Little more about Mercy Ships

Many have asked how Mercy Ships operates through the year and month to month, so we thought we'd try to explain it.

Currently, we are docked in Monrovia, Liberia and the ship has been here since February 2008. They have found that it is much more beneficial to stay in one place to accomplish more and make an impact in one area. This is Mercy Ships' second outreach in a row, they were here in 2007 as well. There is much to do in Liberia as they are still recovering from a 14 year civil war. An "outreach" lasts a year, from Feb to Dec and the next year they will be in Benin.

In February they arrive to their new place of outreach and have several screening days. During these days they see hundreds of people and then gave them appointment cards to come back throughout the year for their surgery. This ship does not treat long term conditions and diseases, they focus on surgical procedures, such as cleft palate, esophageal dilatation (needed for those kids who have drank a caustic solution), tumor removals, eye surgeries, many others and even a few brain surgeries for those with encephaloceles. Its amazing to see what the surgeons are able to do here! There is also a dental and eye team that go out several times a week and see hundreds of people.

The second week in December we will leave from here and sail to Tenerife, Canary Islands. For the month of Janruary they also spend time dry docked in Tenerife. This is the closest port that this is possible to take place in. They used to take a month to go back to Europe and dry dock, re-stock and raise funding from surrounding areas, but it became costly and was not beneficial even with the fundraising. Since the ship is usually dry docked and under repairs, much of the crew leaves. The long term crew members take vacation and go home for holiday and the medical people usually leave since they hospital is closed. Then in February everyone returns and new short term people come and they sail to Benin for their 2009 outreach.

We will be sailing with Mercy ships in December and Kristin will be given a new job on the ship since the hospital will be closed. We will arrive to Tenerife around Dec 19th and fly out from there to Madrid, Spain on December 23rd. We are excited to spend Christmas with our friend Astin in Madrid! We will then be headed home via Amsterdam, Holland and arrive home to Seattle December 30th.

Hope this answers some questions .. So we have yet to sail and we are glad that we get to be a part of the sail this year!

Sadly, since it is the end of the year several surgeries have had to be canceled due to lack of supplies. I had two patients admitted one afternoon, only to have the doctor tell them that they had to cancel their surgery because we were out of prosthetic eyes. They were understanding and we prayed with them and were sent home. Many patients have exstensive wounds and they are remaining on the ship for wounds dressing changes. Please pray for quick healing and recovery for these people. One baby I am thinking of had a candle fall onto his bedding and caught the mosquito net on fire, his face is completely burned. They just did a surgery to repare his eye lids, but this child will need multiple surgeries and we all hope and pray that he does not get any type of infection.

Thank you for your prayers and support. Many of you have been a part of us coming here and hope you feel you have grasped a part of what Mercy Ships has been able to do.