18/11/2010 Speaker Meeting Sarah BALSER - Mercy Ships
W T T T T Mercy Ships
hen Sarah Balser visited our club on the 18th November last year we were
treated to an articulate, interesting and passionate talk about the way Mercy ships operate and change the lives of the many people that are treated.
he Mercy Ships organisation is based in the USA, but here in England we do
have one small office which runs Mercy Ships UK. The charity is a global Christian Charity which draws volunteers from all over the world and from all ranges of society.
he African Mercy has a crew of 450 plus, which is made up of people
offering a vast range of skills including doctors, surgeons, dentists and nurses, to name but a few. All volunteers give their services free, and some dedicate their whole lives to this work.
he ships operate mainly in West Africa. All the volunteers live on board the
ship but not all the surgery and treatment is on board. Where it is possible some of the work and the training is done on the land. Not all the work is concerned with medical situations; in some cases the work may be about training programmes to help local farmers improve their infrastructure and lives.
here are so many aspects of our own lives which we take for granted, and it
is so easy to assume that all people have those things which we take so much for granted. The organisation responds to the needs of the people with projects such as those which help to improve the water provision and try to overcome the lack of sanitation.
C S
ertain medical conditions like a cleft palate can have a serious impact on a
family and their interaction in society. Thousands die from diarrhoea each year, so help is given to educate the people and get them to change their ways. In Sierra Leone, for example, life expectancy is about 49 years with only 4% of the population reaching the age of 60!
arah related several stories which were, frankly, just amazing. In Benin a man
was treated for what was thought to be a tumour. When he was being operated on it was discovered that in fact he had the tip of a knife embedded in his head. It had been there for some 18yrs. However, during the operation the power went off and the doctors had to finish off by the light of a mobile phone!
T
he equipment and conditions on the ship are state of the art and as good as
anything that you could find in the National Health Service here. There are eight operating theatres with 100 bed wards (I believe there was more than one) and treatment is available for the whole spectrum of medical conditions. The ship is self contained, and ready to leave at very short notice if there is any hint of danger in this often volatile part of the world.
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