Mercyships's blog

The Mercy Ships Dental Team recently travelled to Lokossa, Benin, in order to run a two-day dental clinic at a nearby refugee camp.

The camp of Agame was formed in 2005 to accommodate Togolese refugees who fled neighbouring Togo shortly after violence erupted during elections.

Agame became home to more than 12,000 refugees, most of whom had lost all their possessions in fleeing the escalating hostility. The population has since decreased to around 3,000, with many of the refugees either resettling in Benin or returning to Togo.  read more »

Every day Jean Claude Mouditou leads thirty men and women, equipped with machetes and tall rubber boots, into the fields of the recently constructed Bethesada Community Development Agriculture Training Centre in Hévié, Benin. 

Jean Claude is running a three-month agriculture training programme, “Food for Life,” which teaches farmers organic, agricultural skills in nutrition and crop production.   read more »

Ann Gloag OBE, co-founder of the transport company Stagecoach, and Trustee of Mercy Ships UK, received a humanitarian award at a gala dinner held at the United Nations

The National Council of Women of the United States, a U.N. affiliate, chose Ann Gloag to receive its inaugural Susan B. Anthony Humanitarian Award, named after the only woman to appear on a U.S. coin and one of America’s most famous human rights pioneers.   read more »

Mercy Ships UK has launched its new range of Christmas cards for 2009 which can be purchased online to raise support and awareness for its work in Africa.  read more »

A British Anaesthetist who has volunteered in Africa more than 20 times in the last 18 years has received a top honour from The Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain & Ireland.

The ‘Pask Certificate’ has been awarded to Scottish-born Doctor Keith Thomson, a consultant anaesthetist at the Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospitals Foundation Trust, in recognition of his volunteer work with Mercy Ships.  read more »

The Africa Mercy, the world’s largest charity hospital ship, is now performing up to 40 free cataract surgeries every day, using a procedure that takes just five minutes to restore sight to some of the world’s poorest people.

The Africa Mercy is thought to be one of only three locations around the world using manual small incision cataract surgery (MSICS) on a daily basis. The procedure enables small wounds to heal faster than a conventional incision meaning patients do not need to wear spectacles after surgery.  read more »

Ophthalmic Surgeon, Richard Newsom (46) from the New Forest, will be attending the Southampton Boat Show this year but not because he is buying a boat.  Instead he is joining  Mercy Ships, which is exhibiting at the show for the first time.

Richard volunteered onboard its ship, the Africa Mercy,  in Liberia last year for two weeks and was overwhelmed by the facilities onboard and the selfless volunteers that give up their lives to help the needs of others.   read more »

Billy Walsh (22) from Youghal in Cork has recently returned from volunteering with Mercy Ships, after playing his part to help doctors provide free medical and humanitarian care to the world’s poorest people.

Third Officer Billy, came across the Africa Mercy, the world’s largest charity hospital ship, while working in Benin on a container vessel.   read more »

In the city of Abomey, 81 miles north of the port of Cotonou where the Africa Mercy is currently docked, is an orphanage called the House of Hope. 
 
In February 2009, construction of the House of Hope came to completion. A one hectare piece of land was donated by the mayor of Abomey to Pierre Christ, a board-member of Mercy Ships Switzerland.  read more »

Mercy Ships has held its first Church Leaders Conference in Cotonou, Benin, at the Hall des Arts Conference Centre.  Over 350 church leaders attended the conference, which presented how the Church can be an instrument for practical change in West Africa.  read more »