Back Home with Mercy Ships in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leonian, David Kpakiwa, had a tough childhood that would have discouraged most. But David was instead empowered by his circumstances and given a heart of compassion to help others in need.
When he heard about Mercy Ships and the work we do, David knew he had to be a part of this mission. From local worker to deck administrator, housekeeper to advance team member — David is now back in his home country of Sierra Leone, preparing the way for the arrival of the Global Mercy.
In this episode, David shares his incredible journey that led him to Mercy Ships, including civil wars, becoming a refugee, and God’s great provision. David’s faith and trust in God will encourage you and his empathetic heart will bless yours. Looking for a way to join our mission of bringing hope and healing? Partner with us through a gift, volunteering with us, or by joining us in prayer.
New Mercies Podcast Transcript
Welcome to the New Mercies, a podcast by Mercy Ships, where we’ll take you behind the scenes and on board our incredible hospital ships that are transforming lives all over the world. We invite you to join us each week as we sit down with our crew, patients, volunteers, and partners to hear their stories of life-changing hope and healing.
David Kpakiwa had a tough childhood that produced within him a heart of compassion to help others in need. When he heard about Mercy Ships and the work we do. David knew he had to be a part of this mission. Now, after serving for five years on board, David is back in his home country of Sierra Leone preparing the way for the arrival of the Global Mercy. Here is my interview with David Kpakiwa.
Raeanne Newquist:
David, welcome to New Mercies. I’m so excited to have you on the podcast today, because you are currently in Sierra Leone, where you and a team have been preparing the way if you will, for the Global Mercy to arrive. And that time has come. So David, welcome to the podcast.
David Kpakiwa:
Thank you. Thank you so much. It’s a pleasure being here.
Raeanne:
Tell us about Sierra Leone, why it’s special to you, and what is going on currently in the city.
David:
It’s a beautiful country. It’s something that you should do at some point in your life, come to Sierra Leone, it is a beautiful country. It’s very small. And I’m presently in the capital of Sierra Leone, Freetown where the Global Mercy will be coming into. And it’s actually raining here right now. It’s the rainy season and it’s raining a lot. When you go out on the street with a bit of flooding and everything is very clean even in the city. Because Freetown is actually built in a mountainous area, we have a lot of mountains around. And there is one thing that you love about Freetown, the beach. The beach is amazing.
Raeanne:
Well, you have a huge smile on your face as you’re talking about Sierra Leone. And I think that’s because it’s personal to you. You are from Sierra Leone. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about your background, about growing up in this beautiful country where now you get to serve.
David:
I’m from the eastern part of Sierra Leone and I grew up there. I think it was actually a few months after I was born, we had a first attack of the Civil War, but that was not really big. The second civil war was not big, but the third one was really big. And unfortunately, we all had to move over to Guinea, as refugees. We moved to Guinea. I was actually eight years old.
Raeanne:
So you remember that? And was that a scary time for you and your family?
David:
It was very scary. It was scary. Yeah, I do remember that clearly.
Raeanne:
Oh, my goodness. How long were you in Guinea then before you returned to Sierra Leone?
David:
We actually returned to Sierra Leone in 2004. Towards the end of 2004. So was probably around six years in Guinea, five to six years in Guinea as refugees.
Raeanne:
So you returned back to Sierra Leone? And has there been stability and peace since then? Or are there more civil wars that have come up?
David:
Oh, no. Since the peace accord in 2002, it has been really good, civil and it’s a peaceful country now. We do have a few political clashes that come up, especially when election is coming closer. You have the opposition and the ruling party, you just have these clashes that are very normal everywhere in the world. But besides that it is very peaceful. I think it’s one of the most peaceful countries that you see right now in Africa.
Raeanne:
Wow. Well, that’s good news. You’re in Sierra Leone. And when did you hear about Mercy Ships and what caused you to go and serve with us?
