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THE SHIPPING NEWS: YWAM MEDICAL SHIP SPREADS THE WORD AMONG AUSTRALIANS BEFORE HEADING TO PAPUA NEW GUINEA ON A MISSION OF MERCY

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DAVID ADAMS reports…

It’s the life affirming stories, the good news stories, which keep Youth With A Mission (YWAM) volunteer Hannah Peart from being overwhelmed by the needs of a place such as Papua New Guinea.

Stories like that of Bonnie, who, when she first met him, was only a month-old and already an orphan after his mother died in childbirth. When Hannah, a registered nurse who visited his community as part of a team providing healthcare and education, the village had declared him “as good as dead” and decided to throw him in the river. But a couple, with whom the decision didn’t sit well, decided to take him and adopt him. While his life was saved temporarily, they had no milk to feed him with and he just grew weaker by the day.

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WE WANT TO LIVE: Kids in Papua New Guinea.

“Where I was they haven’t had a dentist for over 10 years…and with a population of just over 100,000 in the province, they only have 11 doctors. So they are in desperate need.”

– YWAM volunteer Hannah Peart, describing the situation in Papua New Guinea’s Gulf Province.

“When I met him, I didn’t think he had much longer than a day to live.,” recalls the 28-year-old New Zealander. “But I really didn’t think this was the plan for this small child so I really encouraged this family to believe that this child could live and declare life and the value of life over this child. 

“(W)e went back to Bonnie’s village and this huge crowd began to gather around us. As they did, we just spoke the value of life to this crowd and a woman, who had earlier disowned Bonnie, began to breastfeed Bonnie. Now Bonnie lives and he’s doing well and this small child that was considered dead and was going to be thrown in the river is now alive…and doing very, very well.”

Ms Peart, who has travelled to some 10 countries since becoming a fulltime volunteer with youth-focused Christian mission and training organisation YWAM in 2004, first visited Papua New Guinea in 2007 and has since been back four times. She was most recently there last year to help scout out the land in preparation for the arrival of the MV Pacific Link.

The fully equipped medical ship, which features an operating theatre and pharmacy, is one of a fleet of YWAM ‘Marine Reach’ ships which since 1991 have visited some 160 ports in 16 nations around the world. It last month kicked off a 16 port tour of the east coast of Australia, arriving in Newcastle from New Zealand. 

The tour, during which people will have a chance to visit the ship and meet the crew, is aimed at promoting Papua New Guinea and the work the organisation is doing there to help reach the nation’s Millennium Development Goals. There will also be the opportunity for people to participate in whatever way they can – through such things organising spectacle drives in their churches through to volunteering on board.

In August the ship will stop off at its home port of Townsville before sailing on to Papua New Guinea where it will be providing medical assistance and supplies to locals for almost three months. It will be the first time the ship has visited Papua New Guinea. In preparation, Ms Peart and the YWAM team who visited last year used GPS systems and satellite phones to plot out the path of the ship as it visits the isolated communities of the gulf province. 

“There are not really maps of this area or roads or any information on the internet no matter how much you try googling it, so we had to go and try and find out for ourselves,” she says.

As well as being part of the preparation team, Ms Peart – who is usually based in Townsville where she runs a YWAM training school for primary healthcare workers, will return to the country as medical coordinator aboard the ship following its tour of Australia. Once again, her job there will involve everything from treating the common cold and wounds to diagnosing malaria as well as providing information on healthcare.

 She describes the need where the ship will visit is desperate.

“Where I was they haven’t had a dentist for over 10 years…and with a population of just over 100,000 in the province, they only have 11 doctors,” she says. “So they are in desperate need.”

“Most places I visited haven’t seen a health care worker for years or hadn’t seen supplies. We saw incredible amounts of HIV and massive amounts of malaria. The amount of stories you hear, unfortunately, of mums that have lost their child to illness or orphans that have lost their parents due to illness was just quite horrific really. It’s quite common to hear these stories.”

Bouyed by stories such as Bonnie’s however, Ms Peart says that the chance to work among the needy of Papua New Guinea is a “dream come true” and fulfils the aim she’s had since she was a small girl of working in developing countries.

“I’ve always wanted to do work in the developing world – since I was a little girl – and this provided me with an avenue to do just that. (YWAM) had means and ways, they had contacts and relationships and it gave me an opportunity to put some of my passions – such as healthcare – to use. So really it was a door opener to me being able to work in the developing world.”

