Share Gamai’s story
Gamai was just a baby when an accident left her badly burned. Thanks to Mercy Ships supporters she had her future restored. This is her story.
For Confort, a mum in Guinea, it was a morning like any other.
She placed a pot of water on the fire to cook her daughter’s breakfast. She turned away for just a second. One-year-old Gamai toddled over and fell, pouring the boiling hot water all over herself.
You can only imagine Confort’s heartbreak at that moment, as her daughter screamed in pain.
She recalls, “I fell to the floor, clutching my baby.”
Her parents rushed Gamai to hospital, but they were only given ointment for her burns. Little Gamai had no emergency care. No painkillers. Nothing.
Her wounds deepened and, over the next few months, Confort watched as her precious girl’s hands and arms became seared tightly together.
Without treatment, Gamai’s burns held her back for three years. She couldn’t wash herself or stretch out her arms. She could only hold on tight to her teddy bear. And as she grew up, she became more aware of how people saw her.
“If we went out and she was mocked, she would become shy and cry. I became very sad and angry that this was the way my daughter was going to grow up – hidden from the world.”
When Gamai was four, her family heard Mercy Ships was coming to Guinea.
“I had faith that her hands would be healed. Thankfully, God heard our prayers and sent a ship to help us.”
Confort and Gamai made the journey to the Africa Mercy hospital ship. Confort found strength in talking to mothers of children who had survived similar burns. The love she felt on the ship helped her to start healing.
“The nurses were so nice to me. It changed a lot in my life.”
Thanks to you, Gamai had reconstructive plastic surgery to heal her arms and hands. Day after day, she bravely built up her strength.
Being on the hospital ship soon felt like a big adventure. She stood on deck, looking out on the open ocean. As she raced down on toy cars on deck, laughing and playing with the kind nurses, she beamed with joy. She felt free.
Now at home, Gamai can play, write and dance. And for the first time in her life, she can reach out her arms to hug her parents. You’d never guess this bright, happy girl has been through so much.
With pride and joy in his eyes, her father told us, “Today, she is so active because she can move like she couldn’t before. She tells me that she wants to become someone important someday. I dream that she becomes president!”
Your love heals children like Gamai. The love she and her mother received from Mercy Ships volunteers changed their lives.
But it was three long years before Gamai had the promise of free surgery. She should never have had to wait so long.
More children like Gamai suffer from burns in sub-Saharan Africa than anywhere else in the world. You can help save lives.
With our new floating hospital, the Global Mercy, we can reach double the number of patients we could before. So families like Gamai’s won’t have to wait so long for help.
Give a gift today to transform more lives like Gamai’s.