Hyacinthe is a mischievous ten year old boy who uses a small crutch to play soccer and climb trees. As a baby he was severely injured when he crawled over a pile of hot ash covered with leaves. This resulted in a burn contracture where skin grew over both the upper and lower limb and fused his leg into a folded position.
His injury was too severe and expensive to be treated in Benin, where he lives in a poor community. After his injury, his mother sent him to live with an uncle in a distant village, where he couldn't see his parents for years. Despite the injury, Hyacinthe was not a stereotypical disabled child, but a boy determined to overcome the school bullies with his fiery and confident personality.
Hyacinthe heard of a ship docked at the port of Benin, offering free specialized surgery to the poor. He was among the thousands of Beninese who queued to be screened by doctors who had to make the difficult decision of who to help, and who to leave. But Hyacinthe was one of the lucky patients.
His story, along with those of 11 year old Fadila, a Muslim girl from Niger, and Ambroise, a 31 year old motorcycle taxi driver from the chaotic city of Cotonou, is told in an upcoming documentary by South African filmmaker Ryley Grunenwald. "The Dawn of a New Day" tells the true story of these patients as they are treated for burn contractures, tumors and congenital abnormalities of the nose and eyelid, and the story of the South African plastic surgeon Dr. Tertius Venter who volunteers on the Africa Mercy ship and helps to put them on the road to physical as well as emotional recovery.
The Africa Mercy is part of the non-denominational global Christian non-profit organization Mercy Ships, and operates on the West Coast of Africa. The ship has docked at countries like Senegal, Gambia, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, Togo, Benin and Sierra Leone for nine or ten months at a time and gives free specialized surgery to as many patients as they can accommodate. These surgeries include reconstructive, ophthalmic, dental, obstetric fistula and orthopaedic surgery. According to Mercy Ships Public Relations Liaison, Kathy Gohmert, they impacted over 300 000 people during their field service in Benin, performing more than 100 000 procedures on 67 000 direct beneficiaries.
The crew of 450 volunteers from 40 nations, like Dr. Tertius Venter, pay their own way to work on the ship as medical professionals, or even as cleaners. Dr. Venter works in Dublin, Ireland as a plastic surgeon for two months every year to support his family in South Africa and his volunteer work during the rest of the year.
Film maker Ryley Grunenwald arrived on the Africa Mercy when it was docked in Liberia in 2008 to work as a cleaner. This came at a time when she wanted a break from the film industry. Instead, she ended up working in the ship's communications department and eventually made a short film that inspired the full length documentary. Grunenwald says she was moved to tell the story of the work done by volunteers on the ship and the enormous impact it made on the lives of the patients, so she returned to the ship for four and a half months while it was docked at Benin to film the full length documentary. Her impression of Benin was of a country alive with possibilities. "It's so full of life. The people were incredibly friendly and warm, the food was fantastic, and there seemed to be a lot of construction going on, with more infrastructure than some neighboring countries."
Despite this sense of possibility, she says a huge part of the population live in poverty with no access to healthcare. A child born with a cleft lip in a developed country would probably have surgery at birth, while in Benin you would find a 15 year old girl with this condition that had never been treated. This is confirmed by a special report on Benin's progress towards the Millennium Development Goals compiled by the Beninese Government and the United Nations, which states that important progress has been made, especially with regard to primary education in the country with an increase of more than 100% in 2009. According to the United Nations Development Program, there are also favorable trends with regards to lowering the infant mortality rate and increasing access to drinking water. However, major challenges remain, with 51.6% of the population still living below the threshold of one dollar per day.
To make a lasting impact beyond surgery, the Africa Mercy focuses not only on medical health care when they are docked at a country, but also on building capacity to support the broad field of health care.
"Education and training for health care professionals increases the sustainability and delivery of service long after the ship sails to the next port," says Gohmert. "For example, in 2008, surgeons at the Porto Novo Hospital and the University Hospital in Benin performed only 320 cataract surgeries. In 2009, Mercy Ships trained five local surgeons in an effective, low-cost method of cataract removal. As a result of that training, surgeons at the two hospitals performed 159 surgeries in only four weeks. Costs were lowered, and if the surgeons continue at this rate, the two hospitals combined will now perform 2 000 surgeries a year. This equates to a 525% increase in the capacity of these hospitals."
The Africa Mercy also partners with local organizations and NGOs on projects including administrative training for local hospital staff, training agricultural workers in natural organic farming, holding conferences for local church leaders; and training corrections officers and other prison workers in mental health awareness and anger or stress management. Grunenwald says she was inspired to make the film because she wanted viewers to be moved by the patients' story and realize that, even in their own communities, there were opportunities to get involved and live a life bigger than themselves. She received funding for the documentary from the South African National Film and Video Foundation and the Gauteng Film Commission, and says she received a lot of support from the Mercy Ships organization, even allowing her to film in the operating rooms to tell the story of the patients' journey to recovery.
Grunenwald explains that the documentary follows the three patients from when they are chosen for plastic surgery, and documents themes of restoration, love, sacrifice and not only physical healing, but also the emotional healing that comes through the process of surgery. While the challenges facing Africa may seem daunting, especially in the area of healthcare, "The Dawn of a New Day" is testament to the fact that a commitment to bringing healing channeled by passionate people from across the world can make a difference in the life's of thousands like Hyacinthe, Fadila and Ambroise.
By Linda Krige
