'We're moving our family to volunteer on a hospital ship'

Amelia and Richard knew they wanted to change their lives dramatically and help other people.

The couple from Stoke-on-Trent, along with their three children, are uprooting their lives to volunteer on a hospital ship off the coast of Africa.

Richard has recently trained as a counsellor, which he said gave them an opportunity that "just seemed to fit really well with our calling, our life and professionally as well".

The family will be joining the charity Mercy Ships, which operates two vessels deployed to some of the poorest countries in the world to offer free healthcare.

"You can think of Mercy Ships as floating hospitals," Richard told BBC Radio Stoke.

"They seek to give medical care, life-changing surgery to people of nations that wouldn't be able to access it normally."

The family will be joining the ship for 11 months as it docks off the coast of Ghana.

"It's wonderful partnership," Richard said. "The countries are always excited when the ships are coming."

Amelia first found out about the charity when she was a radio producer, hearing about a family who moved across the world to work on the ship outside Sierra Leone.

"It opened my mind that a family like ours, who were not medical, could work for Mercy Ships," she said.

"I never thought it was possible that someone like us could support that ministry."

Richard will be providing counselling to other volunteers on the ship.

"It's an entire village crammed into a small metal tin and the diversity of cultures is a melting pot and lots of things happen," he said.

"Relationships begin and end on the ship. It's highly pressured, there could be elements of trauma, there are things happening back home for people.

"They've got to navigate all those thoughts and feelings and emotions whilst also volunteering on a ship."

Amelia is leaving her role at Middleport Matters, the community trust she founded more than a decade ago.

She said the group had created a sense of cohesion in communities that had been "ripped apart".

"For me it feels a different place to live than when we first moved there and I'm proud of that," Amelia said.

"The best days are still ahead for Middleport."

Now the family is focused on ship life, with the couple's children - who are aged five, 12 and 13 - looking forward to the new adventure.

"The children are naively excited," Amelia laughed. "They're all really excited, they can't wait to go."

While they will have to say bye to family and friends, and cannot bring all of their toys with them, the ship has a pool, trampoline and an area where the children can ride their scooters.

Amelia said: "Life will be in a way similar, in the sense of a routine - but on the ocean, most the time."

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