Reflections

Our ministry focus and attention in 2011 was on the visit of the Africa Mercy to Sierra Leone for 10 months of the year. It was Mercy Ships 5th visit to this West African nation still struggling to recover from a decade-long civil war. The atrocities committed and the scars on the bodies and emotions of the local people are ten years later still a weight and a burden for many. Even before the war it was one of the poorest nations on earth, and our determination is to be a part of God's answer in bringing both hope and healing.

All previous visits have been made by the former flagship Anastasis, and this was the first visit for the new hospital ship Africa Mercy. It was a hugely impacting time. The exact statistics of the field service in terms of surgeries performed and how people were reached are to be released in a month or so, but we do know that the increased capapsity of the newer ship means we can help twice as many people as we could with all the other previous Mercy Ships put together!

Our family sat around the meal table the other day reflecting on the year past on a personal level - the highs and lows, and most significant moments. It's been a hard one on some of our family who live in the Christchurch area where, since September 2010 they have experienced close to 10,000 earthquakes and aftershocks. Graeme's elderly parents are in a rest home and while they are safe and cared for, it is very stressful for them and all the other folk living in the region. We that God that neither they nor my brother, who lives on a farm in the region but works in the city, have been physically affected by the major quakes.