David Musa and Team share the good news with child welfare organizations, residential homes and orphanages in Kenema, Sierra Leone on a better way of supporting children in Sierra Leone.

It is my goal to see the Bishop’s dream take shape. My hope that every time I return to Mercy, I will see a Hospital that has grown and shifted shape once more. The mission of Helping Children Worldwide is to strengthen and empower families and communities. Investing in Mercy Hospital is one way we strengthen and empower a community to serve impoverished families and improve the odds in maternal/infant mortality cases in that community. We are focused on the impact Mercy can have on children’s lives by being the hub that supports the work in the rural communities where the need is overwhelming.

​It’s difficult for people in the developed world to understand the depth of daily challenges that medical personnel face in majority world nations. In places where doctors and nurses are struggling to provide quality care with low or no resources, something as simple as a wall, a walkway, a paved courtyard can improve patient care immensely. I would love to see Mercy implement some of the modern technology that is available to our medical providers, and be able to provide their staff with the training necessary to be able to apply it. They are certainly dedicated and skilled enough to grasp the concepts and try to implement them. But no matter how dedicated or professional the staff, without water, electricity, security and paved floors, the environment will work against their efforts. But I can see that changing bit-by-bit.

Generous donations from five churches, one University and several individuals, have raised the level of care that is possible at Mercy Hospital time and time again. Just recently, Church of the Resurrection, Kansas, Floris UMC, Virginia, and Church of the Lakes, Ohio, have contributed generously to provide security fencing around the perimeter of the hospital, furnishings (including a well and water tower to provide water) for a new building to house medical personnel on the campus, paving the center courtyard, and built roofed walkways to link buildings. The campus was  previously open to foot traffic from the public coming from three directions to the school and to the shops beyond the campus, as if the center courtyard of the hospital were a city street.  Medical officers were forced to live at a substantial distance, and spotty cell service and electricity made it difficult to reach them in emergencies. The building was incomplete, as the funder had failed to include money to hook up electricity, to install a water well and tower, or to furnish the apartments, and the building lacked security. Increased batteries also added to the solar grid installed two years ago. 

Even members on the March team from Church of the Lakes, who spent two weeks cataloging and inventorying the equipment needs at Mercy for future fundraising and support efforts, will be astonished when they return again, as the face of Mercy changes, and the empty places that Bishop Yambasu pointed to begin to fill with the promise of his dreams.