Mercy Ships in Sierra Leone
More Than 30 Years of Hope and Healing
Since 1992, patients, healthcare professionals and partners across Sierra Leone have shared a journey with Mercy Ships. Across generations and different hospital ships, that partnership has brought access to specialized surgery while strengthening expertise that can continue reaching patients into the future.
Impact in Sierra Leone
Behind Every Number Is a Story
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44,980+ medical beneficiaries
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19,890+ life-changing surgical procedures
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73,600+ dental procedures
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16,170+ mediprofessionals trained in their area of expertise
Behind the Impact Are People
Every number represents a person, a family and a future that can look different.
From Fear to a Future Full of Possibility: Meet Umu
Born in Sierra Leone with a tumour growing from the side of her face and neck, three-year-old Umu carried a burden that grew as she did. Her family searched for help, but the specialized surgery she needed was beyond their reach, and as the tumour grew closer to her airway, so did their fear for her future. When the Global Mercy™ arrived in Sierra Leone, Umu was able to receive free surgery to remove the tumour. Today, she can eat, drink, play and grow without its weight, and her family can look ahead differently. Her aunt dreams that one day Umu might even become a nurse and help other children.
From Patient to Future Nurse: Meet Hawa
As a young girl in Sierra Leone, Hawa was living with a fast-growing tumour in her mouth that made eating increasingly difficult and threatened her ability to breathe. In 2005, she stepped aboard the Anastasis, where surgery removed the tumour and gave her the chance to move forward with her life. But her journey with Mercy Ships did not end there. Inspired by the care she received, and by her father's encouragement to one day help others, Hawa began pursuing a future in nursing. Nearly two decades later, she walked up the gangway of the Global Mercy™ in Freetown, no longer as a patient in need of surgery, but as an aspiring nurse with a dream of caring for others
The ship may leave, but the legacy remains.
A Partnership Through the Years
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1992–1993
Anastasis™ Mercy Ships first arrives in Freetown, beginning a partnership that would span generations.
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2001–2002
Anastasis™ Mercy Ships returns to Sierra Leone with surgical care and other health services.
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2002–2003
Anastasis™ The partnership continues with another field service.
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2003–2004
Anastasis™ A further field service builds on the relationship established more than a decade earlier.
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2011
Africa Mercy® The Africa Mercy® serves in Freetown, bringing free specialized surgery and healthcare training.
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2023–2024
Global Mercy™ The Global Mercy™ begins its first Sierra Leone field service and Mercy Ships' sixth visit to the country.
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2024–2025
Global Mercy™ At the invitation of President Julius Maada Bio, the ship returns for a second consecutive field service.
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2025–2026
Global Mercy™ A third consecutive field service becomes Mercy Ships' eighth visit and its longest continuous period of service in Sierra Leone. The Global Mercy™ completes its service in June 2026.
What Continues After the Ship Sails?
The Ship Has Left. The Learning Continues.
When the Global Mercy™ completed three years of service in Sierra Leone in June 2026, healthcare professionals carried strengthened skills and experience back into hospitals across the country.
At Connaught Hospital in Freetown, nurses who participated in mentorship are already applying what they learned with patients and sharing it with colleagues. Graduates of the Nurse Anesthesia Diploma Program are working in government hospitals, while healthcare professionals who once participated in training are now teaching and mentoring others.
The ship can sail. Expertise can keep travelling from person to person.
Help the Impact Continue
Behind every surgery, every healthcare professional trained and every life changed are people who choose to make it possible. Your support can help bring life-changing surgical care to more patients and strengthen healthcare expertise for the future.
