From the Field

In early November, a group of 36 men and women from different villages throughout Tenegar graduated from the seven month Strategic Health Initiative Programme (SHIPS), a Mercy Ships programme designed to address a community's individual health needs though education.

The topics of the programme were issues that the community had chosen: malaria, malnutrition, diarrhoea, and HIV/AIDS, as well as basic teachings on hand-washing, clean water, and the use of latrines.  read more »

Mercy Ships has provided hope and healing to thousands of Liberians this year, helping them walk, see, talk - to lead normal lives again - with free medical treatment.

But there are some people whose conditions Mercy Ships cannot heal, often people who have cancer or other terminal illnesses.

For these patients Mercy Ships has a programme of Palliative Care, a health service focused on relieving the mental and physical suffering of terminally ill patients.  read more »

November marks the completion of the first Mercy Ships Biomedical Technicians programme, which equipped six Liberian hospital workers with the skills to install, maintain, and repair complex medical equipment at five of Liberia’s hospitals.

Developed and led by Carlos Amaral of Brazil, the project ran from March through October and included courses in electricity, electronics and medical equipment, and computer training.  read more »

During the last seven weeks of the 2008 Field Service, the Mercy Ships Hospital Services will focus on eye surgeries, maxillo-facial procedures, and some general surgeries such as removing goitres. The hospital is running five operating rooms, and the ward is now fully staffed to work at such capacity.

“This year we’ve been settling onboard the Africa Mercy,” says Ans Rozema, Patient Services Coordinator. “We’re still searching for how to use this place the best way.”  read more »

In early October mental health professionals gathered at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare’s Stakeholders Conference to assess Liberia’s mental health needs and to gather information for a national mental health policy.

Around 60 representatives attended from Liberian universities, non-governmental organisations working in mental health, and various government and ministry entities.  read more »

Ken Winebark, the Manager of Agricultural Programmes for Mercy Ships, had high praise for the Community Development Services agricultural work in Liberia. Ken came in late August in an advisory role to see, to learn, and to encourage. During his three-week stay on the Africa Mercy, he visited the projects at Tenegar and Royesville and has seen much that has impressed him.  read more »

At the United Pentecostal Church in Tubmanburg, the Church Empowerment Programme held a conference from 2nd to 4th September for over 300 church leaders from Bomi County. The main goal of the conference was to create unity amongst the churches in that area and to unify efforts in reaching out to the community. Reverend Chris Ampadu of Ghana was the main speaker of the three-day conference.  read more »

Mercy Ships is celebrating International Day of the African Child (16th June). International Day of the African Child pays tribute to the ten thousand courageous African school children, who marched the streets of Soweto in 1976 in protest against the poor quality of their education. It is also a day to promote the education, identity, welfare, status and other civil rights of children in Africa.  read more »

As surgeries begin onboard the Africa Mercy, the wards are once again filling up. The atmosphere is inviting, almost cheerful. Bandaged patients chat quietly with translators. A young woman scheduled to have a free surgery on her baseball-sized thyroid goitre joins in conversation. Nurses work efficiently in the background, administering medicine, checking patient vitals and smiling throughout their work.  read more »

About 40 hopeful women lined up dockside the Africa Mercy for vesico-vaginal fistula (VVF) screening. Surgeons reviewed each case to see which women were good candidates for free onboard surgery. The surgery would repair damage caused during obstructed labour that resulted in a child being stillborn, and the woman becoming incontinent.  read more »