Coffs nurse on mercy trip

COFFS Harbour nurse Margo Clerc has always had a strong desire to help others, so when an opportunity came to make a difference to people’s lives in a practical way, she jumped at it.

Ms Clerc has just returned from serving as a volunteer with Mercy Ships in the West African nation, Benin, on the world’s largest non-governmental hospital ship, Africa Mercy.

“I was only onboard a few days, when I realised there was already a change in the way I saw things and what I could do to serve the under-privileged,” Ms Clerc said.

She heard about the work being done by volunteers serving with Mercy Ships through a Christian radio station and in a nursing journal and began the process of offering to serve, using the skills she has gained through a long nursing career.

“It was a busy time preparing. Completing the necessary application forms to volunteer, obtaining holiday and long service leave, getting references, visas and immunisations, medical checks, booking flights and learning as much as I could about Benin prior to departure. My family was very supportive, and there were only a few negative responses from colleagues at work.”

As with all Mercy Ships volunteers, Margo paid her own way to and from Benin, and while onboard paid crew fees for accommodation and food to offset the ship’s running costs, enabling the charity to provide all of its medical and community development services completely free of charge to the people of Benin, one of the world’s poorest countries.

She said the people of Benin face many challenges.

“There are no such things as Medicare or social security. People die from diseases that are fully preventable or curable simply because they can’t afford to pay for the most basic of medical care or medicines.

“Many who have conditions that are curable or at least manageable in the developed world face a lifetime of being shunned by society, ostracised, utterly lonely, and totally dependent on charity.

“That is one of the reasons why it has been such a privilege to be involved.

“To see the joy on the faces of mothers when their children come out of successful surgery and now with hope of a future. The wonder in the eyes of the elderly when they can see again following simple cataract surgery. Such memories are absolutely priceless.”

“While there were many wonderful experiences, there were also some that were heartbreaking.

“So many men needed surgery to correct hernias, but there were not enough beds.

“These are men who are so poor they cannot continue to do hard work to keep their families, and will not be able to do so until their hernias are repaired.

“There are many women with goitres resulting from a lack of iodine in the diet, but the surgery schedule is filled with life-threatening cases only.

“There are children with deformities like club feet. Corrective surgery is available in our country when such children are small.

“I remember a woman who came onboard with her two-year-old son who had broken his elbow two weeks previously and had not been able to obtain medical help. That arm will never be normal.”

She said despite all of that, Mercy Ships is doing something very positive and gives many people a hope for the future they would not otherwise have.

“There was real joy for women receiving corrective surgery for obstetric fistulas resulting from prolonged or obstructed labour in childbirth.

“These are women who had been rejected by their communities and even their families because of their incontinence.

“Some were not yet 20. Others had lived as total outcasts for 40 years.

“The joy on their faces when they were discharged following a special ceremony of song and dance as they received colourful new dresses to signify their new start to life was just amazing, and very moving to witness.”

Mercy Ships is a global charity that has operated hospital ships in developing nations since 1978. Visit www.mercyships.org.au for more information.