HRH THE PRINCESS ROYAL VISITS WORLD’S LARGEST CHARITY HOSPITAL SHIP IN

The Africa Mercy was recently honoured to have Princess Anne and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence visit the ship.  She spent time with some of the Patients in the Hospital and with many of the volunteer crew.  The patient in the picture is recovering from surgery after a large disfiguring facial tumour was removed.  Check out the official Press Release below that gives details of this very special visit:

26 October 2011

PRESS RELEASE
(Issued on behalf of Mercy Ships UK)

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal today (Wednesday) visited the world’s largest charity hospital
ship in Sierra Leone as part of her tour of the West African country.  Accompanied by her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, The Princess visited the 16,000 tonne Africa Mercy which is run by the international Christian charity Mercy Ships. The charity provides free medical care and humanitarian aid to some of the world’s poorest people and is based in Stevenage, Hertfordshire in the UK.

The former Danish rail ferry which was converted in the shipyards of the Tyne and purchased for Mercy
Ships by Stagecoach co-founder Ann Gloag, is in its eighth month of a 10-month field service in Sierra
Leone, a country the charity has visited seven times over the last 19 years.

The Royal couple toured the ship’s hospital deck visiting the operating theatres and the ward where they met some of the patients currently being treated on board, as well as the medical volunteers who serve on the ship. The Africa Mercy is staffed by more than 1000 volunteers from 40 nations annually, with about 400
onboard at any one time. Her Royal Highness and the Vice Admiral met many of the British volunteers
during their visit, including Kirstie Randall from Devon who is the ward supervisor in the ship’s hospital.
The Royal couple were also shown the non-medical areas of the ship including the bridge and the on
board school, which educates the children of the volunteer crew. They also met some of the nonmedical
volunteers who ensure the day-to-day running of the ship, which is best described as a ‘small town’.

The volunteer crew who pay their own airfare and crew fees to cover the cost of their time onboard, range from the Captain, surgeons and nurses, to cooks, cleaners and engineers.  Judy Polkinhorn, Executive Director of Mercy Ships UK who is currently on the ship in Sierra Leone, said,“It is a tremendous honour for Mercy Ships that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence took time out of their busy schedule to visit the Africa Mercy.  “It was a real treat for the patients in the ward and it meant a great deal to all the volunteers onboard, especially those from the United Kingdom who were thrilled that The Princess chose to spend time visiting the ship and learning about the work of the charity.

“This is the Mercy Ships seventh visit to Sierra Leone and the team this year has worked extensively with the Ministry of Health and local hospitals to focus on capacity building and the training of local doctors, anaesthetists, nurses and other health professionals.”  Since February, Mercy Ships volunteer medical teams in Sierra Leone have performed more than 2,700 surgeries and 28,700 dental procedures and over the last 30 years, the charity has worked in more than 70 countries providing services valued at £530million and impacting about 2.9million people.  The international charity has treated more than 520,000 patients in village medical and dental clinics, performed more than 56,000 surgeries and completed over 1,000 community development projects focusing on water and sanitation, education, infrastructure development and agriculture.

Bambay - Agriculture Student & Cole Family Update

 Bambay is an extraordinary individual, whose life’s goal is “not to be a beggar.” This reflects the reality of life in Sierra Leone after their brutally violent ten-year civil war. The conflict devastated the people and left the country in shambles and poverty.

During the war, Bambay, his mother, and two younger siblings fled from their village and hid in the bush for a month. When they ran out of food, Bambay went back to his village to find something – anything – they could eat. He planned to return to his family that day, but it was late. So, he accepted an invitation to stay until the next morning. It was a disastrous decision.
During the night, the village was attacked by rebel soldiers. “You voted for this president!” they shouted. Bambay tried to explain that he was only 15 and couldn’t vote for anyone. But they wouldn’t listen. They chopped off both his hands and left him for dead . . . along with the other villagers who had been mutilated.

Later that day, he was found by a roving seller of goods and taken to a nun at a nearby church. She took him to a hospital and then nursed him back to health. While Bambay was in her care, she asked him what he’d do if he ever found the man who cut off his hands. “I would kill him!” said Bambay.
The nun began to plant the seeds of forgiveness into Bambay’s thinking. She told him how important it was for his future to relinquish the hate and anger that fueled his unforgiveness.

The nun also did what she could to prepare the young man for life on his own. She arranged a surgery that would split the hacked ends of both hands, allowing him to grasp things.

