African Delights

The Final Newsletter

2010-10-16T23:27:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been quite a crazy year living on a ship off the coast of Africa. As I type this I'm currently sitting in the comforts of my oh-so-spacious bedroom back in Scottsdale and I'll be honest - while I love being back in Phoenix I also miss Africa so much. It's very, very bittersweet. I know without a doubt that Phoenix is where God has me for now...so we'll see what comes my way! I initially took a job working at Cardon Children's Hospital for the remainder of 2010 and then I'm returning to my old position at the Cancer Center at Phoenix Children's in early 2011. This will be my last post, and I'll leave y'all with my final newsletter and a video that a friend of mine made from the ship. With his permission, I am sharing that here. So many of these folks in his video were my patients. I wish I had the time to share all the amazing stories. So feel free to ask me about them when you see me, and thanks for following along with me this year. I know I've been so lucky to see and experience all that I have. God has been good to me.

View my final newsletter here

South African Adventures

2010-10-16T16:51:00.000-07:00

So I wrote this blog a month ago and never got around to posting it! Better late than never I suppose…

Well I thought I’d finish off my African adventure with a bang and that we did! My three friends Melissa, Christina and Lindsay and I headed up north from Durban (where the ship is now docked) to Kruger, one of the top safari spots in Africa. In our big white whale (really a massive Honda accord that fit most of our luggage for the past year) we trekked our way up to the north eastern most part of South Africa called Kruger Park.

First stop: Transfrontier Africa – an NGO dedicated to conservation and research, or basically, two research guys named Craig and John that will change your views on African life – or at least offend you a little! They do safari’s on the side (in addition to their work tracking the animals and keeping the safari reserve running) to raise money for their conservation projects, and they were an experience to remember to say the least. Christina, Lindsay, Melissa and I spent two nights sleeping in these lovely tree houses high above the animals (for safety) and enjoyed a little rustic African bush experience. Literally every time I turned over in my bed the whole house shook on its stilt frame. It made for a fun experience.

We also enjoyed the company of Eva, John and Craig’s adopted Mongoose who keeps the camp safe. Eva once killed a Black Mamba snake on the grounds and carried around the snake’s head for a week. She kept us all safe and is appropriately named after Hitler’s wife. She would not stop biting us the entire weekend.

Eva also liked to meander in the bathroom (which out in the open sky was quite amazing. This was probably the best view I’ve ever had while using the loo!) Here is Lindsay checking out the open air facility.

We so very much enjoyed the company of Craig and John. They both smoke like chimneys and drink liquor like it’s going out of style. Craig was incredibly rough around the edges and had an interesting take on life after spending the last 15+ years in Africa working to save these animals that are being hunted. They cooked us amazing dishes like steak and couscous with South African "chakalaka" under the star-filled sky and we all got to know them both a bit. Craig said that while he was from the UK originally, half his soul is here in Africa and it’s soaked in rum! Some highlights:

Spotting zebra, African buffalo, and giraffe galore. They were amazing and right there in front of us! We saw so many more animals as well – elephants, impala, kudu, warthogs, and others that I can't even name.

On our last game drive our safari car broke down and we literally had to push! Conveniently, it was just when the white rhino spotting came on over the radio. Our car Lazarus was named appropriately as after a group prayer the car started again and we were on our way.

One of the girls spotted the rhino with her amazing eagle eyes and we veered off the road, taking trees and shrubbery out to see him in all his rhino glory. Interestingly, we learned that a gram of ground rhino horn powder goes for more than a gram of cocaine in these parts, as rhino powder is used as an aphrodisiac. Hhhmmmmm....

Next up we went to Gomo Gomo, a more luxurious safari experience and just as much fun but in a completely different way. After our first day there we joked that the four of us were on honeymoon, as every other couple there sure was! The bush here was much more flat and arid and the animals quite different.

There were SO many elephants everywhere!

….and we got to see lions mating as well as herds of rhinos, baboons, and my all time favorite the bush baby. I think the movie gremlins was inspired after these little guys. There was a huge watering hole at our lodge and one day a herd of 50+ elephants came over to get a drink. Here we are with the elephants.

Johan was our guide this time around, and he grew up on a ranch where tourists came in to shoot animals like lions and rhinos. His view on conservation and game shooting was the exact opposite of Craig and John’s from our previous stint. Many people still shoot the animals (in a controlled environment) as they say some of these elephants are overpopulating the land and changing the ecology making it hard for other animals to survive. These people travel to Africa and pay thousands of dollars to shoot the animals, and that money goes back into conservation of the safari areas within Kruger. It was really interesting to see the two contrasting viewpoints and try out both very different experiences. I don’t think I know enough of the bigger picture to make up my mind yet on how I feel about game shooting, but I sure learned a lot this week!

For the full set of my safari adventure photos you can click here

I finished off my South African experience with a quick weekend in Cape Town. We said goodbye to Melissa and Christina and Lindsay and I headed down south to check out all that the Captonians love. We had an amazing day of biking in wine country (with perhaps a tad bit too much wine tasting)

We also visited Robbin Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for years during apartheid, and we had a day of driving to the Cape of Good Hope where the Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean with Murray

It was an amazing week of travel and I’ve loved every minute of my time here in South Africa. It was such a blessing to be able to spend time with good friends and see the beauty of South Africa before heading home. As I write this I am at the airport in Cape Town and leaving this continent for at least the next while. I know I will be back someday. I’m not sure when or in what capacity, but no worries Africa, I’ll see you soon!

Sailing Sailing Over the Ocean Blue

2010-08-31T13:40:00.000-07:00

Well after sixteen days at sea let me tell you I am ready for some dry land! I thought I should update a few sailing photos so you can see what we've been up to as we departed Togo and headed down to South Africa...

Here are the final preparations prior to departure - putting up the gangway

Estellie and I as we are leaving the port for the final time

Those staying on land with off ship programs waved us off..can you find me on the top deck?

...and the view from the dock of the ship leaving the port backward

Goodbye Togo!

We've had quite a few sailing activities to keep us busy given our extended time at sea. This has included plenty of movie nights, sock golf, a carnival, and a "Sailing Olympics." The sponsor for the sailing olympics was HobNob biscuits, which is slightly ironic given that these cookies only come out during sail time to ward off sea sickness. I was on the olympic team "North and South," named appropriately as we are two North Americans and two South Africans. Please note that Matt is not smiling as he said he had his "game face" on. We are holding toothbrushes in this photo as we were instructed to bring them with us for the Olympic events. Here we are ready to start the games!

We played many interesting games such as "count as many hobnob cookie boxes as you can while walking around inside a hula hoop"and see how big you can make a HobNob tower! Unfortunately though, we did not win the sailing olympics. Had we won, we would have received one of these lovely hobnob cookie box trophies! Oh well :)

In other fun news we had a few days of quite rocky sailing. We made it to a Force 8 (Force 12 is hurricane weather according to the Beaufort Scale) and here is a nice photo of the bow on our very stable rail ferry of a ship. The bow was closed for quite a few days during this rocky time, as the waves were at times over 20 feet high!

Well that's my sailing update from somewhere off the coast of South Africa. Next stop: Durban, South Africa - the third busiest container port in the Southern Hemisphere.

Later this week I'll depart the ship for good as I finish off this year long adventure. I'll travel throughout South Africa before returning stateside, and then do a little traveling in the midwest as well. So I might be MIA from the blog for a while...but perhaps there are a few final blog thoughts to come!

