Put to the test

Under the shade of a group of Queneen trees sits a pristine elementary school near the rural Togo-Benin border. Thirteen-year-old Sassou walks out of his classroom surrounded by 20 chatty classmates. He breathes a deep sigh of relief. His exam is finally over, and hopefully he has passed the 5th grade.

Sassou’s father, Efoe, is there to greet him. It is time to return to the ship for a post-operative check up. Though he is tired from 4 hours of writing, Sassou looks at his father with his one good eye and a glimmer of excitement. “To the ship?” Sassou asks. “Yes, let’s go to the ship,” his father responds.
When Sassou was born he had a small pimple on the inside of his eye. His father took him one hospital, which referred him to another hospital, and yet another. None of the doctors could do anything to help. Efoe kept spending money, but sadly saw no results. Eventually, he gave up.
By the time Sassou was 10-years-old the problem area had spread to his eye lid and began to push his eye to one side. It was difficult for him to see the chalkboard at school and his classmates would always ask him why he looked that way. Usually, Sassou would just look down and walk away. The answer was he did not know why he looked different than everyone else.
One day, Sassou’s teacher told his father there was a ship coming to Lomé that offers free surgery.
“You should go and take Sassou to the ship,” said the teacher, “And see if they can help him.” Sure enough, the doctors at the Mercy Ships screening were able to help Sassou, and scheduled him for surgery a few months later.
Before they departed their village, Agokpame, to go to Lomé for surgery, Sassou expressed that he was worried he might not be able to take his test at the end of the school year. His father told him they could work it out, but truthfully, he didn’t know what would happen on the ship, so it was hard to say.
The day after arrival on the ship Sassou went into surgery. Afterwards, the doctor explained to Efoe that he, unfortunately, was forced to remove Sassou’s eye in order to take out the entire tumor.
In the western world losing an eye would be a devastating loss. Efoe, however, has a positive outlook in the midst of such tragedy. “It is hard that he will not have both eyes,” Efoe says, “But, this is ok. The area on his eye was getting larger and without Mercy Ships it may have taken over his whole face. He can live with only one eye. I am so grateful. Words do not come to me to express my thankfulness.”
The Chief of Sassou and Efoe’s village is just as thankful for all that Mercy Ships has done. “Here in our village no one has money to see a doctor. Sassou was having a hard time with his eye and we could all see that. When we heard Mercy Ships was coming we were so grateful that you can help. Everyone here knows the wonderful thing you have done for Sassou.”
It was arranged with the post-op doctors that Sassou could go home, take his test, and come back for his check-up afterwards. He was able to take his test after all, and he was very relieved.
Sitting in his classroom in his school uniform Sassou looked just like all the other kids.
Among his friends coming out of his exam, Sassou looked proud. Though it is hard for him to imagine a great life with only one eye, he remembers the encouragement he received from one Mercy Ships volunteer, Caleb Yoda:
“God has big plans for you, Sassou. I know you are disheartened now, but God has given you the chance to have the tumor removed. You have survived that hardship, and now you are off to do great things in life.”


Yes, Sassou thought, great things indeed.

Sassou rocks the test!

On Monday morning Tom, Meza and I piled in a land rover and headed East to Aneho, Sassou's village. An hour and a half later we came upon pristine beaches and crystal clear green ocean water. It was breathtaking and beautiful!! We were right along the border between Togo and Benin.

We picked up Sassou's father, Efoe, and he directed us to their actual village which was not Aneho at all. It was a small, proper African village down a long red dirt road lined with Palm trees. The village had round huts with thatched roofs, houses all connected to one another, and absolutely no commercialization. It was truly an amazing place.
We drove past the village and went to Sassou's school. It was VERY impressive. It's a christian school and the students wear uniforms. We talked with the headmaster and he went into Sassou's classroom and said

"There will be a white man with a camera coming in here to photograph the class. You all need to continue with your test, and do not cause a scene."

Then Tom and I had permission to go into the classroom. Sassou was sitting in the middle with a pair of Ray Bans on! It was wicked!!! The entire class was so well behaved and other than a few wandering eyes at the camera, they were wonderful. The question for the test, we learned, was an assessment of knowledge. They were to write in their booklets all the main things they learned that year. They sure had a lot to write!!

Tom snapped a few photos, then we headed back to the village to see Sassou's house while he finished his test.

