Tradies onboard the Mercy Ship have a healthy sense of being part of the larger Mercy Ships team, knowing the free surgeries provided for the poor could not take place unless every crew member played their part, explains Otago man Edmund Rooke.
Until recently, Edmund Rooke from Waimate had never heard of the nation of Senegal. However, signing up as a volunteer for 20 weeks aboard the world’s largest civilian hospital ship finds him working behind the scenes as the Mercy Ships medical teams provide essential surgery and medical capacity building usually unavailable in this developing West African nation.
The 25-year-old is assisting the Mercy Ships tradies who volunteer onboard in the vessel’s technical departments; vital roles rarely associated in most people’s minds with a hospital ship.
‘I love that when I go to work, I know I am doing something that really matters and means something,’ Rooke explains. ‘I’m not working for money, and to be able to do a job that helps out in a higher cause can be immensely rewarding. My service with Mercy Ships gives me a chance to use the skills and abilities I have to make a difference.’
