Jim Paterson

Jim Paterson, Marine Executive Consultant at Mercy Ships, attended Glasgow College of Technology - one of the founding colleges of Glasgow Caledonian University - at 16 during his training at Glasgow-based shipping company Denholms. He was the youngest on the HND Mechanical Engineering course, becoming an experienced engineering officer by the time he graduated. However, he didn’t attend his graduation as he was out at sea during the ceremony.

Shortly after leaving University, Jim travelled the world, seeing amazing sights - but also coming face to face with extreme poverty.

“In South America, I remember one day watching people coming out of the nearby river, coming ashore and begging for food. We were throwing them oranges and the kids were eating them skin-on because they were starving,” he said.

During a period of voluntary redundancy, he trained to become a missionary. After speaking with his local Minister, he suggested that Jim use his skills as an engineer as a force for good.

“I heard about Mercy Ships and decided to come for two years, and here I am 37 years later,” he said.

Mercy Ships has worked in over 50 countries. By improving healthcare delivery in the poorest areas, they hope to eradicate “diseases of poverty”, helping people of all faiths and none.

Their newest and first purpose-built ship, Global Mercy, is expected to provide medical aid to more than 150,000 people over its 50-year lifespan.

Jim spent eight years on his first ship and has since worked on land and sea for Mercy Ships. He has seen first-hand the positive impact the treatment has had on patients’ lives – including a man named Rafael, a well-known local shoe-shiner whose life was transformed after treatment in the late 1980s.

“The one that really resonates with me is from years ago, when we first joined Mexico after a big earthquake there,” he said.

"The team there had befriended a ‘shoe shine guy’ who had a cleft lip and palate. He was 45 and never had the opportunity to have it fixed. The team persuaded him to come to the ship to have the operation, which is a big step in a lot of these countries, particularly as 17 million people die every year from unsafe surgeries.

"He had the operation and the surgeon who performed the operation got a letter five years later thanking him and saying he had his first-ever kiss aged 50 because of the surgery."

Mercy Ships is now planning to expand its fleet and build a new dedicated hospital ship which will help the healthcare charity accelerate access to surgical care and surgical education across sub-Saharan Africa.