Thousands of Smiles

Amy is a young Kiwi nurse who was so hooked after her five month service on the ship's wards in Togo in 2012 that she recruited her best friend from Starship hospital here in Auckland to join her. Together they signed on for three months on the following outreach in Guinea. Amy deeply touched the lives of many paediatric patients with her bubbly personality, but her professional career was also significantly impacted by the experiences she had nursing onboard. Her relationship with God was challenged, stretched and deepened. She came with a heart to give, and left feeling that she received much more than she was able to impart.

This is a significant part of what we do here in NZ - connecting passion, skills and calling with opportunity for service, and thus meeting the healthcare needs of some of Africa's most desperate people. And we LOVE IT!

I get that some people hate what they call the numbers game, and love to focus on the individual's story (that would be me!). Others like Graeme tend to find the accountability of statics and feedback vitally important as they look at the integrity and sustainability of a project. As I thought about bringing you up to speed on our health care work in Togo and Guinea work over the past year, it makes sense to share from both angles.

Over on the right you'll find Hadiatou. Her story is just a glimpse into one person's world that has been completely turned around because of a surgery on the Africa Mercy. Hadiatou was born with a cleft lip. Her father's horror at her birth defect was evident by his refusal to even name the tiny girl! Her mother fiercely loved her despite the superstition around this mis-understood condition, and named her Hadiatou -  meaning 'well loved'. After  17 years enduring ridicule and shame because of her cleft lip, something incredible happened to Hadiatou....... (read the whole story here http://www.mercyships.org/hadiatou-the-girl-with-the-well-loved-name/ )

We're half way through our Guinea field service. We have been able to meet our targets  and are pleased to be able to make a brief summary of the health care services provided since August 2012.  Again, as we glimpse over these figures, I constantly come back to the individual and their family who have had a life change and a new hope for the future as a result of ministry. In the 2012 calendar year we performed 28,852 surgeries and procedures from the ship including:

11,496 eye evaluations and treatments
743 cataract surgeries
241 maxillofacial surgeries
88 cleft lip repairs
116 orthopaedic surgeries
20,546 dental procedures

…the list goes on – and that’s just the first half. Glory to Jesus! Please pray for our patients as we are now well into the second phase of the field service, which concludes in June.

Photos ©Mercy Ships