How can I express in words the fulfilment of a long held desire of my heart? No words can really do it justice. So how about I share a few photos and add a few bits here and there, is that Ok with you?

Here is the awesome team I got to work with everyday in Ship Operations. I’m in the top left, on the bottom left is Hannah – the Chief Steward (aka Cook), beside her in the bottom right is Melissa – Housekeeping, and top right is Amber one of our great helpers.
We were catering for 48 people most days and I have to say we ate pretty well! I spent the majority of my time helping in the galley, but I had the privilege to spend a few mornings with the land based teams to really get alongside the locals and our volunteers.

Here the village is lining the bank to say goodbye to us for the last time

Excited kids as we played with bubbles

People waiting for their turn to be seen by our team at the clinic

How we got to and from the ship…the zodiac!

I had the privilege to help with Primary Health Care registration… Here I am asking this man where he is feeling pain.

The team gave an amazing amount of immunisations over the two weeks. A couple of times I helped by blowing bubbles to distract the kids, this day I helped by drawing up the needles.


In one village we met a 20 year old woman who was a paraplegic and had a wheel chair. She asked if we could help her since her chair was digging into her and causing sores. The padding was almost non-existent. So one of our German engine room volunteers took it to the ship and spent the day giving it the full service – repairing the broken parts and adding some padding.

Here he is returning the renewed wheelchair from the ship.

A group of beautiful women

Alongside the clinics we offer a range of education sessions. This day I was helping teach general and oral hygiene to some school students.


Here is Jack, a local dentist.
I learned that Jack had been working as the village dentist since 1978, and has been using the same tools this whole time – 35 years. We invited him to work alongside our dentists for a day and we were able to leave him with a couple of new tools to aid his work. This encounter is something to be excited about!! Empowering people to make a difference in their own communities! It certainly energised and excited our dentist!

Outreach 5 2013
The awesome group of volunteers of Outreach 5! People from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Sweden, Germany, England, Canada, USA and Papua New Guinea! What a great bunch!
There were so many beautiful people and many stories to tell. And there is much needed in these remote areas, sometimes it feels like a drop in the bucket, but we are making a difference and changing lives.
Thank you YWAM Medical Ship!