Harmen Valk is a former truck driver and ambulance medic. Now he volunteers as a nurse onboard our hospital ship. His experience onboard the Africa Mercy is quite different from the same work in his home country of Holland

Tahiana pulled her green scarf a little tighter over half of her face. You could only see part of her sweet smile. The other side of her mouth was lost to the flesh-eating disease called noma.

New Zealand nurse Nicholas Booth decided to vacation in Madagascar … and witnessed a great example of mercy.

It was 1983. Peter Woolston stood dejected, leaning over the ship’s railings. The eighteen-year-old musician-in-the-making had just toured the Mercy Ship Anastasis in his home port in New Zealand.

Ngaire volunteers in her church’s second-hand clothing store in Auckland, New Zealand.  Every week, more little teddy bears arrive for resale than they can possibly sell.

Harmen Valk and his wife Andrea are both nurses onboard our hospital ship, the Africa Mercy.  But their first introduction to Mercy Ships dates back to when Andrea was just nine.

Sharon was a new missionary in Jamaica.  She bumped into a woman who shared the same first name and lived just down the street from her mission house.  The young Jamaican woman was profoundly deaf and could only communicate through sign language.

Volunteers of different nationalities and ages serve onboard our hospital ship, the Africa Mercy.  Listen as Amy, our assistant purser, describe how her “bucket list” was completed by a mercy moment.

Many of our crew participate in Mercy Ministries in their free time. One group visited a senior center in the Republic of Congo. Volunteer chaplain, Andrea Diallo, described her experience.

You know, showing to mercy to others can be very simple. Here are two ideas submitted by readers of Woman’s Day Magazine.