Sonja Frischknecht joined the staff on Avondale’s Sydney campus in 2008. She came with a passion for mission, having spent twelve years on the west coast of Africa with Mercy Ships Р an international organisation of volunteers, developmental workers and health professionals who offered medical, surgical and relief aid, using ships to mobilise resources and workers to needy nations.

‘I had always been an idealist with a passion for justice,’ Sonja wrote in a recent blog. ‘I had wanted to stand up for the weak, speak for those who have no voice, and express kindness and respect to those who’d been beaten down, whether through poverty, disease or war. Suddenly in West Africa I discovered a field for service.’

The first three months in Africa left an indelible impression on her mind. ‘I quickly discovered,’ she wrote, ‘that the commonplace things I had blithely taken for granted in Australia Р access to clean water, health care, education, resources Р set me massive distances apart from the majority of the world’s population Р particularly as a woman.’

‘As a charge nurse on a 40-bed ward in a hospital ship, my responsibilities at times felt overwhelming. I was exposed to desperation and need beyond my saddest imaginings. Yet daily we tasted the rewards: a child who’d been blind, now able to see his parents; life-stealing tumours removed; clinics built; local health workers trained; water and sanitation projects; lives changed by the compassionate action of others and the amazing, unconditional love of God. I saw each aspect of our work making vibrant difference in people’s lives.’

In time, Sonja came to lead a staff of ninety in the Health Care Services Department and served on the ship’s leadership and management team. Her role included assessing the needs of villages and liaising with ministers of health in various countries before the ship’s arrival in order to offer the most appropriate services.

‘My first three months on the mercy ship ignited a flame in me that I doubt will ever wane,’ she said. After many years of front-line mission work, she has a vision to inspire Avondale nursing students with a passion for mission service in developing countries. To this end, she recently took a group of senior nursing students from Avondale’s Sydney campus to Atoifi Adventist Hospital in the Solomon Islands for a two-week program of clinical experience and health education service (see page 14).

From now on Sonja intends to provide an annual opportunity for senior nursing students to catch the inspiration for mission service and to develop their personal and professional skills in a learning project in the South Pacific.

Caption: Sonja Frischknecht reassures a child in Benin, West Africa, after resuscitating the girl’s sister who had suffered a cardiac arrest on the roadside.