The Glasgow-born teacher spending Christmas on the world's largest hospital ship

Headteacher Ben Calvert, alongside his wife Hannah, a nurse from California and their three children, has been volunteering with Christian healthcare charity, Mercy Ships, for the last three years, where he teaches the children of crew members.

The Global Mercy is the world’s largest non-governmental floating hospital, providing free vital healthcare and surgeries to women, men and children facing poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. The vessel has facilities including operating theatres, recovery wards, intensive care, a pharmacy, and low-dependency wards and is also home to volunteer crew serving on board the ship.

Mr Calvert said: “I’m a headteacher for a school of 50 students. The students are children of crew members. While their parents serve on board as engineers, medical staff, cooks etc, I’m running the school to ensure no one misses out on an education.”

The academy is open for children aged from four to 18 from all over the world.

“The students on board get to interact with classmates and teachers from all over the world,” said Mr Calvert.

He was born in Glasgow, but moved to the Netherlands at the age of nine when his father became the minister of the Scots International Church in Rotterdam.

He said: “Having grown up in multiple cultures, I think it helps my role as head teacher. I love working with international kids. There’s huge excitement over the community they’re living in on the ship but also sadness for what they’ve left behind. You balance grieving and celebration.”

Mr Calvert met his wife, Hannah, when he volunteered on a different ship, the Africa Mercy, in Benin, when he was a newly qualified PE teacher.

The couple returned to volunteer multiple times for Mercy Ships, but returned to Hannah’s native California in 2013, when they had children, Levi, Mariah and Iona.

“We kept on thinking we’d like to go back to Mercy Ships and take our children with us,” said Mr Calvert, “but it never seemed like the right time. Then I heard that the Global Mercy needed a headteacher and we began to seriously consider the move.”

In 2023, the family of five arrived in Sierra Leone to live on board the Global Mercy. The 174-meter, 37,000-ton ship has six operating rooms and houses over 600 volunteers from around the globe.

He said: “Our three children love their life on board. They embrace their dual nationalities. We have our kilts on board and enjoy leading ceilidhs for the whole crew, especially at Christmas time.

“My youngest is three and has lived longer in Sierra Leone than anywhere else. When we visit my family in Scotland, she’ll ask if we’re going back to Granny and Grandpa’s cabin.”

Since its foundation in 1978, Mercy Ships has had one to three ships in service. It currently operates two: the Global Mercy and the Africa Mercy.