The story is set in the Gambia in west Africa. The writer brings to light the life of the people who have been influenced
by the medication brought by the doctors. The writer (himself a doctor) brings to light the begining of the life boat. The name itself has come a long way, innitially called Anastasis a Greek word for Ressurection. Indeed to the people of the Gambia it was ressurection.
The life boat is a group of ships filled with doctors and surgeons who are mainly volunteers who had well paying jobs but quit to provide free healthcare to millions of third-world people who can never access good medication. The group majorly does minor operations performed in the head like eye-cataracts which causes blindness, Goitre e.t.c. because operations in the head heals faster, the head surgeon is Mr. Gary Parker a Carlifornian plastic surgeon, he doubles as the
ship chief medical officer. The entire crew of 750 people and offices in 16 countries are supported by friends, relatives, community groups and churches. Some have had to sell their property like an example of a couple from South-Africa who sold their house and two horses. The story and the Genesis of the Mercy ships (as they are now called) was born in 1964 when a group of young people doing mission work in the Bahamas, were caught in a hurricane and saw the devastating effects of the hurricane to the life of the people. As one teen-ager made a prayer that would forever be lodged in the heart and mind of one teen-ager, then Don Stephens from Collorado. Later while running the European and African office of Youth with a Mission in Switzerland, h
e realised that the only way to help the poor people in the World was to get a ship, man it with proffessionals and have it's own self-contained water.
One day while inspecting ship in Venice Italy with his wife he saw the victoria which had a capacity carrying 800 passengers and was over 150ms long. The Mercy ships was born.
Two notable examples of operations performed when they landed in the West-African country are well described by the writer. The fourth operation they did was on a girl whose face was dis-figured by a hole in the cheek so wide the teeth on the back of mouth was seen . The last episode described was of a 16yr old Mutala whose face was dis-figured by a head sized goitre which was hanging to the chest. The boy was abandoned and was treated like a demon by family members. After the operation the smile on his face was a miracle from God both to him and the familyand the village at large. To the rest who shied away, seeing the sixteen year olds face restored brought anew begining to their lives. What of the little boy who was blinded by the cataracts but was able to see for the first time.
Worth noting, is the sacrifice of several volunteers armed only with simple equipment and the willingness in their hearts which made the operations an experience . The thousands of people lining up for operations and the others who had to turned away because of the nature of their
diseases, shows the way the world is still far away from realizing the dream of a healthy nation. To the volunteers who do their duties bringing hope to millions, it shows the way an idea in the mind of one person if implemented can stop the suffering of people who under the normal circumstances would not have suffered.
For more infomation you can visit www.mercyships.com