The Anastasis was once an Italian cruise boat. It has been fitted out as a hospital ship. With an all-volunteer, unpaid crew, it travels to poor nations, bringing needed medical help to people who otherwise would have no access to it. That's why we are in Gambia. Although you would not suspect it from the pleasant tourist developments near the coast, the interior of this country, like much of Africa, is still desperately undeveloped.
Children die from what are now only minor illnesses in the developed world.
They go blind for the want of a few cents worth of vitamins. Or are maimed for life because simple repair surgery is unavailable. The most common birth defect is cleft palate. In the United States and Europe, this is quickly repaired in infancy. But here, it is likely that a witch doctor will tell the parents that their baby has the face of a demon and recommend that they bury it alive to get rid of the curse.