I don’t want money or fame. Like most of us, I want my life count for something. That is one of the main reasons I chose to follow this Jesus fellow. He made people’s lives better. It was not always butterflies and rainbows: He used a whip to clear the temple, he let his anger motivate him to right a wrong. I believe most, if not all of the worlds poverty is avoidable. God is not the problem; I am. I am selfish and self-centered and don’t want to give up my comfort.
Mercy Ships is a small example of what can happen when people put aside their ways and follow the example and leadership of Jesus. People get loved, the sick are healed, the lame walk. I have seen it with my own eyes.
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| Ashani and her class spending time with the patients on Deck 7 |
We have finished our 10 month field service to the country of Benin and we performed 1957 surgeries on 1793 patients. The dental team did 15,109 procedures on 6992 patients, and the list goes on. It’s not even the numbers that truly matter, if we did not do these things in a loving way. We strive to not treat people as numbers, but as people that God loves, and values and cares deeply for; and so must we.
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| Zaden MC'ing one of our shipwide Community Meetings |
As a nurse what excites me most is our Medical Capacity Building program. The focus is helping to develop the nations medical skills and capacity to care for their people so that one day Mercy Ships will no longer be needed. The mentoring program included surgeons, anaesthesia providers, midwives, nurses, and every skilled person needed to perform safe surgery: 88 mentored, 1,874 students in all.
With My friend Miguel and I made a short video of our time in Benin, which you can view here:
If the link does not work just go to youtube.com and type: Yangas and Kamara Benin 2016-17.
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| Daniel playing soccer with recovering patients at Mercy Ships' "Hope Center" during his week of Work Experience |
It is a privilege for us to be a part of the team that is Mercy Ships, and we look forward to continuing to serve as the ship will head to Cameroon, West Africa in August.
love,
the Yangas family
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