Africa Mercy

Over five weeks I filmed with the wonderful crew of doctors, nurses and officers aboard the hospital ship Africa Mercy on their field service in Togo, West Africa. At the time, it was the largest non-governmental floating hospital, now second only to the organization’s newest ship, MV Global Mercy. Africa Mercy was originally a ferry operating in Denmark before being purchased for 6.5 million USD and then another 62 million USD invested to transform it into a hospital. There were long, tough days spent working in the city and towns where 30,000 patients were screened. I filmed many hours in operating rooms onboard Mercy, where hundreds of operations were performed ranging from cataracts to head and neck tumours. Togo is one of the poorest countries on the planet and the help was desperately needed. These Mercy Ship photos show some of the immense screening lines where patients were assessed for potential surgery. It was amazing to watch the crew onboard Mercy volunteering their time and pouring their hearts into helping so many. A few years after this field service, Africa Mercy returned to Togo, taking on more patients and continuing the mission.

Tech Specs

Tonnage: 16.572 GT
Length:  498 ft 8 in
Beam:  77 ft 9 in
Draft: 19 ft 8 in
Power: 4 x B&W (3120 kW chacun) 
Capacity: 484
Propulsion: 2 x controllable pitch propellers
Year Built: 1980