AYLA IN AFRICA

Tag: hospital ship

  • First Time Home

    The week after that Easter, I flew home for some PTO, carrying with me something far greater than just my luggage, I carried my newfound faith, a transformation so profound that I knew I couldn’t keep it to myself. Before I was baptized, I wanted to share this part of me with my mum. Not because I expected her to understand or even accept it, but because my faith was now woven into the very fabric of who I was. Keeping it from her would have felt like hiding a part of myself. And I didn’t want to hide anymore.

    Still, I was nervous. My mum had always been supportive, but faith had never been a part of our relationship. She used to joke that it would be funny if I ever came back from the ship believing in God. And now, here I was, coming home to tell her that I did. That I loved Jesus. That everything in my life had shifted because of it. Would she laugh? Would she brush it off as just another phase? Would she see how deeply this had changed me?

    I knew that nothing she said could shake what I had found, my love for Jesus was unwavering, but there was something vulnerable about saying it out loud to someone who had known me my whole life. I wasn’t the same person who had left. I had been found, redeemed, made new. And this was my first step in sharing that truth with the people I loved most. As the plane touched down, my heart pounded with anticipation. No matter how the conversation went, I knew one thing for certain: I wasn’t just coming home, I was stepping into my faith, fully and fearlessly, for the first time.

    It’s amazing how much I had changed in barely a year. At first, the change felt internal, subtle, like a quiet shift in the foundation of my soul. But I don’t think I fully grasped just how profound it was until I went home. There, in the familiarity of my childhood surroundings, among the people who had known me my whole life, I saw it reflected back at me. 

    After just a couple of days, my mum noticed something different. She watched me the way only a mother can, with an intuition that saw beyond my words. I hadn’t even told her about my faith yet, but she could see it. She told me I seemed different, lighter, like for the first time in my life, I was truly content. Not just happy in the fleeting way I had been before, but something deeper. She saw the joy in me, a kind of joy that didn’t waver, that didn’t come and go with circumstances. But most of all, she saw the healing. She saw that I was healing from my past traumas, from the restless searching that had defined so much of my life.

    When she said those words, my heart clenched. I had prayed for this moment, to have the courage to tell her, to share what had changed me. And yet, hearing her acknowledge it before I even spoke made my eyes well up with tears. It was as if God was already softening the path ahead, showing me that my faith was not just a hidden, private thing, it was visible. Tangible. I finally shared my faith with her, despite the fears that had gripped me for weeks. I had worried she wouldn’t understand, that she would dismiss it or see it as something foreign to who I was. But as I spoke, I saw something unexpected in her eyes, not confusion, not scepticism, but warmth. And then, she cried.

    Not because she was sad, but because she was happy for me. She saw that I had found my purpose. She asked questions. Real, thoughtful questions, not just to be polite, but because she was curious. She wanted to understand what had changed me so completely. Since then, we have had some incredible conversations, conversations I never thought we would have.

    The rest of my time at home was filled with catching up with friends and family, and while it was fulfilling, it was also strange. Familiar places, familiar faces, yet something felt different. Or maybe it was me. I had stepped back into a world that once felt like home, but now, it felt slightly out of focus, as if I were looking at it through a pane of glass. Close enough to touch, yet separate somehow.

    I realised that I didn’t quite belong in Australia anymore. Maybe I had never really belonged. Life had moved on in my absence, just as I had moved on in my own way. My friends were getting married, buying houses, having children. Their lives were mapped out in milestones that made sense, steps that society expected. I was doing the complete opposite, volunteering on a Hospital Ship in Africa, serving in ways I had never imagined, walking a path that, to many, seemed unconventional. But I had found something greater than any dream I had once held for myself. I had found purpose. A purpose that had changed everything.

    I’d be lying if I said my friendships hadn’t changed. Distance does that, it shifts things in quiet, unspoken ways. My friends back home will always be my best friends, especially Britt, she is my sister, my family, my anchor in so many ways. But after being overseas for five years, the space between us was undeniable. Not because we had stopped loving each other, but because life had simply taken us down different roads.

    There were moments of disconnect, moments where I felt like a visitor in a life I had once been so immersed in. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, it was just the reality of growing up, of choosing different paths, of stepping into callings that sometimes led us in opposite directions. There were times when the conversations felt different, moments of silence where I wondered if my family and friends saw me as I was now or only as the person I used to be.

    And yet, love remained. Even in the awkward moments of not fully understanding one another’s lives, even in the quiet realization that we were no longer the same people we had once been, the love between us never faded. It simply took on a new form, one that stretched across oceans, across time zones, across the different rhythms of our lives. And that was enough. Because true friendship, true love, isn’t about always walking the same road. It’s about always finding your way back to each other, no matter how far you’ve travelled.

