The last time Catherine Conteh saw the deeply familiar smile in front of her in Freetown, it was under dramatically different circumstances. Fresh off the plane from Australia on Sunday, Catherine arrived on the dock beside the Global Mercy where she was greeted by Aly Hogarth-Hall...
At the age of 27, nurse Lizzie Chitty quit her job at Nottingham University Hospitals and headed off to volunteer on board a charity hospital ship in the Republic of Congo. She had heard of international charity Mercy Ships the year before when she saw one...
When plumber Chris Milward volunteered onboard the hospital ship Africa Mercy he called himself a brain surgeon – and it’s nearer to the truth than you might think. Chris from Loughborough said: “Inside all of the toilets, like in an aeroplane, there’s a vacuum flush and people...
Around 100 years ago, Rachel Buckingham’s grandmother became a doctor at a time when some universities in the UK still barred women from qualifying as physicians. Little did Dr Muriel Griffiths from Cardiff, Wales, know that she would inspire her descendants as she headed off to...
Dr Charlotte Polle-Kaliti is a pioneer. She was the first person from her community to go into medicine, becoming an obstetrician and gynaecologist, then a fistula surgeon. Out of 11 fistula surgeons in her home country of Kenya, she is the only woman. In the years...
Just months after watching a current affairs programme on TV, mum of two Martha Rodriguez quit her job, sold her house and car and headed to the Congo. She told us why – 8 years later – she is still volunteering for Mercy Ships. Watching America’s...
After spending her entire working life as pharmacist in the UK, Gillian Timm from Wales, decided that she would end her career with a one-off challenge of a lifetime. At the age of 61, the mum-of-two felt she was being called to volunteer on a hospital...
Ghanaian-born Mercy Ships volunteer Christabelle Brimpong passionately believes in the vision of Mercy Ships. After volunteering onboard, she now wants to spread the word as a speaker. But what makes a volunteer, volunteer? For everyone who volunteers, the desire to do so is a deeply personal...
You can combine personal growth with travel while transforming lives if you volunteer for Mercy Ships - like 19-year-old Teddie Ling-Hall. Like many teenagers, Teddie Ling-Hall wasn’t entirely sure what to do next. He was 18 and was looking for something that would satisfy his thirst for...
Now they’re using their wedding to raise more money for the charity that brought them together Neither Irene Blotsky nor Nick Granger-Brown was looking for love. But as the Canadian and the Brit boarded the same plane to West Africa from Belgium, then the same transport to...
Transforming and saving lives is at the heart of why volunteers give their time and skills to Mercy Ships – but many discover they receive so much in return. This Volunteers’ Week we want to celebrate our incredible volunteers for the lengths they go to in...
Katie Henderson is the very definition of an international nurse. The 25-year-old from Nairn, Scotland, is just one of the international nurses aboard charity hospital ship, the Africa Mercy, docked at Dakar in Senegal, West Africa. In fact, she is just one of a varied crew made...
Alastair Edwards rose from able seaman to the third officer and then the second officer during ten months volunteering onboard the hospital ship the Africa Mercy. He looks back at his rewarding but demanding time in the second instalment of his Mercy Ships journey. Alastair Edwards...
Nurse Rachel Greenland from Devon is preparing to volunteer for Mercy Ships for the 15th time. But what keeps her coming back? In the second instalment following what inspires her returns, Rachel tells us in her own words what makes volunteering so worthwhile for her...
Nurse Rachel Greenland has volunteered onboard Mercy Ships hospital ships for 20 years, using her expertise to help answer patients’ prayers: “Many people have prayed for someone to help them for years – being part of the answer to their prayers is incredible.” Next month,...