It's been a three-and-a-half year wait, but it's finally happening. Tauranga's medical mission ship, the MV YWAM KOHA, will soon be departing the Port of Tauranga on her maiden deployment to Fiji.

On board the ship will be a minimal crew of about 16 for the voyage to the outer islands of Fiji.

They leave their Tauranga berth this coming week, dependent on weather and Covid, and expect to arrive at Suva on July 25 or 26.

Once up there, the crew will be joined by doctors, nurses, dentists and paramedical people flying in and increasing crew numbers to around 30 people.

The YWAM KOHA first came into service with YWAM – which stands for Youth With A Mission, a Christian humanitarian organisation - back in mid-March 2019, after being gifted by Stoney Creek Shipping.

YWAM KOHA. Photo: Supplied.

"We are motivated by the belief that every person, especially throughout the Pacific, should have access to the basic necessities of life,” says YWAM Ships Aotearoa Ltd Managing Director Marty Emmett.

The strong and versatile vessel is uniquely designed to carry both people and cargo to remote island communities.

Custom built shipping containers on the ship's deck can serve as dental, medical, surgical, pharmaceutical, or classroom facilities.

The KOHA was fitted out as a medical aid ship right before Covid shut New Zealand's borders.

Rather than sit at port doing nothing, it's been ‘all hands on deck' with the crew and many local Tauranga volunteers continuing to plan, scrap rust, paint, weld and clean over the months following.

'We've installed a new water maker and a new sewage treatment plant. The ship has been rewired, and this is on top of our normal maintenance work and painting.”

Legally mandated survey work which include a complete inspection of the hull and mechanical aspects of the vessel was also completed.

Now that international borders have reopened, the original mission is able to go ‘full steam' ahead.

YWAM Ships Aotearoa managing director Marty Emmett inside one of the dental surgeries on board the YWAM Koha. Photo: John Borren/SunLive.

The ship has been over at the Mount side of the Port of Tauranga this last week so that 60,000 litres of fuel to fill up the ships tanks could be pumped on board from two big truck and trailers. Two dental surgery containers were also placed in position on the deck.

'There's a list of projects being finished including certification, and food provisioning for three months,” says Marty.

'We have about 16 to 20 crew heading up with the ship, and once there it will be fully crewed with about 30 people.”

On arriving in Suva the ship will play host to some gatherings for a few days, before beginning work in the north of the district around August 6.

Marty says there will be four medical/dental 'outreach cycles”.

'The first one will be medical and include some doctors - local and international – as well as two nurses,” says Marty.

'We will be building connections with local health workers and providing health checks.”

Marty says that during the last two years of the Covid pandemic, many health checks like blood pressure checks, have been neglected.

Dr Estelle helping communities in need. Photo: Supplied.

Dental services will be the key focus but a small medical team will also be on board to work in partnership with local Fijian health workers to assess the primary health needs in each village and collate an accurate picture of what can be done.

This will then inform what medical programmes and services YWAM will deliver in future.

Marty says the other three cycles will be focusing on providing a dental service.

'We have a handful of dentists flying up to meet the ship, both local and from around New Zealand,” says Marty.

'Three of the outreach cycles will be 12-14 days and one of them will be shorter. The last cycle ends in October.”

Dr Estelle on board a dental aid ship. Photo: Supplied.

The first three outreaches will be carried out just north of Nabasa, while the fourth outreach will be working with Fiji's Ministry of Health, with the goal to build trust between the ship's medical team and local Fiji health services.

Dr Abi Estelle, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon who works at Tauranga Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery (OMS) and Tauranga Hospital, will spend two weeks on board the ship helping to surgically extract teeth and provide oral health education and support.

'It's very satisfying to be able to help someone get out of acute pain, but the bigger message is showing that we care and that we regard each individual as a valuable human being.”

The 41 year-old has visited over 50 countries and provided medical care in five continents for a variety of international relief organisations in the past, including Haiti, the Philippines and Cameroon.

This will be her first official mission with YWAM, aside from having volunteered during their recent Kawerau dental clinic.

She says the humanitarian mission to northern Fiji is a cause she feels passionate about.

'There's a lot of variability across the globe in how easily people can access dental and health care. So being able to be part of something to address that is very rewarding," says Dr Estelle.

Dentists at work providing free dental care at the Trinity Koha Dental Clinic. Photo: Supplied.

The crew on board comprises two full time cooks, three deckhands, and three or four engineers.

'There are about 12 mariners in various departments,” says Marty, 'including captain and officers.”

Marty is thrilled that so many Tauranga people have got behind the ship's mission, which has grown over the three years to extend dental services out into the Western Bay of Plenty.

'When Covid struck, we pivoted. We couldn't do what we wanted to do in the Pacific so we did it locally.”

The ship's mobile Trinity Koha Dental Clinics have instead been delivering free dental care on land across the Bay of Plenty for the past year, treating 1346 patients, which Marty says equates to $683,000 of services provided.

The plan going forward is to continue to provide a local service to help people who can't afford dental care.

'We have three dental containers but will keep one here in Tauranga,” says Marty, who says that TECT helped fund the additional facilities.

A great place to gather to wave ‘bon voyage' to the YWAM Koha as it departs from Tauranga Harbour is on the beach below Mauao opposite Matakana Island. Photo: Supplied.

Marty says it's been wonderful to help locals in need but now international travel is again possible, it's time to realise the aspiration of deploying the M/V YWAM KOHA in the Pacific, delivering dental services and medical care to isolated communities.

'Having set a goal of $300,000 for deployment, we are now $20,000 away from achieving that,” says Marty.

'We are going up to Fiji regardless, but it would be helpful to have that final $20,000.”

The ship will return to New Zealand arriving back in Tauranga in early November.

'The crew will come back, debrief, learn so we can plan for the future.”

The return voyage is also timed to escape the cyclone season. And Marty acknowledges that 'out of sight, out of mind” isn't helpful for keeping the ship's mission to the forefront of the minds of Tauranga locals.

Anyone is welcome to come and see the MV YWAM KOHA leave Tauranga. Due to weather and Covid, the original departure time has been delayed and an update will be available on their Facebook page. Best viewing is on the beach below Mauao opposite Matakana Island.

Anyone who would like to be a part of helping fuel the YWAM KOHA deliver necessary dental and primary health services to the outer islands of Fiji is invited to donate on the ship's Givealittle page.