    Being home gave me the chance to say goodbye, to my old life, my old self, to the person I barely recognized anymore. As I walked familiar streets and sat in familiar places, I saw echoes of who I used to be. The restless girl who was always searching, always longing for something more. The girl who had carried an ache she couldn’t name, who had tried to fill the void with unhealthy relationships and habits, with movement, with anything that might quiet the gnawing feeling inside her.

    But now, that ache was beginning to fade. That restless feeling, the urge to run, to escape, to search, it had been replaced with something entirely new. Something steady. Something certain. It was in those quiet moments, in the in-between spaces of my trip home, that I realized Australia, for now, wasn’t my home anymore. It would always be a part of me, but I no longer belonged there in the same way I once had. My heart had been called elsewhere. I was meant to be where I was, on a hospital ship in Sierra Leone, serving, growing, surrendering daily to God’s plan for me.

    For the first time in my life, I wasn’t searching. I wasn’t running. I wasn’t chasing after something just out of reach. Instead, I felt a deep, steady hum of knowing. A peace that surpassed all understanding. I would come to know that feeling as Shalom, not just peace, but wholeness. The kind of peace that settles into your soul and stays. The kind of peace that tells you: You are exactly where you are meant to be.

    When I finally returned to the ship, I knew. Knew with every fibre of my being that it was time. The field service was coming to an end, and the old me was being laid to rest. Now, it was time to step fully into the life God had given me. To declare, in front of the world, the love that had transformed me.

    I had found my home. Not in a country. Not in a place.

    But in Jesus.

  • Embracing my Faith

    Throughout my first ten months in Sierra Leone, my faith became more than just something I was learning about, it became something I was living. I had stepped onto the ship as someone still unsure, still holding onto pieces of my old identity, still battling the lies that had shaped me for so long. But as the months passed, something inside me began to shift. For the first time in my life, I could feel the weight of my past beginning to lift.

    It had been there for as long as I could remember, an invisible burden pressing down on my chest, woven into my thoughts, influencing my choices, convincing me that I was unworthy of love, of grace, of belonging. I had carried it for so long that I had stopped noticing its weight, until I felt it start to lighten. I wasn’t just hearing the truth of God’s love anymore, I was beginning to know it. Not just in my mind, but in my soul. 

    That I was loved. That I had always been loved. That even in my worst moments, my most broken decisions, my most painful regrets, His love had never wavered. And as that truth settled into the deepest parts of me, I found myself stepping into a new kind of honesty. For the first time, I began to open up about my past, not just to God, but to my friends. We would sit together, in the quiet hum of the ship and I would speak words I rarely spoke aloud. I would tell them about the choices I had made, the things I had done, the pain I had carried. I would let them see the parts of me I had spent so long trying to hide. And the most incredible thing? They listened. They didn’t flinch. They didn’t turn away. They didn’t look at me differently. Instead, they met my brokenness with grace, reminding me, over and over, that I was forgiven. But even more importantly, I was finally being honest with myself. That kind of honesty was terrifying.

    It was painful. It felt like exposing wounds that had long been buried, wounds I had pretended didn’t exist. But as much as it hurt, it was also freeing. Because healing doesn’t happen in the dark. And the more I brought those wounds into the light, the more I allowed God to step into those broken places, the less power they had over me. And something else began to happen, something I never expected. The joy I had started to feel? The gratitude? They weren’t just things I was trying to force. They weren’t just a mask I was wearing to convince myself that I was okay. They were real. They were radiating from me in a way I couldn’t explain.

    I wasn’t just acting joyful, I was joyful.
    I wasn’t just saying I was grateful, I felt it in my bones.
    I wasn’t just trying to believe in Jesus, I knew Him now.

    Somewhere along the way, faith had stopped being something I was reaching for, and it had become a part of who I was. I was no longer just a woman searching for God. I was His daughter. And for the first time in my life, I truly believed it.

    I will never forget Easter on the ship that year (2024), it was my first time celebrating Easter as someone who truly believed in Jesus, and the weight of that was overwhelming. Before, Easter had been just another holiday, marked by chocolate eggs, family gatherings, and a vague awareness of its religious significance. But this time, it was different. This time, I understood. The entire ship came together to worship Him, to reflect on what He had done for us, not just as a distant historical event, but as a deeply personal act of love and redemption. God had sacrificed His Son so that we may be forgiven, always, for all sin. I had heard those words before, but I had never truly felt them. That Easter, for the first time, I felt it.