One day Bambay was out with his friends when he saw “Sewer Poison,” the nickname given to the man who had cut off his hands. He went after him and caught him, but couldn’t bring himself to kill the man. The seeds of forgiveness had been well-planted. His friends offered to kill the man for him, but Bambay wouldn’t allow it. The man pleaded for his life, and Bambay forgave him.

That forgiveness enabled Bambay to move on with his own life. He eventually met and married Mary, and today they have a seven-month-old baby daughter, Ann.

Today, Bambay is a trainee in the Food for Life Program that was started in Benin by Mercy Ships and Bethesda, another non-governmental organization. The goal of the program is to train people in organic farming methods and in leadership principles. These trainees will, in turn, teach others in their communities. In this way, the program is duplicating easily in Sierra Leone. It has the potential of transforming food-growing in the country, as it improves the financial status of those involved.

The Food for Life program is also partnering with City of Rest Rehabilitation Center’s Agriculture Therapy and Skills Training program. Bambay wants to be involved in using the program’s biblical concepts to help rehabilitate the mentally ill, as well as drug and alcohol addicts

Bambay is, indeed, a remarkable man who is achieving much, much more than his goal to “not to be a beggar.”

Family Update:
The 3 months we had with Steve here went by so fast and he is now back in the UK looking for work.  Please pray he find a job quickly.  We had a wonderful time with him.  It was so good to have him back in the family setting for this extended time.  We miss him and of course Matt too. 
Matt is almost half way through his Marine Engineering degree. He has completed his first 6 months of sea time and we got to see him for a week just prior to him joining his first ship in Houston and then very briefly for a couple of hours at Houston Airport when he disembarked to return to College. He is doing really well and really enjoying his training despite the heavy assignment workload.

Emma: Is doing well and is well into her first semester at College. The first year consists of core subjects and only next September will she actually begin the Nursing part of her training. She can’t wait to get this first year behind her.
Chris: Is working hard in preparation for the start of the Basketball season. He continues to do well and gets consistently good grades. He enjoys being involved in sport and the physical outlet this provides. At 6ft 6in he has overtaken his dad by 2 inches!
Josh: Has just come to the end of performance week of the Theatre Groups Fall Production of the hit musical Hairspray! It was a fun show with Josh in the role of Fender which involved lots of group singing and dancing. He shines on the stage and is set on pursuing Theatre for his future career path.

Andy and I: Just celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary and were blessed to visit New York for a long weekend in honor of this milestone in our marriage. We want to thank those who generously gave to help make this happen. We are so grateful.

Taken from the top of the Empire State Building

Severe Burns Patient - little Alberta

“Alberta loves dancing and singing gospel songs,” said Mariah of her five-year-old granddaughter. “She helps me shop, and when I do the dishes, she rinses them. She always wants to help.”


Since Alberta was eighteen months old, Mariah has raised her, allowing the child’s young mother to finish her education. Three years ago, Mariah was cooking over an open fire in front of her Liberian home when Alberta awoke from her nap. Still groggy from sleep, the little girl walked too close to the fire, falling near the cooking oil. It splashed over her left arm and leg, up her back and over the back of her head. The fire quickly followed. The little girl’s left arm was terribly burned, immobilizing its position at her side. Her leg, back and the back of her head were also severely burned and scarred.

For the next two years, Mariah searched in vain for someone who could surgically release Alberta’s arm so she could raise it above her head. The frozen arm caused much embarrassment for Alberta at her day care, where the children constantly taunted her and called her names.

Mariah is a member of the Eden Church in Liberia, where she coaches football (soccer) for a group called LACES. This group organizes teams for boys and girls, ages 10 and 11, teaching them about Christ through sports. The team members collected enough funds to send Alberta and Mariah to the Africa Mercy, a hospital ship where the volunteer plastic surgery team released Alberta’s burned arm.

Because burned skin and nerves were cut during the surgery, Alberta spent several weeks in recovery. An infection added more weeks of recovery time. But her bubbly personality helped her to make many friends among the crew, including the physiotherapy team that coached her through new exercises and the medical team that gave her post-operative care. Much of that care was painful, but most of the time she remained very brave, generously sharing her brilliant smile and even singing while the nurses applied new dressings. Such behavior is very rare among West African children.

“Sometimes she would fall asleep while I was changing her dressing,” said Nurse Becca Noland. “I love that girl. She’s amazing!”

“I am HAPPY!” said the five-year-old as she approached the end of her stay. “I can play and go to school!”
“She’s going to remember this. I will remind her repeatedly of everything she has seen here,” said Mariah. “It’s a miracle of God that she can have this surgery.”

A joyful Alberta can hold both arms way up, after successful surgery on the Africa Mercy.