Who
We are Andy, Mardi, Riley and Liam Steere. Andy (from Michigan in the US) and Mardi (from Adelaide, Australia) met in 1997 when he was studying abroad (pun intended!) in Australia, and were married a year later.
We lived in the US for the first 7 years of our marriage, up and down the East Coast, but mostly in Jacksonville, FL. Following Andy’s engineering undergraduate studies, he spent 6 years as a nuclear submarine officer, including three years on the USS Maine (SSBN 741). After finishing medical school at the University of Adelaide, falling in love with an American naturally led to Mardi completing a pediatric residency and pediatric emergency medicine fellowship in the US. We were grateful to have been a part of Beaches Vineyard Christian Fellowship during our “Florida Years”, where Andy was involved in small group leadership and Mardi led worship.
We most recently lived in Adelaide, Australia where we became the parents of a beautiful daughter Riley (2007) and wonderful son Liam (2008). Our home church in Adelaide is Southland Vineyard Church, where Andy was a lay preacher and Mardi led worship.
In Adelaide, Andy directed several engineering infrastructure projects, and consulted in the area of leadership, project management, and strategic procurement delivery at SA Water and ETSA Utilities. He specialised in “relationship contracting“, and introduced the first use of relationship contracting at the SA Water (Early Contractor Involvement, Alliance Contracting, and Management Framework) on several major projects he directed including the Torrens System Upgrade, Glenelg to Adelaide Park Lands Recycled Water Project and North South Interconnection System Project. His projects have won six industry awards and commendations including the 2010 Engineering Excellence Award for the Glenelg to Park Lands Project from Engineers Australia.
In Kenya, Andy supports Kijabe Hospital and other organisations in the surrounding area as a volunteer project and management consultant. He utilises his experience in relationship contracting along with his engineering and leadership background to support both the “hard” and the “soft” work of project delivery and people development: contract negotiations, commercial frameworks, and engineering as well as coaching managers and leaders.
With regard to the papers collecting dust in storage, Andy has a B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering (George Washington University), a M.S. in Physics (Michigan State University), is certified as a Master Project Director (AIPM), Nuclear Engineer (US DOE), and Civil Engineer (EIT, Virginia) and is a Member of Engineers Australia and the Australia Water Association. Andy is currently pursuing a Masters of Divinity degree (M.Div.) at the Melbourne College of Divinity.
Mardi is a Pediatric Emergency Physician who most recently in Australia divided her time between clinical work at the Paediatric ED at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, teaching residents and medical students, and flying to remote regions doing retrievals with MedSTAR kids.
Her passions are three-fold: clinical work amongst the poor and marginalised, equipping and coaching African health care workers, and team management and administration.
She received her medical degree from the University of Adelaide, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians, and Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.
We are grateful for the partnership of our sending church, Southland Vineyard, as well as Beaches Vineyard, who have been sources of friendship, strength and encouragement to us. We are grateful for the support of our sending agency SIM (Serving in Mission) who has come alongside Southland to facilitate our sending.
We are blessed to have parents and families in both countries who love and support us, and we appreciate them incredibly. We are grateful for their encouragement and practical support as we navigate this journey.