Visit Africa Mercy Ship at V&A Waterfront in October

It provides free medical care both on- and off-ship to thousands of patients suffering from a variety of curable medical conditions all across Africa. The ship is operated and staffed by volunteers and has five state-of-the-art operating rooms, specialising in maxillofacial, reconstructive, plastics, orthopaedic, ophthalmic, dental, and obstetric fistula surgeries. During its last ten-month field service in the Republic of Congo, Mercy Ships provided 2 524 total surgeries and anticipate a similar outlook for its next field service in Madagascar. The surgeries and care are provided at no cost to the patients and the focus of care is those patients who have very little or no access to specialised surgical healthcare.

John Rae, Mercy Ships Southern Africa National Director, is excited to have the ship on home territory and looks forward to showing the people of South Africa the exciting things the Africa Mercy is doing: "The forgotten poor of the world is our target market and we rely on volunteers to that end. Our goal now is to see more South Africans fill key roles on the ship in the next few years."

Founded in 1978, by Don and Deyon Stephens, Mercy Ships has worked in more than 70 countries providing services valued at more than R11 billion, treating more than 2.5 million direct beneficiaries. Each year it has more than 1 600 volunteers from more than 40 nations, including South Africa. Professionals include surgeons, dentists, nurses, healthcare trainers, teachers, cooks, seamen, engineers and agriculturalists who donate their time and skills to the effort. For more information, go to www.mercyships.org.za.