Tom's Blog

Saidu Kalokoh - Saidu Kalokoh, age 35, came to us on January 16, 2025, with a swollen and potentially life-threatening infection of his right jaw. He is one of the dozens of oral infection […]
More on Mobility Carts - Umu, a hearing-impaired woman in Sierra Leone, received clothes and a 5-month supply of epilepsy medication, highlighting the struggles faced by individuals with epilepsy due to high transportation costs for medications. Many suffer from frequent seizures, leading to injuries. Local awareness and support are critical for such vulnerable communities.
Mobility Cart Update - Mobility World Wide (www.mobilityworldwide.org) again provided Africa Surgery with 70 free mobility carts which we shipped in our 40-foot container in November 2024. The carts were mostly distributed in groups of 8-to-10, […]
The St. Joseph Hearing Impaired School - Severe hearing loss is relatively common in Sierra Leone, because of the high fevers that babies suffer due to malaria and other diseases. Sr. Amala Santhiyagu of the Sisters of […]
Bai Sesay - Many people in Sierra Leone go blind due to infections that can often be cured. Some eye ailments, such as glaucoma, can be controlled with medication. Others, such as cataracts and pterygium, can be successfully treated with surgery. Every year Africa Surgery helps scores of people to preserve or regain their vision and see the world clearly again.
Adema Tarawallie/Ponti Tarawallie - Adema Tarawallie, age 40, first came to us in July 2020. For five years a bone tumor had been growing and consuming her lower jaw. Dr. Davis, the oral surgeon mentioned above, can remove her tumor by removing her entire lower jaw, but he does not have the necessary equipment or the titanium implant needed to reconstruct her face afterwards.
From Ukraine to Sierra Leone: a success story - There is no school of Dentistry in Sierra Leone. So, in December 2016, Dr. Don Davis, our oral surgeon in Freetown, asked me if Africa Surgery could sponsor his apprentice, George Julian Elba, to attend dental school in Ukraine.
A Moment To Relax - During the African Soccer Cup last January, Sierra Leone managed to hold defending champions Algeria to a 0-0 draw and subsequently Ivory coast to another 1-1 draw. Both events constituted great achievements for the underdog Sierra Leonean Team. A student and an instructor of our Tailoring Program made several small flags and a fan, with blue, green and white, Sierra Leone’s national colors. The items were displayed during the game against the Ivory Coast, which was broadcast live on large-screen TV, to a joyous gathering, in our Skill Training Center.
Our Skills Training & Tailoring Program - We share our base in Freetown with one of our partner organizations: Orthotics Rehabilitation and Medical Services – Sierra Leone (ORMS). Africa Surgery funds three educational programs directed by ORMS. One of them is the Skills Training in Tailoring Program.
Dental Care: An Unexpected Event - Averaging 50 patients per month, tooth pulling is by far Africa Surgery’s most far reaching program, helping more people than any other program. Our activities were slowed down in late December, when Ernest Amadu Tarawalie, the team member who heads the program, was involved in a motorcycle accident.
Shieku Sesay - Shieku Sesay, age 6, and his mother came from their village to our base in Freetown, with a live rooster in tow. Shieku needed surgical treatment for his large and often painful scrotal hernia. We accepted their gift – the rooster, but ended up not eating it ourselves.
Aminata Koroma - After two years of study, Aminata Koroma, age 27, received her Certificate of Merit in Tailoring and...
Fatmata Sesay - A massive mudslide killed over 1000 people, many buried alive while sleeping, in the early morning of August 14, 2017. It was the worst (but not the first) of such disasters to occur in Freetown, where coastal mountains are overpopulated by impoverished people who cannot afford plots on more levelled terrain.
