Original subtitles

On this episode of The Mercy Ships:

Cesar,

Come see this. If you notice that this,

- temperature is creeping up again. - The seawater system maybe is clogged.

This is ongoing problem,

so we're going to have to find something to try and improve on this.

Yeah, we need a different solution because as the rainy season is coming,

this problem is just becoming worse and worse.

Exactly.

'Cause we're in port for ten months of the year without moving,

we need to maintain a constant supply of cooling water to the vessel.

And that's brought in by intakes underneath the ship.

In Sierra Leone, everybody uses the river as a bit of a garbage system.

So a big problem for us is the amount of plastic that's in the water.

If it goes into our intakes, it's something that could shut us down

permanently unless we can resolve this problem.

We've gathered together

the finest brains available on the vessel to try and come up with a plan

as to how best to keep these crucial intakes clear.

My name is Renier Marx.

I'm from South Africa and I'm the chief electrician on the Global Mercy.

In 2011, we joined as a family.

It's about 13 years now that we've been serving with Mercy Ships.

as the chief electrician on the Global Mercy,

there’s about five of us, including myself,

We are responsible to keep the electrons flowing.

But also, the maintenance and repairs of all the safety systems onboard,

as well as the galley, the laundry, all the machinery equipment.

Yeah, and I think in short, that's about covering the majority of it.

Oh, it's actually quite a lot.

I think the advantage of the Global Mercy

is that we have so many redundant systems,

but your redundant systems can only hold until they are not redundant anymore.

You need to have your divers to be able to go down.

On our way back,

I guess when we finish then I will swim past...

It's not like a normal dive

Where you're in there swimming with the fishes with nice clear water.

My name is Daniel Fraser.

I'm from Birkenhead, England.

I'm the environmental engineer on the Global Mercy.

I'm responsible for waste management on the ship.

That means the incineration of waste.

I mean, can we say that it's passed through the human body, sort of thing.

I was in the military.

There at the Royal Air Force for 21 years.

When I was near the end of my contract

for that, I was looking for another position.

And as I'd recently become a Christian, I was hoping to do some work for the Lord.

When I came across the Mercy Ships, I saw myself as being able

to put my skills in that environment and volunteer for the Mercy Ships

and carry on with a life of significance.

Swimming under a large vessel.

There's nothing but but metal above your head.

Quite disorientating, visibility is less than a meter.

That's why before we even go in, we have a pre-meeting about things

we're going to find and whatnot.

We do take a lot of precautions to be as safe as possible.

But it is, of course, still a dangerous task.

In past field services, we've had incidents.

Watch out, watch out, watch out, watch out.

I think we just need to just reevaluate.

Alex? Alex? Captain, you were calling me.

Yes, captain, I was calling you.

We have to abort the diving operations.

The swell is too high and too strong and

I cannot protect the divers.

So Josh, one of our photographers, approached me

and asked if I would make a frame for a photo

that he’s going to get printed at one of our patient's weddings.

So we're going to go try to find some...

some wood to make that frame.

My name is Connor Rogers.

I serve on the Africa Mercy.

I'm from Corbett, Oregon,

and I'm a carpenter.

I joined the ship back in November of 2023.

It's been ten months as of today.

Yeah, the roads in Madagascar are a bit rough.

Well, actually, that's a lot-- That's a big improvement just right there.

That's usually like a six inch drop off.

So yeah, the roads are not ideal.

So its definitely curbed my hatred

for roads back home.

So we're just out walking around getting here to check out for this wood.

And my buddy Jean from the ship.

He's in the deck department. He's one of the day crew.

Was just driving by and saw me and stopped,

so Jean might help us out now translating a little bit

so it should be a little bit easier than I thought it would be.

So...

40,000 Ariary

40,000 for this? Yeah, 40,000.

Okay. That's perfect.

I think we will--

Can we take this one?

40,000? Okay.

Merci.

All right, here we go.

Look at inside of that thing.

Can't even tell where this thing was like, growing.

You don't see any rings built up. And-- it just grew like a monster.

Smell it, do you smell that?

It's good.

Smells like God's green earth.

- I'll see you on Monday, okay? - See you on Monday.

Alright bro, see you bro.

I'm going to get to build a frame, essentially a custom frame.

My mind is already kind of thinking of what that's going to look like.

If it's going to be something kind of just traditional.

I'm really excited.

Doing something with Josh just sounds awesome.

His creative mind is so brilliant as well.

That'll be-- that'll be something really cool.

My name is Darwin Wanjiru

and I'm an engine cadet on the ship.

