Five-year-old Fandresena can’t stop smiling – in spite of the severe burns to his face and hand. In fact, his hand is so badly burned that he’s unable to write. So he struggles at school.

An orphanage in Xi’an, China, asked a nonprofit called Children’s House International for help. Together, they provided a one-week camp for 17 children who were hard to place in families. Some were boys, and many families prefer girls. And some of the kids were older.

Georgette came to our hospital ship in Madagascar with two medical problems – a childbirth injury called VVF and a severely infected foot. Volunteer surgeon Dr. Sherriff describes her treatment.

Sierra and Dustin Yoder’s unborn son had a rare condition. His brain was growing outside of his skull. Doctors encouraged them to consider abortion. But they couldn’t do it.

Beth Herndon, a nurse and a former Mercy Ships staff member, came upon an accident on Interstate 20.

Duda had lived with the challenges of club feet for many years. You can imagine her dismay when her grandson Alex was born with the same deformity! She sadly watched the little boy struggle for the first four years of his life.

Anja Loven found a little two-year-old boy wandering the streets of Nigeria. He was starving and riddled with worms. His family threw him out because he was born with a congenital birth defect.

Alicia Kramer, a Mercy Ships staff member, wrote a blog about an unexpected blessing she received at an airport.

Madagascar has a population of 24 million and limited healthcare. And it’s even more difficult in remote villages. The only way to reach many villages is by air.

Dr. Sherriff from Australia was asked to speak at a community meeting onboard our hospital ship in Madagascar – which we fondly called Mada. He learned something in the process.