Jariatu Koroma - She was born with a badly deformed lower right leg. At 7 months, in 2010, she had her first surgery when the Mercy Ship was anchored in the Freetown Harbor. Africa Surgery arranged a […]
Alpha Kargbo - Alpha Kargbo was first visited in October 2016 by two orthopedic surgeons from the German-based organization Ortopaedie-für-die-Dritte Welt (O-D-W). They hoped to be able to save his badly infected right leg. Alpha, age 8 […]
Moribah Tommy - Moribah Tommy, a crippled, hard-working blacksmith, was one of the many disabled persons who were on the waiting list for a mobility cart. In 2018 and early 2019, Africa Surgery had distributed 60 […]
Update From Tom - I have been back for more than three months now after spending over one year directing our programs in Sierra Leone. Schools were opening when I left and, thanks to the help of many […]
Aminata Koroma - After two years of study, Aminata Koroma, age 27, received her Certificate of Merit in Tailoring and Dressmaking from our own Skill Training in Tailoring Program. Last October Aminata accepted a one-month job from a […]
Skill Training: Tailoring Program - There are no large retail chains in Sierra Leone. Everyone must choose between buying used clothing donated by foreign charities and sold in the local markets, or having their clothes made […]
Abibu Kamara - Abibu Kamara, age three, suffered from a tuberculosis infection that damaged his upper spine about one year ago. Africa Surgery placed Abibu on anti-tuberculosis medications that will eradicate the disease from his system, relieve […]
COVID-19 & Its Effects on the Students of Sierra Leone - Thanks to hard lessons learned five years ago during the Ebola hemorrhagic fever epidemic in West Africa, Sierra Leone was already well experienced in the practice of quarantining, contact tracing, and lock […]
Isatu Conteh - Isatu Conteh, age 4, was born with two deformed lower legs and has never walked. She is also positive for pulmonary tuberculosis which has been bending her spine. Africa Surgery had […]
Alimamy Kargbo - About 18 months ago, around a time that mangos were in full season, Alimamy Kargbo, age 10, fell from a mango tree and badly fractured his left femur. By the time he was brought […]
Kadiatu Bah - Kadiatu Bah, now age 18, suffered a high fever at age 3 that left her deaf. After attending primary and secondary Schools for the Hearing Impaired, Kadiatu began studying computer technology […]
Salimatu Kargbo - Salimatu Kargbo, age 28, was having trouble delivering and the government hospital told her that she would need surgery to safely bring her baby into the world. However, since she was the […]
Aminata Koroma - Aminata, now age 27, suffered from a tuberculosis infection of her spine when she was a child. Africa Surgery funded complete anti-TB treatment for her in 2009. By 2013 her TB had cleared […]
Palm Oil Rendering - The majority of people in Sierra Leone are too poor to amass food and other supplies for more than even a few days. This makes it impossible to enforce a hard lockdown […]
Gibrillia Kamara - When Gibrillia Kamara was one year old, his mother took him to a government hospital, where his clubfeet could be corrected through casts. Unfortunately, the removal of the first set of casts disclosed a deep sore on […]
Covid-19 is hitting harder - Currently Covid-19 is present in Freetown and in other towns of Sierra Leone and neighboring Guinea. But without adequate testing it is still unclear how prevalent it is. Travel restrictions bar movement between districts, making […]
Joseph Kamara - Joseph Kamara, now 48, suffered from polio when he was a child. Last January, Africa Surgery presented him with a mobility cart (donated by Mobility World Wide) to allow him to easily go […]
Clean water at the Pentecostal Nursery School - Last February, Africa Surgery delivered a portable water purification device to the head mistress of the Free Pentecostal Church Nursery School in Wellington, Sierra Leone. This was one of several machines donated by […]
Lockdown - On April 6 Sierra Leone imposed a nationwide, mandatory, three-day lockdown. Four cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed in Freetown. Not many so far, but the neighboring country of Guinea had confirmed over 100 […]
