Fourteen-year-old Tera is from a fishing village on the outskirts of Manakara, southeast Madagascar. The houses in his community are built using traveler’s tree – its branches for walls, body for floors, and leaves for the roofs. Tera’s house is seated at the riverbank and shared by his parents, three siblings, and grandmother.

“In this community, people go fishing in this river and the sea using fishing nets. No one here works in offices,” described Tera’s father, Justin.

The beauty of the village is in its keen sense of community. If a child is born to a family, he is accepted by the entire village as their own. This is why Tera grew up with an ardent desire to belong – a desire that remained unfulfilled for many years.

Thirteen Years of Walking Barefoot

Although Tera was too young to remember the accident that fused his foot to his ankle at the age of 1, he knows the story well.

“My mom went to the washroom, and I was crawling, and I knocked (the pot) over … The hot water spilled all over me, and that is how I got burned,” he narrated.

According to his parents, the boiling water left Tera with severe burns on his legs. With no means to pay for hospital care, his family sought out three traditional healers, each offering their own remedies. But despite their efforts, the burns refused to yield.

Eventually, Tera’s wounds healed without medical intervention, but the outcome made 13 years of his life nearly unbearable.

South African reconstructive plastics surgeon Dr. Tertius Venter, who has been volunteering with Mercy Ships for the last 24 years, explained: “The burn is often not all that deep, but it gets infected and then you get more destruction of the skin, and it just goes deeper. The only way that the body can heal it is by pulling the tissues together. So, he developed a contracture between his foot and his ankle, which limited the movement there.”

For the next 13 years Tera walked barefoot, unable to wear any shoes. He could not take his favorite position as a goalkeeper on the soccer field with children in his community.

“I like playing soccer, but they don’t really like me. I see my friends playing, and I want to play too,” he said, with his head bowed. “I made a plastic ball, but my friends still rejected me because I can’t play so I left, crying, and feeling very sad.”

Marie’s inability to lift her son’s burden weighed heavily on her mind. This is why when volunteers from Mercy Ships spoke to her about free surgery on a hospital ship, the nursing mother did not think twice. She wrapped Cedrick, Tera’s baby brother, on her back and embarked on a two-day journey to the Africa Mercy®.

New Friendships, Hope and Healing

Australian volunteer ward nurse Natasha Short had spent three months on the Africa Mercy and seen a glaring difference in reconstructive plastics surgery compared to her home country, where “we treat the burns early, so they don’t need as much surgery.” 

She understood the challenges of her new patients and became devoted to their healing, not only as a nurse, but as a friend.

“Tera has been through so much and he still has such joy and a vibrance of life,” she said. “He is so open and free with his joy and his happiness to everyone he meets, even from the first day that I met him.”

Natasha met Tera before he was even scheduled for his surgery – marking the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

“Every time he sees me, he shouts out, ‘Natasha, Natasha!’ His face immediately grins,” she said, with a smile. “It is just the most wonderful feeling.”

Natasha sent Tera into surgery, leaving him in the care of a team led by Dr. Venter, who freed the burn contracture on Tera’s foot, a burden of 13 years, in just two hours.

“He should have a normal functioning ankle now, which means he will be able to play like any other child and play sport, especially soccer, and he can wear a normal shoe,” Dr. Venter said.

In the ward, Tera also became friends with another patient his age, Martino. Their friendship was so strong that whenever they were apart, volunteer nurses would pass letters back and forth and arrange video calls between them.

“I love you, Martino,” Tera would say at the end of the call.

Physical therapist Theo Jacot noticed that having Tera’s family by his side during recovery made all the difference.

“Tera feels more motivated to see that his mom and his little brother are watching him, doing some rehab exercises and things like that,” he said. “I think he’s really focused on playing football one day, and one day, it will come.”

Tera left the hospital with a huge dance party in the company of his family, volunteer nurses, and crewmembers from other departments. Using his crutches, he danced, sang, and kept his big smile.

A Dream Come True, A Life Changed

Tera’s parents once struggled to see beyond his pain to a bright future for their son. Today, Tera is not the only one with clarity about his future; his father is now confident he can teach his son to fish.

“We go fishing today and I put him in the front of the canoe and tomorrow we do the same thing, and the third day or the fourth day he can go alone already. He is a fast learner,” Tera’s father said.

Tera isn’t oblivious to the changes. “Before, I was not able to wear slippers … I was barefoot in the streets even though it was so hot. Since being back from Mercy Ships, I have been able to wear slippers,” he said cheerfully.

“I am happy because my friends do not make fun of me anymore. We all play together now. The things that my friends can do, I’m also able to do them.”

At last, Tera wore his favorite “number one” jersey as a goalkeeper on the soccer field. A joyful crowd at the center of the community watched him display his skills in a game that continued till sunset, cheering him on – “Tera, Tera, Tera!”

Stories of transformation like Tera’s are possible because of friends like you. Visit mercyships.org to learn more about partnering to make life-changing surgeries happen!