Alumni Newsletter October 2011

Posted by Mercy Ships staff on Sep 27, 2011 at 02:18 pm

We are honored to have Dr. Andrew Clark, Director of Organizational Development, be our guest columnist in this month's edition of the Mercy Ships Alumni Newsletter! Please read the first part of his message below. We will publish his conclusion in next month's edition of The Ship's Bell.

I am writing this from the Africa Mercy in Sierra Leone, where I am on board for a short trip.  The need in this country is immense and there will always be more work to do than we can accomplish in our 10 month stay here.  My efforts over the last 19 years I’ve served with Mercy Ships often seem like just a small drop in a big ocean of need.

Sometimes I’m tempted to think, "Most people are more capable and more important than me. Who am I, anyway, to think that I could make a difference?"  Have you ever felt that way?

In his book "The Star Thrower", Loren Eiseley tells of the day he was walking along a beach where thousands of starfish had been washed up.  He noticed a boy picking them up one by one and throwing them back into the ocean.  When he asked him why, the boy said, "If I don't, they'll die!"

"But how can saving so FEW make a difference when so MANY are doomed?" the author asked.

The little guy picked up another starfish, threw it back into the ocean and said, "It is going to make a lot of difference for THIS one!"

Eiseley left the boy and went home to continue writing, only to find he couldn't type a single word.  So he returned to the beach and spent the rest of the day helping the boy throw starfish back into the ocean.

Many of you are like the little boy and have made yourself available to make a difference to those few ‘starfish’ you’ve been able to throw back into the ocean.  Thank you for your faithful service to the world’s forgotten poor.

(To be continued)

PATIENTS FROM GUINEA - Jonathan Erickson is a remarkable man who goes to great lengths to provide hope and healing to those in need. He and his wife are working in N’Zao, a remote village of about 2,000 people a few miles from N’Zerekore at the southeastern tip of Guinea. While caring for the people there, Jonathan meets numerous individuals with severe, even life-threatening, medical problems. Over the years, he has brought many of those patients to Mercy Ships for surgeries.

MIKE HUGHES may have saltwater in his veins, but it is the plight of third world countries that fills his heart. He has spent a lifetime at sea, but says it feels like it was all preparing him for one thing – working with the Mercy Ships charity, skippering its boats in foreign ports. The Welshman, known affectionately as Captain Mike, is just home from a four-week stint as relieving master of the world's largest charity hospital ship, the Africa Mercy, docked in the Sierra Leone capital Freetown.

ALUMNI HAPPENINGS: Do you have the sneaking suspicion that you have seen your bank teller before? There might be a whole group of people in your town that have served with Mercy Ships before! Would you like to help us organize a reunion of the Alumni in your area for a cup of coffee or a potluck dinner? See how others have done it and find out more about upcoming events right HERE! We have events planned  for Atlanta, GA and Seattle, WA!

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Torph and Gomer Roseman – Torph updates us: After starting out working at the Mercy Ships office in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1993 and leaving the Anastasis in 2003, we have found, there is life after Mercy Ships! Following a challenging assignment in South Sudan with Samaritan’s Purse that ended in evacuation, Gomer and I returned to the Puget Sound area in 2006.  I am now a Patient Account Representative with Group Health, a well-known Seattle based HMO. Gomer is a Director for Habitat for Humanity in Tacoma, WA. Our kids are doing great. K.T. is a special agent for the U.S. government and doing post graduate work in International Relations at DePaul University in Chicago. Toby is currently taking some time off after five years as a software engineer for Amazon.

OPPORTUNITIES! We have many new and exciting opportunities available for alumni in many departments. For a complete list, please click here. Also, many of you have suggested ways we can make serving as alumni easier and we have listened by offering these new initiatives:

• The minimum commitment for most nursing positions will now be negotiated for alumni based on their previous experience.  This should be great news for those who want to return but cannot come for the required minimum commitment!

• Beginning in January, we will move to an on-line application!!  That means fewer forms to complete and mail in!  Please watch our website for the latest information.

P.S.  Did you know that about 75% of our volunteers hear about Mercy Ships from you (our alumni)?   Thanks for helping us get the word out!!

Time for our popular ALUMNI COMPETITION. Last month's winner is Cheryl Farnholtz from Tully, NY! Congratulations Cheryl, your box of goodies is on its way to you. This month you can win a Mercy Ships Alumni Baseball cap, 4 different Christian mucic CD's sponsored by Integrity Music and a Mercy Ships mug! Click HERE to enter!

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