Manitoba nurse fulfills dream

Sixty-year-old Victoria Beach resident Cheryl Macfarlane is a mother, grandmother and one of the newest crew members onboard the Africa Mercy in Togo, West Africa.

Years ago Macfarlane was researching ways she could put her nursing skills to use for good when Mercy Ships came onto her radar. When she learned that the charity operates a giant medical vessel in West Africa, with the purpose to bring hope and healing through providing free medical care, surgeries and developmental programs,s he figured this could be her answer.

Eight years after her initial inquiries, and now a semi-retired nurse, Macfarlane is finally able to join the organization and follow her philanthropic dreams.
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve envisioned working with the poor and under-privileged,” she says. “I am now at a place in life where I can commit some time.”

Living and working on a ship is nothing new to the nurse who spent the last 12 years providing emergency and primary care onboard cruise ships and who is a seasoned sailor. However she’s looking forward to hitting the high seas in this new capacity.

“My interest in volunteer and charity work led me to Mercy Ships; I am blessed to have this opportunity to serve, and I am very excited about my upcoming mission!”

As of the end of January she is is spending three months onboard the vessel as Admission Nurse, working alongside 450 other international volunteers who all pay their own way to be there. Macfarlane will be part of the Mercy Ships quest to relieve the physical suffering and to restore the dignity of some of the most impoverished people on earth – ones whose ailments could be easily averted in North America but in Africa mean social ostracism or death. Massive goiters, cleft lips and palates, cataracts, bowed legs and fistulas are some of the common issues seen by Africa Mercy medical staff as they move from port to port in West Africa about every 10 months.

Macfarlane will return to Manitoba in April when her adventure onboard the Africa Mercy is complete.

See Macfarlane's story in Christian Week.

-- Jennelle Dippel, Mercy Ships Canada