A Glance into Happenings with Mercy Ships

There are so many different programs and outings happening on the ship. This is a snippet into some of the ones I have had a glimpse into. One of the programs on the ship is restoring life to ladies who have been often lost identity, been ostracized by family, lost a baby. Due to very long labors, days, they develop incontinence due to obstetric fistulas  Here they receive physical healing and hope. When they are healed and ready to return home, the ship has a DRESS CEREMONY. This is how it is described on the Mercy Ships site:  "Each woman received a new dress and was treated as a queen as she was prepared for the celebration. Women who once lived as outcasts now dance with renewed joy."

In this Dress Ceremony, the ward is packed with people from all over the ship. Balloons and streamers are hung and chairs are set in the center for the women being honored.  The women process into the ward to African drum music in their beautiful colorful traditional dresses and head wear. They are beaming. After a brief message, they are all given the opportunity to share briefly. They are then presented with a gift bag which contains the following: soap to remind them they have been washed clean by Jesus' blood, lotion to remind them they are a princess of the King as they are applying it, a mirror to look at to see the are beautiful because they were made in the image of God, and a small Bible with the New and Old Testament.  It was amazing to see first hand the physical and spiritual healing that occurs on the ship. I pray that God will continue to walk with them day by day as they begin a new life.

The HOPE CENTRE is the hospital outpatient extension. It is where the patients stay when they are discharged from the hospital, but are not ready to return home. Many of the plastics and orthopedic patients stay here for months. Due the home environment, it would be impossible for children in a cast or two (one on each leg) to even get to their house from the main roads. They would be unable to get on and off the ground, squat to go to the bathroom, or leave their house. The patients with wound healing from plastics would have a very difficult time avoiding infection. Here at they are able to sleep on bunk beds complete with mosquito nets, provided food, clean bathrooms with showers and toilets, transportation to and from the ship for their wound care, rehabilitation, and other follow up appointments. The families truly become a community as they often live there for months. Crew from the ship come some days bringing crafts and singing songs. Other times crew just pop in to play and talk to the adults and children. It was so nice to walk into the compound and have several hugs and be able to play with them. One of the adult patients I have been working with wanted to show me her bed and how she had hung the theraband to perform her exercises. It was nice to see them outside the port and simply being regular people rather than patients.

NUTRITIONAL AGRICULTURE PROGRAM This program was taking place outside of Dolisie (where I went last weekend).  The government had set aside the land for farming, but it was not being used properly. Mercy Ships was given the opportunity to use it for this program. The land is now ready and will continue to be maintained by some nationals. This Friday morning, I heard a report and saw a wonderful video showing the program from beginning to end.  These are some of the highlights I remember.  A team of three train nationals on organic sustainable farming. There were 19 weeks of training which included topics of composting, animal production, nutrition (making yogurt, soy milk and cheese), food transformation, communication for development (how to teach others at home), entrepreneurship. 25 were trained and the next few weeks will be followed up in their villages to see how their farming is going. 

Mercy Ministries also has weekly outings to several orphanages: one for boys only, one for babies, one for children with HIV and special needs. They also work weekly with senior centre, deaf school, prison ministry, and others. So many opportunities to serve others on and off the ship.