10 September 2012

Screening Day ~ Mercy Ships in Guinea-Conakry!

Excellent to read Murray Tristan Crawford's recent post about the Mercy Ships medical aid organization's Screening Day in their new service location, Conakry port in Guinea, West Africa. He writes...
"This important event is when we look for potential patients for our surgical slots throughout the next ten months. Screening day is advertised through radio, partner NGOs, churches, and other media. It usually attracts many people, numbering in the thousands. [...] My role on Monday was primarily crowd management, and we encountered much desperation as people tried to crowd their way to the front of the queue -- especially outside the gate on the road. But despite having to tell people to move or to stop pushing, I was struck that all of this apparent desperation is fueled by genuine need and poverty -- and also a very real hope. A hope that finally they will find acceptance and love and lasting healing. I saw many people with facial tumours, cleft lips, burn contractures, the flesh-eating disease Noma, and many others. I saw not only desperation, but also the hope in their faces. And it made my heart swell, for this is why we are here."
Epic!

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