I am responsible for making sure that the machineries

are running smoothly, operating well, and to report any hazards,

change of conditions, failures or damages to an engineering officer.

In two weeks, I'll be gathering people around the ship

to do a 48 hour film project that involves me

being given a character name, a prop, a genre, a line of action.

And I'm really looking forward to making this project work.

Hey, good morning!

Hey, good morning.

We were supposed to meet at nine in midships.

- Are you on your way? - Yeah, I’m on my way.

Okay, great. See you soon. Bye.

Hey, guys.

- Good morning! Rise and shine. - Always late...

Sorry, sorry. I'm not always late.

Don't let it happen again.

- I'll be opening doors next time. - Great.

- Okay. - Yeah.

So, I called you guys in because

we have a big opportunity to do a 48 hour film project

that will be aired in Glasgow, Scotland.

Awesome.

I would like you to take, like, the DoP role

on this and spearhead at least the post-production bit.

My name is Onyedikachukwu Ibedu.

I'm from Nnarambe in Nigeria

and I volunteer aboard the Africa Mercy

as a videographer.

Hannah,

you're my guy.

My name is Hannah Beckler

and I am the media liaison

on the Africa Mercy.

I'm excited to work with Darwin on his 48-hour film project.

As the producer, I will help with casting and coordinating all of the crew

involved and logistics regarding transport and food.

And hopefully be able to make an entire short film in 48 hours.

Yeah, it's an exciting thing to be a producer,

but it's also very hard work.

Sounds amazing.

Yeah, it sounds amazing.

Let’s do this.

Let's go recruit our team members.

Good to see you, what’s going on?

I know you have, like, a really good camera face.

Oh. That's-- who told you that?

I know, I know.

I want you to be part of the film.

Oh, right on. What's that going to like entail?

We literally know nothing at the moment, but we have a meeting tomorrow morning.

- Yeah. - Bro, you don't want me in your video?

So it's camera face only.

Whoa!

Shots fired!

Of course, I got you.

- Yeah? - You can do it. Yeah.

So I don't know if you're willing to do it.

Yes, I'm willing to do it. Yes.

Yeah. All right.

- Thank you so much. - You're welcome, brother.

So we're looking at doing the filming on Saturday from--

I can't do Saturday.

It's the youth beach day on Saturday.

- Okay. - I'm sorry. Have fun.

I would love to do that.

- We'll make it happen. - Awesome. I love it.

Coming up on The Mercy Ships.

If those intakes get blocked,

the generators will shut down and we will be without power.

It's really bad underneath there.

We’re going to need to find something to stop that waste getting in.

At the moment, there's just too much waste

getting thrown into those vents.

- Hello. - Morning!

- How's it going? - Morning Cameron.

What's up?

- Got a job for you. - Ah.

I'm Laura Blundell.

I am from the UK.

I am a physical therapist.

This is my fourth time with the Mercy Ships,

but first time with GLM in Sierra Leone.

As physiotherapists,

we do the pre-op assessments so the patients before their surgery,

we assess their movement, their function.

But also what they want to achieve after their surgery.

So we do lots of goal setting and we make it patient centered.

So it's got to be very relevant to what they want to achieve.

Good, lovely.

So they will have their surgeries.

Once we know they're fully healed,

casts are off, they stay off and then the hard work starts.

Then it's exercises, exercises,

a little bit of pain, but gotta be cruel to be kind.

Really, it's got to be done.

- Yeah, you remember these? - Yes.

So, Abdul needs more adding to the shoe.

He's doing really well with it because he's got the seven centimeter

- leg length discrepancy. - I think I've got about 30 just now.

Yeah, about 29, 30.

Okay, so we need to be there. Well, I...

Probably about five.

- Yeah, it would be good. Yeah yeah. - Five centimeters roughly.

Following some of the orthopedic surgeries that we have, the patients can be left

with leg length discrepancies or additional needs.

So yeah, we can increase it a bit.

Will that be enough for him adapting to it

as it's for the size...

Because it is such a significant height increase,

I asked Cameron to do it in increments.

There is such a big, like, length discrepancy.

- He's walking like this. - Ah.

So by doing, from this position to all the way up to neutral,

that's going to completely throw his balance off in the other direction.

Ah, I getcha, I getcha.

Sure, I can do that, yeah.

So I'll increase it by, let's take it a five centimeters just now,

and then maybe sometime next week or later on, we'll increase it to the full 70.

And that’ll be done pretty much.

- How is he finding it just now then? - Really good, actually.

Yes. There is a little bit of extra weight to it,

but because he has the foot drop accentuated because of the weight.

