Life beyond the bite
Yusif was only five years old when he was bitten by a snake. See how your gift brings healing.
One day after school, Yusif sat down to rest. He watched his friends play football in the sunshine.
Ouch! Yusif felt a stabbing pain on his hand. Quick as a flash, he saw a snake slither down a hole in the ground. He saw red marks where the fangs had pierced his skin.
The pain was instant. In seconds, the pain grew more intense, spreading from his hand up to his elbow. Soon, his whole arm was bruised and blistered.
His mum, Mariama, was called straight away. She ran to the field, seeing her son in agony.
As soon as she could, Mariama brought him to a traditional healer in their village.
Yusif was given some crushed herbs to swallow. His mum prayed it would make his body fight the venom – but nothing helped.
This was an emergency – Yusif needed to be rushed to hospital. But for this boy in a remote village in Sierra Leone, there was no ambulance. He suffered without medical care.
Yusif’s arm began to toughen and peel. The venom was killing his skin.
Eventually, Mariama saved enough money to take Yusif to hospital. The doctors looked at his arm, so bent and blistered, and said they must amputate. Mariama refused to accept this would be her son’s fate. She hoped and prayed there would be another answer.
Many years later, 11-year-old Yusif still suffered from the bite every day. Without medical treatment, his wounds had fused his arm and hand tightly together, making them useless. And the dying skin on his arm left a bad odour.
“Yusif felt ashamed and became very shy,” Mariama told us. “He would hide his arm inside his shirt all the time, so it started to bend that way.”
With all her strength, Mariama hoped that her son would find healing.
Safe at last
After years of searching, Yusif’s family heard that Mercy Ships was coming to Sierra Leone. At last, he could have expert care – for free.
Dr Tertius Venter, one of our volunteer surgeons, operated on Yusif on board the Global Mercy. As he cared for Yusif’s wounds, the surgeon could see how deeply he was scarred.
Dr Venter explained: “With early treatment, the dead tissue can be removed, then antibiotics can treat infection and save the limb. But because Yusif didn’t have access to proper treatment, his whole arm became severely deformed.”
“We always call these severe contractures a disease of poverty. Because it is poverty that causes people to not have access to the timely, effective surgery that they need.”
This is why your support matters so much.
Thanks to gifts like yours, Yusif received expert surgery on our floating hospital. He could at last let go of all that hurt and pain.
“I feel good now,” says Yusif. “I was not able to do anything before with my hand, but now I can do everything. I can help my mum, I can play football, and I can go to school without feeling ashamed.”
Without you, Yusif may never have had the surgery he so desperately needed. Every bandage, every dressing, every dose of medicine he was given on our hospital ship was funded by caring friends like you.
Will you help a child recover from the scariest moment of their life?
Right now, there’s another brave child like Yusif who need your help.
- Your £20 can buy sterile bandages to help a patient heal.
- Your gift of £40 can help provide surgery that will change a child’s life forever.
- A generous gift of £90 can help fund surgery and physical therapy, so a child like Yusif can reach their full potential.