YWAM Ships

YWAM (pronounced: why-wham) is a diverse global Christian youth focused movement from many nations, backgrounds, ages and cultures; sharing their faith through meeting practical, spiritual and physical needs, offering training in more than 800 courses and seminars for service in all spheres of society. YWAM is a not-for-profit charitable volunteer organisation that currently operates in over 1000 locations and 149 countries, with over 16,000 staff.
Since 1990 YWAM’s Marine Reach ships have operated in 16 different nations and hundreds of ports throughout the Pacific establishing a long-standing reputation of excellence, integrity and results:

• Providing over 200,000 people with free services
• Giving over $37.5 million to optometry, dentistry, primary health care and more
• Optometry to more than 80,000 people
• 50,000 dental procedures for over 37,000 people
• Primary health care services to over 70,000 people
• 37 housing projects

Welcome! My family's story started with ships some 175 years ago when a young man of 19, Edward Mulligan (my great, great, grandfather) was convicted of "Bleachgreen Robbery"€ (a petty crime) in the city of Dublin on the 8th May 1827. Sentenced to seven years and transportation to Australia, he joined 194 Irish male convicts on board "€˜The Morley" arriving in Port Jackson on the 3rd March 1828 after 121 days at sea.

Our Australian history is entwined with ships and the future will be no different. In February 2010 the M/V Pacific Link will embark on a 16 port tour of Australia before continuing on to Papua New Guinea for a medical mission.

The Ship Tour will help young Aussies get more involved with their communities and raise awareness about PNG and the opportunities to help by collecting spectacles, inviting volunteers and raising finances. According to the Fred Hollows Foundation 550,000 people in PNG are estimated to have low vision, correctable with spectacles.

The main barriers to restoring sight in PNG are the low numbers of eye care workers, the large distances people must travel to access care and the costs associated with eye care. This is just one example of a way we can make a real difference.

The key to success of the Australia & PNG Ship Tour is long term partnering, planning and nurturing relationship between government agencies, businesses, the medical community, educational institutions and NGOs.

Even one pair of donated eye glasses can make a world of difference. Let’s help our closest neighbours!
Kind Regards,

Ken Mulligan
Managing Director, YWAM Marine Reach Australia