So I've created a little... for him, so ignore that bit.

Yeah, I can probably get it done today since there's no glue.

I'm just using screws in it.

So...

We can try it on Abdul.

You can see how it works for him.

- See how it fits. So, that's fine. - Cool, yeah.

- Perfect. - You just, wanna be with me there,

as we’re, we’re making that final assessment with it.

Sounds good. Looking forward to it.

- Perfect. - I'll let you know it's done.

And I'll see you then.

All right...

So, we're doing a 48-hour film project.

Don't expect to sleep.

I mean, we'll see, we'll see.

Bro...

He's so shocked.

You said this is an all-day thing.

- Friday through Sunday, is that correct? - Yeah, yeah.

But on Saturday, we have a youth outing at the beach.

Uh... And you're part of the youth group, right?

You're a leader in the youth group, right? - Mmhm, mmhm.

- Yeah. - Well ok, that’s fine.

I mean, you already know that I won't be there at all.

- Yeah, you will be at beach day. - Yeah.

But on Friday and Sunday, you can still join the team and work with us.

Is everybody aware of what role

they have in this production?

No.

Okay. Do you want to just run through--

you can run through that real quick?

Okay, Melvis is doing costume and makeup.

Micheline is coming in as an award-winning writer.

Josoa, he's helping us scout for locations across Toamasina.

Raphael is coming in as an actor.

He's also a good actor. He's told me.

Jess is the locations manager of the team.

Antonia is coming in as an actress.

Prayer is also coming in as an actor.

Ibedu is doing cinematography.

He's the man of the hour.

He's also doing a very key thing, which is editing.

Mane is the assistant director.

Thank you so much, guys, for coming.

Keep everything in your prayers and let's see each other on Friday, 8 pm.

All right.

Thank you so much.

So, one of the key problems about being in a port for ten months

consistently without moving is that we need to

take in cooling water from the sea around us to cool our generators.

And because we're not moving, then you can get a significant buildup

of plastic getting into those intakes.

And if those intakes get blocked,

the generators will shut down and we will be without power.

On top of my commitment,

I volunteer as a diver for the dive team, and we do maintenance under the ship.

Yeah. So, let's get to it kid.

Yeah, lets go. We go as a dive team and

we prepare all the equipment together, make sure everything is set,

that it's all working properly.

Heavenly Father, Creator of the heavens and the earth.

Kindle within us your flame of the Holy Spirit.

Guide us in this dive.

Keep us safe.

Allow us to do our job without impedance.

Keep our eyes on the task.

Keep our communications between us

well and good. Amen.

Amen, thank you.

That's when we are ready to actually start diving.

The divers still haven't come up.

Roger.

Bridge...

All divers out of the water.

It's really bad underneath there.

We're gonna need to find something

to stop that waste getting in.

At the moment there’s just too much waste getting

thrown into those vents.

Other than tons of plastic and garbage?

It's just mainly large scale garbage.

And a lot of that garbage can be medical garbage.

So the issues we have is needles, as well.

Sometimes you have to make sure you got your knife on

you just to cut yourself out of a swirling garbage.

So it's definitely--

it's, it's humbling when you're under the water... to do that work.

It's difficult, but it's also rewarding again,

knowing that we’re helping the ship function as it needs to function.

Water intakes are very clogged up.

We clean the best we can, but

we'll have to come up with some kind of solution for the long term.

It's really bad news for us,

if the, the generator is shut down through lack of cooling.

So our carpenter, George suggested

that we make some baskets that will go over the intakes.

We're really hoping that this solution will work out.

It's something that could shut us down permanently.

Unless we can resolve this problem.

Coming up on The Mercy Ships.

You're catching me right now where it's right at the end.

And so, yeah, it's been challenging.

Onwards to the AFM. Onwards to Thomas.

To my family there.

And to starting surgeries in Madagascar.

I'm very excited about Madagascar.

♪ ...that hope and healing ♪

♪ Only God can do it for me ♪

We composed the beat together.

With Wise and with Raximo.

Yeah.

And honestly, it, it blew my mind.

This is exactly what I was looking for.

Bro.

Wise...

You did it again. I love it, man. This is great.

I think we're going to do some vocals. Right.

You ready now? Because I'm feeling myself like,

Oh, you know? Yeah.

Yeah, we’re ready. I'm set for vocals.

Okay, let's do it.

♪ Only God can do it for me ♪

♪ Bringing that hope and healing ♪

♪ Only God can do it ♪

♪ To the world’s forgotten poor ♪

♪ Only God can turn it around ♪

So earlier, during recording, Raximo came to me that he felt

like something was missing on the track.

