Transforming Lives Time and Again

An ad in a magazine led to a tour aboard the Anastasis, which led to volunteering with Mercy Ships for 20 years!  Nurse Rachel Greenland was made for this kind of work — where she gets to combine her faith and her professional skills to leave a lasting impact on those in need.  Rachel is now on board the Global Mercy, volunteering as the ICU Coordinator and nurse in the maxillofacial ward.

In this episode, Rachel shares what keeps her coming back year after year to volunteer. She also talks about her first impressions, the hard days, and the great rewards that have left her life forever changed. Through stories about special patients and her own self-discoveries on board, Rachel is sure to encourage and inspire you.

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.

Why would someone continue to come volunteer on board one of our chips time and time again for 20 years? Well, you’re about to find out. Here’s my interview with nurse Rachel Greenland.

Raeanne Newquist:

Rachel, welcome to New Mercies. Rachel you have a long history with Mercy Ships, over 20 years of serving on and off ship. And you’re a nurse from the UK. So why don’t you take us back to 2001? It’s your very first field service with Mercy Ships, tell us what your first impressions were. What was that like?

Rachel Greenland:

Okay, well, my first impressions — I just arrived in Benin, for my very first experience on the mercy ship, which was then the Anastasis. And I arrived in this airport, it was very hot, it was very noisy. It was complete chaos. And I was ready to go back on the plane! Whoever was picking me up was late to pick up, so I was not knowing what to do, who to phone and feeling very overwhelmed. Once I got to the ship, everything got much better. I did six months that time. But it was just a mind-blowing experience. To me, it was a new culture, working with an international team, I loved it. But there were many challenges and a lot of things to adapt to and get used to.

I remember the first morning I was sharing a shower with the giant cockroaches. I’m not sure I’m going to make this six months! So it wasn’t maybe the most comfortable of life experiences. But once I started to work down with the patients, and then something in my heart just really warmed and just opened up. And I really just loved that experience. I never knew that I’d be still be doing it later. But yeah, it’s sometimes difficult to describe. But it was just an experience that was way more than I could have imagined. And I’m so really honored to be able to be here. So yeah, it was a special the first time, I think is very special because it’s all new.

Raeanne:

You’ve almost had that new experience again a couple of times, because then you had your first time on the Africa Mercy. And your first time on the Global Mercy all these ships are pretty different from each other. Obviously, there are some similarities, but it’s almost like getting to start all over again, each time you go to a new vessel. But there must have been something in that first field service and been in as you mentioned, your heart started to warm, but what was it that caused you to go back again?

Rachel:

I felt like there was something that just really compelled me, something that I haven’t found at home to the same degree. Like, I also love my job at home. But I feel like doing this work, it’s like something in your heart opens more. And there’s part of me, almost that needs to be expressed. I haven’t found another way to do it at home in any other job or life. And I think it’s the people that I meet, it’s the community on board as well. And just something that feels very purposeful. And yeah, I guess it’s feeling called to it in a way that you feel a greater sense of fulfillment. Maybe I’ll keep waiting for it to wear off. But so far, it hasn’t!

Raeanne:

How did you first hear about Mercy Ships and what caused you to go and volunteer?

Rachel:

So I was in London, and it was I looked so Christian magazine, and there was an advert for the Anastasis that was in London doing like PR tours, though, you could go on the ship, and have a look and see what it was like. And I jokingly said to my friend, if I’m not on the bus on the way back, I’ve just gone off on the ship. And it was a bit of a joke. But she said to me, Well, you know, why don’t you go and have a look. So the next week, I went back to London and had a tour. And I prayed before I went on that if it was something that was for me that I would get stirred up. And if it wasn’t then I just go on and think like that was nice and then come off and I remember feeling really excited and just thinking I’d love to do this but I also thought I could never imagine myself here in a million years. But I just couldn’t stop thinking about it when I left the ship. So I applied and really had no idea what the chances were of being selected to come. And then think two weeks later, I got a phone call asking if I wanted to come. So yeah, so within six months, I went that was my first time in Benin.

Raeanne:

Now how long have you been practicing as a nurse in the UK prior to that?

Rachel:

I think about seven or eight years. Probably seven years before all that happened. It was a kind of a bad time because I just got promoted. So it really wasn’t the best time. I was like, I’ve only just got this new post, and then then the ship happens. So looking back, I can see how it was just all part of God’s plan. And it all worked out really well in the end.

Raeanne:

Well, it’s a crazy thing. Anytime, right? Just to leave everything and go to this crazy environment. But how did you find your time on board? Did you feel like you were able to use different gifts that you have that maybe you weren’t able to use in the hospital in England?

