FAMILY VALUES — AN ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE IN


6 SEPTEMBER 2021 Volunteers to bring hope and healing


Finance & legal 37


As Mercy Ships gets set to launch the world’s largest purpose-built civilian hospital ship, doubling volunteer opportunities on board its fl eet, one couple who volunteered on board share their life-changing experience


An inspired decision by Flo to


introduce a pack of cards saw the two bond. Flo said, “After a couple of


rounds, more people on the ward wanted to join in and soon we had everyone playing.” Ian, who now volunteers for Mercy


sat next to someone who’s the most prominent surgeon in their fi eld and you just wouldn’t know it. Status didn’t matter; it was a level playing fi eld. Without the housekeepers and the bakers, the fi rst offi cers and elec- tricians, the teachers and reception- ists, the hospital ship doesn’t work.”


LASTING IMPACT T e experience left a lasting impact on the couple, who saw it took a whole village to make miracles happen. Ian said, “I’ll never be the same


A decade after retiring, grand- parents from Buckingham proved it’s never too late to fulfi l lifelong ambitions — and transform lives — when they volunteered with charity Mercy Ships. At 70 and 67 years old, respectively,


Ian and Flo T ornton packed their bags, kissed their four grandchil- dren goodbye and headed to West Africa for three months on a calling Flo had fi rst felt 30 years before. Since


1978, Mercy Ships has


been on a mission to support healthcare systems in the world’s poorest nations. Globally, two out


of three people lack access to safe, aff ordable surgery. It was during a family trip to


London they visited a former Mercy Ships hospital ship, the Anastasis. As a nurse, Flo had wanted to volun- teer but family commitments made it impossible. As pensioners, the calling was reig-


nited, and the pair decided they still had the stamina needed to volunteer. Retired baker Ian said, “I thought


my job was done. My family was grown up and were self-suffi cient. I was retired. T en suddenly there was this window of opportunity. I never


thought they needed me, I thought, ‘I’m just a baker!’ But a baker was just what the


ship needed, alongside an army of everything from teachers to techni- cians, plumbers to paediatricians. T ey set off for the Africa Mercy the


while ship was docked in


Conakry, Guinea as baker and housekeeper. Flo could not volun- teer as a nurse, after not practicing for some time, but was delighted to work in wards and support patients as housekeeper. Ian said, “You leave your ego at the bottom of the gangway; you can be


again. I just wish I’d gone sooner.” “Being a baker is a young man’s


game,” laughs Ian, but he said it was worth it when he saw the patients waiting for surgery. One memorable experience was when Flo got


involved with the


Patient Befriending Programme and was paired with a patient who’d been ostracised by her community because of her condition, obstetric fi stula, caused by a complication during childbirth. Miriam had been sleeping rough for many years and came to the ship with no family or support.


Ships in the UK from home, speaking about his experiences to inspire others, added, “It’s never too late and you won’t regret it.” Volunteering opportunities are


vast and set to increase – in 2022, the charity will more than double its impact with new hospital ship the Global Mercy. To make Your Mark contact volunteering@mercyships.org.uk


mercyships.org.uk


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