Former National Director of Mercy Ships Australia, Brian Ross, has resigned as a member of the Board.
CEO Gary Regazzoli says Brian and wife Lynn were the trail blazers for Mercy Ships Australia.  “In their five years of opening and running the office in Caloundra, they established the foundation for the success of the charity in Australia.  Initially, run from a spare bedroom at home, they eventually moved the office to its present location in Caloundra’s main street.”
“Brian, Lynn and an army of volunteers made a significant contribution to the tsunami relief operation in SE Asia in 2005.  Container loads of relief supplies and donations were collected and sent to areas devastated by the tidal surges.
“Mercy Ships is extremely grateful for the selfless contributions made by Brian and Lynn.”

“I heard about the work being done by Mercy Ships, and thought at the time I would like to be involved.   A few months later, after talking it over with my husband, I felt a real need to offer my services as a short-term volunteer on the giant hospital ship in West Africa.”
Gail Reid of Ashtonfield in the NSW Hunter Valley spent six weeks in Liberia onboard the Africa Mercy.   “I am a registered nurse, but have not worked for five years,” she says, “but I was given a position in the hospital’s admissions area, and that was great.   There were more than 400 volunteer crew members onboard, all playing an important role in reaching out to the poor.   Getting the patients admitted is just a part of that work, and I was just one cog in the wheel.  It was a great experience, seeing the patients as they arrived, watching their progress in recovery, and then seeing their happy faces following surgery which in many cases meant a new start in life”

“As I left Australia to spend three and a half months on a hospital ship in one of the world’s poorest nations I had no idea what was ahead of me,” says Abbey Rowe of Brisbane.
Abbey says she put her life on hold as a pharmacy assistant for what turned out to be a life changing experience serving among more than 400 volunteers from around the world.  “Even though I am a pharmacy assistant, I chose to work in the ship’s dining room, serving food to the crew, all of them volunteers like myself.  
She describes the whole experience as something of an ‘eye opener’.  “It made me realise that we take so much of life in Australia for granted.  We have so much.   After looking at the people of Liberia and the little they have, I think it is the little things we should appreciate more.”

Australian Chairman’s first International Board meeting – July 2008

Chairman of the Mercy Ships Australia board, Jim Bird, has returned from attending his first meeting since being appointed to the International Board in Lausanne, Switzerland.
He was able to present an update to the international board on the operation of the Australian support office.
He says there were also discussions on future hospital ship plans.
Mr Bird attended 30th birthday celebrations in Lausanne, where Mercy Ships had its beginnings.
He also visited the Africa Mercy in Monrovia, Liberia, and inspected the Mobility project being supported by Australian donors; before continuing on to Sierra Leone where Australia supports the Fistula Centre and the New Steps rehabilitation program.

The time was right to go – July 2008

“I heard about Mercy Ships five years ago,” says Melbourne grandmother Joan Corfee, “and this year believed the time was right to go.”
Joan, in her sixties, spent six weeks onboard the Africa Mercy in Liberia.  “I worked in the Hospitality Department, looking after newly arrived crew members, and helping visitors.   “There were also plenty of opportunities to work with patients who came onboard.”
Joan says there were some special times with patients as part of an ‘adopt a patient’ program aimed at helping patients during the recovery process.   She is already planning to return to the ship next year.

Alan’s love of ships and Mercy Ships – April 2008

Ships – April 2008
“It’s truly remarkable what can be and what is being done by volunteers using their skills to give new life to suffering people in the world’s poorest countries.   And the story of how Mercy Ships has made the world’s largest charity hospital ship from something that was considered redundant is also remarkable.”
Alan Budd, a retired seagoing Chief Engineer who lives in Newcastle, NSW, a former engineer and ship surveyor with the Maritime Services Board of NSW, is a Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineering Science and Technology, past President of the Australia/New Zealand Division of the Institute, and a member of the Newcastle branch of IMarEST, is to present a paper on the conversion and commissioning at Solent University, Southampton, UK, on May 8.
He and wife Hazel have been associated with Mercy Ships since 1994. They are pictured (front row 2nd and 3rd from left) while on their way to the UK, visiting Australian crew members currently serving in Liberia.

Chairman of the Board for Mercy Ships Australia, Jim Bird (pictured) has been invited by Mercy Ships Founder, Don Stephens, to join the International Board.
Accepting the invitation, Jim said he was honoured to be representing the Australian work in this way.  He thanked Don for extending the opportunity for the Australian office to have a voice at this level.

Big fund-raising effort  - March 2008

A group of young aspiring professionals in Perth set themselves the goal of raising $20,000 in 90 days for Mercy Ships.  “When I first took the call, I thought they were setting themselves a pretty ambitious target”, says Gary Regazzoli, CEO of Mercy Ships Australia. The group had been attending a financial planning seminar where they were challenged by the speaker to go and raise funds to support a deserving charity. “We’re glad they chose us. You can imagine my surprise when Dominique Raubenheimer called me a couple of weeks ago to inform me they had reached their goal”. Not only did the group make their ambitious goal, they also enjoyed the experience saying, “It was a lot of fun!” Pictured are Ian Yiannakis, Michael Brezmen, Chandanie Godwin, Dominique Raubenheimer, and Karen Cosnett presenting the $20,000 to Gary Regazzoli (second from right).

