"Some could not understand why I would give away my annual leave and pay my own way to do it. But there were some who thought I had become a saint because I was prepared to use my skills to help others," she says.
Kathy and Mike offered themselves as volunteers for two months with the international charity Mercy Ships onboard the Africa Mercy in Sierra Leone, West Africa, one of the world's poorest nations. The hospital ship, with six operating theatres, a 78-bed hospital, state-of-the-art facilities and a crew of more than 400, is docked in Sierra Leone for ten months this year. The ship provides a platform for volunteers from up to 40 nations to provide a range of health and development programs completely free of charge to the people.
Kathy worked as a pathology technician, while Mike worked as a member of the ship's housekeeping crew.
The couple had been considering for some years the possibility of using their skills to help others somewhere in the world. "One day a copy of the Salvation Army's War Cry was left on my table in the lunch room at work," Kathy says. "The Africa Mercy was pictured on the front cover and there was a full story inside about the work of Mercy Ships. That gave me a definite direction in the way we could move. It was an answer to prayer"
Mike agreed that Mercy Ships seemed to offer an avenue of service that suited their desires. "Kathy had upgraded her pathology lab qualifications, so we felt there would be a position for her in the ship's hospital. I agreed to do whatever work was required onboard, and most of my time during the two months was spent keeping public areas of the ship clean and tidy, helping unload containers in the ship's hold and sorting out stores. Housekeeping is one of those necessary background jobs, just like people in the galley, the dining room, the deck crew and everyone else who may not be in the medical front line. We were the people doing what we could to support those who were doing what they could for the people."
Mike says the experience did change some of their perspectives on life. "Living in close community with 400 people onboard could make a person insular and much removed from the real world outside the port gates if that aspect could be ignored. But there was Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, outside. Everything there moves at a different pace – the crowds, the chaos, the sights, the smells, the poverty. Such an experience can be overpowering but for the reality that we were there among a people with such limited resources as small parts of a much larger team offering some assistance to some of the people," he says.
Mike and Kathy have no immediate plans for the future. They say simply they will head back to normal employment, chew over the experience of serving in Africa, and wait for God to give directions for the future.
Mercy Ships is a global charity that has operated hospital ships in developing nations since 1978 providing free health care and community development services to the forgotten poor. Following the example of Jesus, Mercy Ships brings hope and healing to the poor. Working in partnership with local people, Mercy Ships empowers communities to help themselves. The result is a way out of poverty.
The emphasis is on the needs of the world's poorest nations in West Africa, where the world's largest charity hospital ship Africa Mercy, with a crew of more than 450 volunteer, provides the platform for services extending up to ten months at a time. Mercy Ships works on land-based projects in Sierra Leone in partnership with other organisations, while teams also work in several nations of Central America and the Caribbean. Mercy Ships Australia, one of 15 international support offices is based on the Queensland Sunshine Coast.
For more information, visit www.mercyships.org.au