A VVF Update

2010-08-25T10:08:00.000-07:00

VVF is a condition in which walking down the street, you might not notice that a woman has a problem. It's not a protruding facial tumor or an ugly limp that is visible to the outside world....until you get close enough to take in the overwhelming stench of urine. But more than any physical abnormality, these women that suffer from vesico-vaginal fistula live lives of shame and despair, cast apart emotionally and socially within their communities. To be relieved of that burden is nothing short of a miracle. The VVF surgeries ran all summer long, and so many miracles occurred onboard when these women had successful surgeries. Of those that didn't leave 100% dry, many left our ship with much smaller amounts of leaking urine than they came with, and in time may overcome their problems.

I mentioned Lelle, one of the VVF ladies in my previous blog posted here, and wanted to share the outcome of her surgery. Unfortunately she was one of the very few women that didn't go home dry after her multiple surgery attempts. Lelle didn't have enough viable tissue to repair her fistula. However, she will go to Niger to visit Dr. Steve's clinic for another attempt this fall. So keep praying for Lelle, for perseverance and continued hope despite the discouraging circumstances she's encountered thus far in life. As I've seen here in Africa, prayer can do crazy things when you least expect it.

Lelle is the lady in the photo that looks like she's laughing!

Prior to leaving the ship, every dry woman attends a dress ceremony in which she shares her story of what she has overcome. I remember my first dress ceremony onboard. Our main VVF surgeon Dr. Steve said, "While we don't get paid here on Mercy Ships, this is our payback - seeing these women get a new chance at life." So true Dr. Steve. The life experience gained far outweighs any monetary value of working for the forgotten poor on this hospital ship. I have yet to attend a dress ceremony in which there is a dry eye in the house! I will leave you with one of the success stories. This is the story of Cicile and her celebration of new life. Happy reading!

Cicile Ahamogbe stands in front of a room full people. Tears well up in her eyes.

“If I cry,” she says, “they are tears of joy. I could stand here forever, and cry and cry and cry tears of joy. Dr. Arrowsmith and all the nurses, how can I thank you?”

Cicile, 44 years old, suffered from a condition called vesico-vaginal fistula, or VVF. This problem, common in countries where there is a lack of obstetric care, occurs when a woman is in labor for long periods of time without medical help. The pressure of the baby causes a hole to form between the bladder and the vagina. The result is an uncontrolled flow of urine.

Cicile endured unbearable situations. She was incontinent for a year and a half, and she was treated as an outcast because of the odor of urine. The problem was caused when she was in labor for three days before finally receiving a cesarean section. Her beautiful daughter, Destino, is lucky to be alive. Cicile lives in Kpalime, a town about three hours north of Lomé. She learned to cope with her problem during the day by going to the bathroom constantly. But at night the problem was most evident. She explains, “I would wake up in the night with the children sleeping in my bed, and we would all be wet … the blanket, my clothes, their clothes, everything.”

It became very difficult for Cicile to provide for her children. Sometimes her husband sent money, but for the most part Cicile had little or no money to feed or clothe her kids. The incontinence kept her in her house …very alone.

Before coming to the Africa Mercy, Cecile did not know anyone who had the same problem as she did. Once she arrived at the hospital ship, however, she met several women just like her, and she will return to Kpalime with a support system that will be invaluable.

She says, “It helps to know others like you. I hope that we will all leave here dry. I have faith that the doctors and nurses of Mercy Ships can take care of us.”

Cicile's faith held true. Today, she attends her dress ceremony. She stands in a maroon dress with a white beaded necklace. She smells of lavender. She is surrounded by four other women. She is crying tears of joy. After two surgeries by VVF surgeon, Dr. Steve Arrowsmith, Cicile stands triumphant. “I am dry!” she exclaims. “I am dry forever!”

The dress ceremony celebrates rebirth. The women who have successful surgeries are given a new life, and that calls for celebration! They are no longer outcasts, and they are able to stand among their peers without shame. It is a wonderful day when VVF ladies like Cicile get to dance in a dress ceremony. Cicile knows she is lucky and blessed. She poignantly states, “Thanks to Mercy Ships, today my beauty has been restored. The ugliness is gone.”

A weekend at Wli Falls

2010-08-24T14:50:00.000-07:00

For all of my non-facebook blog followers (i.e: mom and dad) I thought I'd post a few photos from my latest African adventure. Five of us headed over the border recently to neighboring Ghana to see the biggest falls West Africa has to offer. They were amazing. But there was more than just the falls. My favorite part of the weekend was camping out on the mountain with just our tents, the fire and the open sky. You don't get views like that every day! The next morning after camping we embarked on a six hour hike to get to both the upper and lower Wli falls with our guide Alfonz, as he macheted his way through the bush for us. It was a great way to finish off my time in West Africa and definitely a trip to remember. Here are a few of my favorites:

Let the adventure begin

Taking in the sunset after the hike to the campground

Race you to the top!

After a tough climb in the sweltering humidity

Definitely worth it!

You can see the rest of the photos from my weekend here

The Rich List

2010-08-20T23:55:00.000-07:00

I was told that I've been given the gift of frustration. It's a gift because many people don't see it the way I do. After spending this past year in Africa, I know I've changed. My eyes have been opened to how drastically different third world living truly is. I'm saddened by the needs of those who don't have enough here in Africa (and elsewhere) and I'm saddened that back home in the US I didn't have a clue. It becomes so much more real when it's not just a commercial for Save the Children - but when you work and surround yourself with these folks daily. That gap between the rich and the poor is what frustrates me. Not only the economical gap, but the gap in knowledge. So many of the rich just don't know the poor.

Don't get me wrong - as far as spending goes I'm right there with those back at home. I've accumulated so much in my short lifetime in the way of material wealth that I don't need. Packing up my house when I left the states last spring, I donated boxes upon boxes upon boxes to the goodwill. And that was before I put the rest of my "stuff" into storage and left my house fully furnished. Here on the ship patients come to us and they don't even have shoes to cover their feet, let alone a solid roof over their head at home. Or I think of the pastor of a church that I so often attended. In one of his last talks before the ship left, he spoke of having to relieve himself in front of his fellow church members by the sea, as there were no toilets in the community and this was the designated "relieving spot." He talked of trying to be intimate with his wife while his five kids slept in their one room shack that he shared with his family. He spoke of how difficult this life has been for him. He is just one in the many sea of faces that will be hard to forget. If I had to summarize this past year in a word, it would be humility. Each and every experience has served to make me humbled beyond imagine.

So as I finish this year-long adventure next week, I hope I don't forget it all. I want to file each memory away into the depths of my experience where I will never forget. I want to remember each person I've encountered and in that reflection, I want to be inspired to fight for the injustice of the poor. I don't want to return to America and get absorbed into the wealth and the need to have the latest and greatest things. I don't want to become indifferent toward those that live across the ocean in my memories. I'll be honest. I'm scared that is what's going to happen as I go back and relish in my modern comforts of stateside life. So please, reader, hold me accountable to remembering.

I came across this website recently and wanted to share it for my Friday's favorite:

www.globalrichlist.com

Check it out. See where you fall on the rich list. Then think about what you can do to inspire change for the better. You definitely don't have to go to Africa for a year. Although with all that I've been taught, I'm so glad I did.

"We must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ " ~Acts 20:35

Obama Love!

