SUCCESSFUL SEA TRIALS!

See Steven waving - 2nd from the right! Andy DID get to go on sea trials as the ship is due back into Blythe today and his last exam is tomorrow! Priase God. When this picture was taken he was down in the Engine Room!

29 March 2007

PRESS RELEASE
(Issued on behalf of Mercy Ships UK)

WORLD’S LARGEST CHARITY HOSPITAL SHIP TO SET SAIL NEXT MONTH

The world’s largest non-governmental hospital ship, the Africa Mercy, has successfully completed ‘sea trials’ enabling it to sail on its inaugural trip to Africa.

The former Danish rail ferry, has been converted into a state-of-the-art hospital ship at a cost of over £30 million and will provide free healthcare and community development services to the poorest people of Africa.

The ‘sea trials’ took place in the North Sea under the supervision of Bureau Veritas – an international marine certification organisation that tests systems on ships.

All systems onboard were checked and the trials took approximately 24 hours led by the ship’s Captain and his technical crew.

The Africa Mercy will return to Blyth for another four weeks where hospital supplies and materials will be loaded. The ship is now free to start final preparations for its first field service in Africa where more than 400 volunteer crew will provide free medical care, capacity building, relief aid and community development programmes to the people of war-torn Liberia.

The Africa Mercy is the fourth ship to be operated by the international charity, Mercy Ships, which has provided more than £350 million worth of services since its inception in 1978.

Statistics include treating more than 200,000 people in village medical clinics; performing more than 26,000 surgeries and 162,000 dental treatments; and completing more than 800 construction, agriculture and water development projects.

Don Stephens, Founder of Mercy Ships, said: “Every ship has life savers, but this ship is a life saver in itself to thousands who wait for her arrival in Africa. Without this ship so many of the poorest of the poor face lives without hope. This huge white hospital ship docked in an African port is a strong symbol of hope.”

Judy Polkinhorn, Executive Director, Mercy Ships UK, said: “This is a momentous day for everyone involved in Mercy Ships. Hundreds of people have worked tirelessly on this project over the last several years and we owe each of them a huge debt.

“Our focus is now to complete the loading of supplies and volunteer crew over the next few weeks in order that she can start service in Liberia.”

All the crew on board the Africa Mercy will be volunteer professionals from around the world. Doctors, dentists, nurses, community developers, teachers, builders, cooks, seamen, engineers, and many others will donate their time and skills to the effort.

For further information on Mercy Ships, please visit our website at http://www.mercyships.org.uk/

Africa Mercy sails for Sea Trials

The Africa Mercy sailed down the River Tyne at 12.30pm on 28th for sea trials.

There was a lot of emotion from the shipyard as the mooring lines were being released. Captain Jurryan said a prayer over the P.A system for the sea trials which was great as there were so many of the sub contractors onboard, A real testimony of the faithful God we serve.

It took about 1 hour for the ship to reach the breakwater at the end of the Tyne and all those not sailing gathered in South Shields to wave them off.
She sailed off into the mist and fog (not great for photo’s!!).

MAJOR NEWS

BUREAU VERITAS (classification society) GIVE GO AHEAD FOR SEA TRIALS WEDNESDAY 28th MARCH!

This is major news for the Africa Mercy. Having been on the Tyne in shipyard since April 1999, almost 8 years later the Africa Mercy will pull out of the River Tyne on Wednesday 28th for Sea Trials. On completion of Sea Trials she will not return to shipyard. Instead she will head about 10 miles North and pull into a temporary dock in Blythe. We have a warehouse in this dock containing many supplies, furniture, crew possessions (much of our stuff is stored there ready for moving onto the ship).
We have many times wondered if this day would ever come, but it finally has :-) We expect the AFM to be in Blythe till the end of April at which point she will finally set sail for AFRICA! This is extremely exciting for us all as crew. Though there are no longer many who have been there and stuck with it as long as we have (just 3 families left who came to serve on AFM at the same time as us).
On arrival in Africa the AFM will pull alongside the Anastasis and the task of transferring crew, supplies, equipment & personal possessions will begin. This process is called "Transition". Our Programs here in Liberia, including surgeries will stop temporarily at the beginning of May. We hope to start up again around the end of June on board the Africa Mercy.

Please pray for:

• Successful Sea Trails
• Andy during his Chief Engineer exams on 27th & 30th of March (x2 three hour papers)
• PLEASE PRAY FOR US & THE WHOLE CREW DURING THIS VERY BUSY TIME. THOUGH EXCITING, THERE ARE MANY CHANGES AND ADJUSTMENTS TO BE MADE.

Andy & Steven back to the Africa Mercy

Yesterday, we waved goodbye once again to Andy. He has returned to the Africa Mercy. Do pray for him as he has two exams on the 27th & 30th March. We just received word, that Sea Trials for the Africa Mercy are scheduled for 28th. These normally take just a couple of days so it should fit nicely between his two exams. These trials mean taking the ship out onto open water and testing all the main systems. This is so exciting after nearly 7 years with the Africa Mercy. Providing all goes well the ship will receive it's certification and be delivered back to Mercy Ships. We will then have to move the ship immediately out of the shipyard to the holding dock in Blythe. Here we anticipate the ship being berthed for about 4 weeks for loading and moving all crew still in Newcastle before sailing to Liberia beginning of May with an expected arrival of middle of May! We can hardly believe it. It is the culmination of so much work :-)

The other development is that in the two weeks prior to Andy's departure, we learnt of the unexpected departure of two Engine Hands from the Africa Mercy. Personal circumstances meant both men had to return to their home countries. You may remember that Steven did his BST (Basic Safety Training) last year - a requirement for Technical Crew sailing with the ship. He also spent 3 months over last summer working in Engineering. He asked to return with Andy to fill one of those critical needs in Engineering. Not only would this be a big help in that department it also means Steven can get to re-connect with his brother, Matt and some friends, before sailing with the ship back to Africa. This transfer was approved and so Steven worked his last day in CDS on Thursday last week and left with Andy last night. We decided not to tell Matt. I had a phone call from Andy this morning saying they had arrived safely back in the UK and that Andy was meeting up with Matt tonight and Steven would surprise him by turning up unannounced with his dad. I wish I could be there to see the look on his face. I have no doubt it will be a HUGE surprise and precious re-union.

Our sail from Tema, Ghana to Monrovia, Liberia

On 26th February at 2:30am we finally pulled out of the dock in Tema, Ghana. We had been scheduled to leave at 4pm on 25th but encountered some last minute Engine problems. Our Engineers (Andy included) worked tirelessly through the night to rectify the problems and get us on our way.
We sailed for about 5 hours before stopping to bunker fuel. See picture below.

Later that evening we were off again and arrived safely in Monrovia at 1:30pm three days later on 1st March, singing the Liberian National Anthem as we pulled into the Dock. There was a large crowd waiting to welcome us including our Mercy Ships Advance Team, Church Leaders in Monrovia, Government Officials including the Vice President and other dignatories. There was a time of worship and celebration before the official welcoming speeches. We look ahead to a wonderful Field Service, reconnecting with old friends here in Liberia and pray that once again we can truly make a difference in this land that has suffered terribly during its 14 years of Civil War.