18/11/2010 Speaker Meeting Sarah BALSER - Mercy Ships
T T
here are 8 Land Rovers among the many other forms of transport on
board. There are eight decks, and the ship is 498ft. long. (I missed the tonnage of the vessel but it is very heavy, it could have been something like 16,000 tons or more).
he ship is truly a floating community. Among the many facilities there is an
International Rotary Lounge, a school for pupils aged 4 to 18 (many of the volun- teers take their children with them), a bank, shops and even a Starbucks!
A C
s she was coming towards the end of her talk Sarah wanted to tell another
story which so highlights the work of the Mercy Ships and how it can impact on people‘s lives.
eline was 4 years old, and was suf- fering from congenital cataracts. She
struggled at school, fell down steps, and was generally becoming isolated. Eventu- ally the teacher asked her parents if she if she could be taken out of school as she had heard about the Mercy Ship coming to Benin. Despite the difficulties of travel she was taken to the ship to join the very many people waiting to be seen on the ‗screening‘ day. As many people are seen as possible and are given a 90 second evaluation. Celine was seen, and in a short time she received treatment to remove her cataracts and she was ready to go home next day. How that girl‘s life and the life of her family was changed!
N
ot everyone can be helped, but pal- liative care and advice will be given.
Those who can be helped are given an ap- pointment and last year, in Benin, 67,000 procedures were carried out. The work carried included training, health and
agricultural programmes such as digging wells and impacted on the lives of some 100,000 people.
T
o conclude, Sarah related one more story about Benedict. He was a 10
year old boy who was born with clubbed feet. He had been rejected by his father, and was looked after by his sister. The condition was treatable but obviously they could not afford to pay for an operation. When the sister heard that the Mercy Ship was coming to Liberia, her homeland, she managed to get the fare to take him to the ship. He had the operation on one foot and two years later when the ship returned he had the operation on his other foot.
S E
arah‘s talk was truly inspirational, and she highlighted it with some video
clips. As she said, ―If a picture paints a thousand words a video can paint so many more‖
ditor’s comment. I hope I have given you some idea of the powerful
message that Sarah conveyed and I apologise for any inaccuracies. The talk was so interesting it was difficult to listen and write notes at the same time. If this story has whetted your appetite for more information I would recommend a visit to the web site where you watch video clips and read about the activities of the Mercy Ships.
15
Story supplied by George Larkey Photos from
www.mercyships.org.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54