Mamoud Kamara - Early this year, Mamoud Kamara, age 15, came to our Freetown base with his father and older brother. Three months earlier Mamoud had mangled his lower right leg as passenger in a […]
Hawanatu Fofonah - Hawanatu Fofonah, age two, was happy to receive two dresses and two pairs of shorts a few days before Christmas. Hawanatu has been living with her mother, who is one […]
Mariama Koroma - Mariama Koroma was born under less-than-adequate conditions, with no trained midwife. The delivery left her with a large umbilical hernia. At age 2 and ½ Mariama stopped walking after her spine […]
Kaday Conteh - Kaday Conteh lost her mother when she was three. Her father, a poor farmer, had never been able to send Kaday or her two older sisters and older brother to […]
Kadiatu Conteh - On October 25, when Africa Surgery first saw Kadiatu Conteh, a 27 year-old mother of one, we feared that the large tumor that was blocking most of her mouth might kill […]
Betty Brima & Lamine Sesay - In January, 2019,when a team of reconstructive plastic surgeons from the Paris-based organization Doctors of the World (MDM) (www.doctorsoftheworld.org) visited the Seventh Day Adventist hospital in Masanaga, Sierra Leone. Betty […]
Joseph Sesay & Mabinti Turay - Joseph Sesay, 22, and Mabinti Turay, 27, are recent patients who came to us with jaw infections originating from decaying teeth. They are just two of the 37 patients whom we […]
Kadiatu Kamara - Kadiatu Kamara, 6, fractured the tibia bone in her left leg due to a fall. An infection developed in the bone, resulting in too much pain to walk and she had […]
Joel E. Mansaray - Joel E. Mansaray was born about six-years ago to a strong and hard-working woman who is continuously filling and hauling five-gallon containers of water for her neighbors at no cost. […]
Esther Conteh - Esther Conteh first came to us in January, 2016. She presented with the right side of her face ballooned out, her jaw being shifted to the left by a tumor. […]
Matilda Kamara - Matilda Kamara was crippled by polio as a child. Through the ASI Student Sponsorship program, Africa Surgery is sponsoring Matilda to attend university and obtain certification to teach primary school […]
Foday Conteh - Foday Conteh, 40, is suffering from an extreme infection in his left jaw which is destroying the jaw- bone’s joint. The infection was probably caused by a decayed tooth. It […]
NEW Caring Crowd Campaign for Mamusu’s Oral Surgery - We are excited to announce our first Caring Crowd campaign to help Mamusu Conteh, age 25, who has been suffering from an abscessed jaw for four years. We have 43 […]
Masiray Kamara - Masiray Kamara was born with a congenital kyphoscoliosis, which meant that as she continued to grow, her spine would both twist along its length and bend forward at a point […]
Yatta Bokarie - In January, it was determined that five-year-old Yatta Bokarie’s tumor-like protrusion on the middle of her face was increasing in size and that it was connected to her brain. Yatta […]
Santigi Sesay - Santigi Sesay, 7, lives in a small village in Sierra Leone. He has been suffering from an infection of his left jaw, resulting from a decayed tooth. He stayed with […]
Jackson Kamara - Jackson Kamara, 72, was almost blind when he came to us. We took Jackson to the Baptist Eye hospital in Lunsar, Sierra Leone, where he had cataract surgery in his […]
Aminata Kamara - Aminata Kamara, 37, was disabled by polio as a child. Years ago, Aminata earned a certificate in tailoring at vocational school, but she never managed to acquire a sewing machine. […]
Bafudia Kabalo - Last week Africa Surgery distributed mobility carts to 10 disabled people in the town of Kabala, about 190 miles from Freetown. One of the recipients was Bafudia Kabalo, a 65-year-old […]
Fatmata Sesay - Fatmata Sesay, age about seven, was born with two clubfeet. Africa Surgery had Fatmata’s left foot corrected in November, 2016, by a specialist surgeon visiting Sierra Leone with the German-based […]
