For Adama, who lives with her family in eastern Sierra Leone, an education is one of the most important things her children can pursue.
So when she felt the school in their community couldn’t provide the quality education she wanted for her daughter, Jaminatu, she arranged for her to live with an aunt in a nearby village.
“My hope was that she would be able to go to school there,” Adama explained.
Unfortunately, an unexpected accident derailed Adama’s dreams and Jaminatu’s future.
When Jaminatu was 11 years old, she was waiting for some water to boil when she started to doze off. She awoke to overwhelming pain all over her body.
Her parents took her to the local hospital, but there they were told the burns were too severe to treat.
The hospital gave them a referral to another facility, but the cost of treatment was too high for them to afford. Instead, they turned to a blend of traditional remedies and the limited medicine they could find.
Help other children
The local treatment lasted a month but left the young girl with visible scars all over her body. Eventually, a contracture began forming, a condition where burn scars tighten the skin, often freezing limbs in awkward positions. For Jaminatu, the contracture limited the use of her left arm.
“I want to go to school, but I am unable,” she shared. “I want to help with laundry and hanging clothes, but I can’t. I can’t bathe myself without assistance. I wasn’t able to play with other kids… Seeing other children do things that I am unable to do breaks my heart.”
Dr. Tertius Venter, who has worked with Mercy Ships for many years, has seen injuries like Jaminatu’s before. As he explains, “We don’t see these types of consequences of burn injuries in [western countries]. What is often a more superficial burn gets infected and, as time goes on, [worsens]…”
Over time, the shame she felt about her condition led Jaminatu to withdraw from others, fearful of what they might think of her.
“She couldn’t socialize much for fear of mockery. She stayed home most of the time,” Adama said. “Those challenges made her cry a lot.”
One day, Jaminatu’s grandfather heard on the radio that a hospital ship nearby was filled with doctors treating children and adults with conditions like his beloved granddaughter’s. Even better, it had come to their country!
Thankfully, her struggle began to lighten when she received an operation aboard the Global Mercy. After only three hours of surgery, Jaminatu was on her way to healing, and Adama’s dreams for her daughter were renewed!
“My hope for Jaminatu is for her to go back to school, get educated, and become a nurse,” she told us.
It took many months of rehabilitation following the surgery, but Jaminatu stayed resilient, practicing the exercises with determination. Her personality shined through, sparking joy in the hearts of the volunteer crew.
“She’s a very sweet girl. She loves to give hugs and loves to smile,” volunteer ward nurse, Savannah Barth, shared. “She’s very determined.”
Eventually, all of Jaminatu’s hard work paid off, and she was ready to return home, healed at last. Adama called her husband, who then passed on the good news to the rest of the family, who then passed it on to their entire community. As a result, Jaminatu and her mother arrived to welcoming shouts of joy — an entire celebration filled with dancing and singing.
“I am now able to wash and hang clothes, to bathe myself, and to go to school,” Jaminatu shared. “I am so happy!”
Today, Jaminatu can reach her potential, her mobility restored and her future full of possibility.