    The ship’s international lounge had been transformed into the Garden of Gethsemane for the weekend, and as I stepped inside, it was as if I had been transported to another world. The air was thick with reverence. Everywhere I looked, there were plants, vines, and soft, flickering lights casting golden hues across the space. Cozy pillows and beanbags created small sanctuaries for prayer and reflection. It was peaceful. It was holy. And at the front of the room stood a giant cross, silent, towering, unshakable. A reminder of His suffering, His love, His victory.

    I remember my hands trembling as I touched the floor, my fingers pressing into the cool surface as if grounding myself in something real, something holy. I lay down, my body sinking into the space, surrendering. Above me, the dim light flickered softly, casting a glow that felt almost otherworldly. It was as if I were being held in the quiet presence of something far greater than myself. The weight of it all, His sacrifice, His mercy, His love, pressed into my chest, making it hard to breathe. My heart, which had spent years guarded, restless, searching, cracked open in a way I had never known before.

    I cried that night. Not just soft tears, not just quiet weeping, but tears that shook my entire being. I cried because, for the first time, I truly understood the depth of His sacrifice, not as a story I had heard, not as words spoken in a sermon, but as a love so vast, so undeserved, and yet so freely given. I cried because I finally understood how much God loved me, not in spite of my flaws, my brokenness, my past, but because He had known me all along. Every thought I had ever had. Every mistake I had ever made. Every wound I had carried in silence. And still, He had loved me. Not from a distance, but intimately, deeply, unconditionally. The love I had spent my entire life searching for, the love I had tried to earn, the love I had longed for in people, in places, in fleeting moments, had been right there, waiting for me all along. It had never wavered, never withdrawn, never ceased to pursue me. And now, finally, I saw it. I felt it. I knew it.

    Something inside me shifted in that moment, an unshakable knowing, a certainty I had never felt before. My life would never be the same. Because now, I would always know Him. I would always belong to Him. Forever and always. And as I lay there, tears streaming, heart laid bare, I knew with absolute certainty that He had always known me too. And that was enough. That was everything.

    As my faith deepened, as I continued to walk this path of discovery and surrender, a new question began to rise in my heart, one I couldn’t ignore.

    Baptism.

    It wasn’t just a word anymore. It wasn’t just something I had heard about or something I had read about in Scripture. It became a pull, a stirring deep within me, a longing I couldn’t quite explain but felt with every part of my soul. I started asking my friends about it, hesitantly at first.

    What does baptism really mean?
    How do you know when you’re ready?
    What would it look like for me?

    I listened as they shared their stories, their experiences, their own moments of stepping into the water. Each story was different, some had been baptized as children, others as adults, some had felt an instant transformation, others had experienced a quiet, steady confirmation of their faith. But at the heart of it, they all said the same thing: Baptism is an outward declaration of an inward transformation. A symbol of dying to the old self and rising again in Christ. A surrender. A choice. A public step of faith. And the more I learned, the more I prayed, the more I sat with the idea, the more certain I became. I wanted this.

    Not because I felt pressured. Not because it was the next “logical step” in my faith journey. Not because it would make me more of a Christian. I wanted it because I loved Jesus. I wanted the world to know that I loved Him. I wanted to give everything to follow Him, not just in words, not just in private prayers, but in action, in commitment, in a moment that would mark my life forever. And yet, as much as my heart longed for it, there was still a quiet whisper of hesitation inside me.

    Am I really worthy of this?
    What if I’m not “good enough” yet?
    What if I don’t fully understand everything about faith?

    The enemy tried to plant seeds of doubt, to convince me that I wasn’t ready, that I needed to be more, more knowledgeable, more holy, more put together. But deep down, I knew the truth. I would never be ready in the way I thought I needed to be. I would never have all the answers. I would never reach a place where I felt like I had “earned” this. And that was the point.

    Baptism wasn’t about arriving at some place of perfection, it was about stepping forward as I was, in faith, in surrender, trusting that God would continue the work He had already begun in me. So I let go of my fear. I let go of the doubts. And I made the decision. I would be baptized. I would stand before my friends, before my community, before God Himself, and declare that my life belonged to Jesus. I didn’t know what that moment would feel like. I didn’t know what it would change in me. All I knew was this: I was His. And I wanted the world to know.

  • What is Nursing like on Mercy Ships?

    The hum of Africana music drifts through the air, a rhythmic melody that seems to pulse with the very heartbeat of the ship. It fills every corner of the ward, blending seamlessly with the laughter, the clapping, the joyful shouts of patients and caregivers alike. Their voices rise above the beeping monitors and the rustle of nurses moving through the room, a harmony of hope, resilience, and celebration.