David:
In 2012, I moved back to Guinea because my brother was there, he was running a peace project. And he was struggling a lot. So he asked me to come over to Guinea, just to help him out. So I went to Guinea in 2012. Mercy Ships was still in Guinea, they were in Conakry, at that time, but I didn’t get to visit the ship. But, fast forward, Mercy Ships left, I was living in Guinea then I was attached to a ministry that is called Iris Global Ministries. So I was working for the church, as a driver, doing a lot of cross country trips to Sierra Leone, to Liberia, and Mali, you know, just driving missionaries around. And when Mercy Ships was in Guinea in 2012, they worked with my pastor. So when they came back in 2017, or 18, they were trying to contact a few churches to see if they can give them application forms for the church members for their crew. But my pastor and myself were out of the country, I was driving my pastor and a few missionaries from the UK, in Sierra Leone and so they tried to contact the pastor, they could not reach the pastor. So as soon as we drove past the border of Sierra Leone and Guinea, then the phone rang, and my pastor took the call, and it was a call from Mercy Ships, the country director, back then, she told me that, oh, we’ve been trying to contact you. We have a few application forms for your church. So then she told me, it’s Mercy Ships, they’re looking for a few people to work with them. They have application forms for me, and I was like, Oh, that’s amazing. It’s, it’s really good. I’m happy. Then I asked my pastor, what do you think? I love helping people. And I think Mercy Ships would offer me a great opportunity to step up my vision and my goal to keep helping people because that’s what I’ve been doing since I was young.
I had a terrible life as a kid, a really terrible life as a kid. And I wasn’t an orphan, but I lived almost like an orphan for a few years of my life, because of the war. I have first hand experience in the streets. As a street child, I know what it means. And because of that, I actually grew up, you know, with a passion to help people as much as I can. I know it’s not good, but most times I put the happiness of others before mine.
So I told my pastor, I think Mercy Ships would be a good opportunity for me to step up my passion. But my pastor wasn’t too happy with their request. I understood from the perspective of my pastor, I was actually helping the church with all the driving here and there. So me leaving means they have to employ someone else. Well, then we drove to Conakry, and I didn’t bring up the position again, because, the first one was not really awesome. But then I went home, I prayed about it. And I was like, Okay, God, if this is your will let it be done. So the next day, I got a call from my pastor. She’s like, are you coming over to the house today? I said, No, I don’t have a plan to come there. She said, Maybe you should come because I have a form for you. She kept one for me. I think the Lord touched her heart and said, Oh, let my son go. I will provide for you. So she gave me the form and I applied as a day crew.
God had a plan because when I applied, I applied as a possible driver. They invited me for orientation and contract signing. So I went there and I saw all these positions came and went and I didn’t see my name. And I was like, Okay, if they didn’t give me this job, why did they call me here? Then the last slide that came was Mercy Ministries. And then I saw my name mas on the Mercy Ministries. And there was this guy sitting beside me. I was like, What is Mercy Ministries? I’ve never seen this even during the interview process. I never saw this job. So there is this lady, this lady that came and sat beside me. So you are David, I said, Yes. The Mercy Ministry day crew? I said, Yes. She was really excited. I think she has been on the ship for a very long time. So she has been doing Mercy Ministries a lot. That’s how I started with Mercy Ministries. But I can tell you, I’ll be honest with you, it was the best thing that has ever happened to my life working with Mercy Ships.
So yeah, so Mercy Ministries is an off ship program, within Mercy Ships, you know, that gives the crew opportunity because when the ship goes into a country, it’s only the patient or maybe partners, or maybe the high people in the government that have opportunity to visit the ship. Those are the only people that our crew can interact with, you know, so there are a lot of people out there that do not get the opportunity to visit the ship or interact with the crew. So Mercy Ministries is a project that focuses on providing opportunities for these interactions between the crew and the local people. And when I was with Mercy Ministries, our focus was we worked with the deaf school, and we work with two orphanages, and one of the orphanages had a lot of babies, cute babies. We also work with a destitute center. And we as well work with malnourished babies with the Catholic Sisters, it was amazing. We also work a lot with the HOPE center. So when it’s prayer time, four o’clock, you see these people joining us instead of going to pray. So it was really amazing.
I think my highlight was — just everything about it was a highlight. You know, it blesses my heart a lot. When I go to the orphanages and see these kids, at some point of my life, I was almost like them. So I could literally empathize with them. I could feel their fear. For example, you’re going without food and water for three days and somebody blesses your life with a beautiful meal. You can imagine how happy you’re going to be. So it’s just like this kids, some are excluded from the community but now they are showered with love.
Raeanne:
I think it’s incredible that God has used your childhood to give you a heart of empathy, to reach out to others in need, because I think there are people who go through hard times, and it makes them bitter. It makes them angry, and resentful. And I love how through your challenging childhood, it actually birthed within you the desire to help and to care for those in need. David, that is beautiful. It’s a beautiful story really of God’s redemption in your life as well how He redeemed that pain and allowed you to bless others with it. So I love that God wove Mercy Ships into your story. And sounds like your first opportunity was to be a day crew worker in mercy ministries. But David, here we are 2023, you are still working with Mercy Ships. So why don’t you tell us what happened after that first year in Guinea.
