We're watching a surgery on the ship!
This was a very unique experience for me, and it's a central part of what Mercy Ships does. However, I have really only this photo and no videos. So, this post will explain more about Mercy Ships and their goals. We'll use a Q&A format.
What is Mercy Ships?
This video gives a nice overview of Mercy Ships: the problems they address, the people on the ship, what they do, and why. The video is about 5 minutes.
If you can watch only 6 seconds of the video, please look here. (2:16)
This brief video of the man was a bit overwhelming for me. I found it very helpful to go back, pause the clip, and just look. To think about him, how I would treat him. How God would treat him.
Why does Mercy Ships serve in West Africa?
This video explains and has some nice visual aids. (Briefly, it's based on the United Nations' Human Development Index. Many of the poorest countries in that index are in West Africa.) The video is 1 minute.
In the video, you can see that Togo is a little strip west of Nigeria, just east of Ghana.
Some patients have medical conditions that look terrifying. Can Mercy Ships really help? What do the patients look like afterward?
Here's an important video. It starts with images of some patients. Then it shows more patients, but with computer-generated transitions between their "before" and "after" states. This video is only 2.5 minutes, so I encourage you to watch it entirely.
Here's another video with some amazing before-and-after photos. Click below to jump straight to the relevant part. (6:03)
The speaker is Dr. Gary Parker. That video is actually Dr. Parker's acceptance speech for the 2012 Alumnus of the Year Award from the UCLA Dental Alumni Association!
Dr. Parker is one of my personal heroes. I was lucky enough to meet him while on the ship. In fact, he's one of the surgeons we watched! (In the photo at the top, he's the surgeon facing the camera.)
In the video, Dr. Parker shows the before-and-after photos in the context of something he once heard:
"For hope to be credible in the future, it needs to be tangible in the present."
That statement has clearly had enormous impact on Dr. Parker. I am still mulling it over.
In the video, Dr. Parker also says, "I really do take things a day at a time. The need is so overwhelming." That's a remarkable statement, because Dr. Parker came to the ship years ago as a bachelor, he now has a wife and kids, and I can only imagine how many surgeries he has performed and how many people he has life-changed in his years of service.
Exactly how long has Dr. Parker been living on Mercy Ships? Find out by watching Dr. Parker's speech in its entirety. =) Just click below. (It's 8.5 minutes.)
What is life like for the patients? What are their stories?
Mercy Ships has many patient stories. Here's one: the story of a father and his son, Abel. It's 5 minutes.
One more thing.
I was walking around the ship one day, and I saw this photo. Can you see it?
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| From Mercy Team Alison |
That's Dr. Parker on the right. But his hand isn't on the top of his patient's head; it's on a tumor. That giant thing in the middle of the photo is a tumor, growing inside the person's mouth and jaw. You can see the mouth opening on the right side, and how they had to prop up the tumor so they can operate on it.
What's Dr. Parker doing? He's praying for his patient.
"For hope to be credible in the future, it needs to be tangible in the present."
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