While she has previously worked in countries ranging from Egypt to Malaysia and Tonga, Ms Peart says working Papua New Guinea has been a particular desire.

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TOP: Hannah Peart with a friend during one of her visits to Papua New Guinea.; MIDDLE: Mike and Jessica Murray in Papua New Guinea; BOTTOM: The MV Pacific Link.

16 PORTS

Ports included in the Australian tour are:
Newcastle
Sydney
Ulladulla
Geelong
Adelaide
Portland
Hobart
Eden
Ballina
Southport
Brisbane
Gladstone
Bowen
Townsville
Cairns
Thursday Island

“I’ve been incredibly lucky to be able to see a number of countries and a number of conditions of life. But Papua New Guinea has always been a dream of mine…because the adventure of it all appealed to me and the crazy stories you hear – I wanted some of those crazy stories myself.”

As well as witnessing amazing events like Bonnie’s survival, Ms Peart says her time in Papua New Guinea has also opened her to some interesting life experiences – such as the six weeks she spent living in a village eating little else apart from pumpkins provided by villagers.

“We practically just lived on pumpkin for the whole six weeks.. We ran out of rice very quickly and we had no flavouring, no salt, so we came up with 1001 ways how to cook pumpkin with no flavouring. I’m surprised we didn’t turn orange in all honesty.”

Musician Mike Murray is another of those aboard the ship as it tours Australia. Originally from Montana, he works as a fulltime volunteer for YWAM Australia, training others in music and touring both as a solo artist and with his band, Five Star Streets, in Australia and the United States.

The 25-year-old and his wife Jessica, who is also a musician, singer and songwriter, visited Papua New Guinea for the first time in the middle of last year.

“The desire was just to get to know the country a bit more and get to know the people, especially as we’re part of the ship tour and (am) using our music to highlight some of the needs in Papua New Guinea – we just wanted to have that firsthand experience,” he says.

It was following a visit to Goroka Hospital during their time there that he felt like he started to really gain an insight into the country.

“One particular ward we were in was the HIV and tuberculosis ward. It was quite a tough day for us – my wife and I – just because we really hadn’t seen something like that before, where so many people were suffering from those illnesses,” he says. 

“Anyway, we were just finishing our time in that ward – I just finished playing a couple of songs and we were getting ready to leave – and I just introduced myself to a patient who was lying closest to me in the hospital bed. His name was Gary and Gary and I had a brief conversation and exchanged handshakes and smiles and so on. 

“Then as my wife and I were leaving, Gary called out ‘Mike’, and I said, ‘Ye,s Gary, what is it?’ and he said ‘I want to come with you’. And just sort of smiled – I didn’t know whether he was kidding or not – and I said ‘Gary, you’d better stay here so the doctors and the nurses cane look after you. And Gary said ‘No, I don’t want to stay here. I want to come with you.’ 

“I think that moment for me took everything from statistics right down to an individual who was suffering obviously very badly. It really just hugely inspired me to continue to use my life to reach out to the many others like Gary that need help.”

Mr Barry, who has previously travelled to countries such as South Africa, East Timor and Thailand with YWAM, says that he hopes to provide a “voice for those who are suffering” through his music (the band, Five Star Streets, released a CD Let Justice Sing while on tour in the US last year – the cover song is the theme song for the ship tour).

“Our message really is one which we hope can inspire young people in places like Australia and the US and Canada where they have so much opportunity to help. We seek to make people aware of some of the issues, say for instance in PNG, and then inspire them and give them practically ways in which they can help.”

Like Hannah Peart, he sees himself as privileged at being able to do what he does.

“I feel really privileged to be able to do what I’m doing,” he says. “Even when I was in highschool I began to sort of dream and wonder how could I be a touring musician and those sorts of things. 

“I’ve realised that dream but I feel like my time in YWAM – particularly in my travel to different nations – has really given me a purpose to the music. I think that’s what I’m most grateful for because now not only am I able to be playing music and touring and recording but there’s a purpose behind it to help the poor and needy which I (have) a lot of fulfilment out of.”

FOR MORE ON THE SHIP TOUR: 
www.ywam.org.au
www.facebook.com/pages/I-Want-To-Live/194122848779?v=wall

 

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