In June 2007, Mercer On Mission launched with 38 students and six faculty members traveling to Kenya, Guatemala and Brazil to hand out mosquito nets and work with at-risk children. Today, international service is integral to the Mercer experience, and the University has taken on an increasing role as a difference-maker around the globe.
Mercer is changing the world through programs that are having an impact even when students and faculty are no longer in these countries. The University’s involvement is not just two to three weeks at a time during Mercer On Mission’s annual summer trips. The work continues year-round through regular communication and faculty visits, the hiring and training of local personnel, and additional steps to ensure that the solutions the University is offering to medical, environmental, educational and many other issues can be carried out on an ongoing basis.
Specifically for its prosthetics program, Mercer On Mission has been recognized by former President Bill Clinton and called the most effective nongovernmental organization in Vietnam by the country’s prime minister. Programs such as this, as well as efforts to curb mercury contamination in Guyana and Belize, provide clean drinking water in the Dominican Republic, train students how to code in South Africa, teach English and engineering in South Korea, and help victims of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda become entrepreneurs, are prime examples of Mercer’s enduring global footprint.
"Through Mercer On Mission, members of our community live out the imperative of loving our neighbors as ourselves. Hundreds of students, faculty and staff are deployed annually to more than a dozen countries where they carry out sustainable, impactful research and service programs. Through this work, they learn what it means to live full and meaningful lives."
William D. Underwood