"There is such a great need here for work that is changing people's live," says Deb Louden.
Both are nurses from Toowoomba serving onboard the world's largest non-governmental hospital ship in Benin, West Africa, one of the world's poorest nations. Andrea has returned from six weeks service as a volunteer working in intensive care, the ward and post-anaesthetic care unit. Deb has been onboard since early April working as a ward nurse and is not due home until November. As with all Mercy Ships volunteers, the two nurses along with more than 400 volunteers onboard at any one time paid their own way to go and also paid crew fees to help offset running costs of the ship.
Andrea heard about Mercy Ships from the family of friends who had served with Mercy Ships, and Deb first read of the work in a brochure she picked up from a Mercy Ship stand at the Toowoomba Easterfest (formerly the Australian Gospel Music Festival). "That was a number of years ago," she says. "I had to complete my nursing degree first and gain two years of work experience before I was accepted," Deb says.
"I grew up loving everything medical, after spending a month in hospital as a patient. It was then I decided that nursing was the profession for me. To serve as a volunteer on the hospital ship Africa Mercy with its six operating theatres and 78-bed hospital was something I had wanted to do for so many years."
"I have been so blessed to have been born in a wealthy country. I was actually born with clubbed feet, a problem that was easily fixed with casts when I was six weeks old. If I had been born in a country like Benin, like so many children here, I could have been walking on the sides of my feet for many years, or even for all of my life. It is such a delight being in the ward with patients as they recover from surgery, getting to know them, doing arts and crafts with them and playing games. We pray for miracles, because sometimes that is all we can do. And sometimes we are blessed with miracles," says Deb.
Andrea says she wasn't quite ready to head for West Africa with Mercy Ships as quickly as it all happened. "I had worked in Zambia in a home for street children and assisted on a medical mission to a remote part of that country. I then looked at Mercy Ships as a well known organisation with a good reputation, and had planned to offer myself for service in 2010. But two weeks after I sent my application off, Mercy Ships asked me to consider coming in six weeks time because of a shortage then of nurses. I thought it would be too difficult to organize, but God worked it all out, including my job, finding a replacement housemate, and deferring my university study on international health."
"In Benin it doesn't much matter how sick you are or what your needs for surgery are. Or whether you are dying or having a baby. If you don't have money, you are not able to get medical care. That is why the work being done by Mercy Ships is so important. Volunteers from around the world provide a range of medical and community development services, all aimed at bringing hope and healing to the needy poor."
"When I started my nursing career, I had a passion for working in the area of women's health. Now after working with surgeons carrying out repairs on obstetric fistulas resulting from prolonged or difficult childbirth, I really would like to become a midwife. Then I could teach women the importance of seeking assistance with pre-natal care, birthing and post-natal care. There is such a need across Africa among women who have become incontinent, ostracized and shunned by family and community. I hope to be able to return to Africa to help such women," she says.
It was also working with women following obstetric fistula repair surgery that Deb Louden described as among the highlights of her time onboard. "When the women become 'dry' following surgery each is given a new set of clothes to signify a new start to life. They join in a dress ceremony before leaving, and it is wonderful to hear the joyful voices, the banging of drums, and to see the joy on their faces. I feel the joy in their hearts for the healing that has taken place in their bodies and hearts, and to realise they are able to return to normal life and be accepted back into their communities."
"For some time I have felt that materialism is taking over Australia and the western world. I wish there could be a way to get out of it, or at least to do something about it by not conforming and buying every little thing I want but do not need. In Benin, the people have very few possessions but are happy with what they have. I hope to be able to continue with this way of thinking, and also to share that message when I return to Australia," Deb concludes.
Mercy Ships is a global charity that has operated hospital ships in developing nations since 1978. Following the example of Jesus, Mercy Ships brings hope and healing to the poor, mobilizing people and resources worldwide. The emphasis is on the needs of the world's poorest nations in West Africa, where the hospital ship Africa Mercy 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 14 international support offices is based on the Queensland Sunshine Coast. www.mercyships.org.au