal through regular post-op care and physical therapy sessions. While Sema was able to find healing through surgery, many other children his age struggle with conditions caused by malnutrition. As a result, our mission of bringing hope and healing reaches far outside the operating room.   The foundation of good health is good nutrition, so we provide a training course entirely focused on this premise. Our Food for Life course participants discover which crops to plant and best tending practices. They also learn how to produce, process, market, and sell their crops. The result? A sustainable approach to agriculture that has the potential to transform the health of individuals as well as communities.

But the impact of the course doesn't end when class lets out. By the end of the program, participants have also learned how to train others with their skills. Food for Life graduates are given the resources and tools to go back into their communities and create a ripple effect of transformation as they share their knowledge with other aspiring farmers. This train-the-trainer approach is key to strengthening our sustainable health systems model.​