An Early Happy Mother's Day . . .

When Confort heard the screams of her baby daughter, Gamai, a regular morning turned into a mother's nightmare. Gamai had knocked over a pot of boiling water, leading to excruciating burns across her upper body.   After a trip to the local hospital, Confort realized she could not afford any medical care beyond some ointment to treat her baby's pain.   Over the next few years, Confort watched as the complications of her daughter's burns led to contracted skin, restricting the mobility of her hands and arms. To protect her, Confort decided to keep Gamai sheltered from the outside world.   "I became very sad and angry that this was the way my daughter was going to grow up — hidden from the world," she said.

But Confort wouldn't let this be the ending of Gamai's story. When she heard the news that a Mercy Ship was coming to Guinea to provide life-changing surgery, she brought Gamai, now 4 years old, to claim her chance at a different future.   Months later, Gamai's hands and arms were free to move — and she was free to live her life outside of closed doors, without fear or pain. Her mother celebrated, saying, "I am filled with happiness that being hidden will not be Gamai's future."

Francoise lived an experience no mother should have to endure. She watched as her newborn baby, Paul Pascal, inched closer to the brink of death every day. Born with a cleft lip and palate, Paul struggled to drink milk and dropped to a dangerously low weight.   "We were so scared … we thought he would die," said Francoise. She stayed up with her newborn night after night, rocking him as he cried, desperately trying to feed him, fighting for him to survive.    When the Africa Mercy arrived in Cameroon, Francoise rushed her baby to the ship, searching for help. Baby Paul was so malnourished from his inability to eat that he was unable to receive surgery immediately. Instead, volunteers enrolled him in the Mercy Ships Infant Feeding Program which helped him gain weight.

Francoise’s fear turned to joy as her baby blossomed in front of her, his cheeks slowly filling out and his hair growing thick and healthy until he was strong enough to receive cleft lip and palate surgery.   When it came time for the ship to leave Cameroon, Francoise was celebrating a milestone she never thought she would see, her baby's first birthday.   "The Lord has changed the life of Paul and given him a new one," she shared.

Aicha was just a few months old when her mother, Fatmata, noticed the telltale signs that something was wrong with her baby's vision. By the time she started to crawl, visible cataracts had begun to show in Aicha's eyes.   For Fatmata, the grief of having a blind daughter was paired with the helplessness of being unable to afford surgery to help her. She worked in the market every day with Aicha cradled on her back, overhearing people call her daughter a witch.    Even though Fatmata was afraid of letting strangers near Aicha, she decided that her hope of healing was stronger than her fear of the unknown. She decided to bring Aicha to a Mercy Ships eye screening, where she was approved for surgery.

After Aicha's surgery, this mother's fear was replaced by complete joy as Aicha began to smile and walk around, looking up at her mother for the first time.    "She was like a new person. She was dancing and laughing," Fatmata shared. "She was sick and now she is healed. I have no words to express how happy I am."