When I worked with the Patient ife Program, Tamba was one of my day volunteers who worked with me. He is an incredible young man and was given a great blessing...
Finda Nyandemoh is a nurse trainer in Freetown, Sierra Leone. She suffered a ruptured appendix at the government hospital and spent four hours in the operating theater. “I thought I would die that day,” she said. Following two months in recovery, Finda was discharged. But she never completely recovered. She continued to have swelling and pain, but the doctor kept delaying a second surgery for her
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While helping a patient with an ear infection, she discovered a Mercy Ships pamphlet, and decided to seek relief from the volunteer surgeons on the Africa Mercy. While recovering in the ward, she received an unexpected visitor.
Tamba Sandi is a day-worker onboard the hospital ship. One afternoon, he went to the ward to speak to a co-worker. He felt drawn to a bed on the far end of the ward. The name over the bed looked familiar. He struck up a conversation with the patient and discovered she was his aunt, his mother’s sister. They had lost contact during the civil war. “When the war came, everybody left,” said Finda. She had not seen her nephew in fifteen years.
The two were elated to have found each other. “I don’t know what drew me to that bed,” said Tamba. “But I thank God for Mercy Ships that brought us together.”
Story by Elaine B. Winn
Edited by Nancy Predaina
Photo by John Rolland
Wow...
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