Nurses set to jet out on African mercy trip
TWO young nurses from Cheadle will embark on a mission to West Africa to help make a difference to the lives of hundreds of people living in poverty in the country.
Arita Lee, 27, and Constantina Stamatiou, 26, are due to fly out to Benin in March next year.
The pair, who work at The Alexandra Hospital as scrub nurses, will be taking their medical skills with them, providing lifechanging care and treatment to patients during their stay.
They will be working within a ‘floating hospital’, which is run by the charity Mercy Ships, and have given up their own annual leave to volunteer.
Arita, who lives in Cheadle, said she realises how fortunate people in the UK are to have such good medical care.
She said: “Neither of us has done this sort of thing before but when we heard about the amazing medical care carried out by the volunteers, we really wanted to use our skills to help.
“We’re very aware of how privileged we are in the UK. We have the chance to use our skills and the experience we’ve gained working in one of the country’s top hospitals to help people whose lives can be changed forever.”
Constantina, who lives in Fallowfield, added: “We’re guilty of taking things for granted here.
“When you hear about the child who was able to walk to school after her deformed leg was straightened, or the mum who could see her baby for the first time after a straightforward eye operation, you start to realise just how lucky we are.”
Both nurses, who have been at The Alexandra Hospital for two years, are now looking to raise £1,000 each to cover their plane tickets and cost of the trip.
“We each have to raise £1,000 to cover our airfares and costs for the trip and we’ve set up a JustGiving page for people who would like to donate some money to help us and the people who desperately need the Africa Mercy’s help,” Constantina said.
Anyone who would like to donate towards the trip can visit justgiving.com/ crowdfunding/africa mercy.
The ‘Africa Mercy’ is the world’s largest non-governmental hospital ship and carries out around 7,000 procedures each year on children and adults.