A gift from one our oldest churches – March 2008

Hazel Budd, NSW Representative of Mercy Ships, is pictured receiving a donation from John White, President of the Friends of St Stephens at the historic church of St Stephens in Penrith, NSW.
At the monthly Eucharist and luncheon held by this group, Hazel and Alan Budd spoke and showed power point images and the video "God of Justice" to promote the work of Mercy Ships. The message was well received and many questions were put and answered. Hazel says the most common question was, of course, "Why haven't we heard of Mercy Ships Before?" Do you have a heart for Mercy Ships, time to spare and enjoy public speaking? We can use your skills, contact our National Office on 0754372992.

Surgeries under way again in Liberia

It was still dark when 14 vehicles filled with doctors, nurses and other volunteers left the Africa Mercy for a stadium in Monrovia, Liberia, where a day of screening was advertised to select possible patients for surgery.  Hundreds of people were already waiting, and during the day more than 1500 Liberians waited to be seen by a Mercy Ships doctor or nurse.  There was a sense of expectation and hope in people’s eyes.
The first surgeries during the ship’s current assignment to Liberia have now been carried out, and the program will continue until the end of the year, as Mercy Ships volunteers seek to bring hope and healing to the nation’s poor.

During four days of exhibiting the work of Mercy Ships at the Pacific 2008 International Maritime Exposition in Sydney the team of Hazel and Alan Budd with Julia and Doug Roberts met hundreds of interested and interesting visitors. More than 10,000 people visited the Expo.
Pictured at the Mercy Ships display is the Deputy Chief of Korean Navy Operations, Rear Admiral Choi Yun Hee (centre) with Lieutenant Commander Byun Won Kan (right) and Commander Tim Watson, RAN (left). Many Naval personnel as well as civilians stopped to hear about the work of Mercy Ships.
Alan Budd presented a paper on the conversion of Dronning Ingrid to the new Africa Mercy during associated International Maritime Conference.

One of the long-serving Australians onboard the Africa Mercy, Fiona Fraser of Newcastle NSW, is looking forward to sailing back to Liberia, after a period of re-stocking, maintenance and dry-dock work in Tenerife.  Fiona is Assistant Operating Theatre Supervisor, with responsibilities for the smooth running of the ship’s operating theatres.  “It will be back to a time of stretching personally and professionally.”  
“I was just thinking recently that some of the patients we had on the ship last year for treatment were rebel soldiers during the country’s long civil war, while some we operated on had been victims of many traumatic events or had participated in such events.   There would have been some who were forced as children to become soldiers.   There is a real need for us to pray for forgiveness here and for continuing restoration throughout Liberia,” she says.

“I have had no professional training in cooking, but that is what I am doing on the ship.”
As a volunteer crew member, serving as an assistant cook on the Africa Mercy, Tim Benson of Brisbane says his only experience was at McDonalds, where he spent six years as a crew member and manager.
“I had been looking for some time at becoming involved in some sort of voluntary or missionary work, and have a friend who spent time serving as a nurse with Mercy Ships,” Tim says.  “When I looked further into what Mercy Ships is doing serving the world’s neediest people it just seemed right for me.”
“Now I am spending 12 months in the ship’s galley, helping prepare meals for more than 400 other volunteers onboard.   My friends and members of my family were very supportive of my decision to head to Africa, but some of the people I worked with were a bit confused as to why someone would give up a job and go to work for nothing.

Four medical volunteers were among a number of Mercy Ships volunteers and staff attending the first Australian Mercy Ships conference in Caloundra recently.  Pictured left are Sonja Frischknecht, one of Australia’s longest serving volunteers (now a member of the Australian Board); Kathryn Evans, recently back from Liberia; Katrina Brogden; and regular volunteer, Dr Hannah Krause.
The conference provided an opportunity for some of the people associated with the Australian national office to get together for a time of sharing, encouragement and inspiration.

Trevor Haylock, of Brisbane, has served as a volunteer with Mercy Ships for nine years.  Trevor served on the flagship Anastasis which was retired recently, and is in Australia seeing family, friends and supporters before heading back to the new Africa Mercy.
“It is always very difficult when I return to Australia and consider the difference in the way we are able to live by comparison to those in so much of Africa.   Despite all that we have by way of material possessions, I think sometimes I see more joy in the faces of people who have absolutely nothing in the poorest nations of West Africa.  That joy is seen particularly in those who come to the ship for surgery, very often life-saving surgery.  They express such gratitude for the help they have been given in enabling them to return home changed.  The physical change is often accompanied by a spiritual change.
Trevor is pictured with a scale model of the Anastasis in Mercy Ships Australia office.

Regular volunteer, Dr Judith Goh, has been recognised among the 50 top achievers in Queensland by the Courier Mail newspaper.
The paper says Dr Goh’s skills have improved the lives of thousands of women in developing countries who suffer obstetric fistula, a disabling complication from labour and childbirth that results in lack of control over bladder and bowel functions.  Every year she takes a break from her Brisbane gynaecological practice and volunteers with Mercy Ships to operate on fistula patients and teach others to perform the corrective surgery.