After committing a petty crime, Ken Mulligan’s great-great grandfather was sent to Australia in November 1818 on the sailing ship Morley which took 121 days to get here.
In Port Adelaide we found a vessel of a different kind — MV Pacific Link, a volunteer hospital ship Ken is sending on a longer voyage toPapua New Guinea via 16 Australian ports.
Ken is CEO of YWAM-Marine Reach Australia which operates MV Pacific Link, now on a mission to provide clinical services, primary health
care and health education in PNG.
In August 2010 the ship will sail to Cairns and Thursday Island then on to Port Moresby in the Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea. The
Australian leg of the voyage will promote PNG’s millennium development
goals.
Young and old, skilled and unskilled, health professionals, marine specialists, crew, businesses, churches, service clubs and schools will
be called on to collect spectacles and supplies for PNG, where more
than half a million people have low vision that could be corrected with
glasses.
YWAM is a non-profit charity operating in more than 1000 locations in 149 countries, with more than 16,000 staff.
Sustainability on board
MV Pacific Link is operated on sound environmental and sustainable principles.
Biofuels are used wherever possible, but remote locations cannot always guarantee this.
Operations and maintenance crew are all trained in sustainable practices, as well as health, safety and fire standards.
Built in Japan in in 1979, Pacific Link is 37m long and has a 7.3m beam, 50 berths and an operating theatre; its home port is Tauranga, New Zealand.
Recent Comments