Rosemary on a medical outreach in rural Fiji in the
northern part of the main island Vanua Levu,
October, 2016 sitting with patients who are waiting
to see the doctor in the village community hall.
Marine Reach Fiji is a Christian organisation that relies fully on God’s provision through
volunteering and donations to serve the people of Fiji both physically and spiritually.
It is a little confusing about who is Mercy Ships and who are Marine Reach. I explain the
difference in detail below. I had initially applied to work with Mercy Ships Africa but they
eventually said that I wasn’t qualified for the teaching job I’d applied for. I took this as a
God given “No” so didn’t question it or follow up in any way. Meanwhile Pastor Joeli gave
me a website link to Marine Reach Fiji, I still at this time didn’t understand the difference.
From them I got an unequivocal “Yes”. So here I am. I am currently helping out with the
Outreach trips and working in the office. I will attend a 5 month Descipleship Training
Course (DTS) with YWAM here at the Marine Reach base in Lautoka, Fiji early next year.
During the course we will be out in the field two times.
You can find much more information about the work that Marine Reach Fiji is doing
from our webpage. Please click the link.http://marinereachfiji.com/
Link to Marine Reach facebook page which has a lot more photos
https://www.facebook.com/MarineReach.Fiji/
Marine Reach Fiji is a small ministry in Fiji but is part of YWAM. Within YWAM, Marine
Reach Fiji is part of a much larger organisation: Marine Reach Ministries. Marine Reach
Ministries was founded in New Zealand in 1990 by David and Linda Cowie and John and
Marion Brignall using ships to reach isolated island communities in the Pacific Ocean.
Since then they have expanded considerably and now use ships, trucks, mobile clinics and
strategically located bases to bring humanitarian aid, evangelism programmes, and
training initiatives to communities in over 20 countries.
Marine Reach – YWAM New Zealand located in Tauranga, serves the Pacific Rim Nations
(Asia – Pacific).
Marine Reach Ministries set up a permanent base in Fiji in January 2002. By land and sea
we have reached many of the more remote villages and islands around Fiji with our
medical outreaches, providing Dental, Optical, Ophthalmology (Cataract Surgery) and
Primary Health Care. Equally important is the work of our Evangelistic, Practical, Youth
and Church outreach teams. Over time the nature of our outreaches has varied depending
on the availability of transport. There are possible future opportunities for us to do further
marine outreaches but at present we are land-based, providing for Fiji’s largest island – Viti
Levu. Despite it being the hub of Fiji there are still many that find access to and cost of
healthcare prohibitive, therefore many people persist with untreated conditions and pains.