What does this Finance Director really do here?

It's a joy to be here. 

Yet my daily work serves as a reminder that "I'm not directly involved in the mission". 

It's much simpler and engaging for Jackie, the physical therapist, to tell stories of patients, how hope and healing arrive to patients and their caregivers — the tangible, real change. But when you're the Finance Director... you, uh, pay bills and make sure people have money so the mission can run. Right? You use an abacus, calculator, and lots of spreadsheets and use math. Yes?

It's still important, but if I ever want to feel very close to the front lines and yet struggle to answer, "So, what is it you do here?" then this is the opportunity. 

As I've reflected, I've found myself investing in three areas:

1. People: Enable their personal growth, maturation, and develop their potential
2. Internal Communications: Encourage the crew to feel more engaged, aware, and capable
3. Long-term processes and systems: Simplify "how to" tasks, make systems easier to use, and better outcomes for patients and crew

In short, I've embraced being a coach, communicator, and improver. 

While my workday includes of meetings, project tracking, finance work, and leadership, here are a few stories that may shed light beyond the assumable "I guess he just reconciles numbers and signs checks?"

People developer

I love investing in people. Many junior and middle managers onboard face various challenges: living on a ship, away from home, working in a multi-cultural environment, gauging how frustrated one of their team members is and how to respond, and simply learning to be a manager. This is a recipe for growth and tears.

Then there are those on the Finance team with the drive, the talent, and the desire to grow in their career. What does it look like to listen, guide, and nurture people to help them flourish — not just here on the ship (or in country!), but at their next role wherever in the world it may be? What if this time at Mercy Ships was not just about their service but also their personal and professional growth? What if they leave not just with being able to reconcile a bank statement quicker but approach interpersonal conflict with clarity, calmness, and curiosity? What if...they became leaders?

Internal communicator

Calling it "internal communications" gives it a sterile and robotic feel, though I want to distinguish it from external communications. Over January, I had the opportunity to cover for our ship's Operations Director and also a bit for our Chief Steward (think: dining room, galley, housekeeping, hospitality, and more). Daunting. It was quite an experience, but serving others in that way was worth it. It helped me see past the happy, smiling faces to discern the stress, difficulties, pains, and struggles. It also helped me see how tweaks in awareness, transparency, and accountability can yield dividends. Examples include:

• Make it clear and actionable: We rotate slides for 20-30 seconds with actionable information ("how to disembark the ship", upcoming events, "how much money do I need to explore Freetown?", weekly menu). We clarified these slides, made the fonts larger and more readable, and focused on actionability. Small, but mighty change.
• Trust but verify: It's easy to say "I'll get that done," but it's quite another to get it done and then report it back. For our management team, we reviewed all our meeting notes since August (the beginning of the field service) and wrote down every action item that should have happened. We then compiled it in a spreadsheet, brought it back to the Management Team, explained the process, apologized for the lack of accountability and transparency, and are making this a regular occurrence. To be effective, people must trust the systems, processes, people, and promises.
• Subtraction is just as powerful: Whenever we want to "make it better," we usually think, "ah, I must do something." However, removing is often better. Selectively eliminating helpful but non-critical information, instructions, and words focuses attention on the few critical items. Advertisers practice less is more: We took that opportunity to remove words, reduce the number of TV slides, and focus on just a few instructions. 
• Listening ear: Sit down, shut up, and hear what your fellow volunteers say. Empathy counts.

It is tempting to add more, but there is a breaking point—just like adding too much to a vehicle.

Improver

Imagine being stuck using a 20-year-old software tool: out of date, hard to use, doesn't work well, and takes more time from everyone to use than it should. It's frustrating for any person — now multiply that by 2,000+ volunteers who come to the ships each year. 

Optimizing and improving processes is one of the least sexy, trendy, or cool things. But when that is deeply connected to why we are here and how that transforms lives, that changes my perspective. Better systems, workflows, and time saved mean less stress on hospital staff, more patient time, and better surgeries. I'm on board. With great support, the Hospital can share presentations like this of successfully running operating rooms!
 

Here is an example: We have 280+ day crew who work with us and are paid every two weeks. It was a very manual process and, while it has improved over the years, when I arrived, it took at least 6-8 hours to process and another 2-3 hours to review. With some assistance from a friend back home (you know who y you are!), we automated it. Processing time 3-4 hours and review is 30 minutes — going from ten to four hours is a huge improvement. Oh, and far fewer errors and delays, too. 

Now, what if, instead, someone focused on modernizing those applications? There's a group here who are doing that. First, I'm trying to get the existing software to be as usable and straightforward as possible (quick wins!). Next, I'm working with our amazing onshore team to speed up the replacement of these archaic tools (Side note: It's wild to realize some of these systems won't be ready until we're about to or sometime after we leave. But even if they all come after I leave, my focus is on the next generation: bringing a better tomorrow to the crew, day crew, caregivers, and patients). That inspires me — even if I don't get the cute before-and-after hospital photo out of it.

Conclusion

Sometimes, communicating about communicating is hard. The esoteric and nebulous stuff is difficult to explain to others. Yet one thing I appreciate about being here is the focus on the mission: know where you're going. Here's a picture of the ship's bridge at 5am before the sun rose while most everyone were still sleeping. The ship's bridge is a frequent reminder about where we're going, watching our trajectory, and remembering why we're here.

