Aliou was just 3 years old when his blanket caught fire while he was sitting by the fire in Senegal. The burns were severe, and his father thought the boy would not survive.
His grandmother Bintou would not accept that. She was determined that Aliou would live, and he did. But as the burns healed, his arm contracted until it was immobile. It hurt, he could not write, and the only option was surgery that the family could not afford. For Bintou, there was one non-negotiable priority: that her grandson go to school and have a bright future.
One day, while listening to the radio, she learned that the hospital ship Africa Mercy was arriving at the port of Dakar to offer free surgeries. She made the four-hour trip to the ship with Aliou. There, he underwent surgery to straighten his arm and then received therapy to regain movement before returning home.
Bintou summed it up this way: “Mercy Ships opened the big door to Aliou’s future”. According to what she told the organization, today he lives like a normal child and will start school soon.