POINTE NOIRE, CONGO — Catch her if you can.  Part-time Lincolnville resident Barbara Daggett does not sit idle; in fact, to catch her before mid-May you’d have to stretch your net all the way to the Congo. From there it’s a cinch. If you don’t see her iron-pressed uniform among her wrinkley-clothed covolunteers in the dining room of the Africa Mercy, you need only ask a passer-by.  Three weeks after her arrival, most people here know Barbara.

Barbara’s enthusiasm adheres to every person she meets.  This same enthusiasm drove her to this Christian humanitarian hospital built upon the same philanthropic foundation as the Hope Ship, which operated from 1960 to 1973.

As a young married, working woman, Barbara yearned to volunteer aboard the Hope Ship she’d read about in Life magazine. But she believed her lack of medical training prevented her participation. In the following years the Mercy Ships organization was mentioned in church, but it wasn’t until February 2013, while watching a 60 Minutes segment about the Africa Mercy, that a spark ignited. During Father’s Day Sunday service at the Chestnut Street Baptist Church, in Camden, the pastor welcomed a returning Mercy volunteer.  For Barbara the flame grew. 

Always one for dinner parties and meeting new people, Barbara immediately coordinated a lunch date in order to hear about the ship.  Later when she recounted the details to her friends, they responded as if she’d decided to go.  Soon after, she applied.

The nonprofit Mercy Ships uses hospital ships to deliver free healthcare services to those without access in the developing world. Founded in 1978 by Don and Deyon Stephens, Mercy Ships has worked in more than 70 countries and each year Mercy Ships has more than 1,600 volunteers from more than 45 nations, according to the organization. Professionals including surgeons, dentists, nurses, healthcare trainers, teachers, cooks, seamen, engineers, and agriculturalists donate their time and skills to the effort. 

Adapting to the Mercy Ship life, and the city of Pointe Noire, is a challenge — even for a flight attendant of 28 years who was accustomed to sleeping in a different bed every night she worked. 

At home in the states, Barbara keeps her three monthly magazines in an L.L. Bean tote bag outside the house. Barbara loves to work. She does not have time, when at home, to sit and read. 

Here on the ship, despite breaks between the meals she presides over, the volunteer work is long and physically demanding. Sleeping in bunk beds and sharing space with roommates also have drawbacks; yet, Barbara’s enthusiasm endures.  She knows she’s here for a reason.  Just as there was a reason she and her husband could never stay permanently in their Florida home.  They’ve summered in Oakland, Belgrade, Searsmont, Rockport, and since 2005, Lincolnville.

They’ve picnicked on Bald Rock Mountain, in Lincolnville,, skimmed their platoon boat across Megunticook Lake, and hovered their float plane above the water’s surface. Or, you just might find her happily mowing the lawn at her nephew’s guest cottage.

Barbara first started living in Lincolnville in 1974. From 1979 to 1991, she and her husband lived in Maine, in West Rockport and Searsmont, and commuted out-of-state for work. They tried living in Orland. Fla., for five years, but returned to Lincolnville.

Barbara does not know why she’s meant to participate in this Congo field mission.  She says life is made up of puzzle pieces.  You look at one piece and ask ‘What was that all about?’ 

But in the future, as time goes by, the pieces will fit together.

 Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com