As Volunteers’ Week in the UK comes to a close, Mercy Ships, the is recognising the thousands of volunteers who have served on board its ships over the last 30 years, including hundreds of people from the UK.
Set up in 1985, Volunteers’ Week celebrates the work and commitment of volunteers and recognises their importance to charities in helping and aiding those less fortunate.

Mercy Ships depends entirely on volunteers to continue its work, offering hope to many patients who thought there was none. Mercy Ships volunteers enable the charity to offer the people of Africa an opportunity to access free health care and humanitarian aid, literally saving thousands of lives.

The current ship, the Africa Mercy, houses up to 450 volunteers who give up their time in support of Mercy Ships and who come from all walks of life. All of them share the same common interest to improve the lives of others.

Ranging from cooks to surgeons, from engineers to dentists, from deckhands to nurses, each individual volunteer is vital to the running of Mercy Ships.

Keith Thomson, a consultant anaesthetist at the North Hampshire Hospital in Basingstoke who has volunteered 19 times with Mercy Ships since 1990, said: “I have had the most rewarding experiences of my professional career volunteering with Mercy Ships. The atmosphere on the ship is amazing with hundreds of volunteers all pulling together to help as many people as we can, and the patients are truly remarkable. So many of them have been through unimaginable traumas, or suffered as outcasts of their community. We really do help them get their lives back and that is very humbling and rewarding.”

Judy Polkinhorn Executive Director of Mercy Ships, UK said: “The volunteers at Mercy Ships are extremely precious to us; the work they do is life changing, not only to our patients but to themselves. To be a volunteer you have to be courageous, brave, committed and passionate and these are qualities that are so deeply admired in our volunteers who selflessly give up their time and their holidays to help carry out the lifesaving work of Mercy Ships.

“We are grateful to our volunteers everyday but to have a week specifically dedicated to volunteers is very special and something that we want to be a part of.”

For those interested in volunteering with Mercy Ships, click here or contact 01438 727800.
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