Mercy Ships: Australian Nurse Volunteers in Madagascar

“I wanted to be a part of the exciting difference we can make in people’s lives,” says nurse Hannah Newell of Warrnambool Australia talking of her inspiration to spend four weeks volunteering with international charity Mercy Ships onboard the hospital ship, Africa Mercy, in Madagascar.

“I cannot remember exactly how I first heard about Mercy Ships. I think it may have been through a friend when I was in university eight or nine years ago,” she continues.

“I became a nurse because it was a profession I could travel all around the world with and do volunteer work to help those less fortunate than me.  I found that theatre nursing was my favourite area of nursing and Mercy Ships provided me with a perfect opportunity to use those particular skills to bring hope and healing to those less fortunate, in particular to the Malagasy people.”

The Africa Mercy docked in the Republic of Madagascar, the island nation located off the east coast of Africa, in October 2014 and plans to provide over 1,700 free surgeries onboard, treat thousands more at land-based dental and eye clinics, and provide health care education to Malagasy health care professionals during its 8-month stay in port.

“Back home when you think of Madagascar, you think of the movie that everyone knows but it is such a different story when you get here,” Hannah said. “It is a very poor country with a very young population, and there is a huge lack of health care and early prevention available to this large population.”

“The Malagasy people are very calm and friendly people and it is a privilege to get to know them and see the huge difference we can make to their future by providing free operations. I get to be part of and see the actual operations that change people’s lives.  Every person on the ship, no matter what role they are in, makes it possible for this to happen.”

Besides taking annual leave from her job, Hannah said she did not have to make many preparations before beginning her volunteer work with Mercy Ships. “I did do some research on Madagascar before I left so I had a little bit of background knowledge.  However, a lot of what I learnt was through interacting with the local Malagasy people, asking questions and trying to learn some phrases from their language through them.”

“My family was excited for me and very supportive; asking a lot of questions about what I would be doing and checking in with how things were going while I was in Madagascar. I look forward to being able to share my experiences with them.”

“It has only made me want to do more volunteer work.  So now I will return to my nursing job and re-evaluate and consider if serving with Mercy Ships is something I would like to do again.”