Esther Tenneh Sesay - When Esther Tenneh Sesay, now age 16, first came to us in 2016, her spine was deforming due to a tuberculosis infection caused by a kyphosis fracture of her spine. […]
David Dominic Grant - David Dominic Grant, 16, has been living with an unrelated guardian since becoming an orphan in his early childhood. David is a hard-working student who always ranks first or second […]
Salay Kanu - Salay Kanu, age 35, first came to us in March with pus draining onto her swollen lower right jaw from an open sinus, a painful condition she had been suffering […]
Fulamusu Kabia - Fulamusu Kabia, 35, has had a glandular tumor growing by her right jaw for 15 years. Up until recently, the tumor has not caused her any significant pain, however as […]
Recovering patients at our village guest house - Three patients are recovering at our guest house in Sierra Leone. They were treated by a visiting surgical team from the British Society for Surgery of the Hand, with the help […]
Abdulai Jalloh - Abdulai Jalloh, 65, was struck by a motorcyclist about four months ago in Sierra Leone, leaving his upper-left arm fractured and with no hope of healing since the bone ends […]
Osman Tarawallie - Osman Tarawallie, two years old, was brought to us by his mother on Sunday to remind us of the hernia he has had since birth. Osman belongs to a family of […]
Salieu Kamara - When Salieu Kamara, 25, first came to Africa Surgery in November 2016, his face and mouth were badly deformed by a four-year old tumor. No surgeon or facility in Sierra […]
Trip Report May 30, 2017 - On October 30 Africa Surgery sent Alusine Kargbo, about 40, and Mateneh Marrah, 38, from Sierra Leone to Kenya. Both had large tumors which had begun about five years earlier. Alusine’s was […]
Fati Mansaray - Fati Mansaray developed a deformity in her spine when she was about four years old. She was then abandoned by her parents but was taken in by her maternal grandmother. […]
Schools are open again! - Schools have been reopened in Sierra Leone and Africa Surgery has more than 100 students from impoverished families, like this boy, seeking help with the cost of their education. Africa Surgery wants to […]
From Sierra Leone: Mayateh Kamara - Her legs were paralyzed by polio when she was a child. Mayateh Kamara uses a hand lever to power a treadle sewing machine at an Africa Surgery skills-training program.
From Sierra Leone: Alhaji Samura - Alhaji Samura, age 4, is one of six patients with one or two club feet. We scheduled her for surgical correction when the German orthopedic doctor team returns to Sierra Leone in […]
From Sierra Leone: Adema Jalloh - Adema Jalloh is one of many persons suffering from abscessed jaws. Along with other patients, she is waiting for Africa Surgery to help her.
From Tom in Sierra Leone: Mariatu Sankoh - Mariatu Sankoh was one of 13 patients suffering from fractured bones. In Mariatu’s case, it was a painful bone infection with no apparent cause. She was recently treated by a […]
From Tom in Sierra Leone: Adamsay Bangura - Her father is dead and her mother left her, to work in an up-country village. Adamsay Bangura lives with her grandmother in a market town called Waterloo, not far from […]
From Tom in Sierra Leone: Margaret Kamara - At age 45, Margaret Kamara was losing her vision because of pterygium, a growth spreading across the surface of her right eye. After surgery at the Lunsar Baptist Eye […]
From Tom in Sierra Leone: Victoria Fofonah - Victoria Fofonah, age 5, was born with cerebral palsy. She enjoys her time being held erect in a pediatric standing frame at the new and growing physical therapy center, sponsored jointly […]
From Tom in Sierra Leone: Fatmata Fullah - Fatmata Fullah does not know her exact age. She believes to be over 18. She is not aware of suffering from an infection to her left jawbone for almost two years. She […]
From Tom in Sierra Leone: Mabinti Kalokoh - Today we brought Mabinti Kalokoh, a young mother aged 20, to Dr. Don Davis, the oral surgeon affiliated with the Government Hospital in Freetown. Mabinti’s entire right lower jaw bone is […]
From Tom in Sierra Leone: Esther Conteh - Esther Conteh, age about 30, is the mother of an 11-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl. In Sierra Leone, she and her husband do farm work on other people’s land, […]
