Lasting Impact: Inspiration

SO far the facts speak for themselves, 1000’s have been healed and 1000’s have been trained, since we arrived in Madagascar in late August 2015

 

As Mercy Ships seeks to follow the 200 year old model of Jesus and bring hope and healing to the world's forgotten poor, we too want to leave a lasting impact. We want to leave a lasting impact on our patients and on those we train. We want to be remembered as an inspiration to 100’s and 1000’s.

So, I wonder who or what inspires you?

Maybe you had a teacher who encouraged you at school.….maybe you have sporting or political icon who you look up to…. maybe it was a professional mentors who inspired you in your career? Or maybe it was just a quotation you read somewhere, and is now a motto you seek to live your life by. I have several friends whose email signatures contain a quote, which is particularly meaningful to them.

When we think of these inspirational individuals, while some of us will think of something specific they did, often I think we can't. We don’t remember exactly what they did or said that inspired us, but rather it was just a sense of something about them. Something tangible yet difficult to articulate. I think it is often the sense of relationship that creates the feel of lasting impact. A sense of being believed in, or trusted in, or invested in……simply loved and encouraged.

And I hope that is what every single one of the numbers above feel. The 1000’s of patients and 1000’s of healthcare workers we have trained.  I hope we have been an inspiration to them and had a lasting impact on them, in a way that outlasts the time Mercy Ships is in Madagascar. We will leave here in a couple of months and I hope we have made a difference. They wont remember everything that I told them about their surgery and anaesthesia and post-operative instructions, but I hope they remembered we cared, and that inspires them to care for others. They won't remember everything I taught them on a training course, but I hope they remembered we were pleased to be there and enjoyed teaching them, and that inspires them to teach others.

When I watch the Mercy Ships YouTube videos https://www.youtube.com/user/mercyshipsvideos and read the comments on our training course feedback forms, I think I know. We have made a lasting impact. And I have loved every minute I have spent here. It is worth the sacrifice.