Garbage Disposal

When you sign up to serve with Mercy Ships, only the Lord knows all the ways you will be called to serve. Imagine yourself serving on the Africa Mercy as a nurse. Day in and out you are working hard to tend to the people in the hospitals on board. You work hard and you feel it is worth every ounce of energy spent. If only serving was this black and white – this simple of a plan. You are a nurse so you work as a nurse. 

The ship has recently encountered trials unlike ones they are used to. In Sierra Leone, there is no garbage disposal system. The reality is, the locals bring their garbage to the water to clean up the streets in town. Are they to blame for having nowhere to put their trash? Can we blame them for not understanding the ecological ramifications of filling rivers and the ocean with waste? You may wonder how this debris affects the Africa Mercy. Naturally, the ocean brings the debris into port and it accumulates around the ship. Generators that use underwater venting to keep them at a cool temperature run this ship. When debris is caught up in these vents, the generators shut off suddenly and without warning. THIS is a major problem. Surgeries are performed on board in the hospital portion. There are six surgery rooms on board and sometimes they even have two surgeries per room at one time. Electricity is crucial to these surgeries and with the power being unreliable; Mercy Ships had to come up with a solution. 

They gathered the crew to see who had their diving permits. There are three crew members that I am aware of: 2 nurses and another crew member. Every day after a long grueling work in the hospital, these men and woman volunteer to dive into the garbage and clear the way for the vents. I have read about the visibility being near zero as they swim through the waste of the capital city Freetown. 

Please pray for these volunteers as they work in unfathomable conditions to keep the hospital running. They dedication is clear and they are appreciated.