Blog 1 | Getting ready for ship life

Leaving my family to answer to God’s call is one of the hardest things I have experienced. It’s a call that no one should question even if things are not going right because He who called you will eventually put everything in place. With an initial 1-year commitment to serve as a full-time volunteer with Mercy Ships, my first two tasks to getting ready for ship life were to raise funds and attend Mercy Ship’s Onboarding Program. Stay with me as I walk you through how God’s miracle unfolded itself.

After getting my offer letter from Mercy Ships in October 2019, I was asked to create a budget as I would be required to take care of my personal finances, travel, insurance and pay crew fees that will cover my accommodation and food. I carefully created the budget and I ask asked to get 75% of my budget before getting clearance to join the ship. It was the most difficult and challenging task as I come from a setting where volunteerism is not a common thing. I am passionate about answering God’s call and I have the task to raise funds in a setting where they classify paying to volunteer as a weird and crazy thing to do. Where do I start; Do I run to the church that is still struggling to establish its foundations? Do I run to my family that lives on a day-to-day earning or do I run to a community that needs help more than I do? Mercy Ships created a crowdfunding page that was indeed a good starting point as I was able to share the page on my Facebook account. My initial departure date from Guinea, Conakry was 3rd March 2020 and that meant that I had almost 5 months to raise 75% of the budget. That timeframe was fair enough but a week later, things completely turned around. I was asked to depart on 10 January 2020 so that I can attend the onboarding program as a long-term crew. From having to raise funds in 21 weeks, I was left with only 8 weeks. I trusted God for provision but God on the other hand used that opportunity to teach me how to wait for His time. Time was running fast and there was no progress getting close to my goal; frustrations, worry and sadness found their way through my heart and I concluded that God was not even listening to my prayers, but I was wrong, very wrong because God was teaching me something important: trusting him and waiting on his time.

Around Mid December 2019, I got an email from Mercy Ship’s Human Resources department that they need confirmation from the Finance team about my financial status before they can give me clearance to start preparing for the 11th January departure. I took another look at my fundraising page and I had only 35% of the 75% that is needed for me to be cleared to join the onboarding team. I took my Bible and opened it randomly, my eyes directly went to Deuteronomy 31:8 ‘The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” “DO NOT BE AFRAID; DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED” these words stood out to me and gave me a lot of comfort. I went down on my knee and said ‘Lord, you know my heart and you know that I do want to answer your call. If it is you who is calling me to Mercy Ships, make a way for me.’ Two days later, I got an email notification that I am making progress on my fundraising page. I opened my crowdfunding page and saw a donation that swept me off my feet. I was praying and trusting God for only 75% but God at his own time blessed me with more than 100% of my budget. It was a moment of thanksgiving that I celebrated with my family. I was happy that I could finally just the onboarding team but was even happier because it was a clear indication that God called me to Mercy Ships.

Now that I am fully funded, I was given the clearance to get my flight ticket and join the onboarding team in Senegal. A day after I was fully funded, I got a text message from a friend that she is paying for my ticket from Conakry to Senegal. Later that night, I got another message from another friend that she wants to pay for my ticket. It was amazing how God was unfolding some of the things he had in store for me. In Dakar, I was welcomed at the airport by a humble, sincere, honest, and loveable man who is going to eventually play a significant role in my life. Stefan Schmid picked me and another onboarding participant at the airport and drove to the hotel where the instructors were already waiting for us and other participants would be joining the next day. Mercy Ships on Boarding program is an interactive training program designed to provide insight and understanding of Mercy Ships Culture and Core Values, and how to uphold, support and promote the organizational culture. The organization believes that how and why is just as important as what they do. It was a four weeks program in which we were fortunate to learn on courses like Foundations of Mercy Ships (Who, What and Why of Mercy Ships), Faith Foundations (Understanding that God wants to be personally and fully known by us, so that we can follow His example), Personal/Interpersonal (Expanding our understanding of what it looks like to love and serve people), Worldview (Understanding and aligning ourselves with a biblical worldview), and Field Practice ( Where we get the opportunity to put what we were taught into practice). The four weeks program was impactful as I was blessed to know exactly why Mercy Ships does what they do. In the last week, we spent time visiting University Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD), the Monument, and the Light House of Dakar where we learned a bit of the history and culture of the Senegalese.

Finally, onboarding was completed and it was time to say goodbye to the wonderful people friends at the hotel who spent days and nights preparing our meals and making sure you enjoyed every bit of our stay. On the 7th of February, we drove through the busy city of Dakar to get to the port. Entering the port, I could see the ship from afar, it was a heartwarming moment as I could finally see the place that I will call home for the next year or more. I was so thankful that God placed everything together at His own time and it all worked out well. But the story does not stop here, watch out for my next blog.