Email Address

info@mercytechmission.com

Phone Number

(250) 462-0578

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About Mercy Tech Mission

Changing Lives, One Skill at a Time

About Us

Fighting Poverty Through Skills Training

Mercy Tech Mission is a Canadian non-profit organization that exists to partner skilled professionals from all walks of life with community-based projects, primarily in Third World countries.

Mission Statement

To see every person employed in a skill that they love.

Key Strategies

Serve the world - Taking qualified volunteers to developing countries where they can teach employable skills to those living in poverty.
Leave something behind - Ensuring that the training of local workers is a key component of the work project.
Give from the heart - Combining a high level of professionalism with an attitude of giving.
Plan for success - Applying due diligence so that each project has a high probability of success.

"There are many trained professionals in western countries willing to donate their time and energies towards making a difference in the world, but they lack the opportunity or the knowledge of how to become involved. Mercy Tech Mission seeks to provide those opportunities for humanitarian service."

How it all Began

The Early Years...

Mercy Tech Mission was founded by Rick Cogbill, a licensed automotive technician and former shop owner. Rick is also an author and humor columnist; his monthly column The Car Side has been running in major automotive trade magazines since 1998.

Rick and his wife Nan first went to Africa in 1985, where they spent two years working in Northwest Kenya among the Turkana tribe. Rick oversaw all vehicle maintenance and repair for an ongoing building and relief project operated in that area by the Africa Inland Mission (AIM).

During that time, Rick taught his local staff the basics of mechanical repair and maintenance. He experienced first-hand the impact of helping local workers learn a trade, and how such training increased their ability to provide for themselves and their families.

Upon returning to Canada, Rick opened his own automotive repair business, which he operated for many years before selling it in 2000 to focus on his writing career.

More Recently...

In the spring of 2010, Rick returned to Africa, this time to Mozambique where he spent a month volunteering at ASAM, a Canadian missionary organization based near Chimoio.

During his time in Mozambique, Rick repaired a number of vehicles, generators and motorcycles, all the while teaching his assigned helpers the basics of automotive mechanical repair. It was during this trip that the vision for Mercy Tech Mission was born.

Over the next number of years, Rick and his teams made many trips back to Mozambique where they taught such skills as woodturning, mechanics, driving, and carpentry. A large mechanics shop was also built on the site, which provided opportunities to teach electrical installation, concrete finishing, welding and fabricating, and other major building construction techniques.

In 2013, Mercy Tech Mission officially became a registered Canadian charity. Its mission statement is: To take qualified volunteers to developing countries where they can teach employable skills to those living in poverty.

In the fall of 2014, Mercy Tech also began a mechanics training program at the mission base of One Life One Chance Ministries in San Quintin, Mexico. Welding and fabricating programs were added shortly thereafter.

In 2015, Mercy Tech opened a second training location in Africa at the Heart for Africa mission base in Swaziland. At this location (called Project Canaan), training is currently being provided in both regular and heavy duty mechanics, and in welding and fabricating. It also has potential opportunities for carpenters, electricians, plumbers, commercial bakers and cooks, farming and more.

Looking forward, our first training trip to Cambodia is planned for February of 2018. God continues to open new doors of opportunity for Mercy Tech Mission as we continue to “Change Lives, One Skill at a Time.

There is more to the story...

Technical Training Trips...

Traveling to developing countries is the only practical way for our instructors to share their skills with the local people. Using a combination of classroom teaching and hands-on learning, Mercy Tech has provided skills training in areas such as automotive mechanics, carpentry and wood turning, welding, electrical, and concrete work.

Initially, our work began in Mozambique at the ASAM/SAMM mission base near Chimoio. A large mechanics shop was built and many local young men were trained in mechanics, welding, electrical installation and wood turning. One of our former students now is the shop manager of that facility, and he is training other young men from his area on an ongoing basis.

In 2015 we began working in Swaziland with Heart for Africa, where we will be providing training in many different disciplines from mechanics and welding to carpentry and potentially institutional cooking/baking. Because of the remoteness of locations and the distances involved, our trips to Africa usually take 4 to 5 weeks to complete.

In the fall of 2014, Mercy Tech also began a mechanics training program in the Baja, at the mission base of One Life One Chance Ministries in San Quintin, Mexico. Located in the northern part of the California Baja, this program will help those who have little or no opportunity to earn a living, other than by working in the nearby farming operations for as little as $9 per 12-hour day. These trips will be for one week, making it easier and more affordable for first-time volunteers, or those who cannot be away from their work for an extended period of time.