At his house, Efoe gave us each coconuts. We drank coconut juice and ate the inside. My first coconut experience that wasn't shredded from a package :)

Efoe showed us around the village and we met the Chief. He came and sat with us and we had a lovely chat with he and his family. They told us about 2 other kids in the village that could use help from Mercy Ships. Before we knew it one child with club feet and another child with a hand deformity had walked in. We took pictures of them, but told the Chief that the field service was coming to a close and we probably wouldn't be able to do anything to help. It was so heartbreaking to watch this girl with club feet walk---it hurt me inside!!! The good news is that Mercy Ships can help this girl. The bad news is that she may have to wait for the next field service in Togo for that to happen :(

We said goodbye to the Chief and made one stop at Sassou's great grandmother's house which was phenomenal. She was very old, but extremely coherant and very thankful for Mercy Ships and everything they have done for Sassou.

We said goodbye to her and went back to Sassou's school to pick him up. We were taking Sassou and Efoe back to the ship for thier post-op appointment. We talked with the headmaster and set up a group shot of Sassou and his classmates. Then, we were back on the road to the Africa Mercy. I was so happy that we were able to help Sassou be able to take his test! He said it was hard, but he was glad it was over :)

Sassou's village, Agokpame.

Love this shot of the trees at an angle.

A few people from the village.

The precious girl that has club feet, a deformity where her feet grow backwards.

Sassou in his classroom taking his test.

The entire class!

Sassou with his dad, Efoe, and his principal.

Photos courtesy of awesome photojournalist TOM BRADLEY: http://www.tombradley.wordpress.com/

 

Sassou UPDATE!

Sassou, the boy I told you about here, WILL be able to take his final exam on Monday, and we will be there to document it! Tom, Meza and I will be driving to Sassou's elementary school in the village of Aneho on Monday morning, and we will take some pictures of him in action. He told me that he didn't need to study too much----he's got it in the bag :)

Here is post-op nurse Jane taking Sassou's staples out yesterday....He's lookin' good!!

Meet SASSOU

Sassou is a 13 year old boy from the village Aneho. He is here on the ship with his father. When Sassou got to Mercy Ships, he had a growth on his eye, but it did not cause him any pain. Only evil stares. Also, it prevented him from seeing well out of his right eye.

When Sassou was little, his mother left. As of now, he lives with his brother, sister, father and his dad's new wife. Sassou is in Elementary school in 5th grade. When I asked him if he was going to go back to school in the Fall, he told me about his final exam that he needs to take on this coming Monday (6/7) in order to complete the 5th grade.

"Will you be able to go home and take the test?" I asked.

"I do not know, I need my father to ask the doctors when we come to the ship on Thursday if I can go take it." he told me.

I found out from our translator, Meza, that it's very important that he takes his test on Monday. If he doesn't, he will not be able to go onto the  next grade in the Fall.

My heart has definitely gone out to Sassou. He said he has not made friends with the other kids at the Hospitality Center because he is afraid that if he plays with them, he will pull out his stitches or the staples in his head. He is very quiet when we talk, and it is apparent to me that he interacts very little with the other kids who are surrounding us, laughing and playing. I tell him that I want to be his friend, and we can play very carefully as to not hurt his stitches. He gives me a faint, yet visible smile. I sit there a while longer and simply hold his hand.

I needed to talk to his father in more detail about his test to see what we could work out. The wheels are turning in my head, and if we can approach his story with a 'Learning' angle, it would be wicked to go to his school on Monday, and get a photo of him while he is taking his test in full "recouperation mode"...staples and all. Tom, our photographer, is in complete agreeance. We look at each other and can tell this could be an amazing story. 

To take our angle full cirlce, when I ask Sassou how he found out about Mercy Ships, he reveals to me that his teacher told his father about the big white hospital ship coming to Lomé. Bingo. 

By the time we leave the Hospitality Center, Sassu's dad hasn't returned yet. I tell Sassou that I will see him when he comes to the Ship on Thursday for post-ops, and we will work on getting him to school Monday for his test.

The wheels are in motion...all I have to do is talk to a few people to see if we can pull this off!

UPDATE...here is a photo of Abel (the boy with the intensely crooked legs from the previous post) at the Hospitality center yesterday. He is walking without crutches OR casts and here he is holding another boy up! Simply amazing---makes your heart smile.

Abel is on the left..