A Vessel of Hope
Billions of people across the globe lack access to safe surgery and every day, children and adults in some of the poorest communities die from causes that can easily be treated in hospitals in nations like Australia.
Over half of the world’s population lives within 160km of a coastline, and since 1978, Mercy Ships have been providing first class medical care and support to some of the world’s poorest people, and working in partnership with local communities to build local health capacity.
The Africa Mercy, and the new purpose-built Global Mercy (pictured), are the two state-of-the-art hospital ships currently in operation. The Global Mercy is the largest non-governmental hospital ship in the world.
All crew, both medical and non-medical, are volunteers. Short-term volunteers can serve from two weeks to two years and typically fill service roles or very specialised medical or technical positions, whereas long-term crew make an initial commitment of two years.
At our Sunday Celebration this week we welcome special guest Nadine Millar to tell us about her recent experiences on the Global Mercy.
*Please remember that, this Sunday, road closures for the All Schools Triathlon may affect access to the Greenhouse. It should be finished by 9:15am, but just in case it runs overtime, or if you arrive earlier, Main Drive will be closed and the only access will be via Nicklin Way, into Production Avenue, then turn left into Textile Avenue. A slip lane will be in place for us to access the Greenhouse and there will be traffic controllers positioned along the slip lane to assist. There will be no access via Kawana Way.
Information obtained from Mercy Ships Australia website, accessed 27 October 2023. Featured image: Global Mercy, Rotterdam, taken 2 March 2022, source Wikimedia, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