David:
So at the beginning of being a day crew, I didn’t really fully understand everything about Mercy Ships. So I will tell you this, it’s really funny to me. Back then, you know, I had this nice friend and I asked her Hey, can I ask you a question? And she said, Yes, go ahead. I said, How much are you paid, working for Mercy Ships? And then she was laughing really hard. I was like, Why are you laughing? She was like, Okay, I’m not being paid to work here. I said, are you serious? She said, Yes. I said, How much do you pay? And she’s like, okay, as an American, I pay around $600. And I was like, What that is crazy? Yeah, it’s crazy. She said, Yeah. So I didn’t really fully understand because that was just at the very beginning of me being a day crew. And so then I asked my African friends that I got to meet there. I asked what about Africans? And they said, if you don’t do onboarding, you pay about $350. And I was like, Do you know how many years it would take me to save $350? So I thought, this isn’t going to happen.
So, time went by, we went into the middle of this field service, and having all of these experiences with the orphanages that deaf school was incredible, you know? So this passion kept on coming, I could not get rid of it, it was really heavy on my heart, that this is something that God wants me to do long term was really heavy. But then I couldn’t even talk to anybody about it. I was like, I don’t even have $350 that’s per month. Where would I ever get that money from, to become a crew member. So let me just forget about it. Maybe God is just mistaking me for somebody else. But at the end, I could not, it was really heavy. It was very heavy. And I had this friend, she’s American and she asked me, What are you going to do in the ship leaves? And I told her that I think I have this heavy burden in my heart that God is really wanting me to continue. But I don’t know that it’s going to happen. But what I will say if it’s the will of God, then let it be done. Then I spoke to my boss, Larry, I shared with him, you know, what is on my heart and then he was like, Okay, well, what we can start with is prayer. Let’s pray about it. And also you get a stipend, right as a day crew to serve or to help with your transportation and feeding. I said, Yes. What if you start saving this portion of it, you know, and then I calculated everything. Even if I save everything, at the end of the day, I still will not be able.
So anyways, I applied and the ship left, they went to Senegal, and I contacted them again, a I’m still available. And I’m just trusting God, enough for the finance. So finally they reached out to me, and they offered me a position in housekeeping. I was really excited. And then we went to the stage of finance. So, finance reached out to me and said, David, we need you to set up a budget, because they’re offering you a one-year commitment. We need to set up a budget for that one year, include everything, they sent me a sample, and I set up this budget, it was a total of $5000. But before that I had friends that I was talking to, they were just like, Okay, we’ll keep praying for you. If they offer you a job, just let us know, we’ll see how to help you financially. So I had a lot of friends that were willing to help me. And they finally offered me and I set up this contract this budget, and they came up to me. I said, Okay, David, for us to give you clearance, we need you to provide 75% of this budget. And that was $4,500, at that time, I had a few $100. You know, but I wasn’t really bothered by the money. Because I had a lot of people that made promises. It was another test.
I shared with all of my friends a I’m really excited, I’ve been offered a one year commitment on board. They’re asking me to get the finances before they can give me clearance. And yeah, I was thinking one way I had my own plans. But God had a masterplan. So I sent out a bulk email to my friends, and all of them actually replied, they were like, We’re so happy for you, David. We’re happy for you. But unfortunately, because of some financial constraints, we cannot help you financially. We’ll pray for you. So, all of the emails I sent, they sent me the same reply. We’ll pray for you. You know, that was tough. And I was like, how am I going to do this? And I kept on praying. And the time was getting closer, I had three months to raise that $4500. To make it worse for me, Mercy Ships came back and said, okay, because you have a one-year commitment, I want you to do onboarding. Oh, my commitment was going to begin in March, then they wanted me to do both. And so that means I need to get it by December because I need to do onboarding in January. And we’re already in November. It’s like, okay, how am I going to do this, and I kept on praying, I prayed. I prayed, and I’ll be honest, at one point, I was mad at God. I was really angry. I kept praying, but nothing happened. And one day I went to church, and my pastor gave a specific prayer point. And I was like, I’m not going to pray this prayer. I’ve been praying for quite a long time. And something just told me Oh, David, don’t be stubborn in the house of God. And I prayed the prayer. A night before that I was actually in my room and I was really furious, I was really angry at God. And I told God, I will never, ever ask you for this again. If it is your will, you’re going to make the way. But I’m not going to ask you again.