And then he had this idea.

Well, you know what? Like, I'm still thinking of,

something else. You know what I mean?

...Yeah. See, see something, Wise man.

He went to a blind school.

And these children from the blind school,

They are a choir.

♪ There must be a God... ♪

So he actually came with this idea with, like,

hey, what do you think

if we ask these children if they want to sing on our track?

♪ God made everything beautiful ♪

- Wow. This is beautiful. - Yeah.

So imagine now, if we have, like...

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah yeah, it works.

Obviously. I love this idea.

Wise! What do you think?

So we can we can make a choir.

- Big choir. Okay. - Right.

♪ Yay yay yay yay ♪ ♪ Yay yay yay yay ♪

♪ Yay yay yay yay ♪

Yo, Raximo I really love that idea from

- the kids with the blind school. - Right?

When you go there, I really want to come.

Okay, I think that, we can go to the blind school

- and consider recording. - Let's do it.

♪ Yay yay yay yay ♪

♪ Yay yay yay yay ♪

So my husband Thomas

is the head chef on the Africa Mercy.

I'm Thomas, I work as a senior chef on Africa Mercy.

And I'm from the Netherlands.

I arrived on the ship in the afternoon on a Sunday,

so my roommate is like, okay, someone showed me around,

so I want to do this, the same for him.

They invited me to come.

I was like, yeah, sure, I will come.

I have no friends yet, so let's make some.

And yeah, Sarah was in this group as well.

I spent more time with him.

I was checking him out, and

I felt like I was in a safe place to do it because I wasn't interested in him.

I was checking him out for my friend.

And then as we grew, a friendship together I realized that he's pretty cool.

And he was a chef, and he had tattoos, which is like,

you know, not my bag, but I thought, interesting.

Then she was like, okay,

I... kind of like this guy.

So I'm, I'm going to keep this one.

I'm not going to share this with my friends.

I started thinking, wow, he's pretty cool.

Maybe something could go further.

But eventually I plucked up the courage and said, hey,

do you think something's happening?

And he said, yeah, I think something's happening.

He was thinking already, like getting married.

And I was thinking, do you want a date?

And so, within a year, actually, within eight months we were engaged.

And then about just over a year after we got married in Greece, last year.

Okay, now it's time for the cake cutting.

Can you all give a round of applause?

We invited friends and family and some Mercy Shippers.

So it was amazing.

It was a dream, to be honest. Best day of my life.

Yes. Normally I spend every day and my free time with Sarah.

And then it's, okay,

now I have to do my own thing?

You know, you're catching me right now,

where, it's right at the end. And so...

Yeah, I... it's been challenging.

This is a life of a Mercy Shipper.

I've got some blood-giving I.V. sets

and some pulse oximeters

that I need to bring to the AFM because,

our containers haven't got there in time. So, yeah.

You hear it a lot.

This kind of these words bandying around, like transformation and lives changed.

When Mercy Ships sails in, we really do see hope again

reignite in people's eyes as we look at them and show them Jesus' love.

♪ Hope and healing on the horizon ♪

♪ Hand in hand, we rise up strong ♪

The reason why we do it is because we need to do it

and because we love what we do.

Okay,

Okay, good to see you.

♪ In the dark we find our courage ♪

- Father we thank you. - ♪ Side by side ♪

♪ We stand as one ♪

We form a community and we form a family.

I would say that I have a ship family as well.

I have like these girls and guys that will forever be my people.

And so I love them like I love my sister,

like I love my brother.

And it's just, yeah, it's a beautiful thing.

South Africa?

Mercy Ships also has a spousal rule, which means that

No husband should be away

from their wife for more than three months,

which I think is really cool because it means that they respect

the sanctity of marriage and they care about our-- the health of our marriage.

Onwards to the AFM.

Onwards to Thomas.

To my family there.

And, to starting surgeries in Madagascar.

I'm very excited about Madagascar.

♪ Together we will help the need ♪

♪ In His name ♪

♪ We plant the seed ♪

Coming up on the next episode

of The Mercy Ships.

Hi!

How are you today?

We are fine!

We just really want to work with you guys.

So as for now, you are in the Mercy Ships choir.

When we started, we had, I think, about 8 to 10 youth on board.

This semester we have 20.

All right. Do you guys know we're doing Saturday?

Beach day!

Hello!

How's it going? Your leg’s looking good.

And we didn't end up thinking that we would be here for ourselves.

We thought we would be here to serve others.

But at the same time, we've been impacted a lot more than we were expecting.

Look at how many people we've helped.