Development
The Africa Mercy project started in March 1999. A former rail ferry named Dronning Ingrid (Queen Ingrid) was bought in Denmark for 6.5 million USD, through a donation from U.K. businesswoman Ann Gloag's Balcraig Foundation. Dronning Ingrid is the first of three identical ships built for DSB (Danish State Railways). The other ships are the Kronprins Frederik and the Prins Joachim.
The ship was fitted out at the Cammell Laird shipyard at Hebburn in Tyneside, England. The ferry's large train deck facilitated its conversion into a hospital ship. Over the next few years, the Dronning Ingrid was transformed into the largest non-governmental hospital ship in the world, at a final cost of over 62 million USD. Although Mercy Ships has now retired all its earlier ships, the Africa Mercy has greater capacity than all three of its previous ships combined.
Read more about this topic: MV Africa Mercy
Famous quotes containing the word development:
“As a final instance of the force of limitations in the development of concentration, I must mention that beautiful creature, Helen Keller, whom I have known for these many years. I am filled with wonder of her knowledge, acquired because shut out from all distraction. If I could have been deaf, dumb, and blind I also might have arrived at something.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Information about child development enhances parents’ capacity to respond appropriately to their children. Informed parents are better equipped to problem-solve, more confident of their decisions, and more likely to respond sensitively to their children’s developmental needs.”
—L. P. Wandersman (20th century)
“The highest form of development is to govern one’s self.”
—Zerelda G. Wallace (1817–1901)