2010-08-09T16:09:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I met a guy who referred to me as Obama every time he spoke (since obviously Barack and I look so much alike). I've heard him referred to as "America's president but Africa's son." With that in mind, I have never felt so loved as an American as I do over here in Africa. So while Obama's popularity continues to plummet back in the states, on African soil he is more popular than ever. Here are a few photos that show his never-ending love from Africa.

A popular beach in Cotonou last year

He gets steets named after him...

very official looking streets!

As well as bars

Let's not forget about keeping him close to home

He is a clothing staple over here

and finally, my all time favorite kids in Kpalime being protected by the one and only!

Only in Africa..... =)

Friday's Favorite Twin Pic

2010-08-06T16:21:00.000-07:00

A while back I went out of town with some of the day volunteers to their village up north. As a thank you for visiting them, they had matching dresses made for my friend Joanna and I. So last week we went to church wearing our very African-esque outfits. Surprisingly, we found another pair of twins (height appropriate) and thought we needed a photo!

Part of ship living means that people are constantly coming and going. So as the outreach is wrapping up people are leaving left and right. This last week Jo also left the ship. She came in January and has been a very good friend this year. Our desks were right next to each other at work and the Health Care Service office just isn't quite the same without her. She is missed!

The Food Market in Pictures

2010-08-05T15:41:00.000-07:00

Recently my friend Rachel and I went to the Lome food market. Many Africans buy the majority of their daily food intake inside this open air market. With mainly imported goods in the grocery stores, the food is expensive even by American standards (ie: a standard cereal costs about $5 a box). I thought I'd share a few photos from our afternoon at the market, as I think the pictures speak for themselves!

One stall = one stop shopping

An aesthetic display of fish

This is cow skin - used to flavor soups and stews

Another African favorite - large fried rats

..and who would want fried rats without some veggies and peppers on top for flavor?

Multiple types of cereal grains and beans - an African staple

unidentified spice packets galore

...and finally, at the end of the market we found some chickens lounging at the feet of their owners while awaiting purchase.

As a dietitian, I love learning about food traditions and practices of different cultures. This year out and about in Africa I've experienced my fair share of food surprises from bugs in foods where bugs don’t belong to my leftovers being offered on my plate to the table next door after I’m finished. After my recent visit to the food market, I think my perspective on African cuisine is even further substantiated; I can say without a doubt that my sense of adventure for eating all things African is diminishing quickly!

The Story of Jean

2010-07-15T06:36:00.000-07:00

“Thank you, Mercy Ships. Now I came back to life,” said a jubilant Jean Loko.

For 18 years, this 60-year-old tailor had been dealing with a tumor that grew in a double row, curling like an inflated collar around the back of his neck and down his back. It forced his neck and head to stretch forward, impairing his balance. He found it difficult to walk. With stark simplicity, he stated, “I was afraid I would die.”

In 1992, Jean was caught in a battle between opposition and government forces on the Cotonou Road in Benin. The soldiers began beating the people, and Jean tried to run away. But a soldier hit him on the back with a bat, causing a wound that began to swell. And the wound kept growing.

Medical care in Western Africa is limited. The local hospital told Jean that they could not help him. Jean tried to continue working, but his range of movement became more and more limited. He could not cut and sew the fabric of the garments without constant pain. Soon, he could no longer run his business, so he had to abandon his only source of income.

Jean also had to battle the cultural aversion to deformities, which were seen as a curse. The father of seven, Jean was rejected by his two oldest sons because of the growth.

All Jean could do was sit in his house. There was no joy in his life.

Then he heard a radio ad that brought a glimmer of hope. A Mercy Ships team was coming to hold a medical screening near his home. Although he was a little fearful that he would meet disappointment again, he went to the screening anyway. “But I was chosen!” he said with a combination of surprise, disbelief and elation.

The volunteer doctors aboard the Africa Mercy successfully removed the tumor that had caused him so much misery. When he realized the growth was gone, his usual somber expression turned to a brilliant smile. “I just thank Mercy Ships for what they have done for me. They gave me my life back.”

Tomegbo in Pictures

2010-07-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

Recently my two friends Sandra and Joanna and I spent a weekend up north with some of our African friends that work on the ship. Every day about 200 local Africans to come and work on board the Africa Mercy. Many of these day workers move to Lome from northern parts of the country because Mercy Ships provides a small but steady income, which is often hard to come by in Africa. This was the case with our hospital day worker friends Kossi and Walanyo, who wanted to show us around their home village about two hours up north in the mountains. We had a fun weekend getting out of town and learning about their culture. Here's a recap in photos.

First stop: the Kpalime market. A popular town for Mercy Ship visits, this is about half an hour from Kossi and Walanyo's small village of Tomegbo. We stopped here to get some food for the weekend. We also slept in the town of Kpalime at night.

After our pit-stop in Kpalime we went via zimi (motor bike) to the more rural village of Tomegbe where Kossi and Walanyo grew up. Tomegbo is home to about 3000 Africans. We were greeted warmly by Kossi's friends, and ate each meal in the village at Kossi's friends house - a local pastor of the main church. It was one of the nicest houses in town that we came across (meaning it had a concrete floor and real walls with electricity). They were so good to us and made sure we only got bottled water so we didn't get sick. Here we are eating one of our many meals in good company.

The first night we went to a choir concert where we heard at least eight different choirs from all over West Africa belt it out. Everyone was dancing and singing at the concert, and I even got a "congratulations for dancing so African!" comment from the guy next to me. Clearly I fit right in =) On another fun note, apparently all the African women like to wear their hair curly for church on Sundays, and have no qualms with wearing curlers to the concert in town the night before!

The night only got more exciting as I felt a little something on my heel halfway through the concert. I looked down and screamed (thankfully the choir was mid-song) as I came across this beauty of a bug that was just about to attack me:

The guy sitting next to me looks at it and says "oh this bug is really dangerous. It pinches you and doesn't let go. Really painful..." as he stands up mid song and carries it out of the concert. About two minutes later another pincher scurried by again, so at this point I decided my feet would stay off the floor for the remainder of the concert.

Post-concert we socialized again with the locals in town, and then headed back from the village to the larger city of Kpalime to spend the night in a hotel. As we were driving on the zimi's down the mountain it was pretty dark. All of a sudden we ran into a bat. I was sitting behind Kossi and Jo on the bike so I didn't actually get hit, but Kossi did! Thankfully he was ok and the bat kept on flying. It also started raining which always makes for a pleasant drive on a motor bike late at night. Here are Kossi and Joanna. Please note Jo's very stylish hair cover for the rain, so kindly provided by Kossi's sister.

The next day we spent the morning at the typical African style church service which included copious amounts of song and dance, and then more choir singing, and an auction including not only fruits and vegetables but yes that's right - live chickens as well. We were invited to sit in the front of the church right next to the pastor since we were the guests!

After church we made some fufu back at Kossi's friend's house. Fufu is the local African delicacy that is very popular here. Fufu consists of pounding cassava dough with a pestle in a mortar. You mix in a little water and before you know it you've got a mush kind of like sticky play dough that doesn't really taste like anything. Yum! It's eaten with your hands and served with a tomato soup or peanut sauce to give it some flavor. Here are Wulanyo and I pounding some fufu for dinner. It's harder than it looks!

We also walked through the entire village and met the extended families of Kossi and Walanyo

...and we made a trip to the pure water factory where they produce the clean water for the city.

