MOBILE HEALTH FACILITIES JOHN CLYNES – ENGINEER, THE AFRICA MERCY
A ‘first world’ facility with an expert crew
Take a 150 metre ship and turn it into a fully equipped ‘first world’, state of the art hospital with accommodation for 450 crew from around the world providing free, life saving surgical procedures and you have the amazing vessel, the Africa Mercy.
The international charity Mercy Ships is dedicated to bringing hope and healing to the poorest of the poor and volunteer crew from around the world are dedicated to the cause. A 50 strong team of deck and engineering staff keep the whole operation afloat. The Mercy Ship stays in one country for 10 months of the year, then sails away for maintenance (usually undertaken in the Canary Islands) and returns to another country for her next season.
My wife Sue, an operating theatre nurse and I, an engineer, joined the crew for two and a half years full time, but volunteers can join for as little as a month depending on their role. There are numerous positions to be filled, which include the 150 strong surgical/hospital team, lab technicians, physiotherapists, hotel, housekeeping, stores, galley, dining and even teaching staff. There are families on board who use the school academy. Being a husband and wife team with your own cabin is very rewarding or you could join as an individual with other shipmates from around the world. It was very humbling to see the
depravity of humanity and how some of the people from developing nations live a life of subsistence. To have a medical condition that requires treatment can be a death sentence. Bringing hope and healing to some of these people is truly an amazing thing to see from both their
Mercy Ships
John and Sue Clynes volunteered engineering and operating theatre skills to bring essential surgery to Africa’s forgotten poor.
perspective and ours. Instead of pouring in misdirected monetary aid, we need to be hands on, sleeves rolled up, engineering a better way of fighting the inequalities of life. We cannot right all the wrongs, but we can do something to restore their dignity as fellow human beings. Life on board ship is great, belonging to a community with purpose.
John Clynes
John Clynes is an engineer on the Africa Mercy. John has an engineering supply background. He spent 20 years with SKF Bearings, including six years as branch manager in Christchurch, five years as national sales manager and five years as World
Vision’s customer services manager in Auckland. John also spent 10 years with Bay Engineering Supplies in Mount Maunganui. John’s involvement with Mercy Ships includes two and a half
years on board Africa Mercy as fourth engineer and engineering stores manager, 10 months’ field service in the Congo and two field services in Madagascar including dry docking in The Canary Islands and Durban, South Africa. On his return to New Zealand, John worked at Supply Services Ltd and more recently with The ABD Group as an engineering supply specialist.
IFHE DIGEST 2019 IFHE
Mercy Ships is a faith based charity that delivers free, world class healthcare services, capacity building and sustainable development aid to those without access in the developing world. Founded in 1978, Mercy Ships has performed more than 84,477 life changing or life saving operations such as cleft lip and palate repairs, cataract removal, orthopaedic procedures, facial reconstructions and obstetric fistula repairs. Services have directly benefitted more than 2.56 million people in 70 nations. Every year about 1000 volunteers from up to 40 nations serve with Mercy Ships. Professionals including surgeons, dentists, nurses, healthcare trainers, teachers, cooks, seamen, engineers and teachers donate their time and skills. Mercy Ships Australia, one of 16 international support offices, is based in Caloundra, Queensland. Mercy Ships will be bringing another purpose-built hospital ship into service within the next few years and professional volunteers are needed to fill the additional positions. To find out more, please get in touch. For further information go to
www.mercyships.org.au
At 16,000 tonnes, Africa Mercy is the world’s largest civilian hospital ship.
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