In 2009 the cargo ship, Maersk Alabama, was attacked off the coast of Somalia.  As four heavily armed pirates boarded the ship, Captain Richard Phillips ordered his crew to lock themselves in the engine room.

Imagine being a parent of a child with a disability that could be surgically fixed – but there’s no help available.  Imagine the hopelessness.  Then a hospital ship arrives, and your child gets a free surgery.  Imagine the joy!  Crewmember Aisling Russell explains.

Baby Anicette was in the Mercy Ships Feeding Program for months to gain weight.  She needed to be strong enough for a free surgery to repair her cleft lip.

Carolina is a Mercy Ships volunteer who developed a special bond with a six-year-old patient named Ruth.  The little girl had been severely burned, and her face was quite scarred.

You can find opportunities to show mercy right in your own neighborhood.  Joanne Downer of Delaware submitted this story to a magazine about her mom’s kindness.

Maria received a free, life-changing surgery to remove a tumor.  She continued to visit our hospital ship, the Africa Mercy, for post-operative care.  She used those visits as opportunities to show mercy.

Clementine Tengue is the Patient Life Counselor onboard our hospital ship.  She went to school in Ghana, learned French in Burkina Faso and moved to Togo.  She’s worked with Mercy Ships since 1996.  Listen as Clementine tells why.

Portland, Oregon, is known for its wonderful fruit trees.  Consequently, it’s hard to believe that over 16% of the state’s population struggles with hunger.  Katy Kolker decided to help.

A volunteer onboard our hospital ship wrote about visiting the operating room in a hospital in Guinea, West Africa, in 2012.

Biddy Mason was born in 1818 as a slave on a plantation in Mississippi.  In 1851 her owner moved his household to California, where slavery was forbidden.  So Biddy petitioned the court and won freedom for herself and her children.