Finally, Kossi and Walanyo also took us to the local clinic where we got a personal tour by the town's doctor. They were both very excited to show us the local clinic since we all work on a hospital ship. Here is a patient room:

...and the birthing room of the clinic. The doctor said he delivers about ten babies a month here.

Many people here on the ship say we don't live in Africa. Technically, we live next to Africa. So to spend the weekend in the local village and get a taste for some true African hospitality was a delight. We were treated so wonderfully by our African friends and we got many an offer to return again - not only from Kossi and Walanyo but from the village folks as well! All the thought and preparation that went into our stay was amazing. We learned a common phrase in the local language of Ewe - "Agbekakaka" (said with the many "kakakakas" at the end) and we were sure to say it often, as it means thank you very much.

The Forgotten

2010-07-04T16:39:00.000-07:00

Patients that often come to Mercy Ships have similar stories. They've been to multiple hospitals and talked to many a doctor. Usually doctors that want to charge them exorbitant amounts of money that these Africans don't have, nor will they ever see that much money in their lifetime. So they live with their sickness - often seen as a curse, and are cast out of everyday society. They lack education because they are too ashamed to go to school. Or worse, they aren't welcomed at school. They often lack love because they fear no one will accept them or talk to them with their "curse" of a disease.

This was the case with Blessing. At 21 years old, she has endured much in her life. You would never know her hardships if you spoke with her now. She is a joy to be around and her name exemplifies her personality. She is from Nigeria and speaks beautiful English. I got to know her at our off ship clinic, the hospitality center, where she stayed for a while post operatively. She, too, had a similar story.

She'd been to multiple doctors who wanted to charge her hundreds of dollars to get surgery. Her father was a pastor and she loved her family deeply. She quit attending school, not by choice, but because of the stares and pressure when the tumor inside her mouth enlarged. So she studied at home with her mother. She wants to be a teacher or a nurse, and was so excited to return to Nigeria and finish her education.
After multiple doctors visits her hope was lacking. Then she ran into Emmanuel, another patient of Mercy Ships who'd had his facial tumor removed. Emmanuel saw Blessing on the side of the road, and told her to come to the ship for screening. (You can read his story in my previous newsletter here.) So she went to screening, got her surgery, and is now tumor free.

Blessing and I got to talking. She spoke with me about how God has been to good to her. Since her dad was a pastor, she said she loved to read Psalm 31 and it gave her much comfort. I left the hospitality center that day thinking that Blessing was going to go far in life. She was so optimistic and motivated to do good in this world and help others. Now that her tumor was gone she could go on and live in society once again.

It wasn't until a few weeks later that I went back and actually read Psalm 31 - her favorite:

9 Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief. My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak. Because of all my enemies, I am the utter contempt of my neighbors; I am a dread to my friends— those who see me on the street flee from me.

12 I am forgotten by them as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery. For I hear the slander of many; there is terror on every side; they conspire against me and plot to take my life.

14 But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God." My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me. Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love....

21 Praise be to the LORD, for he showed his wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged city. 22 In my alarm I said, "I am cut off from your sight!" Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help. Love the LORD, all his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full. Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.

I was humbled. Blessing could relate and loved this Psalm because she was the out-cast and God did see her through. I cannot even begin to imagine what life would be like, living for years with a deformity that defines you every where you go. A physical condition that disrupts the course of your life and alters your plans and dreams and hopes. The Psalmist says "I am forgotten by them as though I were dead." Can you imagine thinking that you were forgotten in life? As though you had died?

I read a statistic this week that said the number of people that die in this world from starvation is like having six September 11th's every single day. Forever. It's pretty humbling when you think about the thousands of people that die every day just because they don't have the means to eat.

This year has taught me so much, but I think one of the biggest lessons is that while I have been so blessed in my short lifetime, so much of this world is not. Luckily for Blessing, she was cured of her physical deformity and has a new chance at life. But sadly so many others don't. At Mercy Ships screening this year (photo above) I sat at the door on the way out of the screening and offered to pray with all those people that we couldn't help. So many could not hold back the tears as we were talking to them, and you just wanted to be the answer for them and tell them "yes you will be helped!" But in reality, I don't know what will happen to those we were not able to help.

I often say I don't know why God allows so much suffering to occur, but the more I think about it, the more I see that we are not doing enough ("we" meaning those who have enough to help others). It's not about how much you give away, but how much you have left.

Hopefully through my blog, you get to see and experience alongside me some of these stories of what life is like in the third world. When I think of the statistics on the starving children and I drive by the leaf huts in town, I wonder how many of those starving children have come and gone through this ship. So when I ask this question to God - why are you allowing this suffering to occur? All these people who have no access to good healthcare or food to eat or who do not have love? The longer I am here the more I realize that God's response is this: "I have commanded you - every single one of you - to love your neighbors as yourselves. Treat these neighbors as you would want your own children to be treated. Literally. I have given you skills and abilities and blessings in order to help them. Don't let them be forgotten."

A Clear Future

2010-07-01T01:36:00.001-07:00

Here is a story on one of our eye patients written by the Communications team.

Christian is nine years old, but he is not like other children his age. They can read. He cannot. They can play football. He cannot. Christian cannot do these things because he has cataracts. His father, Adado, explains, “I noticed when he was three years old that Christian had a problem. We would ask him to pick things up, and he would feel around on the table or the floor until eventually identifying the item.”

Christian has attended school for only one year. He is unable to read the chalkboard, and it is hard for him to focus and to learn. But his father felt it was important that he attend school. Adado says, “He is struggling to learn things, and he is slow, but I wanted him to be around others his age. I didn't want him to miss out on an education.”

Adado spent an incredible amount of time and money taking Christian to hospitals all over Togo and even to Ghana. But none of the doctors knew how to fix the problem. Hope turned to desperation. And desperation turned to despair.

Then, a light shone through the darkness. A man who lived near Adado in Lomé had just received eye surgery for free. The man told Adado and Christian about Mercy Ships and where to go for screening.

“Free surgery?” Adado thought. “Could this be true?” Adado and Christian went to the patient screening site and saw an eye specialist. They were then sent to the Mercy Ships Hospitality Center. An eye tech team performed an external and internal eye examination to determine the appropriateness of surgery. They confirmed that Christian had cataracts in both eyes … and he was a candidate for surgery! He was given a priceless, bright yellow appointment card with a date for surgery.

Adado says, “I couldn't believe it. For so long we had spent all the money we had to find help for Christian. I didn't work for days on end while in hospitals waiting with him. Now, he will get help , and I am so thankful.”

Cataracts in West Africa tend to be very dense due to the intense sunlight and the lack of adequate eye care. Dr. Glenn Strauss is an expert on African cataracts and has been working with Mercy Ships for 13 years. He has developed a team onboard the Africa Mercy that is able to perform, on average, 20 surgeries per day!

Just one day after surgery, Christian was feeling upbeat. He was coloring a picture with his father and playing with other kids in the ward. Adado looked at his son and said, “Christian, can you see? What is the nurse wearing?” Christian looked up at Mercy Ships Charge Nurse, Ali Chandra, and said, “Yes. I can see. She has a blue band on her head and a blue top.” Ali stood in her bright blue scrubs and blue headband, nodding her head and smiling. “Yep , he can see!” she said. “Dr. Glenn has done it again.”