Rachel:

Yeah, the spiritual aspect of it is something that I’m really enjoying, I guess I appreciate that more and more, just the privilege of praying with patients or praying with the nurses, and just being able to put that part of my life together with my work. I think that’s really special. And it’s not that I wouldn’t pray for my patients at home, but to be actively asking and offering to pray. And even when we encounter difficulties or patients’ infections or when things don’t go right, and just the freedom to pray and ask for help, is really special. So I always really appreciate that aspect of this work.

Raeanne:

Can you tell us about some patients that have impacted you, in your time on board?

Rachel:

Yeah, it’s really hard to choose. The first one was a young guy called Terno, who’s in his early 30s. He was a footballer in Guinea, and he came with a huge tumor. And at that time, it was certainly the biggest I’ve ever seen. And he was very malnourished, it was just a shock to look at him. But it was a real fight for his life because he was really starving to death. And the tumor was taking over his airway and he was really struggling to breathe, he couldn’t really eat. And we did his surgery. And because he was so malnourished and physically in such a poor condition, it was just such a fight really to keep him alive, and just find the balance everything. So it was one of those heart wrenching journeys that was very up and down. It was the first time in that job for me to kind of oversee him with his team of nurses. And then when he left, he could eat and he looked normal and his face looked like a normal face. He didn’t have to hide away, it was just wonderful. And I’ll never forget that journey because it was so difficult, but it turned out wonderful to see him without that tumor. And just like his whole, it’s not just a physical transformation, but his whole spirit changed and he kind of came alive. So that will always really move me.

And I think another patient especially as we’re here in Sierra Leone, I’ve remembered this patient a lot because of just how she was a victim of the war in Sierra Leone. And it was a very brutal civil war that was finished 20 years ago now, but the first time I came here, it was just after the war finished. And it’s quite a long story, but she had her feet amputated by the rebels. And I didn’t realize this to start with, but I would see her every day and I wasn’t looking after her. And she would always have a massive smile. And, you know, she didn’t get out of bed. And we didn’t know what was wrong with her because other people were looking after her. And then she was just full of joy. She had a beaming smile. She was there with a baby. And she was just the joy of the ward. She always greeted you or remembered your name. And then I was asked to help a nurse with a wound dressing. And so when that nurse took down the bed covers, and I saw that her feet had been amputated, I just remember feeling horrified, but also just shocked that she could be a person that had so much joy, so much resilience and didn’t have any kind of bitterness over what had happened. She is always an example to me of how you can be with whatever life circumstances you have. Yeah, she really affected me deeply, really. She was an exceptional person and this whole nation is a resilient nation having been through so much. So yeah, there’s many patients that have taught me many things. I think that I’ve learned far more from them than they’ve learned from me or the team, like what we give, we get back much, much more.

Raeanne:

What is that like for you, now you’re in Sierra Leone, and having been on and off the ship, you know, for multiple field services now over 20 years, you’ve returned to some of these countries. You’re in Sierra Leone right now. But you’ve been there before. What is that like to return to these countries? Are you able to see, I don’t know how that would work. But see some of the patients maybe that you’ve seen before, or reconnect at all? Or what is that like to return?

Rachel:

Yeah, it is special to return, especially when it’s so many years later. So there have been countries that I’ve returned to before when I have met patients from before they’ve come back, and we’ve had evaluation days. And that is very special. And they love it, too. They’re very excited if they recognize any of us that were there before. And it’s just very encouraging that they’re still looking good. They’re still very happy, and just very grateful, that we were able to help. So yeah, it’s just a huge privilege when that happens. And even coming back to Sierra Leone. Now we did meet a patient that I do vaguely remember, but she was a child at the time. And she did come on the ship. And we chatted and she wants to become a nurse because she was inspired by the nurses when she was here as a patient. So yeah, that is a really special thing.

Raeanne:

That’s not something that people get to experience very often. But how special, you know, to get to see some of these people again that have had such life changing experiences. I’m sure it feels like family in such a powerful way for them, they get to come back to the people that restored their lives in so many ways. Rachel what is your current role on board?

Rachel:

I am the ICU coordinator so the ICU isn’t open all the time. So I normally work on the maxfax ward, the head and neck surgery ward because that’s where I work most of the time when I’ve been with Mercy Ships. So I work in that ward most of the time, and then when there’s a patient in ICU, then I have to oversee and support the nurses there.

Raeanne:

So you have served for many years onboard our ships, but you have also served with Mercy Ships off ship. So tell us a little bit about your time serving in Texas.