    Patients are dancing, singing, and laughing, their joy spilling over like sunlight after a long storm. Their energy defies the usual image of a hospital, there are no hushed whispers of sickness, no sterile silence, no weight of despair hanging in the air. Instead, there is life. There is movement. There is joy, in its purest form.

    I stand in the middle of it all, watching, smiling, taking it in, because nursing on The Global Mercy is like nothing I have ever experienced before.

    Here, healing is not just found in IV drips and sutures, in medication rounds and post-op care. It is found in veranda time with patients, where we sit in the warm embrace of the African sun, swapping stories and watching the ocean stretch endlessly beyond the ship’s railing. It is found in dance parties in the ward, where patients who once arrived weighed down by suffering now twirl with uncontained joy, their hands reaching toward the sky, their feet moving in rhythms passed down through generations.

    Healing is found in spirited games of Uno and Connect Four, where competition is fierce and laughter is louder than any medical alarm. It’s in the conversations that unfold naturally between shifts, with patients, with caregivers, with the local day crew, each story a glimpse into the beautiful, complicated, resilient lives lived in Sierra Leone.

    It is in the friendships formed among nurses, the ones that feel like family by the end of it all. We bond over the long shifts, the unexpected challenges, the moments that leave us breathless with laughter, and the ones that bring us to tears. We share the weight of this work, the heartbreak, the triumph, the exhaustion, and the overwhelming beauty of what it means to serve here, in this sacred space, on this floating hospital of hope.

    This is not just another hospital. This is not just another shift. This is a calling. A privilege. A front-row seat to hope being restored, to lives being changed, to miracles unfolding in real-time.

    Imagine a hospital where nurses only stay for a couple of months. An operating room where the surgeons change every week. A surgical team made up of nurses and doctors from six different countries. A ward filled with volunteer nurses, each speaking a different language, each with a different scope of practice. Patients who speak at least five different dialects, their voices carrying the weight of stories untold. You would think I was crazy. You would say, “No way. That could never work.” And yet, it does. It works in a way that no other hospital I have ever worked in does.

    Why? How? Because we are all volunteers. We are not here for money, or promotions, or because we have to be. We are here because we want to be. Every single person I have worked with, from the surgeons to the nurses to the cleaning staff, has been overflowing with kindness, love, and compassion. The teamwork here is unlike anything I have ever experienced. Despite our different languages, our different countries, our different ways of doing things, we come together with one mission, one purpose: to bring hope and healing. And that kind of unity? That kind of selfless care? It changes everything.

    But if I could tell you about the heart of Mercy Ships, I wouldn’t start with the nurses, or the surgeons, or even the ship itself. I would tell you about the patients. I can’t explain to you what it’s like to work with them, their stories, both heartbreaking and inspiring, their courage in the face of unimaginable suffering. They travel from faraway villages carrying nothing but hope. They come with conditions that should have been treated long ago, conditions that in other parts of the world would have been caught in infancy, fixed before they ever became life-altering. They come with massive tumors, ones that have grown so large they have overtaken their faces, making them unrecognizable even to themselves. They come with twisted limbs, their bones bent in ways that have made walking impossible. They come with scars from burns, skin fused together in painful reminders of accidents that could not be treated in time.

    And yet, they come. They come despite the whispered fears in their villages, fears that tell that they might leave worse than when they arrived. They come because hope is a force greater than fear. And when they step aboard this ship, when they are greeted not just with medicine, but with love, something shifts.

    I have watched transformations unfold that cannot be put into words. I have watched once-guarded faces soften into smiles. I have watched hunched shoulders straighten with newfound confidence. I have watched eyes that once held only uncertainty now shine with hope. Because healing here goes far beyond the physical.

    Yes, we remove tumors. Yes, we straighten bones. Yes, we treat scars. But the real healing, the one that leaves me speechless, is the healing of the heart, the spirit, the dignity of the people we serve. I have held the hands of patients who have been shunned by their communities, only to see those same people welcomed back home after surgery. I have heard the laughter of a child who had never walked on straight legs before take their first steps. I have wept as a young woman, once afraid to even meet my eyes, looked at herself in a mirror for the first time in years, and smiled.

    This is not just nursing. This is a life-changing, soul-shaping, faith-deepening kind of nursing. The kind that reminds you why you started. The kind that breaks your heart and rebuilds it stronger. The kind that teaches you that healing is so much more than medicine.

    So if you read this and feel a calling in your heart, a desire to try a different kind of nursing take a leap of faith and come volunteer with me onboard Mercy Ships.