My journey to Mercy Ships
I have always had the sense of adventure in me from a young
age. This sense of adventure never left me and during my community service year
last year, it was revived again with me working in the community and being away
from home. I had the desire to travel somewhere new and help those in need,
while gaining valuable life experience.
I started my new job at the beginning of this year and enjoyed
the work, met amazing people and got such incredible experience. I still had
this need inside of me to go on an adventure, but had no idea to where and to
do what. I had been praying to God for a while about it and stumbled upon Mercy
Ships while scrolling Facebook one day. The excitement that brewed up inside of
me while looking through the photos and reading the success stories was
immeasurable. While on holiday in PE my cousin was praying for me and confirmed
that this was the right direction for me to go in. The whole process to
applying for the ship took some time, as it required a full medical
examination, in-depth application process, references and paperwork. It took me
about a month to get it all together and at the end I started having doubts as
to if I should go. I submitted my
application anyway and hoped for the best. A turning point in the whole
process was when I sat down with my mom, sister in law and friend who drilled
into me the desire that God had put inside of my heart and challenged me not to
doubt it, as it is His plan and so I should not fear.
On the 1st July I was officially accepted onto
the ship - the joy that exploded upon hearing the news, was amazing. God is so
good. I
start my service on the 29th November and finish on the 27th
February 2016.
What is Mercy Ships?
Mercy Ships is an American based organisation that has a
ship “Africa Mercy” that has a fully equipped hospital on the ship that provides first-rate
medical professionals, state-of-the-art medical and surgical facilities and
health-care training to communities in West Africa, that lack those critical
services. The ship is currently in Madagascar, which is where they will be for
the next year and therefore where I will be placed. Please take a look at the
following links for more information and to see some of the amazing pictures
and stories that touched my heart.
Instagram:
mercyships
What will I be doing on the ship?
I
have been accepted as the hand therapist during my stay on the Africa Mercy.
This requires me to provide a specialist rehabilitation service for
post-operative plastic surgery patients following burns, contracture release
and correction of congenital deformities.
While on the ship I will be living in a multi-berth (6-10 beds) in a cabin which has no windows or a porthole.I will be sharing the space with other women working on the ship. Storage space is limited to a small closet and one small drawer. This is all going to be quite an adjustment as I am used to living on my own and having all the clothes that I need available. My parents were kind enough to buy me an early christmas present of a Kway duffel bag that they advised we used instead of a suitcase because it is easier to store away.
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| My early Christmas present from my parents |
I want to thank the following people who have donated or pledged to my adventure so far:
- Fawn and Nigel Jopson
- Christie and Steve Roberts
- Dave and Tracey Mclearie
- Craig Mannheim
- Tina Chetty
- Errol Wills
- Gabi and Brad Wills
- Dan and Rachel Smither
- Lauren and Paul Henning
- Lorin Ash
- Coral and Alan Wills
- Hayley and Ryan Braun
Please contact me on kaylzwilz@gmail.com if you would like to be involved in some way.
My next part of my journey is booking my flights and getting around 8 injections so watch this space to hear more...
Put your blog on the list last week, your already good to go...you can delete this comment. Mercy Ships Links
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