Teamwork in Jesus’ Name – Mercy Ships & MAF
Little Rosella couldn’t eat, talk or smile like any other girl because she had a cleft lip, but the partnership between MAF and Mercy Ships would prove life changing for this little girl and her family.
Story by Jan Bernard van den Bosch
Country Director MAF Madagascar
I remember meeting the director of the Mercy Ships advance team in September 2014. I was informed that due to the Ebola virus in West-Africa, the African Mercy, a big hospital ship offering free surgeries, planned to come to Madagascar instead. And that’s how the partnership began.
The Ship has a full hospital on board and apart from performing free surgeries, they share their expertise by providing training to local hospitals and health centres.
Prior to the vessel arriving, an Advance Team conducts security assessments and prepares the work in the new country. When the ship has arrived, they organise screenings for prospective patients in a few cities to see who qualifies for a surgery on the ship.
Madagascar is the world’s fourth biggest island. The roads are in bad condition and during the rainy season many of the roads are not usable. Traveling within Madagascar is measured in the number of days, not hours.
Apart from the capital Antananarivo, with a population of 2 million, the population is well spread over the entire island. So to not only reach the communities in the outer regions for screening, but also transporting patients to and from the ship would have been near impossible without the partnership between MAF and Mercy Ships.
A collaborative effort between more than just MAF and Mercy Ships
Bekodoka is a village, which under good circumstances is around 6 days of travelling away from the city of Mahajanga, which is the closest city in which Mercy Ships conducted the screenings. As such it was decided to conduct an extra screening in Bekodoka and we were able to fly a Mercy Ships screening team there. It was great teamwork: Philadelphie organised the screening, Mercy Ships provided the screening, MAF flew the screening teams from the capital to Bekodoka, and Helimission flew an evangelistic team to the surrounding villages to bring the Gospel.
It has been a lot of work to realise this dream, but it was worth it! The screening team came back to the ship with three patients in the Cessna Caravan and the operations were a success! The team brought back patients suffering from a hernia and a Vesicovaginal fistula as well as a beautiful little girl who really touched everyone’s hearts.
Changing one girl’s life
Little Rosella couldn’t eat, talk or smile like any other girl because she had a cleft lip. When the Mercy Ships screening team examined her, this little girl made them realise how great the need is in Madagascar. Whilst MAF took little Rosella to Mercy Ships, the overwhelming reality that many people in Madagascar do not have access to medical care created a feeling of desperation among the helpers.
After the surgery on the ship, Rosella and her mother were brought back home to Bekodoka. Our pilot Rebecca Dillingham was able to fly them back, and holding little Rosella on his lap throughout the flight was Ruben Plomp, part of the screening tea. Ruben was deeply moved by Rosella’s story and described what he saw when the MAF plane landed in Bekodoka again: “After two months of not being in contact with anyone from home, Rosella and her mother step off the plane to the sight of her father waiting on the dusty airstrip. He had spent his morning making the long, five-hour walk from their home, and we now witness him being rewarded with what his heart has yearned for so long – seeing his little girl’s lips restored.”[1]
The need continues
Whilst the feeling of helplessness continues to haunt many of the helpers here in Madagascar, we also have to concentrate on God’s love for people like Jean, Salanto, Rosella and many other patients who were helped because of this teamwork in Jesus’ name. Their stories moved us deeply and we hope that we can continue to help patients like little Rosella in future.
[1] Ruben & Mirjam Plomp Blog