"In the strong name of Jesus we pray"

On Thursday, 2 March, the Hospital was still empty of patients, but not for long. The crew took the opportunity to go down to the Hospital decks together to cover every space in prayer.

Prayer walk through the hospital the week before the start of surgeries.

On Sunday, 5 March, the first patients were admitted to the Hospital on board for their surgery the next day. One of them was a boy named Amadou, who was going to undergo an orthopedic operation to straighten a bowed leg. He would be the first patient to receive surgery on the Global Mercy.

It is tradition for the Chief Medical Officer to lead the crew in a prayer immediately before the start of the first surgery. At 9:00am on 6 March, the voice of the CMO, Dr. Sarah, and the CMO Emeritus, Dr. Gary, came on over the PA system throughout the ship, and Dr. Gary said a prayer that has been adapted and used in previous years, shared below. In their workspaces across the ship, the crew paused their work and bowed their heads together in prayer.

Merciful Father, 

You have called us from many tribes and nations, languages and cultures 

Both young and old, you have appointed each one of us to participate in your Kingdom work here in Senegal 

The OR team meeting before the start of surgeries.

Compassionate Christ, 

Let us see you in those with deformed faces and broken lives

Let us hear you in the grieving and the oppressed

Let us know you in the hungry and the vulnerable

Amadou and his mother boarding the GLM for admission.

Transforming Spirit, 

You whose indwelling presence brings renewal and restoration 

Flow through our hands and pour out healing 

Flow from our hearts and extend hope to the hopeless 

Flow through our lives with saving grace 

Flow through all we do and make others whole

Amadou after his surgery.

Eternal God, Creator, Redeemer, Comforter 

Touch and transform us 

Let your love grow strong and deep within us

Let your compassion fill our hearts and overflow to others through us 

And may your presence in us bear fruit of mercy, love and justice.

Until your world is changed 

And all creation is restored and made new. 

In the strong name of Jesus we pray

Amen

Amadou playing in the ward after surgery.

Photo credit for this post goes to photographers Tirsa Tapia and Elizabeth Brumley. Consent is obtained from patients and their caregivers before being photographed.

We Made It, Guys

Rainy skies, quirky old cars, and power lines.
For some reason this view captured my attention.

The months leading up to Christmas could feel long at times, but I always knew that when January came, I could blink and it would be over. It's true that this ship wasn't built just to stay in the "Equipping" phase forever, but all the same I'm going to remember this season fondly.

Whether fine-tuning a logistical puzzle in a focus group or spending the weekend ticking off another wonderful hike in the Anaga mountains, I feel we've done our best to use this time well.

After my last update, in early December, the Africa Mercy pulled in to moor beside the Global Mercy in the Port of Granadilla after completing a 10-month field service in Dakar, Senegal. This was the second time this year that the two ships have been side-by-side, but it didn't feel any less surreal than the first. The crews of both ships gathered on the sterns, national flags and hand-written banners in hand. Cheers and chants were exchanged, and when the AFM gangway was finally lowered, many hugs were shared.

On the inside, both ships were already decorated for Christmas, and we spent the next month sharing events across the two--Santa Lucia was sung on the Africa Mercy, gingerbread houses on the Global Mercy. The Africa Mercy hosted the Christmas Eve service, and the next morning, was Christmas worship on the Global Mercy. Sinterklaas visited the children (and children at heart) on both ships.

Worship and devotions with the deck department

After taking two weeks off to visit visit some dear friends in Benin, I returned to the Global Mercy in mid-January and hit the ground running with the rest of the crew... Well, as fast as we could run, but there was a slight problem. Granted, we had been praying throughout the Equipping phase that if there were problems that could affect the operation of the Hospital, that they would surface in Tenerife so that they could be dealt with before the Hospital welcomed its first patients. But what arose in January was something nobody could have anticipated.

What I can share here is that Mercy Ships detected a threat to our network, and our IT team quickly responded. It took some time to do a thorough assessment, ensure our network is safe, and bring our systems back online. We are making good progress, but suffice it to say that it was pretty disruptive, and as a result January did not look at all like the smooth runway into the field service that we had imagined.

Lots of goodbyes were said in December and January
leading up to our departure from Tenerife.

Among the more seasoned crew, there is a strong sense that there is more to the disturbance than just human evil. It's no surprise to us that the enemy of our souls would hate the "ships of help", as some patients in Senegal have called it. Just before we planned to bring the Global Mercy into service delivering hope and healing in a predominantly Muslim nation, there is bound to be unseen resistance.

"Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

1 Peter 5:8

Nobody could have predicted that particular challenge, but the good news is that at every turn, and with no small amount of sweat, our rebound seems to have gone better than anticipated, and we feel God's blessing in that.

Life rings signed by both crews were
exchanged by the ships' Captains.

At long last, the crews celebrated one last night together with worship and prayers over each other, before departing our sweet island home and setting sail, both ships side by side, and headed south--the Global Mercy to Dakar, Senegal, and the Africa Mercy for shipyard in Durban, South Africa. The story of our startup is one for my next blog post, coming soon. :)

Thank you so much for reading and following along. Your prayers are heard and your support is felt tangibly!

Worship and prayer with the crew of the Africa Mercy,
the night before our departure. In this picture, the AFM 
crew is in the center as the GLM crew prayed for them.

I'm leading a small group on board.
This is my view during prep time!

Chelsea, who was in charge of the team 
responsible for hiring our 270+ Senegalese
Day Crew, preparing for orientation.

Beds ready for the first patients!

In January, I got to help schedule and host a visit from our COO, Robert!
He was so excited to connect with every crew member.

A rainy and lovely hike with old friends.

Exploring La Laguna, one of the first cities to be settled on Tenerife.

Watching the World Cup on board was as nail biting as you can imagine!

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