My Nonprofit Reviews

Mercy Ships was a name I had heard about via a friend, but I did not know much about the organization. In 2006 I felt a strong calling to serve with Mercy Ships so after some research I know it was a great opportunity to serve people in away that would use my skills as an optometrist. I spend the most amazing 7 weeks in Ghana. I worked in the the ophthalmology department doing pre and post operative screenings. I also helped train fellow Ghanaians to do the test so that they could use their new skills in local clinics,

On a personal level I gained so much clinical knowledge from Dr Niel Murry the ophthalmologist and his amazing wife that ran and co-ordinated the department. The most amazing experiance of my time serving was seeing lives changed. One young man that I will always remember had a very large tumor of the eye, not something you see in a first world county. He was shy and had sunglasses on to stop people staring at him. Unfortunately there was no way for saving the eye and so his eye was removed. An artificial eye was then inserted, I had to choose an artificial eye that was a match to his other eye. He was given clear instructions on how to clean and look after his new artificial eye. He returned 3 weeks later for a check up. I have never seen a personal change in a young man in such a short length of time, he walked with confidence his head held high and a smile on his face, he still had sunglasses but this was more of a fashion statement now!

There are so many stories and amazing people that work on the Mercy ship, it is a floating village with the most amazing hospital!

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