Interview

The host of the East Island Project podcast interviews Vianney Vogt, the head of communications on the AFF. Vianney talks about his background with Mercy Ships and how he and his wife decided to join the organization. He discusses his responsibilities in shaping patient stories and attracting more volunteers. Vianney also talks about his experience living on the ship and the impact it has had on his family. He shares his belief that God called him to Mercy Ships to start listening to the next call in his life. The episode concludes with a promotional message for Mercy Ships and a fun Mad Libs game. Welcome to East Island Project. This is your host, and I'll be navigating us through this episode with unique perspectives from people on all walks of life. This week's special guest is the head of communications on the AFF, Vianney Vogt. Vianney, how are you doing? I'm doing quite great. It's a lovely day, drill day. Yeah, drill day, so it's very interesting. We got to record all the drone shots today, which is really cool. I missed the rainbow. You know, there was a little bit of rain, but I hope it's going to get nice on camera. Yeah, I hope so, too. It will be a good shot. So, talk about your background with Mercy Ships. How long have you been here? I've been on Mercy Ships for the past five months with my wife and our two kids. Okay, and was that all on the AFM? Yeah, we started on the AFM. Okay. Embarking in South Africa mid-January. Okay, awesome. And how did you find out about Mercy Ships? Was it like an advertisement? Oh, it was a shady newsletter in my wife's inbox. We were in the middle of confinement, and she was bored enough to click on every link on the Internet, including this newsletter. And I think she found an interview of an alumni who mentioned Mercy Ships, and she got curious. Wow. And we got curious together. Awesome. So, you guys decided to go pursue that little goal. Yeah, it was a long process. It started around 2020, and four years later, we were on the ship, basically. Gotcha. That's awesome. What job did you have before Mercy Ships? Did you have a job before? Yeah, I was – I co-founded a startup, actually, so I was kind of managing all the creatives related to this website. Okay, awesome. That's great. Did your wife have a job as well? I hired her as a writer when we launched in the U.S., but prior to that, she was a lawyer, actually. So, did you live in the United States as well as in France? No, we considered it, but we've been living together mostly in Manila and Paris. Okay, awesome. What responsibilities do you have with your job now on AMM? I have a lot of responsibilities. Basically, the COMS team is responsible to shape patient stories and stories about crew, making it as exciting as possible to raise more money and attract more volunteers. So, I oversee the team of creatives that is working on the stories. Gotcha. Interesting. So, it's like all media basically focused on the AFM specifically. Yeah, exactly. And that's like the main thing, but of course, there's other little things. Oh, there's always little choices. Yeah, there always is. How did you get into communications? Was it your first like ideal job? No, I think I was more like a poet. I loved humanities, history, and so on, but you need to make a living. So, a lot of people like me, they would do like two years of prep school focusing on history, geography, philosophy, and then they end up in communication school. Sure. It was advertising phase. Right. Yeah, yeah. And that's how you get the money. What's your favorite and least favorite part about living on this ship? What do you think? A little bit of a shift. I don't think I'm thinking too much about it because if I overthink it, I might run away. I don't know. I don't know what the reason is. But no, joke aside, I think my favorite part is the impact it has on my family. I think we are living very tight together, and it's not really how we used to live in Paris. So, I'm actually learning to enjoy that. That's also a challenging part, right? Yeah. So, it's a learning curve. So, I guess it's, yeah, a little bit of both. Yeah, it's been very difficult for our family, too. It's very tight quarters. I don't know how I would have gone through this in your age and situation and your age. It's very interesting because it's such a big little, like a big house that you go from to just like a teeny, tiny little cabin. But the other thing is that you're not really staying in the cabin that much. You're out. Yeah, and for me, when I look at my kids, it's very new because it's like they are allowed to play in the streets 24-7, which they are not in Paris, right? Right, right. So, I think there are pros and cons on their side as well. No, that's so true. Do