Seven years ago, John Mather visited the Mercy Ships headquarters in East Texas to conduct a routine compliance audit. Mather, who earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in naval architecture and marine engineering from the 香港六合彩生肖号码, left the office with a new purpose.
鈥淥ver the course of that two-day audit, a seed was planted that I couldn鈥檛 uproot,鈥 Mather said. 鈥淚 was just taken aback by the genuine authenticity of the people I was meeting with; they had a love for each other 鈥 they had a passion for what the organization did. I wanted to be a part.鈥
Mercy Ships is a nonprofit international organization that builds and operates 鈥渇loating hospitals鈥 that provide free medical services to those in need, particularly targeting people who live in poor countries with limited access to hospitals.
During the audit, when he asked workers about the organization their eyes would 鈥渓ight up,鈥 Mather said.
鈥淭hey are like, let me show you some pictures of what some of these people have to deal with on a day-to-day basis and they wave the banner high,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know what it would look like, but I just wanted to lend my skillset, my unusual skillset, as a naval architect to these people.鈥
Mather has worked with Mercy Ships for nearly six years and is currently the director of marine projects. In that capacity, he is chiefly responsible for planning, coordinating and executing the upgrades and modifications carried out on board the ships.
鈥淥ur 鈥榗ustomers,鈥 if you will, are the other departments within the organization whose teams live and work on board,鈥 Mather said. 鈥淎s equipment and machinery approach the end of their lifecycle, or the arrangement of spaces on board no longer suit the organization鈥檚 needs, my team facilitates for those changes to keep things moving forward.鈥
Mather, who said he鈥檚 always had a love for sailing, estimates that he鈥檚 spent more than 40 weeks on board the various ships in the fleet. Most of those times were for three-week stints to check on projects, he said.
鈥淚n my previous role with the organization, I had the privilege of spending two consecutive summers on board the Africa Mercy with my wife and kids, which included lengthy sails from Cameroon and Benin to the Canary Islands,鈥 said Mather, who lives in Texas. 鈥淭wo of my three children have been to several African countries and the Canary Islands before they were 4-years-old.鈥
A career aptitude test led Mather to enroll at the 香港六合彩生肖号码, he said. The first college he attended in Florida didn鈥檛 offer the naval architecture and marine engineering major, so he went to the internet.
鈥淏y the end of that day, I had discovered 香港六合彩生肖号码, applied, forwarded my transcripts, and called my parents to tell them I was moving,鈥 Mather said.
The academic program was difficult, Mather said, but he was determined to finish.
鈥淚 would suggest that I鈥檓 positioned to be an inspiration for the average man because I鈥檓 really not that exceptional in terms of my skillset as an engineer,鈥 said Mather, who graduated in 2006. 鈥淚t was not easy for me. You just surround yourself with people that are pulling for you and people that want to help you. You just stay the course and you get through it.鈥
At Mercy Ships, Mather said he鈥檚 able to exhibit his outgoing personality, a trait he had attempted to stifle earlier in his career, thinking it 鈥渨asn鈥檛 professional.鈥
鈥淚鈥檝e realized now that unless you鈥檙e working with robots, you鈥檙e better off just being who you are,鈥 he said. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e working with people, a little humanity goes a long way.鈥
Mather said he was attracted to Mercy Ships because of its mission in helping those in need and the 鈥渞are context where someone with a degree in naval architecture and marine engineering could use their skillset to serve the world鈥檚 forgotten poor鈥 beyond just throwing money at them.鈥
The organization, founded in 1978, currently has two ships, both of which are longer than football fields. The Africa Mercy is 500 feet in length and Global Mercy is about 570 feet. For reference, a football field is 360 feet, Mather said.
鈥淚nside you have all the trappings of a cruise ship, minus the bar and the casino,鈥 Mather said. 鈥淐onsidering that several hundred volunteers call the ship 'home' during a given field service, it鈥檚 got to feel like it, too. We鈥檝e got a pool, playground for the kids, a gym, Wi-Fi everywhere.
鈥淢ost importantly, though, we鈥檝e got several decks which make up the hospital on board, which includes everything you鈥檇 expect to see in a hospital here in the States,鈥 Mather said.
The ships typically dock for about 10 months in one location in order to provide medical services, including surgery, at no cost.
The Global Mercy is the nonprofit鈥檚 newest ship and its first 鈥減urpose-built鈥 vessel, Mather said.
鈥淎ll of our ships to date were purchased secondhand and repurposed, which has limited what we鈥檝e been able to do with them, programmatically,鈥 he said. 鈥淭he Global Mercy allowed us to take 40 years of experience serving the world鈥檚 forgotten poor, include elements we loved about the other ships, leave out what we didn鈥檛, and build a ship with the capacity to literally double what we鈥檝e been doing with Africa Mercy since that ship was put into service in 2007.鈥
With 12 decks, the 37,000-ton Global Mercy is equipped with six operating rooms, hospital beds for 200 patients, a full laboratory and simulation training areas. More than 640 medical, maritime and programmatic crew live and serve onboard with space for up to 950 on ship when it is docked.
鈥淓veryone seems to show up to Mercy Ships with the attitude of, 鈥楾his is not about me,鈥 and that permeates every part of life on board our ships,鈥 Mather said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 infectious, and it鈥檚 hard to leave behind when it comes time to walk down the gangway and go back to 鈥榬eality.鈥欌