Week 2: Media Liason

Before coming here, I didn’t have a very good idea of what my job entailed. Now that I fully understand, I’m even more excited. Essentially, there are two groups of people you take care of. The first is media teams, who are coming to film commercials, news stories, print ads, etc. The second is vision trips, which is basically VIP donors. As a media liaison, I plan out their whole visit while they are here based on their needs and what they want to do. This requires (as the name suggests) a lot of liaising. 

It means talking with the assistant purser to get them visas (which requires ~20 emails to get all the flight details from them), emailing hospitality to let them know they are coming, if they are staying on the ship (which is a rare occurrence) the steward needs to find them a room, talking to nurses and doctors to find appropriate patients to film who will be on board the ship, informing the staff of their arrival, booking a tour of the bridge with the captain if needed, and the engine room with engineering, organizing a luncheon with the management team, planning a small event so they can meet the crew members who are from whichever country they are sent from, setting up several interviews with the surgeons, booking a vehicle to take them around town, etc. It’s a lot of planning but being new on the ship it’s given me the chance to meet lots of people in all kinds of different departments and to see a lot of the ship.

Once they arrive, you have to stay with them 24/7 when they are on the ship. Typically media teams stay in town, but vision trip visitors will stay on the ship. You have to make sure they aren’t filming things or people they aren’t allowed to. There are a lot of sensitivities when it comes to filming patients and I was really glad to see that they put the patients first, above anything else. However, this makes our job harder because the media teams are used to being able to film anything and everything, so we have to keep a close eye on them.

Next week, I’m helping to host my first media team, which is really exciting because it’s a 5 person team from Canada. They are part of Geometry, which is a global marketing firm, and they will be filming a couple commercials and some print ads so look forward to seeing those!

One new thing: Getting the opportunity to go over to the Logos Hope (another Christian missionary ship that is currently docked here – their mission is mainly through the large book store they have on board, but they also do a lot of work in the community).  We had a communal prayer night, which was a really neat experience. The crew from both ships gathered together and leadership from each ship went up and shared some prayer points and things that are going on right now. We then broke off into groups and prayed for these things. It was very encouraging and stretching at the same time, to pray for such a long time, ‘on demand’ in a sense, with other people who you don’t know very well, but who are brothers and sisters in Christ, so it feels like you have known each other forever.

One thing I observed: The way people from all over the world, different cultures, different languages, can come together and get along almost instantly. Somehow joking and teasing and sarcasm are almost universal. Speaking with the Malagasy people tends to become a mix of English, French and hand gestures but we always manage to communicate. Interestingly, there are people serving on the ship who do not believe in God, but simply believe in the humanitarian mission of Mercy Ships.

One thing I felt God was telling me:  I think the thing that stuck out to me the most this week was the idea of "one person at a time". When you hear the numbers and see the people it can be discouraging and overwhelming to think about all the people in need. 80% of people in Madagascar live in poverty (less than $1 USD a day). But Mercy Ships really focuses on helping one person at a time. You can see the doctors truly care and have a heart for helping people and that's what helps to keep them going. We can't change the whole world, but we can change the world for one person. We give them a chance at a normal life, in many cases, we restore their dignity and sense of worth and in the best cases, God touches their hearts and provide spiritual healing as well. You can see it in the way the nurses interact with the patients, the way every person is greeted on board - every person matters. It's truly remarkable.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. - 1 Peter 1:3-5