you have a specific reason why God brought, or how you think that God brought you to Mercy Shifts? Is it just the same story, or did you, were you considering, were you thinking about God calling you? Yeah, I think it happened in my life once that God called me somewhere. And the somewhere was not that specific, and what to do there was not that specific either. But it led us to my marriage and my startup, which was successful, and us also founding a family. I think it's the same here. God is not calling me to, you know, become specialized in medical or ship life. But it's another one of those moments where suddenly you become very available. And basically, He called me here to start listening to the next call. I think that's more how I view it. That's great. Do you have any idea what your next call would be, specifically? God has not spoken to me enough. This podcast is brought to you by Mercy Shifts. Have you ever felt like you've been called to use your God-given gifts to serve others in an impactful way? In my life, I was understandably very tentative to move forward with this idea of traveling across the world and living on a ship. There are some things that I would love to have back from when I was in America. However, I personally would not trade this experience for living back in the U.S. When you join Mercy Ships, almost all of the people that you meet along this road will have similarly aligned interests as you. And you'll make long-lasting relationships. The ultimate purpose of Mercy Ships is to show God's love to all people. And by joining, you'll play a huge part in bringing hope and healing to the world. So look up careers.mercyshifts.org today and find out more about how you can help bring hope and healing to many forgotten souls. So, there's this thing called Mad Libs, which is very interesting and very unique. I created it from my own little thing. So basically what you do is you give me different parts of speech, like an adjective or like a verb. Are you familiar with what a verb is? Yes, thank you very much. That's good. No, no, no. So I have a few. So what is a verb that just comes to you randomly? Running. Running, okay. Do you want it infinitive, like to run? No, no, no. It's good. Running is good. I'll give you like an infinitive. And then do you have an adjective? Purple. Purple, sure. Yeah, yeah. Is that your favorite color? I do love purple. Yeah, purple is a really cool color. And then I have a noun for you. A noun? Yeah, another noun. I'm going to speak to Cheese Man. Cheese Man? He's pretty close to none. Yeah, yeah. Okay, that's going to be really funny. Okay, and then a department on the AFM. Department on the AFM? On the AFM. Biomed. What is it? Biomed. Biomed, yes, Biomed. Oh, that will be funny as well. And then we have plural nouns, so like, just like to run, but then like runs. Like rabbits. Rabbits. Yeah, yeah, rabbits. You're right, you're right. Rabbits. And then a number. Any number. Two thousand five hundred eighty. Two five eight zero? Yes. To a verb. Any verb. Two other verbs? No, just one verb, just one verb. Sit. Sit. Okay, that's really good. And then one more verb. Trace. Trace. Okay, that's a good one. And then an adjective, ending in L, or like an adverb, so like, oh, effortfully, or like. Reluctantly. Reluctantly, ooh. All right, that concludes this. Do you want me to read it out to you? I presume. All right. It says here, I was running up the gangway onto the AFM when I noticed a purple cheese nun hanging alongside the ship on deck seven. I don't know how cheese nun would get to the other side of the... Very pretty. But then I really wondered how it got there, so I went to the biomed team to ask for help. After they told me that their department only worked on rabbits, I had to go to deck 2,580 to sit for the chief officer. I don't know how sit... That doesn't make, yeah, that doesn't make much sense. He told me the only way down, to get the thing back down, would be to trace reluctantly. Sorry, I think I kind of broke your heart. It's just so random. Once I finally did that, I went back to the gangway and saw that the thing was gone. That's nice. But thank you so much for your time, Bionni. You're welcome. Any time to speak about cheese nuns. Yes, that was great. And thank you so much for answering those questions. My pleasure. That was awesome. Thank you so much. If today's tales of hope and healing have inspired you, consider supporting Mercy Ships and their mission to bring medical care to those in need. Visit careers.mercyships.org to learn how you can contribute to this life-changing cause. Make sure to like and subscribe. And if you enjoyed, feel free to share with others. This is your host, Andre, signing off from eastbound with Andre.