It was a normal afternoon for 42-year-old Leon as he caught a lift on the back of a friend’s motorcycle. Racing through frenzied traffic, the driver swerved to avoid oncoming vehicles as they made their way across the city. Suddenly, they lost control and Leon was thrown from … Read More
Tresor is a ten-year-old boy with an explosive laugh. He’s a cheeky prankster with a competitive spirit, and he’s completely unafraid to speak his mind. He’s the kind of child you’d call unstoppable. But Tresor’s childhood took an unexpected turn when he was just three years old — … Read More
When an orthopaedic surgeon experienced in extreme conditions says he’s shocked by a patient’s condition, you know the surgery’s going to be a challenge. ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ someone asked 12-year-old Ulrich. ‘I want to be tall like my friends,’ he answered with … Read More
Yaya’s nine-year-old daughter, Moonira, can’t remember seeing her mother without the massive tumour that had stretched across her face for eight years. Yaya, now 27 years old, initially noticed something starting to grow on her jaw. The once-small tumour continued to grow aggressively until Yaya had difficulty eating … Read More
Hannah Peters’ huge heart took her to Benin, Madagascar and Cameroon caring for people with devastating conditions. She shares the remarkable transformation that occurs on the inside and outside of her patients, and Marthe in particular. Read Hannah’s story in That’s Life magazine here
High up Mt Manengouba in Cameroon, through rocky terrain and lush foliage, lies the beautiful village of Bororos. The journey to Bororos consists of a steep, uphill horse ride surrounded by craggy rocks with only wildlife for company. But two little girls, sisters Salamatou and Mariama, had never … Read More
Victoria never lost hope. Not after her parents died when she was a girl, not after she was forced to start begging in the streets, and not even when she began developing a massive facial tumour when she was only 18 years old. Now, the resilient 23-year-old sat … Read More
When Kaltoumi first arrived on the Africa Mercy, she likely had three months, or less, to live. The massive facial tumour she’d carried for over five years threatened to starve or slowly suffocate her. An early death was inevitable for the 12-year-old if there was no immediate medical intervention, … Read More
The first time 14-year-old Julienne was called a “witch,” she was too young to grasp what the word meant. But she wasn’t too young to feel the sting of her own relatives’ rejection and to know that her condition made her different … an outcast. Julienne was just … Read More
These days, Pirongia-born nurse Melanie Allen begins each shift with a two-minute walk to work – down several flights of stairs and into the hospital deck of the world’s largest civilian hospital ship, Africa Mercy. In February Melanie joined the volunteer crew of the 16,000 tonne Mercy Ships … Read More
