MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) -- A mid-state photographer has just returned from a five month assignment documenting the work of a medical charity in Africa.
Katie Keegan graduated from Murfreesboro’s Riverdale High in 2006 and has worked in non-profit media in the years since. In January she traveled to Africa to volunteer onboard the world’s largest charity hospital ship as it provided aid to the island nation of Madagascar.
Keegan’s mother was the child of missionaries and grew up in Nigeria.
“Most little girls grow up playing dress up in their mom’s old prom dresses and with her Barbie dolls, I grew up learning how to tie a baby on my back and practicing carrying gourds on my head because that’s what I wanted to do like my mom when she was a kid. So, I always had this idea of I needed to get to Africa.”
Keegan’s job on the hospital ship was to photo document the charity’s work. She notes the vessel, operated by the medical charity Mercy Ships, provides specialized surgeries not generally available in the poor countries the charity visits. She says it was challenging living so closely with 400 fellow crew members, but also rewarding.
“You are surrounded by people who are passionate about the same things you are, who have also given up their time and their resources and are away from their families. So you become a family.”
Keegan says she was especially touched by a young girl onboard to have her badly deformed legs straightened by orthopedic surgeons. She was also touched by a woman who had a massive tumor removed from her neck and back. She says the experience was life-changing.
“I was in Walmart yesterday and we were walking past the cat food aisle and I was looking at the prices of tinned cat food and realizing that there are cats that eat better than people. It just hits you and you don’t really know what to do with that.”
Keegan plans to return to Madagascar later this year to volunteer with Mercy Ships for at least another five months.
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