Canadian Country Engagement Team Member
Update from Liberia

During the season of Hope and Joy, we pause to reflect on how your generous support has permitted Mercy Ships to undertake very significant activities in Liberia, Africa in 2021. Canadian Annick Sylvestre, Country Engagement Team, Operations Liaison in Liberia, shares an update of recent activities in the country.

Direct Medical Services and Mentoring

A Mercy Ships volunteer surgeon mentored three general surgeons in Liberia. The number of head and neck surgeries performed from June through December 2021 is 216 with 208 unique patients. Our commitment to ensuring accessible health care is demonstrated by our privilege to serve 127 women and 81 men: 182 adults and 26 children. Medical team members were mentored by other Mercy Ships staff and also continued at ELWA Hospital until early December. In addition, neonatal resuscitation training occurred with two Mercy Ships team members including one Canadian Erin Muyres serving as facilitators in six hospitals.

Leadership Development Training

In May 2021, Mercy Ships and the Liberian Ministry of Health hosted a Surgical Care System Needs in Liberia Workshop. The workshop participants identified leadership training as a high priority.

Mercy Ships responded and offered to teach a three-day leadership course. The training took place in three different hospitals: J.J. Dossen Hospital in Harper, Maryland County, Jackson F. Doe Memorial Hospital in Tappita, Nimba County as well as ELWA Hospital in Montserrado County.

Following this training, several medical professionals decided to continue in this program and participate in the two-year leadership development course, a training program for leadership groups. The goal is to improve leadership performance for the individual leader and the leadership group.

Thanks to donors’ support, members of the Country Engagement Team like Annick have lived and worked in Liberia for the past year. While in the country, they can also engage more effectively with their Liberian colleagues and people from other organizations and backgrounds. Annick reflected that it is always interesting to exchange ideas and share learning with people from different fields in both a professional situation and in more relaxed occasions.

A special acknowledgement goes to our colleagues at Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), who operate two small Cessna in Liberia. The assistance of MAF allowed the Mercy Ships team to reach the hospitals for the leadership training.

While Mercy Ships’ newest vessel, the Global Mercy, has been gleaning some of the photo highlights in recent weeks (as the equipping phase takes place in Europe), we trust that you will also enjoy a few of Annick’s photos from Liberia.