‘I am being Jesus’ hands and feet’

One hospital ship. Four hundred volunteers aboard. Two million people helped in 70 of the world’s poorest countries.

This, in short, is the story of Mercy Ships – a Christian charity which has been bringing free healthcare to the world’s forgotten poor for more than 30 years.

For the last year Miriam Reeve, a pharmacist from Every Nation Church London, has been part of the Mercy Ships story.

Miriam, 27, has traded her job as resident pharmacist at Charing Cross hospital in Hammersmith, west London, for a post at the dispensary aboard the Africa Mercy – the world’s largest non-governmental hospital ship.

Docked at the West African port of Cotonou, Benin, for most of 2009, the ship houses six operating theatres and 78 patient beds.

Over the course of the year, about 7,000 people will be operated on the ship to cure conditions such as facial tumours, cleft palates and cataracts that cause blindness.

These conditions often cause the sufferers to be cast out by their community. Yet in many cases the patients can be cured by a simple 30-minute operation.

It is their stories of change that inspired Miriam to join Mercy Ships in September 2008.

“I read about the lives that are impacted by life-changing surgeries and by people loving them and showing them Jesus,” she said.

“It seemed like the perfect blending of using the medical skills and qualifications that God has enabled me to have, and having the opportunity to serve and be His hands and feet to show love to people.”

Miriam first heard of Mercy Ships more than four years ago, while she was still studying at Welsh School of Pharmacy in Cardiff. However, at the time she was unaware that they needed pharmacists.

The job was there, but I didn’t see it, evidently that was not the right time and I needed to do some growing and changing before I was in the right place to go.”

Every Nation was “vital” to that growth in many ways, Miriam said. “The friends I made, serving on the Hi team [the children’s ministry] and my connect group – all were a huge part of my growth during my years in London.”

She joined the church after coming to the capital to work at Charing Cross Hospital.
“I found friends that I can do life with, who encouraged and challenged me in my faith and continue to do so.

But by 2007 Miriam had come to a crossroads in her job. At the same time, she found at that Mercy Ships did in fact need pharmacists.

“My connect group cheered me on as I asked for direction, applied [to Mercy Ships] and was accepted to serve.”

However, the ship only needed her to start a year later, in September 2008, as the pharmacist post had already been filled until then.

The extra year enabled Miriam to save up all her fees to live aboard the Africa Mercy. (Staff aboard the ship does not get any salary. They have to pay about £360 a month toward their own living costs.)

Today Miriam is grateful for her time of preparation.

“In my job I have never felt so stressed and so out of my depth and so desperately needing God every minute of every day.”

Add to that having to live your life out in front of 400 people, most of whom are strangers because of the incredibly high turnover; being far from your family while they go through struggles; and cultural differences, both on ship and off ship.

“I am learning that the way I am used to is not always right!”

But there are also the rewards. On screening day, shortly after the Africa Mercy’s arrival in Cotonou, long queues of patients snaked outside the port. More than 2,500 people received appointments for surgery.

“It was a fantastic opportunity to see and be part of the bigger picture of what we do as an organisation – to see how many people we can help. To really see God move.”

In fact, it has meant so much to Miriam that she has signed up for another year aboard the Africa Mercy.
Only this time she does not have any savings to pay her crew fees – she has to trust God for that.

“Now God is asking me to take the biggest leap of faith I’ve ever taken and trust Him to provide for me financially.”

A STORY FROM THE AFRICA MERCY

Now able to see, Celine’s steps are sure

Four-year-old Celine was born with congenital cataracts in both eyes, but she recently had them removed onboard the Mercy Ship in Cotonou. During the first few hours after the bandages were removed, it was obvious that the child was unaccustomed to such intense colour.

Since Celine was a baby, her father Honoré had wanted to get help for her. He could not afford to pay £220 for surgery on her eyes. As a tailor, he had much competition from the many other tailors in Benin.

Because of her cataracts, Celine struggled in school. “When she went to school the first day, during break time, she fell down the steps,” Honoré said. “I felt so sad when I would see her trip and fall. At school, she stayed quietly in a corner because she could not see.”

Later the teacher asked Honoré to take the struggling child out of the school.

“If she can go to school, she can be something,” Honoré said. “But if she couldn’t see, I feared that she would not have a job – or a future. It would be difficult for her to find a husband and to make a life.”

Then Honoré heard that Mercy Ships were coming to Benin and offering free eye operations. He began to regain hope. To make sure he would know where to go, he even rode his bicycle to the port before the ship even arrived.

On the main screening day father and daughter queued along with thousands of patients to see a Mercy Ships doctor.

They got an appointment for surgery, and on a hot March day, Celine boarded the Africa Mercy with the clouded lenses that kept her from seeing the world around her.

Dr. Glenn Strauss removed both cataracts. The next day, after the dressings were removed from Celine’s eyes, Celine stared down at her feet. She examined a toy locomotive given to her by staff, tracing a black line along its side with her finger.

She eyed people suspiciously, but unlike before, with alertness. When she left, she could see the stairs in front of her, and her steps were confident as she walked down the gangway.