by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Shortly after Sir John Major handed over the reins as Prime Minister of Great Britain to Tony Blair in 1997, he answered another calling that has worldwide effects. The organizers of Mercy Ships — the world’s largest non-governmental hospital ship — approached Major about joining their cause and extending his political influence. He accepted.
“Sir John is what is called a Patron of Mercy Ships and has been for the past six years,” said Heidi Metz-Stephens, director of Major Gifts for Mercy Ships.
Major addressed a joint meeting Monday of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville and the Meninak Club at the Radisson where he talked about everything from world superpowers to the focus of the Mercy Ships’ cause — world poverty and the resultant deplorable health conditions.
“Much of the world and much of poverty hasn’t changed in 300 years,” said Major. “That’s why the work of Mercy Ships is so valued. No one does what they do so well. The lives of thousands of people in far away lands has been changed. The ship treats both trivial and major ailments. It brings hope and it changes lives.”
Metz-Stephens said Major joined the Mercy Ships cause as a result of the organization’s close ties with Lord Ian McColl, the vice chair for the United Kingdom’s Mercy Ships board of directors. Those ties are also how Major ended up in Jacksonville for a stint that began with the Mercy Ships gala Saturday night at the Hyatt and wrapped up with Monday’s joint meeting.
The organization will mark a new age in a little over two months when it rolls out the newest — and what will prove to be only — member of its fleet.
“Both of our current ships have been in Jacksonville before and collectively they are over 100 years old,” said Don Stephens, Mercy Ships founder and president. “It’s time to retire them.”
On April 6, Mercy Ships will officially commission the Africa Mercy on the River Thames in London. The vessel is a nearly 500-foot ocean liner that will have six operating rooms and enough space to house a crew of 450. It’s expected to last 30-50 years.
“We will be able to double our capacity and halve the costs. The ship will not have a home port, but it will spend most of its time in Africa. A new ship is cheaper to maintain and requires less staff to run,” said Metz-Stephens, who has spent the last 20 years as a consulting strategist for high-tech firms before rejoining her parents in running Mercy Ships. “It’s more rewarding. I am making one-quarter the salary, but this has eternal significance. I feel better.”
Feeling better is what Mercy Ships is all about.
A majority of each year is spent either off the coast of West Africa or in the Caribbean, where most of the world’s poor live. According to Metz-Stephens, many of them subsist on less than a dollar a day and suffer with some of the world’s worst health conditions and maladies including infections, deformities, malnutrition and birth defects. Having people like Major on board as an advocate will only help.
“I accepted the invitation to be a patron without hesitation,” said Major, who left Monday afternoon for Kingston, Jamaica. “We are the privileged. We have our own worries and they are concerns. But, they are different from those treated by Mercy Ships. Unless we act in our generation to help solve some these problems, we will bequeath those problems to the next generation and those are problems they will not be able to solve.”