So this Sunday, I went to church when my pastor said we should pray that prayer. And I came back home I was in my room and I didn’t have data for internet. So just let me step out and go to the junction and get some data so I can connect, browse the internet. And I bought credit coming into my compound. I subscribed for data and turned on my data and I saw messages coming in. And then there is this email that came in, I was just at the entrance of the gate. I saw this email. I didn’t open the email, I just scroll a bit and saw a bit of the subject. And it was, congratulations, David, you’re making progress. You have a donation of five, and I saw zero. So I assume it was $50. I was like, Okay, thank you God, even though it’s small, but I appreciate it. Yes. And I entered into my room, I decided to open the email. Then I opened the email. I was at the gate I thought it was $50. I open the email, it was actually $5,000!
I screamed really loud and my family was rushing into the room that thought I was electrocuted. I was just like, Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. And everybody was rushing into the room. When they asked me, what is it? What is it and I didn’t say anything. I just showed them the phone. And they saw the figure. And they were also celebrating for me. And I can tell you that was like almost two or three days before the final date for finance, too. So now, I was actually praying and crying, I ended up getting more than I even wanted for the 10 months. It’s just something that tells me that God wanted me to go to the ship.
Raeanne:
Absolutely. I heard a phrase once that says where God guides he provides. And not going to call you somewhere that he can’t take you. And he’s not going to call you somewhere that he can’t keep you. In other words, you know, if it’s his will, as you said, he’s going to provide a way, even when it seems impossible. He’s going to make it happen. So David, obviously, God provided in an incredible way to get you on board. What I think is interesting is you were in Guinea in 2012, when Mercy Ships was serving there, and that’s where you first heard about Mercy Ships and saw the ministry. But it wouldn’t be until 2018 That you would actually get on board as the day crew, which you just told us about so beautifully. And then beyond that God provided the finances needed for you to join the crew and go to Senegal, David, I just love how you are a man of prayer, and a man who has sought after God to provide and then you have been so blessed to see him do that in incredible ways. I know that now. It’s been five years or so that you’ve been with Mercy Ships. Is that correct?
David:
Well, the time was day crew. I don’t know if I should count that.
Raeanne:
Of course! Day crew is so valuable, and so important, of course, that counts. Yeah, you joined Senegal, in housekeeping. What prompted you to continue to serve and end up where you are today?
David:
I did ask myself that question once. What am I still doing here? I also wrote a blog about it. I have a website that I write blogs, you know: davidsailing.com
So, I actually wrote a blog about that. What am I still doing here? I asked myself that question. And it’s been on board. It’s really amazing. It’s a small community. It’s really confined. Sometimes you get really tired. And you also be prompted to ask, what are you doing here? You know, why are you still here? But I still return back to how I got here, you know, that’s the only thing that answers my question. What am I still doing here? I still go back to how God made a provision for me to come on board in the first place. Like okay, if God made a provision in that manner, it may seem he wants me to be here. I did housekeeping for 10 months. It was really amazing. Housekeeping taught me patience, and humility. It was amazing. And I got to work as a deck administrator. Yeah, that was really also an experience a, I have served almost 13 Different captains. But um, I think I’m actually still with Mercy Ships, because God really wants me to be here. I think I’ll be forever grateful for how he actually made a provision for me when I had given up. But I will say that, okay, maybe this is not going to happen. I was tired. I was I was really tired, you know, of asking God, and the pressure was too much. It came true, he came through when I was almost given up. So, because he came through, he really wants me to be here.
And in a few weeks, COVID came. So, I was part of the team that spent more than 100 days, isolated on board, we couldn’t even touch the dock. I survived that if you give me the strength to survive the hard time in Tenerife and I think God just wants me to be here, he keeps giving me the strength, he keeps giving me the courage. Sometimes I get really tired. But there is always a constraint for me. I get frustrated sometimes with people, for example, I can say, I really get frustrated without things are wrong. But God gives me the courage all the time. I think I will say I am still here, because God who brought me here wants me to be here.
Raeanne:
Well, you know what, maybe God has you still with Mercy Ships, because he wanted you to get to come back to your home country and serve in Sierra Leone. So, I love that you’re still with Mercy Ships, because now you’re home, both on the ship, but also in your country of birth. So, David, I know you’ve taken on a new role in Sierra Leone. Why don’t you tell us what you’ve been up to for the past several months in Sierra Leone prior to the ship arriving and tell us also what it means to you to have the ship come back to Sierra Leone, where you grew up.