May you be encouraged in whatever role you're in, regardless of whether you feel that you can communicate that well. 

Hospital Pictures and Updates!

I have been asked by several of you for more pictures of what I am doing in the hospital. While I would love to take silly selfies with all of my patients, this is not allowed. Thankfully our communications department takes photos and I am able to use those on this blog. So... ENJOY!

Mr A is a cheeky little dude with big personality and heart. He was here to have both hands and one foot repaired during Nov/Dec. 

These two (Miss M and Miss B) are pure entertainment. I love seeing the kids bond over their shared experience both at home and now in the healing journey. 

HAPPY FEET! 

This is one of our daycrew (locals from Sierra Leone who work for Mercy Ships). He does so much for the rehab department including translating, doing exercises with patients, cleaning up after the therapists and much more. Daycrew are invaluable!!

This is another daycrew worker with me and Miss A and her sister-in-law. Each patient under 18 needs a caregiver... most of the time a parent, but sometimes another trusted adult who can come be with the child for months. Miss A was slow to warmup to me, but now runs up to me with a big hug. 

Happy Miss A!

She really is a sweet kiddo. 

This is Miss S and she has been a HANDFULL! lol. But on a serious note, a lot of this kids have been through trauma/grief that we can't even imagine and need extra love and grace. She used to scream when I came into her ward and now I get high 5's and smiles. She will even start walking to rehab because she wants to come play with me. She still has a long way to go, but she will be one I remember forever. 

Oh little Miss M!! She had this sad faraway expression for the first few weeks she was with us. Now she comes running into the rehab room and has to hug everyone before she can start exercises. Her mom also hugs me when she sees me and thanks me for coming to Sierra Leone to help her daughter. 

Mama doing Miss M's hair. 

Thank you for all of your prayers for my patients. We are moving into a time where they will be getting their casts off and strengthening those legs that have been in cast for about 10 weeks. There is over 50 kids ages 4-14 who have had orthopedic surgery on their legs and are progressing right along. I'll keep you all updated as I can about their progress. This work is exhausting but the most rewarding of my career. 

As always, please reach out with any thoughts/questions/suggestions. We love hearing from you! 

Trip to Bunce Island and Needs Everywhere

 Recently our family went on a daytrip to Bunce Island. This is an island in the middle of a major river in Sierra Leone that was a big part of the slave trade in the 1700's. We went with 3 other families, so it was a group of 8 adults and 11 kids ages 5-14. It was a 10 min keke ride to the ferry port and then a 1-2 hour boat ride to/from the island. 

Abigail (UK), Hanne (Netherlands) and Sadie (US)

Ian (UK, Captain), Jeff (US, Finance Director) James (US, Crew Physician)

The island itself has some ruins from when it was part of the slave trade. We had a local guide who was very knowledgable and answered all of our questions. The history is sobering and seeing it come to life is even harder. Especially touching was learning that John Newton was on a nearby island with similar history and it was this that caused him to write "Amazing Grace". We all sang the song with our guide and there was more than a few glistening eyes. 

Beautiful, yet weighty ruins

There were huge trees on Bunce Island (see kids running by for scale!)

Lauren (US), Elin (Netherlands) and Erin (US). Its hard to be a teen on the other side of the world, but I am so glad these girls have each other!!

Thomas and Sam. Sweet buddies and the only 5th grade boys on our ship!

Most of our group! We may have only known each other for 8 months but we are very bonded together! 

A brief history of the island

After Bunce Island we stopped by Tasso Island. This is a much larger island with a greater number of locals living there. We had a traditional African lunch (fish or chicken and rice) then toured around some local huts. We love meeting the people in these secluded areas of Sierra Leone. 

Whole fish! It was very good.

Traditional huts that people still live in. 

As we were leaving Tasso Island, I had a very normal yet sobering experience. After saying "hi" and "how are you?" to some boys by the ocean, one asked me for money. He said he was hungry and his father is dead. Like I said, sobering. A few people every time we leave the ship recognize us as "rich" (which we are here) and ask for money. Just like a homeless person asking for money in the US a million questions go through my head... Will a few dollars REALLY help him? Is his father really dead? Is he really that hungry? How many Leones do I have on me? How can I show this boy love? Kindness? My head is spinning again just thinking about it. 

Sometimes, it is asking for money, but often, it is a medical need. Especially closer to the ship we are recognized as part of Mercy Ships. And like most people, the locals assume everyone who works at a hospital is a doctor or a nurse! lol. People come up to me showing me their infected eye, damaged legs from an accident, tumor on their neck, you name it. Right now the rest of our field service (Aug-June) is full... every surgeon coming has a full schedule for the entire time they are with us. But of course there are still more people who have needs and there is no surgeon in country who can do the operation. Even if there were, the average person could not afford it. Once again... How do I love this person right here in the moment? Mostly I listen, acknowledge, pray for, and just hold the hand of whoever it is is asking me for help. They are cast out of society here and need human connection. 

Continue to pray for us as we navigate these situations day in and day out. It's exhausting, important, thoughtful, valuable work.