Now Christian will return home and start school again in the fall. Now he will be able to read the chalkboard and won't have trouble picking up items. He fully appreciates the gift of sight that so many people take for granted.

Thank God for Land Rovers

2010-06-25T23:07:00.000-07:00

For this week's Friday's favorite I thought I'd share some fun driving photos out and about in town. These pictures depict why these roads are considered 'back roads' here in Lome. In rainy season I don't even know why you'd bother!

The first of many times that we asked, "How deep do you think this water really is?"

Of course if you have dirt and water you will always have mud....and plenty of it!

Higher priority...dry feet or a phone call?

We kept on following this guy in front of us so we knew how deep it got.

My favorite water crossing of the day: A guy on a motor bike had to stick his feet straight up in front of him here while driving to avoid getting wet while his bike was under water (at least three feet deep!) Unfortunately, no photo. This is where he crossed.

This trip across town was to the hospitality center. Thanks to the ongoing rain here (and perhaps lack of a good sewer system), while the drive to the hospitality center is usually a 15 minute car ride, we eventually made it to the center in a little over an hour with our water-filled detours. Those bumpy, back roads take quite a while to get through!

Every day in Africa provides opportunity to broaden my perspective further. In regard to the oh-so-pleasant driving conditions here this week on our roller coaster of a car ride, as the saying goes, I guess you never fully realize what you've got until it's gone!

Our Trans Togo Trek

2010-06-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you cross eight Mercy Shippers, one car and the national highway of Togo? A trans-Togo trek! Togo is roughly the same size as West Virginia. However, unlike West Virginia it’s very long and thin when viewed on a map. So we thought it would be fun to say we walked across Togo in a day. Could we do it? Others had tried before and failed, but we set out bright-eyed and excited for our 36 mile adventure at 4:45 in the morning one fine Saturday about a month ago. (Just slightly behind in the blogging here)…
P.S. The umbrella was for the sun...when it eventually came out.

It was a quick car ride in the wee hours of the morning to the Ghana border across town. Here we are starting our adventure in the dark.

Murray was our trusty driver who stopped about every mile and a half to give us food, water and make sure we stretched. We wouldn’t have been able to do this adventure without him. We got to walking as the sun came up. You’d be amazed at the number of Africans out running at 5am in the dark with us (many barefoot nonetheless!) Now Jen and I are definitely the shortest in the group, and we had to run to keep up for the first few miles as the pace was so quick! I guess that’s what you get for walking with some tall folks (although at five foot three I guess most people are taller than me).

We were making good time by our return to the ship about 2 hours later. It was here that Liz, Jen and Tim said goodbye as we continued onward. So the four remaining walkers (Estelle, Haley, Ben and I) and Murray continued onward on the main international highway as the day got hotter.

Here we are at our halfway point below. By this time Estelle was finished. While we didn't see too many cattle as this sign would suggest, we did see a zimi accident with bodies covered by the palm leaves (unfortunately all too common here) as well as a naked man hanging out on the side of the road. Never a dull moment in Africa!

A much deserved Tampico stop for Haley and Ben

Bathroom Break for us all!...where we also ran into some other Mercy Shippers enjoying a day at Lake Togo.

We are excited to be at the 26.2 mile marathon mark and still feeling good...only ten more miles to go!

But shortly after, our day long adventure began to feel more like the Trans Togo Trudge. With blisters on our feet and still miles to go, we were not all smiles. It was also at this point that the Adele song came on in my i-pod, asking “Should I give up, or should I just keep chasing pavement?” Very fitting, and we all had a good laugh. Here we are emerging through the African grass, and me with my umbrella in the hot sun.

Below, this picture was where I just about gave up. The pain in my right foot was shooting up my leg with every step I took. Nonetheless we trudged onward. I don't think I would have made it if Ben and Haley hadn't kept on going.

The killing point though was when Murray said he was going to head onward to go to the border. When he didn’t come back after a good 25 minutes (mind you he was driving) we got a little worried. Ben called him on the cell. “Murray where are you? How far away is it?” Murray’s response: “I’ll tell you when I see you.” Uh oh. Not a good sign…

But eventually, after much more walking on the day we thought would never end – Aneho – the last village before the border. With a second wind we continued onward. Enjoying some nice scenery with some train tracks below.

Crossing the bridge to the border!

And victory! I have never been so excited to get into a car and rest at that point. After 36 miles in one day....

...I can safely say this is something I will never, ever do again, nor recommend for anyone else! But we did it. From Ghana through Togo to Benin, we walked across the country we’ve called our home this year. And four weeks later, sadly, I’ve still got the blisters on my feet to prove it!

Reverse Yovo-Phobia

2010-06-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

This week's Friday's favorite involves a cute little African child and an area known as the fishing village. The fishing village is a very poor part of town, where people live in banana leaf huts in rather close living quarters. The kids play in the ten foot high trash piles and I'm sure the food (not to mention clean water) is hard to come by.

I happen to be doing some nutrition education in the fishing village on a day in which the people of this small community were getting free grub courtesy of Mercy Ships. As you would expect, mass chaos ensued. People were everywhere. Kids running around screaming and playing while the mamas and papas stood in lines held off by crowd control tape. The food was being sorted and taken at a local church. I'd never seen so many people come out of the woodwork to attend.

After my nutrition teaching was over, I sat down for a bit with the kids, waiting for the food hand-outs to finish. A little girl crawled on my lap while we sang for who knows how long with the other children. When I got up to help with the food delivery, this little girl on my lap started screaming. So I picked her up and toted her around for a bit. After a while I needed a break so I put her back down. The lungs of steel came out. I couldn't let her go without people staring at me like, "why don't you just pick her up?" We did this scenario probably three more times. Each time I set her down to work she would follow me around and grab onto my leg and just let it out. I wondered where in the world was her mother amidst all these people? But I had no such luck in finding her.

I was asked to help out with food sorting so I set her down again. I was looking at this other lady next to me and her child was tucked so nicely on her back in the typical African fashion. The lightbulb went off. I asked to borrow her extra cloth (which the African ladies here seem to have plenty to share) and I put this little girl on my back. For the next 30 minutes I got quite a few bickers from the African teenagers but I had found my relief from the constant screaming at last.

Then, just as we were finishing our sorting, guess who decides to show up?....Mama! She didn't want her back quite yet so this now hushed little girl continued to stay content on my back. Her name was Julie I learned. Where Mama had gone, and why had she left her child amidst such chaos for more than an hour? Never did figure that one out.

The name for white people here is yovo, and you often hear the term "yovo-phobia" especially on the ward where the kids want nothing to do with the white folks that prod and poke them. But here in the fishing village, while, even if it was a nuisance, I guess it was better to have reverse yovo-phobia and get a little love from the Africans than to have no love at all!

Here are some other cuties from my day in the village

Check out these teeth!

and my favorite...

she would not stop smiling!

It was another memorable day with these people that I've come to love!

And the newsletter...

2010-06-17T11:17:00.000-07:00

For my most recent happenings, click here!

