Mercy Ships

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The Mercy Ship MV Anastasis in Cape Town Harbour

Mercy Ships is a global charity engaged in bringing humanitarian aid to developing nations. Founded in 1978 by Don and Deyon Stephens, it operates a fleet of hospital ships to provide free healthcare and community development to developing nations. Its fleet currently comprises:

M/V Anastasis - Currently docked in Tema, Ghana as the M/V Africa Mercy is outfitted for service
M/V Africa Mercy - Being prepared for first field service to Liberia.

The Mercy Ships are crewed by volunteers: 1000 career staff and over 2000 short-term volunteers from over 40 nations join together to serve the poor and needy each year.

1 History
2 See also
3 Notes
4 External links

[edit] History

Since 1978, Mercy Ships has performed more than 1.5 million services ^[1] valued in excess of US$600 million ^[2] and affecting more than 1.7 million people as direct beneficiaries.

Some of the more notable statistics include:

performed more than 26,000 surgeries such as cleft lip and palate, cataract removal, straightening of crossed eyes, orthopaedic and facial reconstruction;
treated more than 200,000 people in village medical clinics;
performed more than 162,000 dental treatments;
taught nearly 14,000 local health care and professional workers, who have in turn trained many others in primary health care;
taught nearly 73,000 local people in primary health care;
trained local medical professionals in modern health care techniques;
delivered more than $35 million USD of medical equipment, hospital supplies and medicines;
completed more than 800 community development projects including construction of schools, clinics, orphanages, water wells and agriculture programs;
demonstrated the love of God to people in 223 port visits to 54 developing nations; and
visited 555 total ports in 70 different nations.

More than 1000 career staff and crew from over 40 nations serve today. More than 2,000 short-term volunteers serve with Mercy Ships each year.

Mercy Ships operates two land-based centres in Sierra Leone. The West Africa Fistula Centre serves over 5000 children per year and provides surgical services for vesico-vaginal fistulas. The New Steps Centre provides rehabilitative services, and distributes wheelchairs and other mobility devices.

The Mercy Ships are crewed by volunteers: 1000 career staff and over 2000 short-term volunteers from over 40 nations join together to serve the poor and needy each year. They have offices in 17 nations worldwide including the USA, Britain, Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, South Africa and Australia. Their international operations center is located in Garden Valley, Texas.