The Pacific Link!

I thought it would be good to give a clear overview of what the ship is doing and some of its history!

The ship was built in 1979 as a Japanese fishing training vessel, shortly after that a man in New Zealand bought the ship off of the Japanese and had a dream to make the ship into a training vessel but for scuba diving. He made lots of renovations on the boat, since it was built with a very basic fishing design, this included making a lounge, a dinning area, and simply making it more homey. A key point to all of this is that the ship its self is only 37 miters long and 7.3 miters wide (not that big) and we are able to have a maximum of 50 people on board, which is very rare considering how small the ship is, but because it was built as a training vessel since day one it was created with heaps more accommodation then regular ships! We are not sure of all the details but in the end the bank had to take the ship off of the kiwi man, wether it was more then he thought it was going to be or him ran out of money we aren't sure. This gave YWAM New Zealand a opportunity to buy the ship off of the bank in 2001 and from there they made the changes that need to be done to make it into the medical ship that it is today!

Since New Zealand has had the ship they have been doing medical outreaches to Fiji, Sonoma Island, and the Philippines offering free medical care. Just this year January 2010 YWAM New Zealand gave the ship to YWAM Australia ~ a pretty big deal.

Since January we have been doing a 16 port tour around Australia bringing awareness to people about the need in Papua New Guinea. Also the depression and suicide numbers with Aussie youth has continued to rise over the last 10 years, so we are also focused on calling the Aussie youth to be apart of something that is way bigger then themselves, helping them gain a sense of purpose through helping others. With the tour around Australia we have been open to the public for them to come aboard take a look at the clinic and some other places around the ship, and at the end we give them a chance to be apart of it with Tell Give Go. Tell 3 people you know, tell your doctor or dentist the next time you go, simply help us get the word out about the need in PNG. Give, we have been collecting old glasses and sunglasses, and new tooth brushes and tooth paste, also any financial support and since ever single person living onboard is a volunteer (actually pays to be onboard) ever cent donated goes straight into the running of this ship and medical supplies. And Go, anyone who is medical trained there are heaps of opportunities for you to be involved, but also we are looking for anyone with a heart to serve!

The heart of this ship is to bring life, our theme saying is I Want To Live. The reality that Papua New Guineans are living is horrendous, I mean on fact is that there is 30 dentists for the whole nations. If someone needs a pair of glasses it could easily mean catching a ferry to a many city (ferries only come every 3 months) so something as easy as going to the store for us could be a 6 month journey to get a pair of glasses, not to mention the cost of the traveling. so we are bring everything we can to them! Dentistry, ophthalmology, primary health care, and optometry will be the four areas that we are focusing on to begin with.

We have the Ship for the next 8 - 10 years and starting next year we are hoping to be in PNG for 6 months at a time, and the rest of the time it will be resting in Townsville. I think it is needless to say that this is a huge deal and I honestly cant even imagine what God is going to do with this, He has provided us with everything we have needed every step of the way!!

I am so excited, Here are some pictures on the ship and a video around the ship and also the video that thousands of people all around Australia and world wide have seen (our promo video!).

Enjoy!