Mercy Ships

Mercy Ships is an international charity based non-governmental organization that operates the largest non-governmental hospital ships in the world, providing surgical care and surgical education in Africa, community development projects, community health education, mental health programs, agriculture projects, and palliative care for terminally ill patients. Its headquarters are in Garden Valley, Texas.

Mercy Ships has visited several countries with a focus on the countries of Africa for the past 30 years. The organization operates a two-ship fleet consisting of the '' Global Mercy'' and the '' Africa Mercy''.

History

Mercy Ships was founded in 1978 by Don and Deyon Stephens in Lausanne, Switzerland. A major inspiration for Mercy Ships founder Don Stephens was the work of the international hospital ship . The birth of Stephens' disabled son, John Paul, also inspired him to move forward with his vision of a floating hospital. A visit with Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India, further deepened his commitment to serving people in need.

The first ocean liner acquired was the ''Victoria'', which was purchased for its scrap value of US $1 million. The vessel was transformed into the hospital ship and sailed to Africa in 1982. The ship's 350-member crew included Mercy Ships founders Don and Deyon Stephens, who lived on board the ship with their four young children for ten years starting in 1980.

In 1983, the ''Anastasis'' (the Greek word for "resurrection") began operations in the South Pacific, then moved to Central America and the Caribbean Sea in the mid-80s. The ship moved on to Africa in 1991 and remained in service there until 2007. The final port of call for the ''Anastasis'' was Monrovia, Liberia.

Originally, Mercy Ships was a part of the Youth with a Mission (YWAM) family of Christian ministries, before becoming a standalone organization in 2003. The organization historically used retired ocean liners and ferries that had been transformed into floating hospitals. In 2021, however, its first purpose-built hospital ship, the '' Global Mercy'', joined the fleet.

Mercy Ships purchased the Norwegian coastal ferry MS ''Polarlys'' in 1994 and transformed it into the MV ''Caribbean Mercy'', a hospital ship that went to Central American and Caribbean ports. The ship offered berths for 150 crew. Over the course of several years, the ship was equipped with eye-surgery capabilities. On land, volunteers from the ''Caribbean Mercy'' also provided dental, orthopedic and healthcare services. The ''Caribbean Mercy'' visited 138 ports of call and remained in service until May 2005.

In 1983, the Canadian ferry formerly MV ''Petite Forte'' of CN Marine was donated to Mercy Ships to provide relief operations in the Caribbean. Initially named the MV ''Good Samaritan'', the ship was renamed to the MV ''Island Mercy'' in 1994. The 60-berth vessel remained in service until 2000 or the spring of 2001 before being sold as training ship Far East I. The countries it served included Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Guyana and Haiti. The ship also reached beyond the Caribbean with relief and medical operations in Guinea-Bissau, Western Samoa, the Tokelau Islands and New Zealand.

Since 2000, Mercy Ships has had the 16,500-ton vessel ''Africa Mercy'', which measures almost 500 feet long.

In 2007, the ''Africa Mercy'' made her official maiden voyage to Monrovia, Liberia, from the shipyard in England. In 2008, the ''Africa Mercy'' continued her service to Liberia, offering free surgeries, assistance in healthcare infrastructure development, and community-based preventive health care programs. More than 1,200 surgical procedures and 10,000 dental procedures were completed, along with community health projects such as HIV/AIDS prevention and construction of wells and latrines.

Early in 2010, the ship was docked in Lomé, Togo, for the 2010 field service. In August 2010, the ''Africa Mercy'' went into a shipyard in South Africa, where it was equipped with new, more efficient generators. In 2009, the ship was docked in Cotonou, Benin, from February to December, providing free surgeries and medical care. Mercy Ships also worked with Beninese citizens on agriculture and water development projects on the ground in Benin. Before the ''Africa Mercy'' arrives in port, flyers are distributed to alert the public to the ship's upcoming visit. According to Jonathan Eppley of the Big Rapids Pioneer, the ship must first get invited by "a developing nation with a stable government." Then the ship will dock and operate as a floating hospital generally for 8 to 10 months, then goes off to resupply and make ship repairs.

In 2019, the ''Africa Mercy'' docked in Dakar, Senegal, for a six-month field service. On February 1, 2022, the ''Africa Mercy'' returned to Dakar, Senegal with the goal to provide surgery to approximately 950 patients whose surgeries were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In February 2024, following a period of extensive refit and maintenance in South Africa, the ''Africa Mercy'' arrived into the port of Toamasina, Madagascar, to begin her next field service.

The new ship, the MV ''Global Mercy'', in partnership with Stena RoRo, finished construction and joined the fleet in June 2021. The ''Global Mercy'' is the organization's first purpose-built hospital ship and is the largest civilian hospital ship in the world.

In February 2023, the ''Global Mercy'' arrived in the Port of Dakar, Senegal, to begin her first surgical field service. In August 2023, the ''Global Mercy'' arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone for its next field service. More than 170 healthcare professionals across the surgical ecosystem received training. After a period of maintenance, the hospital ship returned to Sierra Leone in August 2024 to begin another 10-month field service.