FROM TOM IN SIERRA LEONE: Mohamed Kabba – Feb. 20, 2016 - Mohamed Kabba, age about 50, fell from a tree while he was trying to collect palm fronds to use in packing charcoal. This is locally produced by poor farmers, mostly […]
From Tom in Sierra Leone: Agnes Thomas – Feb. 19, 2016 - For Agnes Thomas, age 24, the appearance of being well fed was misleading. Her abdomen was protruding because of an extremely large fibroid growing outside of her uterus, and by […]
From Tom in Sierra Leone: Dennis Kabia – Feb. 17, 2016 - In January a new school year commenced in Sierra Leone. Dennis Kabia is one of over 90 students being helped to attend school through the special generosity of some of […]
From Tom in Sierra Leone: Francis Kamara – Feb. 15, 2016 - Francis Kamara was to have a dangerous tumor removed from the left side of his neck in 2014, but his family hid him out of fear that he would die […]
From Tom in Sierra Leone: Umu Kargbo – Feb. 14, 2016 - Umu Kargbo had just learned to walk, when a tuberculosis infection in her spine paralyzed her legs. We had Umu put on a six-month regimen of anti-TB medications. Fortunately, the […]
From Tom in Sierra Leone: At the Eye Hospital – Jan. 28, 2016 - Despite the recent flare-up of Ebola in Sierra Leone, this week we were able to transport 24 patients about 34 miles to the nearest eye hospital. Six were admitted for […]
From Tom in Sierra Leone: Lovetta Musa – Jan. 13, 2016 - Lovetta Musa, age 23, was found in October, 2015, by one of our helpers in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where no adequate facilities or surgical specialists were available to treat her. […]
From Tom in Sierra Leone: Sidafa Kamara – Jan. 2, 2016 - Sidafa Kamara and his mother, who had come from a remote village, spent the night before New Year’s Eve in the lorry park, where public transport vehicles rest, because they […]
From Tom in Sierra Leone: Joseph Alieu – Dec. 23, 2015 - Joseph Alieu, age 13, underwent emergency surgery at a government hospital in Sierra Leone to resection his intestines which had been perforated by typhoid fever. His parents were able to […]
Tom’s Trip Report from Sierra Leone – May 6 to Aug. 8, 2015 - The Ebola epidemic which devastated Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia made it dangerous for me to visit Sierra Leone in October 2014 as I had planned. A visit then would […]
Tom’s Update – Dec. 20, 2014 - The Ebola virus is still ravaging Sierra Leone, where the number of reported cases as of December 20 is almost 9,000 and the number of deaths from Ebola infection might […]
Tom’s Update Report – Sep. 24, 2014 - The Situation An outbreak of Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever occurred in Guinea in March 2014. One theory is that it moved from an animal host, such as a fruit bat or […]
We are touching the life of so many people - Almost every day, people come to my door in the village or go to find me at the hospital where they request help for various problems. Most are medically treated […]
News from “Sponsor a Child” - I rode my bicycle through Makeni town to visit a family which has three children that Africa Surgery is helping with schooling, thanks to three different sponsors. The family lacks […]
Kadiatu Sesay: an innocent child accident turned sour - Kadiatu Sesay’s father is uneducated and tries to earn a living breaking granite rocks into gravel with a hammer. At some point as a toddler, Kadiatu accidentally swallowed liquid lye, […]
Update from Ghana: Spinal Surgery Patients - Africa Surgery currently has ten children in Ghana, nine from Sierra Leone, and one from Tanzania. Eight have undergone major spinal surgery by a team from FOCOS; two are still […]
Rugiatu Kargbo: a Success Story - Upon arriving at our up-country base in the village of Masongbo, I was very glad to meet Rugiatu Kargbo, an eight-year-old girl who has recently joined the 17 spinal-deformity children […]
John Kanu: a Burn Victim - I had only been in Sierra Leone about eight hours on October 20, when, while trying to reorganize my luggage, my attention was called to a young man walking with […]