Rachel:

I was on the ship for six years continuously. And when I decided it was time for break, I wasn’t sure for how long or what I would do in between. But then I had the opportunity to go to Texas intermittently and help with the training program for crew coming to the ship and they’re going to serve for over a year. There’s like an induction program that covers all different aspects of ship life and community life and just to help prepare crew so I did that for a year on and off during that time. And I really enjoyed that. Because I think it’s so important how someone starts their Mercy Ships journey like to start them with good expectations, giving the real deal of how it is like. I’m very inspired by it. And if I can inspire other people so that they can also start off well, then, yeah, I love to do that. So that was great. And it also because it helped me, I could meet some nurses of all different walks of life, all different ages, all doing different things, I really enjoyed that aspect and would have happily carried on but then COVID. So because I’m an ICU nurse, I was kind of needed to stay at home for a couple of years, really and see that stage through. So it was definitely something that I really enjoyed and something I didn’t really expect to be doing.

Raeanne:

So wonderful. It is really special. When you are a new crew member, and you’re in the season of preparing to go, it’s so special to get to sit down and talk with people who have been there and have done it and can give you like you said kind of the inside scoop a little bit to prepare your expectations. So when you go, you’re really ready to receive all that is going to be thrown at you, but also to give. And so it’s lovely to have just those testimonies shared and people that can walk alongside you and that experience. So I know you went home during COVID to help out. But what caused you to return to the ships? I know you’re there now. So why did you return?

Rachel:

Yeah, well, I think when it was the COVID time, and the ship kind of stopped as a hospital, that wasn’t so difficult to be at home because there was nothing happening on the ship. But then once the ship started up again, I felt I really was yearning to be back. And actually it was someone at work who said to me, I think you need to be back on that ship again. And I was like, I think maybe I do. And so I went back for six weeks. And it was a bit of a test to see — is it something that I still feel that this is what I should be doing? Or is it something different? So I came for six weeks and it was like Oh, yeah, I need to do more. So then I came back andit’s been a great to start off with the Global Mercy — that was so exciting to start it from day one and see the first patient and then also to come back to Sierra Leone.

Raeanne:

Oh, that’s wonderful. Wait, what is it like on the Global Mercy? Do you feel like the hospital is different than it was on the Africa Mercy or the Anastasis?

Rachel:

Yeah, the hospital is great. It’s really big. There’s lots of room. Big equipment, especially the ICU that is really good. The equipment is very similar to what we would have at home. So I feel very spoiled to be here. So yeah, I love working here. And living on board again. It’s maybe a bit more comfortable not to sleep in a bunk, though that’s a little thing. But it’s still feels like Mercy Ships, it’s still got the same heart. You can feel it. So yeah, different ship, maybe more comfortable. It’s alot bigger. I get lost a lot more. But it’s so similar.

Raeanne:

Well, it’s evident that Mercy Ships has gotten under your skin. You can go home and help out, but even your coworkers are saying, You know what, I think you belong back on that ship. There’s something about it that has impacted you. So as we wrap up our time together. Rachel, can you tell us, how has your life been changed over the past 20 years of serving with Mercy Ships?

Rachel:

I think no one can really come here and not have their life changed. And I don’t know that you realize at the time but I think just the people that you meet, the situations that you come across and just being grateful for what you have in life. That definitely changes when you come here. And I think Mercy Ships is about transformation. And that’s what I see every day is patients being transformed physically, but more than that, it’s them being transformed as a person, it’s almost like their tumor being gone, or their legs been straightened, it transforms something inside them, you see a change in the person that they are as they become more free to be who they are. But it extends beyond patients. It’s about us being transformed. And I know that God transforms us. And so it’s an ongoing work, transformation. But it’s not always easy. It’s not the easiest life. But if it’s what you’re called to do, then he also gives you the grace to do it.

Raeanne:

It’s true. God doesn’t call us where he can’t keep us. He’s going to equip us, you know, if he’s called us somewhere he’s going to provide as well. Rachel I know that you are a prayer warrior, you are a woman of prayer. And we want to be praying for this field service. So can you tell us everyone listening, how can we be praying for the crew and for the patients in Sierra Leone right now?

Rachel:

The patients always need prayer. So for the patients to do well in their surgery, that they will be happy with their results that it will be worth it, what they go through during their surgery journey. I think that their hearts also will be transformed that they will see why we’re doing this. The crew always need prayers, that they also will be healthy and live well here. Because the community life is all part of the experience of being here. And I think on a bigger scale that we will impact this nation in in a good way. Like how God wants to impact Sierra Leone, he will use us to do what he wants to achieve through us. So we want to show them God’s love and compassion. This ship is just a means of being able to do that. So that would be great.

Raeanne:

Well, we will do that. And we encourage everyone listening as well. If you have the heart to come and serve, then please go to Mercy ships.org/volunteer and join the crew, join Rachel and the team that are onboard bringing hope and healing to the people in Sierra Leone right now. Rachel, thank you so much for all that you do. Thank you for your faithfulness to return time and again since 2001. And we’re just really encouraged and blessed by the way that you are serving and being the hands and feet of Jesus. So thank you for sharing with us a little bit about your story today.

Rachel:

Thank you.

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.