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Macfaiden Chipeta Start Date: Jul 5, 2023 - End Date: Jul 4, 2024
  • Sierra Leone

My Travel Story

by: Macfaiden Chipeta Start Date: Jul 5, 2023 - End Date: Jul 4, 2024
Hello Dear Friends,

Greetings from aboard Global Mercy! 

My name is Macfaiden Chipeta, I am Malawian by nationality.

I am so happy to share with you the things that God is doing aboard this hospital ship and in the countries that it serves.  I have been so blessed to be used by God during the past one and half years with Mercy Ships and in the other opportunities that God has given me during this time.  Thank you for taking the time to read about the work that we are doing and for supporting us as we work to bring God’s hope and love to so many people.  

   The Global Mercy is currently in Dakar, Senegal where it has been serving since the end of January this year.  We arrived back in Dakar after being forced to stop our operations here back in 2020 when the pandemic began.  We had promised surgeries to many patients that year that we were not able to complete.  So it is with real joy that now we have returned to fulfill those promises.  God has been doing amazing things here as we work to share His hope and healing with this nation.     

I began my work with Mercy Ships in 2022, aboard the Mercy Ships Vessel, the African Mercy.  I was living in my home country of Malawi working with Word and Deed (an organization from Canada that is involved in orphan and pastoral care in Malawi) My Canadian friend who came to volunteer in Malawi told me about this hospital ship.  Later, when I joined Mercy Ships as full-time crew.  I spent much of my time off from the dining room ministering to the patients that we served.  My true passion was ministering to and discipling the patients that we encountered.  I spent so much time doing this, Then I was asked if I would be willing to step into the newly created role of preoperative logistics coordinator, Thus, the patient transportation program begun. It was a dream come true to minister to patients every day and share the gospel of Jesus Christ by providing them with safe transport to the ship.  

I now spend my days leading the patient transport. On 23rd June 2023, we officially closed patient transportation for our field service in Senegal and The Gambia. The past 5 months have been wonderful for patient transportation. Patient transportation is an important part of the Preoperative Team. We brought patients from all over Senegal and The Gambia to the ship in Dakar and managed the Assembly Point for local patients. 

To ease the financial burden of patients, Mercy Ships arranges transportation for patients from their home regions to the ship. We had a total of 47 buses covering both Senegal and The Gambia. Twelve buses travelled to The Gambia and 35 travelled within Senegal regions. In February, we sent 5 buses. We sent 13 buses in March and 7 buses in April. May was our busiest month, with 22 buses. 

After our long commitment to the people of Senegal (which was interrupted by COVID, yet we persevered and returned), it is now time for the team on board the Global Mercy to pack up to leave Dakar. We are thankful to the Senegalese government for their partnership. We now sail to Tenerife for 6 weeks maintenance to prepare the ship for a one-year service in Sierra Leone. I will not be sailing with the ship to Spain but rather fly to Sierra Leone to join the patient selection and country engagement team and prepare for the ship’s arrival on 27 August 2023.

Ending field service is always a bittersweet moment, and we pause in gratitude and celebration for the lives that were transformed—794 surgeries were performed, and more than 600 local healthcare professionals were trained. Please click for a short video. https://youtu.be/dzA8w9XS23A

For additional information about Mercy Ships, please visit www.mercyships.org.

We serve a truly great God who provides so much for this ministry to continue.  We are sustained by Him as we work to bring transformation to the lives of so many people whom the world has cast aside.  It is a privilege to pray with and minister to these people, sharing the love of our God with them daily.  I am so grateful to all of you for partnering with us over the years and to those of you who have just recently found out about this amazing ministry.  We rely so much on your prayers and support.  It is such an encouragement to us to know that you are behind us, as we encourage the patients who we meet daily.  God bless you for all you are doing for us! 

I would be so grateful if you would consider supporting me in the future as I continue to work with Mercy Ships.  The Global Mercy is scheduled to work in Sierra Leone from August until the end of June. God is going to do so many amazing things in the coming months!  All of us volunteers on the ship are so grateful for your partnership and rely so heavily on your prayers and financial support. 

Please feel free to support my fundraising efforts.

Thank you for supporting me

 

 

 
  • Sierra Leone

Updates

1

  • SENEGAL & THE GAMBIA PATIENT TRANSPORTATION

    SENEGAL & THE GAMBIA PATIENT TRANSPORTATION
    SENEGAL & THE GAMBIA PATIENT TRANSPORTATION

    On 23rd June 2023, we officially closed patient transportation for our field service in Senegal and The Gambia. The past 5 months have been wonderful for patient transportation. Patient transportation is an important part of the Preoperative Team. We brought patients from all over Senegal and The Gambia to the ship in Dakar and managed the Assembly Point for local patients.

    To ease the financial burden of patients, Mercy Ships arranges transportation for patients from their home regions to the ship. We had a total of 47 buses covering both Senegal and The Gambia. Twelve buses travelled to The Gambia and 35 travelled within Senegal regions. In February, we sent 5 buses. We sent 13 buses in March and 7 buses in April. May was our busiest month, with 22 buses.

    Our first trip to The Gambia was on 8th March 2023. On this day, we picked up patients from Bansang, Brikama and Banjul in The Gambia. All were children for the orthopedic surgery program, accompanied by their caregivers. Dr. Momodou T. NYASSI, deputy director of health services Gambia, was immensely helpful in helping Mercy Ships establish good working relationships with the four hospitals we worked with in the Gambia. Our patients gathered for patient pick up at the following Gambian hospitals: Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital, Bansang Hospital, Brikima District Hospital and Farafeni General Hospital. Our relationships with the local hospitals in both countries are important as we needed to arrange space to perform the covid test. The contacts have been great and supportive.

    This field service, we brought back the assembly point. We did not have an assembly point in the 2022 Senegal field service because all our patients were staying at the HOPE Center. The Assembly Point is a physical location, where local patients who are not staying at the HOPE Center will be transported to the ship for their appointments. Patients cannot walk through the port to get to the ship, so the Assembly Point allows us to provide safety and assistance for our patients in reaching the ship by a Mercy Ships vehicle.

    Patients living within travel distance of the ship do not stay in the HOPE Center because of limited space. Instead, these patients are instructed to come to the Assembly Point for their scheduled appointments. We work closely with other departments, such as the LCU, wards, dieticians, outpatient, rehab, ophthalmology, gangway, and of course preop. Patients will show up on scheduled days and times, as provided by these hospital departments. This includes patients coming for nurse and diagnostics days, surgeon consultations, follow up, admissions, discharges, caregiver swaps, and patient visits.

    In this field service, the Assembly Point was located just inside the Dakar Nave gate, behind the Gendarmerie office. The Gendarmerie have been good friends of Mercy Ships, and they provided us with the space, water, prayer room, and toilets for patients and day crew usage. We did have two vehicles allocated to drive patients between the Assembly Point and the ship. The Assembly Point is overseen by four-day crew, two of whom are drivers.

    We are thankful for the successful transportation of our patients in Senegal and The Gambia, including the Assembly Point, in this field service.

    I am already excited for Sierra Leone!!!

    Thank you to everyone for being part of this amazing journey and praying with us as we will look forward while heading to organizing the transportation in Sierra Leone. All the glory to our Lord!


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