David:
It means a lot. It means so much to me. Before I got this role, Before COVID came the plan was to for the Global Mercy and I was still a crew member and housekeeping. And I reached out to the HR team, and I said it will bless my heart a lot if I have the opportunity to serve my nation with Mercy Ships, could you please transfer me to the Global Mercy when the time comes, I have served other nations. So that was a plan but then COVID interrupted everything. And anyways, at the beginning of this year, I saw a job posting for the country engagement team. So, the country engagement team is actually the team that goes into whatever country the ship is supposed to go to the kind of like, ensure that everything is set up for the ship to be operational as soon as it gets into the country. I saw this job posting and for Sierra Leone, and I was like, okay, maybe I should try this. You know, it’s my country. I think I will be approved to the team. I think my culture experience will be valuable to the team, you know, so I applied for this job, got to interview and I got the job and as operations liaison. As the operations liaison, I’m the middleman between the ship’s operations department, there’s a communications department transportation supply, finance, part of the general operations, and I get everything ready for them. For example is we need internet providers. So, I source out a few internet providers, vet them, interview, get quotations and send it to the ISC. And yeah, just so that the ship has internet when it comes to the country, and for the supply, they look for Chandler’s to ship supplies. So, part of my job is to make sure that I interview at least four different Chandler’s and get quotations from them and ensure at the end of the day that they ship us to reputable suppliers that can supply the ship for 10 months when it’s here. Those are just a few areas I work to set up.
Raeanne:
It sounds like a lot of work. It sounds like you’ve been really busy. And I think that’s something most people don’t realize, is that we have a team that goes ahead of our ships, at least a year or more in advance to prepare the way if you will, makes me think of John the Baptist, right? preparing the way for Jesus to come. But it’s true that there are so many logistics and so many things that need to be done and put into place — relationships built with the government ministry of health. So that once we arrive, we can kind of hit the ground running. Everyone on board is ready to serve once they once they arrive in country. So, we are so grateful. David, as we wrap up our time together, why don’t you just tell us what you are most looking forward to, in this field service in your own home country and what that means for you to serve your own people.
David:
Yeah, sometimes I get really emotional when I think about this. And sometimes I just okay, maybe God has kept me here, up till this time, you know, to bring the ship into my country. You know, I’m really excited for my nation, I’m excited for my people. And I really look forward to the impact, a lot of people are going to be impacted. Also, very excited for the crew, in order to have the opportunity to visit Sierra Leone for the first time in their lives, you know, and see the beauty of my nation. Sometimes I have conversations with crew members that visit Africa, and ask what were your expectations when you came to Africa, and they have just this, you know, very weird thoughts about Africa. Yeah, after the visit for a month, I was like, okay, so how is it now? You know, since you came here, what do you think, you know, now, before you came here, and so I know a lot of people will be having different ideas about Sierra Leone, different thoughts. So, I’m really excited that they come to Sierra Leone, to go to the city and the opportunity to go up country see beyond Freetown. I just look forward to the amazing work that the ship is going to be doing here. It blesses my heart a lot. It blesses my heart a lot that the ship is coming here and so many people will come on board and receive surgery with the medical services just first class. But I’m not really very moved by the actual surgery. But I’m really impressed and moved by the love that comes with it. The nurses that care for you, the crew members that just come there. They don’t know you. They don’t know where you’re from, but they just love you genuinely. You know, they just take care of you. It’s, it’s amazing.
Raeanne:
Well, David, you are a blessing to Mercy Ships, and you are a blessing to so many. I love that now you get to go back and bless your own countrymen. And you get to show off your nation to the crew and all of your friends on board, you get to show off the beautiful place that you get to call home. So, David, thank you for all that you’re doing. And thank you so much for sharing with us just a little bit of your Mercy Ships journey today.
David:
Thank you so much. It’s great being here.
We are all excited about what God is going to do in this field service in Sierra Leone. Would you join us in praying for our crew and all the patients that will come on board the Global Mercy over the next 10 months? Or perhaps you’d like to go volunteer or give? Well, you can get more information at Mercyships.org
For more information about Mercy Ships, go to mercyships.org, and to keep up with the guests on New Mercies, follow us on Instagram at NewMerciesPodcast.