April 14, 2005 | Read Time: 1 minute
Photograph by Mercy Ships International
Hundreds of Liberians gathered in their capital city, Monrovia, one day last month to greet a 522-foot ocean liner staffed by doctors and nurses from the charity Mercy Ships. Before the liner departs in June, its crew members will perform more than 300 surgeries inside the ship’s onboard operating rooms to remove tumors, correct cleft palates, and treat cataracts.
The visit marks the first time Mercy Ships has gone to Liberia, a country just now beginning to recover from years of civil war. But since it was created in 1978, the charity, based in Garden Valley, Tex., has docked at ports in more than 50 of the world’s poorest countries and operated on more than 18,000 people.
Don Stephens, the organization’s founder and president, got the idea when he was a missionary in the Bahamas and a hurricane devastated the islands. Seeing the death toll climb because of inadequate health care, Mr. Stephens envisioned a fleet of ships that could carry doctors and medical supplies from the richest nations to people in the developing world.
Doctors and nurses volunteer their time to work on the charity’s three ships. Some spend several weeks, while others serve for several years. All pay their own way, sometimes relying on donations from members of their churches or civic organizations.
Financial support from volunteers, as well as products from pharmaceutical companies, enable the organization to meet its $45-million annual budget. Some donors contribute general support, while others pay for surgeries to help individuals, such as this boy in Sierra Leone who was fitted with casts to correct his club feet.
