Mercy Ships
PO Box 2020
Garden Valley
Texas 75771
Phone: 903 939 7000
Mercy Ships is a charity operating hospital ships to help alleviate poverty and sickness in developing nations of the world. Mercy Ships is an international organization but it has its main operations center here in East Texas.
Mercy Ships was founded in 1978 and grew out from Youth With a Mission (YWAM).
Their mission is to bring hope and healing to the world’s forgotten poor. The reason for doing it – to follow the example of Jesus, who healed the sick, helped the lame walk, brought sight to the blind and who set the captives free. Like Jesus, Mercy Ships will help anyone, free of charge, without regard for race, gender or religion.
As the name suggests, this charity provides their services using hospital ships. There have been ships of various sizes traveling to different places in the past but now the main focus is on some of the poorest of the poor – those living in Africa.
The ship in operation now – the Africa Mercy is a 500 foot vessel with a large purpose-built hospital on board – with 6 operating rooms, intensive care, labs, Xray and CT scanner and beds for 78 patients. 480 volunteer crew can be accommodated on board. The Africa Mercy is like a little floating community – there is a bank, a laundromat, a school for children of essential workers and even a Starbucks café for crew use!
Currently the ship is in Togo, West Africa. Recent port visits have included: Sierra Leone, Liberia, Benin, Ghana and the Gambia.
The surgeries performed include cleft lip and palate repair, tumor removal, cataract surgery, facial reconstruction and various orthopedic procedures. There is also a VVF program which repairs injuries sustained in childbirth and resolves incontinence for women. The need for this is so great in West Africa – due in part to the lack of availability of Caesarean sections for women in obstructed labor, that Mercy Ships started a dedicated clinic for this problem in Sierra Leone. There is an off -ship dental team providing much needed dental care too.
In addition to the surgeries, a great deal of training and education goes on amongst the patients, local medical workers and leaders in local communities. This is primarily health and hygiene related but various ship projects aim to tackle some of the underlying causes for disease – like poverty, malnutrition and water born diseases. This has included providing wells and latrines, immunization clinics, agricultural projects and partnering with locals to build homes, schools and health facilities.
Mercy Ships needs volunteers from all walks of life to become crew on the ship. Many come for a few weeks, some stay for years. The support side of the organization just north of Tyler also needs dedicated helpers to fundraise and equip the ship for service. Some of the staff at the office are paid but others raise support from individuals and churches.
Find out more at www.mercyships.org