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Q. How
long have you been with Mercy Ships
A. I have been serving with Mercy Ships since July
1997
Q. How
much do you get paid working with Mercy Ships?
A. Mercy Ships is a volunteer organization,
no one receives a salary. In fact everyone who
volunteers to work with Mercy Ships contributes monthly to
the operation of the ship or base that they live on (even
the captains pay!)
Q.
Without receiving a salary from Mercy Ships, how do you
afford to live onboard the
ship?
A You could say that I live out of the hand
of God's grace, not to forget the support from my home
church.
Q. Are
not ships an expensive way to bring aid to developing
nations? Wouldn't it be cheaper and easier to fly
into countries?
A. Actually no, the price of jet fuel is a
lot more expensive than the ship's heavy diesel.
Daily the operating of a ship is much less expensive.
It is also very economical as the ship is both a
home for the volunteers and a work place for the medical
operations. It is also a means of transporting both
the crew and the cargo.
Q. What
is life onboard like?
A. That a very general question, what's life
like at your house and in your community?
: )
Q.
Do you work a normal 8 hour a day, 5 day work week?
A. Yes we do, but sometimes, in some
situations, one is needed to work more than that.
Our motto onboard is
"Work Hard - Play Hard"
Q.
Do
you ever get sea sick?
A. I usually don't feel well the first few
days at sea, but soon adjusts to the motion. Sailing is
one of my favorite times and one of my worst.
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Q.
Are
there families and children onboard?
A. Yes, one of the things Mercy Ships tries
to do is create an environment where families and children
feel welcome. In fact there are many opportunities
for the children to be apart of a lot of different aspect
of ministry and life onboard.
Q. How
many children are onboard?
A. Right now 12 children ages 4 to 15.
Q. How
do the children get an education?
A. There is a school onboard. The
student to teacher ratio is about 4 to 1. They
receive an education just like any child in the US or
Europe would. One unique educational situations the
students have onboard is that their classroom is always
traveling. An example: One week the students would
study about the Panama Canal, the next week they would
sail through it.
Q. What
is the food like onboard?
A. It is set up like a cafeteria. We go
through a food line, serve ourselves and eat at tables
that have giant windows that look out over where ever we
are. It's kind of like eating at a restaurant with a
great view that changes every few months.
Considering there are three to four cooks cooking for
400 people each meal; the food
quality is very good.
Q. What
does the ship do when it is in a developing
country?
A. That really depends on the needs of
the community that we are in. Each year we are
expanding the "tools" that we carry onboard.
Currently we are able to perform Cataract Replacements
Surgeries, Orthopedic Surgeries, Optical Clinics, Dental
Clinics and Medical Clinics. We can drill fresh water
wells and instruct local people with basic Community
Health Education. In everything we do we try to do
it along side of the people in the communities we work in.
This enables them to continue developing their own
communities long after we have sailed out of their port.
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