Finding Joy In Africa

2010-06-16T01:43:00.000-07:00

A few of my friends have this linked to their blog, and I love these thoughts. (Not written by me, but these thoughts are said so well). For more, check out mochaclub.org

When I think of Africa, the following images immediately come to mind: Starvation. AIDS. Child soldiers. Genocide. Sex slaves. Orphans. From there, my thoughts naturally turn to how I can help, how I can make a difference. "I am needed here," I think. "They have so little, and I have so much." It's true, there are great tragedies playing out in Africa everyday. There is often a level of suffering here that is unimaginable until you have seen it, and even then it is difficult to believe. But what is even harder is reconciling the challenges that many Africans face with the joy I see in those same people. It's a joy that comes from somewhere I cannot fathom, not within the framework that has been my life to this day.

The images spilling out of my television showed circumstances that could seemingly only equal misery, and I was fooled. I bought into the lie that circumstance defines happiness. The truth is, in Africa I find hearts full of victory, indomitable spirits. In places where despair should thrive, instead I find adults dancing and singing, and children playing soccer with a ball crafted of tied up trash. Instead of payback, I find grace. Here, weekend getaways are not options to provide relief from the pains of daily life. Relationships and faith provide joy. Love is sovereign.

My new reality… I know now that my joy should have no regard for my circumstances. I'm ashamed by my lack of faith, but at the very same moment I am excited by my new pursuit. I'm forced to redefine the meaning of having much or having little. I'm uneasy with the prospect of change and of letting go, but just the thought of freedom is liberating. I want what I have learned to trickle down from my head into my heart - I no longer want to need the "next thing" to have joy.

I'm not saying that Africa does not need our efforts. It absolutely does need our partnership. But for me, I've come to understand that I need Africa more than Africa needs me. Why? Because it is Africa that has taught me that possessions in my hands will never be as valuable as peace in my heart. I've learned that I don't need what I have and that I have what I need. These are just a few of this continent's many lessons. I came here to serve and yet I've found that I have so much to learn, and Africa, with all its need, has much to teach me.

Many in the west think Africa is simply an object of charity. This mindset does not breed true compassion. And there's something about truth… when it becomes clear, it hits you in a way that is hard to ignore. The same is true with people. If we invest in knowing someone, love is the automatic response. We can't all make a trip across the ocean, but we can seek to have a conversation that recasts the images that force pity over partnership. Why do you need Africa more than Africa needs you?

The Reality Of Life Where There Is No Health Care

2010-05-29T16:27:00.001-07:00

As I sit with them in their shared hospital room, their eyes exude hope. A hope yearning for acceptance from a society that has previously cast them out. They chatter to me in excitement about the possibility of husbands who will provide for them again one day. They giggle over how happy they will be when they return to their village and get to experience community. This is a love they haven’t known for a very long time, as they’ve been dealt a cruel fate thus far in life.

These women are the modern day lepers of Africa- women with Vesico Vaginal Fistulas, commonly known as VVF. A disease unknown in the western world, solely because it is a disease of poverty.

In her childhood years she is malnourished. With little food to eat, she doesn’t grow well. Instead of attending school, she does physical labor every day, carrying water, food, or wood for miles on end. Or she farms in the sweltering heat. With the increased physical labor and the lack of nourishment she remains small. Too small. At a young age she is married off and becomes pregnant. Elated over the opportunity to bring life into this world, an act that deems her worth here in Africa, her baby cannot fit through her pelvis. After a labor that lasts at first hours, then days, and no healthcare to help relieve the labor, the baby may die. With too much pressure for too long, her uterus is now damaged. So she leaks urine. Or even worse, feces as well. She avoids drinking to avoid the trickle down the inside of her thigh and onto the floor. She gets skin infections from the thick urine that does run down her legs. You can smell her stench ten feet away, and she leaves a trail wherever she goes. She cannot work due to social embarrassment. Eventually she is asked to move outside the house. Her husband may find a new wife, one who is not “cursed”, and she’ll live alone, away from society, with much time to contemplate why she has to endure this life, or rather, this existence. Living like this, well you can’t even call it a life.

This is the reality of so many VVF ladies. We have sixty+ beautiful ones who have come to our ship to be healed. Here they will each get an operation to stop their constant leaking. Often, the damage is so severe that there is little viable tissue to use for repair. Or perhaps they’ve had many previous repair attempts, which decreases their chance of success this time around. So while some will leave dry, others will leave feeling defeated and confused as to why the operation wasn’t successful. We will all share in this together.

Yesterday I went to our off ship clinic to teach these women who have endured so much more than I will ever know. As we were talking about post-op exercise restrictions one older woman started to cry. When asked why, she explained that despite my suggestion to avoid walking long distances for six weeks (wounds need to heal), she needed to walk right away upon her return to her village. Without her ability to walk, she could not work, and without work she had no money to eat. She has no family and no friends to let her rest for a while, and no one to provide her with such a basic necessity as food. She is completely alone.

I sat there for a second and then I started to tear up. Every day this week the harsh reality of poverty here has slapped me in the face. While I know that the poor will always be amongst us, it’s definitely hitting home. Mercy Ships is treating these sixty some ladies here on the ship, but the truth of the matter is that there are over two million more who live like this in shame every day of their lives. What's even sadder is that if all these women with obstructed labor could have access to a c-section within three hours, there would be no obstetric VVF ladies in existence. It is truly a disease defined by poverty, an overwhelming lack of resources. The chasm between the rich and the poor grows vastly larger by the day here.

Sometimes it’s frustrating. When prevention is the key and the need is so great, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the numbers and ask what difference will it make? Sixty ladies amongst millions? But then I am reminded of this woman who cried today, and I know, it makes a huge difference for her. I ache with love for her, and for the others. I ache over the hope deferred from the surgeries that fail, and I ache for what every woman has endured to get here. Please pray with me, that each and every surgery here is an overwhelming success. Pray that every woman does get a new chance at life - a chance to have a community where she is welcomed, and most importantly where she is loved. May their stories be a testament to the fact that we serve a big God who can do big things. A God who can heal not only these sixty women, but each of us as well.

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. ~ Psalm 147:3

What's for dinner?

2010-05-28T16:16:00.000-07:00

My Friday's Favorite this week came across my desk when one of the nurses said to me "as the dietitian here Kelly, I thought you should see this food restriction." Look closely toward the bottom....

Yes, perhaps not as fun as the "no snake" food restriction we got back at the beginning of the outreach. But nonetheless, with the assumption by this patient that we might actually serve him dog meat, well, I hope that here on the Africa Mercy we are a little classier than that! =)

Mercy Ships Glee...with some Hope and Healing

2010-05-26T16:20:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had the Mercy Ships Annual Film Festival onboard. It turned out to be a really good time, as there are quite a few creative minds here on the Africa Mercy. We all got dressed up for the viewing of the films, and there was even an awards ceremony afterward. Sadly, our video didn't win any major awards, but we had a really great time putting it together. A few of us decided to do a spoof on the popular TV show Glee. I am still working on getting the video online (as we can't upload large files onboard) but in the meantime here is our Glee Poster - Africa Mercy style!

In the meantime, I do have the link to the very well-done winning video of the film festival. It's a light-hearted look at "bringing hope and healing." (The Mercy Ships motto)....Enjoy!

Click here to watch the video

Espoir - A Story of Hope

2010-05-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

Football! Just the mention of the word grabs the attention of four-year-old Espoir. A bright and very active little boy, Espoir lives in Togo, West Africa. His mother says that he " jumps everywhere all the time . " He arrived on the Africa Mercy like a bolt of electricity - energizing the entire ward.

