JUBILEE HOPE

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Medical ship arrives in Tanzania

MWANZA, Tanzania - Jubilee Hope’ a Scottish donated medical ship was expected to anchor at Mwanza port after arrival from Kisumu port in Kenya. The medical ship project is being run jointly by Africa Inland Church (AIC), Geita Diocese and a Scottish charity organization Vine Trust. According to AIC Bishop Mussa Magwesela the medical services would be offered for free. “The ship would arrive in Mwanza from Kisumu, Kenya and it’s expected to serve about 400,000 people a year on the islands of L. Victoria in Tanzania,” he said recently. Rev said the project would offer medical services in AIDS, dental, laboratory, mother and child health care in the regions of Geita, Mwanza and Kagera. The floating hospital would cater for more than 200 small islands on Lake Victoria. Most of these islands get minimal primary care services. The 160-ton medical ship left Glasgow to Mombasa, Kenya on January 22, 2014—it anchored at Mombasa port on May 2, 2014 after a 101 days journey. It was transported with the help of Aberdeen oil company the Wood Group, which operates in Africa and has donated technical know-how to move the boat. It travelled all its way from Glagow to SouthAfrica and eventually arrived in East Africa - its destination.At Mombasa port the whole entire deck was removed in order to reduce the total height of the ship for transportation. Thereafter it started a 1,200 km journey to Kisumu port for re-assembling. On Lake Victoria there are over 150 island communities with over 500,000 people in the Tanzanian sector alone. These people have little or no access to a meaningful health service. The ship is fitted with examinations rooms, a dentist’s surgery and a laboratory. Rev Magwesela says the medical ship would be staffed by a core team of Tanzanians, including doctors and volunteers from the charity.

Floating African hospital soon to start operations in Tanzania

Scottish charity group Vine Trust’s ambitious plan for an African floating hospital has finally reached the African shores. The hospital vessel called Jubilee Hope left Glasgow on January 22, 2014, for East Africa (Mombasa port) arrived in South Africa. The ship is a former Royal Navy fleet tender that was refitted at a cost of pound sterling one million by BAE systems at its yard in Greenock. The 8,585-mile journey from Glasgow to Mombasa is estimated to cost about 45,000 pound sterling. On April 16, 2014 (Day 85), Jubilee Hope reached East London, South Africa. From there, the Jubilee Hope has some 1,861 miles more mile to go before it reaches its destination, Mombasa port in Kenya.