The Dronning Ingrid was purchased by Mercy Ships in 1999. she was a Danish rail ferry that had been made redundant by a new road and rail bridge and was seen as a great ship to turn into the newest ship of mercy the Africa Mercy.

We moved to Jarrow in the north east of the UK and joined the ship shortly after it was purchased we felt our calling was to development projects but were asked to help prepare the ship for ministry in Africa. Mark worked in the deck department working on a bunch of practical hands on projects. In early 2001 Mark became the manager of the deck department and with a team of short term volunteers looked after the safety of the ship and crew as well as trying to keep on top of the day to day maintenance

In 2003 leaders felt the time was right to start to focus on the programmes the Africa Mercy would complete when in Africa and we were asked to start the Community Development Services (CDS) department on board. CDS carries out programmes such as construction, water, sanitation, agriculture, micro enterprise and training programmes.

At the time of starting this project I don’t think that anyone would have anticipated that the conversion work would have taken over seven years and cost an estimated $70,000,000 and it has taken so long and has been such a strain on resources that where it was to become the 4th and newest ship to a growing fleet when complete it will be the only Mercy ship.