Espoir was born with bowed legs that made him the target of teasing from the children in his first-grade class. They said his legs looked like the letter " O ." Espoir always responded, "I'm just like you!" He never let them see how their words hurt him, and he never let them discourage him. He even played a forward position on his football (soccer) team.

When Espoir's mother heard a television announcement about a hospital ship that was coming to Togo to provide free surgeries, she brought Espoir to a screening. Soon he was onboard the Africa Mercy for the life-transforming surgery that would straighten his legs and put an end to the cruel ridicule.

Espoir is uncharacteristically still as he lies quietly in bed, recuperating with both legs straight and bandaged. He has found creative ways to keep his mind busy while his body recovers - practicing the alphabet, coloring pictures, and singing all the verses of his repertoire of songs and hymns.

His infectious joy spills out in giggles when the nurses slip the stethoscope into his ears so he can hear his heartbeat. When asked what he wants to be when he grows up, he flashes a brilliant smile and quickly responds, " I want to be a pastor!" But for right now, he is eager to get back to his football team. " I want to go to school quickly ," he asserts. " I want to show them that I am okay now."

Here he is - happy and balancing on his new, straight, casted legs.

Appropriately, Espoir means "hope" in French. His mother says, " I named him that because I have hope for him - hope for him to be a missionary one day and help the poor like he's been helped ."

Just another day in the ward bathroom...

2010-05-07T00:07:00.000-07:00

My Friday's favorite this week comes from the deck 3 ward bathroom just outside the hospital. Many day volunteers (the local Africans that we hire while we are here) use this bathroom on a regular basis. I normally don't use this bathroom so when I went in there earlier this week for the first time, I came across these lovely picture-signs that I thought were worth sharing.

In case you were thinking of going wild in the bathroom now you know not to. By the way, a day volunteer did wash her laundry in the toilet water during this outreach already...just in case you were wondering! =)

African Plumbing

2010-05-01T01:03:00.000-07:00

My Friday's favorite this week is this picture taken last weekend in Grand Popo, Benin:

Joanna brushing her teeth - not with the water coming out of the sink (as the sink, toilet and shower didn't work in our room) but just with the water coming out of this little hole in the wall. How's that for some quality African plumbing?

The plumbing wasn't the only fun part.

We utilized these nice mosquito nets in our room in this sleepy resort town just over the Togo/Benin border.

The weather wasn't ideal, so we hung out, played games and got to know each other a little better. Even with all the African odditites, Scott, Becca, Joanna, Nick and I had a nice and relaxing weekend away in Benin!

Lawson's Story

2010-04-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

In a place such as West Africa, where access to constant healthcare is minimal at best, our main max fax surgeon says it's always better to have a malignant tumor that kills you quickly. Without healthcare, the slow-growing benign facial tumors lead to a horrible death by suffocation. Lawson was one of the first patients to come through during this outreach, and the ship arrived just in time to spare his life. Here is Lawson's story, written by Elaine on the communications team.

His gentle eyes betrayed his desperate hope. “I came here so I could get help,” said Lawson, struggling to speak clearly. A large growth stretched his mouth and cheeks horribly, causing his teeth to stick out in all directions. It had been growing for four years, inhibiting his breathing, eating, and speech, and eventually, his ability to work.

The tumor destroyed his life, separating him from everyone and everything he loved. The people in his village would not sell him food because they said he was a devil. His wife left him, leaving behind their three children. Without work or food, he could not provide for his family.

So, Lawson, once one of Ghana's most prominent soccer players, now hid inside his house.

Then, a radio announcement said that a hospital ship, the Africa Mercy, would soon be coming to Togo offering surgeries free of charge. Daring to hope, Lawson left his children in his mother's care and went to the patient screening.

Lawson was literally at the brink of death as the tumor slowly suffocated him. He was immediately admitted to the hospital ship, with surgery the next day. It took three doctors eight hours to remove the benign growth and repair his nose, upper lip, and cheek. The large amount of blood required during surgery was donated by crew members.

Lawson was overjoyed when he touched the bandages on his cheek. There will be more surgeries within the next year to complete the reconstruction of his face, but the immediate result saved and restored his life.

Unable to hold back tears of joy, a delighted Lawson exclaimed, “I can't believe what has happened to me. It is a miracle! My way was crooked, but now my way is straight. Now, I am a man!”

Lawson can hardly wait to surprise his family with his transformation. He is anxious to eat real food again especially his mother's ademe, a stew made with legumes, fish and red oil. Then he will think about starting his new life.

He has photos of what he looked like before surgery and after. “I want to show pictures to everybody, so people can see what Mercy Ships did for me. Everybody who sees me, they will be surprised,” he grinned. “I survived! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Amen!”

The Hunt for Moringa

2010-04-23T12:01:00.000-07:00

Directly translated from its Togolese name "yovo-vi-ti," it means the little plant from the white man. Its leaves have been used for centuries to treat malnutrition and various illnesses, and many NGO's throughout Africa promote its nutritional benefits through local education programs in the community. Hospitals and pharmacies sell the leaf powder to patients. It grows readily along the roadside and is found in the market. People use the trees as fences, and the leaves in stews and sauces.

So what it is? Moringa is a plant native to India that now grows in West Africa. Similar to spinach, the Moringa leaves are high in certain vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin A and Iron. But unlike spinach Moringa is also very high in protein - good quality protein (eight of the nine essential amino acids!) which is quite unusual for a plant food. I first heard about Moringa in December when the hospital manager suggested we look into using it on the ship with our patients regularly, as it was already being used sporadically in the baby feeding program.

This week, I went out with the agriculture team to visit a Moringa farm. My thought was that if we could work with one of the local NGO's that grows it in good conditions and sells it in the market, we could potentially purchase it to give to families. So many mothers here don't have the financial means to purchase formula, so babies get porridge - a mix of flour, milk and sugar that they introduce after or in addition to breast milk. However, milk, sugar and flour don't provide a whole lot of nutrition for a growing baby, so NGO's throughout Africa have been encouraging mothers to add the Moringa powder to the porridge to provide better nutrient coverage for these growing babies.

Our agricultural specialists Ken and Jean Claude and I headed out to the local village of Tsevie earlier this week to check out the Moringa farm. In true Mercy Ships fashion, we were stopped multiple times by Africans whistling us to the side of the street as our Mercy Ships land rover trudged along down the dirt road. "When are you coming? Can you help me with my cataracts?" Handouts were provided (always important to take along when Mercy Ships branded) and we went on our way. After two phone calls and multiple stops to ask if we were headed in the right direction, we sped past Cristof waving us down on the side of the road. Cristof is our Moringa contact and works with the Center for Ecology and Development through the Mercy Ships Agriculture Program Food for Life. He grows the Moringa in a co-op here with about twenty other Africans who farm the land. Below is Cristof holding a Moringa leaf on the farm.

But before we got to see the Moringa we made a quick pit stop at his house. There were a few people to screen that heard we were coming through the village. Here we were, two agriculture specialists and a dietitian, looking at surgical candidates! Ha! After some quick histories and photos we were on our way to the farm. This is the road (or lack thereof) that we took to get to the farm. It was basically a dirt path made for a bike, and the land rover had no problems plowing through the bushes and trees.

I learned that the Mercy Ships agriculture program teaches the local farmers many things. They teach them how to rotate crops, and how to keep the soil nutrient-rich year after year. The general practice in Africa is to burn the land at the end of the harvest season which robs the soil of nutrients. Here is a burned area on the way to the co-op:

Below is an area that hadn't yet been burned. They will be growing pineapples on this part of the land.

