Why does it make sense to volunteer on a hospital ship?
Jørgen Jørgensen is a retired marine engineer, but he uses his skills on a hospital ship in Madagascar. The surgeries performed there give people a new chance in life, he explains.
By Svend Løbner, journalist
Should I rest and enjoy or should I use my life experience to help others?
The choice was easy for the retired chief engineer Jørgen Jørgensen from Esbjerg. That’s why we find the agile retiree on a hospital ship in Madagascar. You wouldn’t guess he had just turned 70, as he walks down the stairs to the engine room, giving us a tour of the hospital ship Africa Mercy in the port city of Toamasina.
Africa Mercy has five operating rooms, 80 beds, and all the electronic equipment needed to run a modern hospital. And this is invaluable in a country that cannot offer specialized surgery to its 31 million inhabitants.
“Many years ago, I had a boss who was also a marine engineer. He said to me, ‘Jørgen, when we retire, we should go out into the world and use our education to help others.’ That’s been in the back of my mind ever since,” he says.
The work in the engine room makes sense
Jørgen Jørgensen is one of the 350 volunteers from 60 countries who run the hospital ship. Volunteers range from surgeons, nurses, health assistants, and chaplains to ship engineers, marine engineers, captains, and other seafarers. They typically serve for three months at a time.
Africa Mercy is one of two hospital ships operated by Mercy Ships, docking along Africa’s coasts. Together, the ships perform 3,500 surgeries annually, ranging from repairing cleft lips on small babies to removing large facial tumors from people who lack access to dental care, often leading to untreated infections.
Even though Jørgensen works down in the dark and noisy engine room, he keeps the ship’s mission in mind: helping people in desperate need.
“It’s been a bit strange for me to do my work without directly seeing the results,” he says amid the deafening noise of two large B&W Alpha diesel engines.
“When we retire, we should go out into the world and use our education to help others.’
Playing with the children on deck 7
But all the staff have the chance to meet the patients every day.
“We take the patients who are able to go up to Deck 7 for some fresh air. You can play with the children and chat with the adults,” Jørgensen explains.
“It’s a bit hard to grasp that when we in the engine room are making lights, air conditioning, and everything else work, it results in a person in a village somewhere having a better life.”
But it does, he says.
“People in the villages are doomed if they don’t get surgery for cleft palates or tumors. If you have a tumor in the middle of your face, you can’t eat, and eventually, you can’t breathe. You simply die from it. But when they are operated on aboard Africa Mercy, they get a new life and are accepted back into society. They are often outcasts due to their deformities.”
Meeting the patients gives strength
As a retiree, it feels good to be able to join Mercy Ships, the chief engineer smiles.
“It’s about helping others who don’t have much. I can use my time to help them. And you can see that the children are happy to be here on board, even though many of the procedures they undergo are very painful.”
“So, playing with a little boy or girl riding a tricycle with an arm in a sling or a bandaged foot or head really means something. It energizes me to keep working on Africa Mercy, even though the job itself is tough.”
“It’s about helping others who don’t have much.”
Willing to give a few more years
Is this something you want to continue doing?
“Yes, I’m seriously considering it. Mercy Ships needs marine engineers and especially chief engineers. So, I would like to give a few more months over the next couple of years.”
What do you say to others who are considering volunteering three months with Mercy Ships?
“I would actually advise them to do it! Absolutely! Come out and get the experience. In general, go out and do some NGO work somewhere.”
It broadens your horizons, Jørgensen says.
“You get to see another country. How do people live here? And you gain a new perspective on how Denmark is. We have electricity, roads, hospitals, dentists, and everything else. You just don’t have that out here. It makes you appreciate your own country even more when you come back home.”
Read more about Mercy Ships at www.mercyships.dk.
