Just Imagine

This week was a major milestone for Mercy Ships. On Saturday, the last patients were discharged from the hospital on the Africa Mercy in Dakar, marking the end of the first full field service since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Well done, AFM team!

Many crew who were on the Africa Mercy in the 2019-2020 field service remember a particular patient named Modou. His story was not memorable because he received surgery on the ship that year, but because he was one of the patients who did not.

Modou first came to Mercy Ships in 2019 with a condition affecting his ability to open his mouth, and consequently his ability to eat. He stayed at the HOPE Center for months, where he was on a special diet so that he could gain weight and be healthy enough to undergo his operation. Through all that time he spent waiting, Modou never stopped encouraging the other patients who would come and go, patients who arrived at the HOPE Center after him, and who would be admitted to the hospital before him.

The good news was, in 2020, Modou did reach his goal weight, and his surgery was scheduled! The bad news was that, before his surgery could take place, it had to be postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The premature end of the field service was difficult news to everyone on board at that time. But it was especially heartbreaking for patients like Modou, who had been waiting so long, had come so far, only to go back home without the physical transformation he desired, expected, and worked so hard for. That is a heavy burden to carry.

But God had not forgotten Modou, or any of the patients who were in that same situation, and neither had Mercy Ships. When the Africa Mercy was finally able to return to Senegal in 2022, the question was at the top of many crew's mind: What about the patients whose surgeries were cancelled in 2020? What about Modou?

The week that he was readmitted, my friends in Dakar texted me "Modou is back!" This time, nothing would stand in his way. The communications team was able to capture his admission day in photos. 

You normally see a smile like this AFTER surgery!

Welcome back Modou!

I love this photo of the Pre-Operative team celebrating with
Modou as he walked to the ship for his admission to the hospital!
Many of them also worked with him in 2019-2020.

Just a few weeks ago, the entire Mercy Ships community celebrated the news that Modou was recovered after a successful surgery, and was headed home. For all the challenges and curveballs of the first post-COVID field service, patient send-offs like his are a very tangible reminder to the crew of why we are all here.

"Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. 

He has planted eternity in the human heart, 

but even so, people cannot see 

the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end."

-Ecclesiastes 3:11

Once again, the communications team was able to capture the special day when Modou left the hospital.

Jessica, the Clinical Dietician, saying goodbye to Modou,
who she has looked after since 2019.

Take care, Modou!

Meanwhile in Tenerife, each week in the Equipping phase brings the Global Mercy one step closer to following in the AFM's footsteps. Now in November, the upcoming field service feels a little less far away and a little more "almost here"! 

Several members of the Hospital team, on top of their daily work, had the idea to start offering weekly tours of the hospital space to the crew who wanted a closer look at the work taking place. This initiative has been of great interest not only to the newer crew, who may not have seen the hospital yet, but also to crew who saw the hospital looking shiny and new in Rotterdam, and might be wondering, how much work could really be left?

Each time I go down to the hospital and see all the work that is still ongoing, it is a tangible reminder of the purpose behind all the waiting. The hospital is not yet ready for field service, but they are hard at work down there to make sure that it will be! Some major projects have included installing copper piping that will transport medical gas to the operating room, and configuring the ceiling pendants--the pieces that hang down from the ceiling and provide lighting, storage and other essential functions during an operation.

The ongoing pendant work in OR 4

Copper piping stored in one of the wards and ready to install!

As we walked from room to room, Senior Radiology Technologist Martha said to the group, "Just imagine, in a few short months, these rooms will be filled with patients and their caregivers." So we imagined together, the admission waiting room humming with anxious anticipation, the rehab room alive with patients gaining back their physical strength, and the wards buzzing with nurses, chaplains, and doctors as they walk with patients and their caregivers on the road to healing. Despite the mountain of work that still stands between now and the first field service, I so appreciate that the hospital team took the time to invite crew to come in and share in the vision of what we will soon undertake as a ship.

"For since the world began, 

no ear has heard and no eye has seen 

a God like you, 

who works for those who wait for him!"

-Isaiah 64:4

One of the wards, where beds are pulled away from the "bed head units" while they work on the wiring.

For its inaugural field service, the plan is for the Global Mercy to once again dock in Dakar, Senegal. Although it's unusual for Mercy Ships to operate in one location for such an extended period of time, the decision was made for a few reasons. 

First, since it will be the first time the Global Mercy hospital will welcome patients for treatment, we're anticipating that there may be a few "hiccups" that don't surface until then. The hope is that operating the new ship in a familiar location will be an advantage in that regard. 

Second, although 10 months is a pretty typical length of field service for Mercy Ships, that does not necessarily mean that there is no more surgical need at the end of that time! It's very common that we run out of space in our surgical schedule, but there are still patients in need of safe and affordable surgery, for whom there was simply not space. The extra time in Senegal will allow Mercy Ships to treat additional patients from within Senegal, but also from nearby countries, including the Gambia.

Until then, our focus turns first towards advent, Christmas, and the celebration of Emmanuel, God with us. Beyond that, our sights are set on Senegal, and we cannot wait to see what God will do through this team and this ship!

“No eye has seen, 

no ear has heard, 

and no mind has imagined 

what God has prepared 

for those who love him.”

-1 Corinthians 2:9