• What is this all about?

      Jay Swanson is working as the copywriter/editor for Mercy Ships' Swiss Creative Pool from Paris, France. The Africa Mercy is Mercy Ships’ flag hospital ship, dedicated to alleviating the suffering of Africa’s poor by providing medical aid and long-term preventative measures.

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    • Where is Jay now?


      Paris, France

Spring is Upon Us

Tweet For those of you farther north in the hemisphere, this might seem a little obvious. I’m not referring to the weather, however, and if I was I would be screaming “Help! Rainy season is upon us!” For those of you who have gotten a chance to talk with me in the last few years, [...]

Film Festival Madness (AMIFF 2012)

Tweet We just had the 2012 Africa Mercy International Film Festival on board tonight, and it was a smash hit. It’s hard to miss when you’ve got everyone in the community making videos and/or simply rooting each other on. Josh Callow was my “co-chair” (as it has been put) in organizing the event. I can [...]

I’m Kind of Sore – Benin and Back

Tweet This weekend I traveled over 300 miles on my motorcycle. This might not sound like a huge distance if you’re using the interstate as your point of reference, but realize that it took us over 16 hours to cover that amount of distance. That’s over 16 hours to get from Spokane to Seattle. So [...]

Mercy Men of Movember – the followup

Tweet I never got this posted in December as originally planned. We’ll blame sailing and movie theaters in Accra. But now it’s time for some followup on the beards. Some of the guys left without getting their final photos taken, others didn’t even make it to the end of the month without shaving. These are [...]

Among my Many Blessings

Tweet My parents definitely rank at the top of the many blessings God has given me. If you know them you’re aware of how amazing they are, and if you don’t know them… I pity you. What’s more, I have the rare privilege of having my dad visit me a few times a year in [...]

Observing Surgery on the AFM (GRAPHIC)

Tweet So one of the major benefits of living in a hospital that specializes in surgery is getting to watch said surgeries. We have the opportunity to observe surgery once a year, and I managed to do so a few months ago. At the time there was still a lack of clarity as to the [...]

Vacation and Video

Tweet Let’s just say vacation has been a huge blessing already. I’ve done nothing but travel so far – it took me three days just to get out of Sierra Leone. That meant leaving Paris the morning after I got there (read up till 2am and awake at 5:45am to get to the train station [...]

Answering some questions

Tweet So I’ve been running around like crazy the last month or so. I mean crazy. I met my deadline at the end of last month and released my first novel, which took a lot more out of me than expected. I was working all day, then staying up until 4am working to get White [...]

Adrenaline Junkie I May Be

Tweet I figure that at this rate, within a month or two of moving back to the States, I’m going to either end up dead or in jail. The reasoning behind this revolves largely around how stupid we’re getting here. I mean, not STUPID stupid, but I’ve been doing some less than intelligent stuff lately. [...]

Flipping through Photos

Tweet So I’m struggling to write a post here, and I think it’s largely due to my negligence to do so in a while. There’s been a lot going on, as well, so that doesn’t help to narrow it down. I think I’ll grab a couple of photos and expand upon them. I’ll find some [...]