The Faces of Love

What does love look like?

Sacrifice.

Trust.

Hope.

Giving.

Here's a glimpse of what love looks like every day here.

Dr. Gary, who performed the facial surgery on Joseph when he was a baby.  Born with a cleft lip, several years later he greeted the Africa Mercy with the flag of his home country, Sierra Leone, with a beautiful smile.

Joan greets the first patients that arrived from "up country" in Sierra Leone.  These patients she helped to screen during her (hot, long, challenging, difficult) time with the Advance Team prior to the ship's arrival.

Richard holds this patient's hand as he completes the admissions process, after arriving in this very foreign and weird hospital that will be come home for the next several weeks.

Anna makes checking in a fun time for this nervous little one.

Deb uses some down time during her shift as Ward Nurse to play with patients and siblings.

Students at the Agricultural Project learn new techniques that can transform their crop yield for the future.

Ursula brings a smile to her patient's face.

Tricia works long days to keep all 400+ of us fed well.

Ibrahim listens compassionately to a dental patient's story

 

Gini pre-screens a little boy waiting in line for the semi-weekly dental screenings held at the Hope Center.

Charles, Chris and Mark work in the hot African sun putting up the dockside tent so our patients and day volunteers have a shaded facility to rest in.

Oretha and Albert bake and bake and bake their hearts out - croissants, rolls, loaves of fresh bread, and more.

Eye screening continues every Monday at the Kissy Eye Clinic.  There are often 1000 waiting in line to be seen each week.

Jeff keeps our galley stocked with fresh fruits, vegetables, grains and fish, like this barracuda.

Jessica, our Registered Dietician, works with baby Barbara and her mom on a diet plan to get her up to weight so she can have her cleft surgery.

An engineer works in the hot doldrums of this ship performing checks on our generators so we don't lose power.

Mekenzie loves on a patient who is staying at the Hope Center between surgery and follow-up treatment.

Barry and Cheryl extend their arms of grace to this patient and her mom at the Hope Center.

Stefan continues work on the electrical needs of the Hope Center, Eye building, and the many other projects that are needed to be up and running.

 

Melissa and Jess pray for baby Barbara and her mother as part of their Infant Feeding Program day.

Speech Therapist, Sally, enjoys a moment of snuggle from this precious patient.

Jana and Anna, physios, help this little guy through the hard work of therapy after surgery.

Dan's two-month old patient after surgery.  It's moments like these that make it all worthwhile.