In 2024, Mercy Ships announced its plans to expand its fleet with a new, purpose-built vessel.

Fleet

Current Fleet

Past Fleet

Mission

Mercy Ships is a predominantly Christian interdenominational missionary organization, describing their mission as "bringing hope and healing to the forgotten poor, following the 2,000-year-old model of Jesus". The organization treats all patients free of charge without regard to their religion, race, or gender.

Its volunteers have provided services and materials valued at over $1.85 billion. Mercy Ships has delivered services to more than 2.87 million direct beneficiaries and Mercy Ships volunteers have performed more than 117,000 free surgical procedures, such as cleft lip and palate, cataract removal, burn contracture release, and orthopedic and facial reconstruction.

Mercy Ships is a Better Business Bureau accredited charity.

Madagascar

Mercy Ships has conducted multiple medical missions in Madagascar since 1996, providing free surgeries and healthcare training. Major field services in 2014-2016 and 2024-2025 focused on surgical care, medical capacity-building, and hospital partnerships. Working with the Malagasy government, Mercy Ships aimed to improve medical access and infrastructure.

Sierra Leone

In December 2011, Mercy Ships signed on as a full partner to a Health Agreement with Sierra Leone, focusing on improving the country's principal hospitals. The agreement calls for Mercy Ships to focus on upgrading medical and surgical services, patient recordkeeping and the physical conditions of hospital buildings and infrastructure.

The organization's partner in Sierra Leone is the Aberdeen Women's Centre, formerly the Aberdeen West Africa Fistula Center. The Aberdeen Women's Centre is one of the few locations on the African continent offering obstetric fistula repair for women who have been injured during childbirth. Started by Mercy Ships with the Ministry of Health, Addax Foundation and other partners, the Fistula Centre is now operated by the Gloag Foundation.

After a period of maintenance in the Canary Islands, the ''Global Mercy'' returned to the Port of Freetown in August 2024 for another field service.

Republic of Congo

The Mercy Ships 2013 field service in Pointe Noire marked the first visit by a Mercy Ship to the Republic of Congo. Mercy Ships partnered with the country's Ministry of Health, and programs addressed requests by the authorities in the Republic of Congo to support continuing education opportunities for practicing professionals. Those included mentoring and training in nursing, anesthesiology, infection control, cataract removal surgery, basic surgical skills, trauma care, newborn resuscitation, palliative care, midwifery, and community health education. Mercy Ships partnered with local hospital infrastructures to help improve quality of care, teamwork and communication.

Guinea

In August 2018 Mercy Ships arrived in Conakry for the fourth time and stayed there for a ten-month mission.

Capabilities

Medical capabilities

Medical personnel on board the organization's hospital ships provide surgeries and healthcare to treat a wide range of problems, including cleft lip and palate, cataract, bowed legs (genu varum), burns and burn scars, dental problems and obstetric fistula repair for injuries sustained during childbirth. Many of these ailments are extremely severe because patients have had little prior access to medical care. In addition, people with disfiguring medical conditions have often been shunned by their communities, so medical treatment from Mercy Ships can also help relieve the stigma and isolation that they have experienced.

The lower deck of the ''Africa Mercy'' is equipped with five operating theaters, 82-bed recovery wards, a CT scanner, an X-ray machine and a laboratory.

On the upper decks of the ''Africa Mercy,'' the ship has 126 cabins that provide accommodations for more than 400 crew, including families, couples, and individuals. The ship is equipped with a day care center, an accredited academy for all grades through senior year of high school, a library, a launderette, a shop for groceries and sundries, a restaurant, a gymnasium, and a donated Starbucks cafe. A fleet of 28 vehicles travels with the ship, for use in Mercy Ship's land-based operations.

Meanwhile, the ''Global Mercy'' is 174 meters long, 28.6 meters wide and has space for 200 patients, six operating rooms, a laboratory, general outpatient clinics, dental, and eye clinics and training facilities.

Volunteer crew

During a typical year, the two ships will include more than 3,000 volunteers from 60 nations serving on board the fleet. About 200 African nationals also serve as day crew on the ship in any given port. The ''Global Mercy'' is the largest non-governmental hospital ship in the world, the ''Global Mercy'' has the capacity to accommodate 641 people on board, including crew and medical staff.

Mercy Ships offers short-term (from a few weeks up to a year) and long-term (more than one year) volunteer opportunities. Due to the nature of the ship, positions for surgeons, dentists, and nurses are often readily available, but jobs such as deckhands, carpenters, seamen, teachers, cooks, engineers, machinists, welders, plumbers, videographers, photographers, writers, electricians and agriculturalists are also available. Volunteer crew often serve as blood donors, since there is a high demand for donated blood due to limited space to maintain a blood bank on board.

References

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International charities
Health charities in the United States
Evangelical Christian humanitarian organizations
Hospital ships
Christian organizations established in 1978
Medical and health organizations based in Texas