Minor Job - Mercy Ministries

On the ship we have a minor job program that allows crew staying longer than 3 months to be allowed off work for either half a day or a day a week to participate in a different job.  The idea is that this gives people the opportunity to see a different area of the ministry of the ship, to work off-ship, to engage with local people or to work down in the hospital. 

It is very easy to live in a western bubble on the ship.  Whilst there are some real challenges to living here (such as living in such a close community, having no personal space and the constant change of people), these challenges are very different to those experienced by a traditional missionary or aid worker in the developing world.  We are very privileged to have reliable power, clean running water, and good varied food, among many other things.  Because of this it is easy to forget that you are actually in Africa and difficult to have any idea of what life is like here.  My job also requires that I work with equipment, and on the whole I like that, however, equipment doesn't have much personality and with such a small team (just two) I sometimes miss doing work that engages with people. 

As a result I decided that I would apply for a minor job with Mercy Ministries.  Mercy Ministries provides off-ship ministry opportunities for crew working alongside existing ministries demonstrating hope and healing to those who can't be reached and helped through our onboard services.  The Mercy Ministries program, run by Ines Kronester, is made up of visits to a number of different local partners in the country.  We partner with existing ministries to support and encourage them, and to ensure that the work continues after we leave the country.  The opportunities are varied and include homework clubs, orphanages, youth detention centres, the local hospital paediatric wards, HIV/AIDS women's hostels.  Anyone on the ship can sign up for a session to come out with a Mercy Ministries team.  As a team leader I am responsible for briefing the team (some of whom may have no previous experience with Mercy Ministries and may not have been on the ship long) to ensure we are respectful to the organisation we partner with, liaising with the leaders of the partner organisation, planning what the group does during the sessions and coordinating the session whilst we are at the place.  This is challenging me greatly as I need to ensure that we as a team are respectful of the people we partner with and maintain a wider picture outlook on what we do (to achieve long term goals rather than short term), which isn't always understood or shared by the participants.  My hope is that I can help them to understand more about how to facilitate long term development, and to develop deeper relationships with the people I work with through Mercy Ministries.

What do I do?

It's a good question really, and one I get asked fairly regularly on ship: what do I do?

Many would assume that I am a nurse; I live in scrubs, and frequently can be seen sporting my dragon scrub hat (necessary for venturing down the operating room corridor).  However, thankfully for the patients I am not a nurse!  I work as a biomedical technician.  But what does that mean?  Most people have never even heard of this position, let alone know what the job involves. 

Well a biomedical technician (also known as a biomedical engineer or clinical engineer) works with medical equipment.  Engineers are problem solvers, they are technical, and practical, and to some extent they like to take things apart...although not all are so quick to put them back together!  I am an engineer, and as such there is a lot of problem solving in my work.

Myself and Tony, the other biomedical technician on the ship, work in behind the scenes to keep all the medical equipment running smoothly.  We look after all sorts of equipment, from your basic temperature probes, to your patient monitoring systems (which monitor blood pressure and pulse), up to the anaesthetic machines, the CT scanner, X-ray system and the machine known as the OPG (which actually stands for Orthopantomogram - it takes a panoramic dental x-ray of the upper and lower jaw).  Not only do we look after the ward and OR equipment and the imaging systems, we also look after the laboratory (on ship), the dental clinic and the eye teams who work off ship.

Our work is very varied.  We set up the new equipment as it arrives, catalogue it and distribute it.  We perform routine maintenance and checks of the equipment to keep it in good running order, things like changing the water filters for the sterilisers.  We respond to difficulties people are having with using the equipment and we fix equipment when it breaks.  We even provide some training to guide people in how to use the equipment.

When we have problems with our equipment we review the literature we have about the equipment to find the fault and try to fix it.  Sometimes we don't have much information so we get in and do some testing and look at the equipment to try to find out what the fault is.  Sometimes we have to contact the manufacturer or their support centre to help us.

All in all my days are very varied.  Sometimes I am climbing in the small space beside the CT scanner getting information to allow us to fix the lasers, other times I am unpacking syringe pumps or emergency suction units and putting them into our system.  Other days I am conference calling with a support centre in Israel, or making power cords safe again after the wires have been pulled out.  No day is ever the same, but life would be dull if it was!

(Picture to follow)