Sira was 4 years old when her legs started curving outward. Walking and standing became increasingly difficult for her.
Her parents, Ibrahima and Binti, small-scale farmers in Senegal who also ran a shop, tried everything. Local doctors suspected malnutrition but couldn’t help her. When the bills became impossible to pay, they stopped seeking help. Ibrahima summed it up this way: “When God is ready, He will heal her”. At school, her classmates laughed at her, and the girl became shy when people started staring at her.
Nearly two years later, a neighbor gave Ibrahima the proof he needed: his son had undergone surgery aboard the Africa Mercy, a hospital ship offering free surgery. “Your son was completely healed!”, he said. Sira was assessed and selected. She boarded the ship holding her grandmother Fanseyni’s hand and made the nurses laugh by blowing bubbles from her bed.
On the day she returned home, neighbors gathered to see her now-straight legs. Today, according to Mercy Ships, Sira can run, play, and go to school.
