Interview: The Mercy crew

WHEN Scottish millionaire and Stagecoach co-founder Ann Gloag bought a Danish rail ferry in 1999 for £4 million with the aim of converting it into a hospital for the global charity Mercy Ships, not even she could have anticipated just what an enormous impact it would have on the lives of ordinary Africans.

On Africa Mercy's maiden voyage eight years later – following a painstaking refit – the ship spent a year in war-torn Liberia, treating thousands of men, women and children for a wide range of medical complaints ranging from cleft palates to club feet, dental problems to cataracts.

"At one stage Africa Mercy was the only hospital in Liberia," says Judy Polkinhorn, executive director of Mercy Ships UK. "It was an absolute lifeline for the country."

During Africa Mercy's year in Liberia she received a visit from Tim Cole, head of photography at the British design agency Saatchi and Saatchi Design, who arrived in October 2008. He had come to photograph the work being done on the ship, for a private exhibition taking place at Anderson Strathearn's Edinburgh offices in Rutland Court tonight which will mark 30 years of Mercy Ships.

Living on the ship alongside the doctors, nurses, dentists, administration staff and crew – all of whom are volunteers drawn from 50 nations including Scotland, Germany and the United States – Cole was able to document the day-to-day life onboard the Africa Mercy, and was at turns appalled and inspired by what he saw.

"It was like nowhere I've ever been before," he says. "It was incredible to see a country that is rebuilding itself after years of civil war and to see how people adapted. And it was full of children.

" No matter where we were, or what time of day it was, we would be surrounded by these vibrant children. In a country where poverty is rife and life expectancy was low, that was a very uplifting experience."

He was particularly impressed by how the volunteers – who all pay their own way, even down to shelling out for their own flights, in order to help out – got on together. "It's a complete floating community. You have people from all walks of life who are incredibly passionate about coming together under a common cause."

He remembers one moment in particular, photographing a woman who was about to undergo cataract surgery. "It was one of those moments of real solitude. She was waiting to go in to surgery and obviously deep in thought. For many people who come on board the ship to be treated it is an incredibly unusual set of circumstances. They've never seen anything like it."

"Many of the people we see have no access to medical care at all, and if they do they can't afford it," says Polkinhorn. "That means we see a lot of non-life threatening diseases that become life-threatening because they haven't been treated. The demand is immense. You'll do a screening day and see up to 4,000 people standing in the sun waiting to see if they get help. It's fairly awe-inspiring."

The ship has a dental clinic, a surgery and recovery spaces, meaning that the range of treatments it can carry out is impressive. But Mercy Ships also try to leave their own imprint on a country when they depart. "We're looking at sustainability for the future, health education, encouraging people to care for their own people," says Polkinhorn. "We work with the governments of the countries we're invited to, we work with ministries of health, hospitals - whoever. You have to leave something behind."

The Africa Mercy is now in Benin, where Polkinhorn says it is continuing with the sort of work it was doing in Liberia. "It's another country that needs our help. We're doing the same kind of work – cataracts, dental and eye clinics, removal of facial tumours, a range of things."

Gloag, 66 a former nurse, remains central to the charity. She has even been spotted on board, her hair scraped back, wearing a theatre gown, changing dressings and comforting young patients on the ship. "It was she who very kindly donated the Africa Mercy in the first place, which was absolutely fantastic," says Polkinhorn. "She's been out here a number of times. She's wonderful."