One Year with Mercy Ships

It’s hard to believe we are nearing the end of July! A full year has passed since we left Canada to begin our Mercy Ships journey. It hardly feels like a year has gone by, but looking back at our updates and posts, a lot has happened in the last twelve months! We are currently in Canada for some time off to attend a wedding, visit friends, family, and connect with our supporters. We left the ship feeling full, but anticipating whatever exciting things God has in store for us ahead.

The kids finished their final exams in mid June and wrapped up their first year in the Mercy Ships Academy. Dara and Ivan start into high school and Cal will begin grade seven when the school year kicks off again in mid August. Many of the kids’ teachers finished their service commitments or transitioned into other roles on board over the summer. We look forward to a roster of new and familiar faces in the Academy next year, but will also miss those who have left. There are often difficult goodbyes in our ship life as we meet wonderful people and then have to say goodbye or “see you later” when they leave. There were a few families that left over this Academy break and also a family has arrived that we have yet to meet. So many changes!

While back in Canada for some time of rest and fundraising, work continues on the Africa Mercy. We have had blocks of Orthopedic surgeries, Maxillofacial, Pediatric general, General surgery, women’s health, dental, clubfoot and more. As of June, just shy of 400 surgeries were completed on board! We also experienced answers to prayer for patients whose healing didn’t initially go as expected. In one case, a patient wasn’t healing well and an additional surgery was expected. However, after prayer, the patient’s healing rapidly improved, and no surgery was needed!

June 3rd was World Clubfoot Day. Clubfoot is one of the conditions our Education, Training, and Advocacy team (ETA) trains local surgeons and doctors to treat. To celebrate, our ETA team put on an event about the work they do locally in Madagascar. They took crew on a tour of the local hospital where clubfoot patients are treated, showing them the tools, rooms, and the Malagasy medical professionals who treat the patients. Hopital Be, the local public hospital, still has some equipment that Mercy Ships donated during our last visit in 2016!

Dan and his team did some volunteering with a local organization that Mercy Ships has partnered with. They are in need of ongoing IT work, including sorting out old equipment, repairing their current network, and library computers. They help Malagasy students prepare for their graduation exams, assisting many who would otherwise have dropped out and turned to street work. Many of these students have laptops they received through grant programs, private donors, or through the organization itself. The IT team on board the Africa Mercy have assisted providing support for these computers, getting many of them back to working condition. Here is their facebook page for more information. https://www.facebook.com/helpmg/

The ship continues its work in Madagascar as we return home to visit family and friends. We are making a prayer and fundraising pitch as we look ahead to a 2026 filled with unknowns and new challenges. Dan has accepted a position change on board the AFM, stepping into the role of Operations Director at the beginning of 2026. He will take over leadership of all non-medical or marine departments as part of his role, advocating for the needs of the ship as a whole with our shore-based colleagues. As part of this role change, we have decided as a family to extend our service commitment an extra year. We will now serve with Mercy Ships until July 2027 instead of July 2026!

Please pray for Dan and our family as we step into this new role starting next year, and we ask that God will enable Dan to finish his remaining time as IT Manager well. An extended maintenance period is planned for 2026, running from Jan until the end of April. Due to visa conditions in South Africa, we will need to find a place off ship for about six weeks. The Academy will then operate from the shore from Feb 23 until we leave for our 2026 field service in Madagascar. There are still unanswered questions about the 2026 field service, and we ask for prayer for our leadership and favour with the Malagasy Government. We ask that God will make His plans clear to us for 2026, and we trust that he is already working to set a path before us. We ask for prayers of safe travels as we return to the ship in August. Pray that the people of the Africa Mercy finish our 2025 field service strong, and pray against the attacks of the enemy.

Thank you for all of your support over the last year. We appreciate the generosity and prayers from everyone who supports us. We encourage you to consider making a donation to our Mercy Ships Canada support page. If you do, or you just want to connect, please reach out to us via email (dan@croutch.ca,rachel@croutch.ca), Facebook, or use the comments below.