Blogging from the other side of the world

Last month, two students from the College of Nursing and Health Sciences and faculty member Randall Roark launched FIUProjectHOPE, a blog on which they chronicle their work aboard the USNS Mercy, a naval hospital ship in Singapore, bound for a five-week medical mission to Indonesia.

Randall Roark and his fellow bloggers, two College of Nursing and Health Sciences students, put safety first while on their mission with Project HOPE.

This is the first time members of the FIU family have participated in the initiative.

The mission is a joint effort between Project HOPE and the U.S. Navy as part of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Partnership 2010.

Project HOPE began in 1958 as a volunteer effort with the goal to “make health care available for people around the globe.” For many years, it consisted of a floating hospital ship staffed with volunteers that traveled around the world providing medical care and education.

Eventually, Project HOPE became a land-based organization, but after the tsunami in South East Asia in late 2004, the project returned to the seas by joining efforts with the U.S. Navy. Together, the two organizations now sponsor yearly medical missions to both South East Asia/Oceania and to Haiti/Central America/South America.

Check out FIUProjectHOPE and find out what life on board has been like, see the latest photos from the team members’ adventures and more.