The Africans use machetes to chop down the growth into farmable land. You can see the area that has already been cleared in the foreground and the yet-to-be-chopped area behind. Sometimes Africans have the stereotype of being lazy - especially the men, but let me tell you the Africans working out in the field in the hot sun were as far from lazy as you can get! I have never been so hot in my life. While I come from Arizona where it can get pretty dang hot, this is a new level of hot here in Africa. I lost multiple liters in sweat at the farm and I cannot even begin to imagine working in this humidity and sun day in and day out. Thank goodness for shade huts!

Then we traveled to see where the Moringa is dried. It must be dried in the shade to prevent nutrient loss. The leaves are then ground, packaged and sold in the market in Lome two hours south. Basically it's like dried high protein vegetable leaves. Here are Cristof, Jean-Claude and I outside the drying house.

On the way out we went through a pineapple farm....

...and ate some pineapple off the core! In my hand is also a Moringa pod. You can take the seeds out of the pod to plant new trees.

After a long day at the Moringa farm we came away with this final product:

the dried Moringa powder. Perhaps it looks a tad bit questionable in these unmarked bags. Actually, when one of our doctors from TX came to the ship with Moringa in hand, we heard he got an earful at customs! In addition to the powder itself, I also came away with a new appreciation for rural farming. I had no idea how much effort goes into making these fields farmable, and how hard these Africans work. The African way of life here is so interesting, and every day I learn something new. In a country where malnutrition is so prevelant, I think there is exciting potential for what lies ahead in regard to Moringa application. More to come on that soon....

Friday's Favorite: Got Milch?

2010-04-16T22:09:00.000-07:00

One of my friends Ryan recently left the ship, and his trademark was his constantly witty attire in the form of t-shirts. In discussion one day, those of us sitting at dinner decided to order some shirts with our own saying "Got Milch?" This was a pun on the "Got Milk" campaign back in the states, because here on the ship we don't have that cold, calcium-rich American goodness. We have a more highly pasteurized Dutch milk in a box called milch, which just doesn't do the trick. Thinking we were so creative, we ordered our Got Milch shirts and were excited when they arrived recently. Julle, Estelle, Haley, Leah, Allison and I all decided to all wear them together last week and took a few photos. Here are Leah and I with our milch in a box.

However, after one day of wear we realized that the words Got Milch were placed strategically across our chests. On more than one occasion, people asked us if we were promoting breastfeeding for the feeding program on the ship! Ha!

Here on the ship we live with 400 other people from around the world. The take home lesson this week was that the next time we decide to order a t-shirt, we'll have to remember that sometimes cultural slogans don't transcend internationally =)

Easter Brunch!

2010-04-10T03:59:00.000-07:00

When I went home over Christmas, one of the best things about being back in the states was the crazy selection of food. Here on the ship the food is really good, but after a while you get used to the same meals again and again so a little variety is always nice. In honor of Easter last weekend the galley cooks went above and beyond. Check out the Easter fruit spread!

We had fresh fish, french toast, eggs benedict, potato scramble, croissants, rolls, and the list goes on and on. My favorites though were the watermelon fruit boats and apple swans

...and who doesn't want an apple swan on Easter! When life here on the ship can sometimes be monotonous after a while, we always say it's the little things that make a huge difference. I am so thankful that we have such amazing cooks here on the ship, as they definitely made our Easter day of celebration extra special!

Friday's Favorite...just a little late

2010-04-05T17:07:00.000-07:00

This picture is my Friday's Favorite this week. Africans checking out the white man and his crazy pants...err shorts. I love it!

This was the start of our camping experience two weeks ago. Sixteen of us headed to Kpalime, a town about two and a half hours north of Lome that seems to be popular destination these days for Mercy Shippers. With plenty of waterfalls and good hiking, we partook in the Kpalime trend. We arrived to our destination to set up camp just yards away from many of the small surrounding African communities.

After setting up camp in the African village, we hiked a small mountain with our guide. Here we are, all sixteen of us at the top.

This is also where Leah learned to balance a pineapple on her head!

Our guide showed us the grasshopper with the "African Mask"..pretty crazy!

And since I moved cabins in January here is our first out-of-town roomie pic: Leah, me, Sandra and Suey!

We returned back to the campsite to get dinner as the rain was headed in. I saw one of the African ladies doing her routine walking the goats (which she did multiple times while we were visiting)!

Since we were practically in their village, we invited our hosts to hang out for the evening. They ate with us in their true African way (spaghetti with your hands)...

played games with us

and danced with us late into the evening complete with bongos and song - even those who you'd think would be in bed at that hour!

Look at this cutie hanging out with us in her pj's. With no running water, the kids were all so dirty, but so precious!

The next morning we awoke to the chickens ready to start their day at 5am. Or, if we weren't awakened by the chickens, then we awoke to some African friends who wanted to play bright and early with us and with the bongos. Check them out trying to wake up the neighboring tent!

Day two involved our trip to the falls. After our fresh fruit breakfast provided by the village locals, we walked with our guide and arrived to this:

where we had some fun playing in the water

(Juan looked too ridiculous to pass this one up)

...and we posed for a group shot (please note Tom on the upper left who missed out on the group photo by climbing the falls.) We had such a great time not only at the falls but just spending time in the village with the Africans and learning the way they live.

There is a quote that says "a mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions." Every weekend away continues to shift my paradigm and this weekend was no exception. So much of the world lives with so little - no clean water, no electricity, and no solid walls to surround their homes. These are basic necessities that we so easily take for granted in the west. We can read all we want or watch the documentaries on TV, but until you come for yourself and experience life on less than a dollar a day you don't fully comprehend the impact it has on you. I came to Mercy Ships thinking I was giving up so much of my comfortable life in the US to help the forgotten poor on this big hospital ship. But here on the ship, I still get my three tasty meals a day, a shower at my convenience and healthcare if I need it. Despite just a glimmer of this daily life in the African village, I know I still have so much more than these Africans will ever see or imagine in their lifetime, and that is a very humbling thought.

When You Can't Trace His Hand

2010-03-30T18:18:00.000-07:00

At home back at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, every day I dealt with kids that died. I remember the day my first patient died after transplant and I went home and just sobbed, despite the fact that I barely knew her. But in time, with each passing death I encountered, I became somewhat immune. My heart couldn’t handle all the grief and I somehow began to block out the emotion after I’d seen so many children die.

So when I signed up to work with an organization that brings hope and healing to the forgotten poor, I wasn’t expecting a lot of death here onboard the Africa Mercy. More than that, I wasn’t expecting to get attached. Most patients that come through the ward on Mercy Ships come in and out in a matter of weeks. But Anicette and her reluctant little body just didn’t want to gain weight, and she was here for months in the infant feeding program last year. She was loved by everyone and we all got to celebrate in her achievements together. You can read about her in my previous blog post here. After many months of slow growth, she finally had her surgery to repair her cleft lip in November. Here she is just a few days before surgery - a chunky monkey! We got to see her Mama care for and love this child so much. Anicette was transitioning off her specialized formula and doing great, so she was sent on her way, with the hope to return in 2010 for cleft palate surgery.

So it was quite the shock when she returned to us on Friday from Benin, emaciated beyond imagine and barely recognizable. As I picked her little body up I wanted to cry. I told her mama Zenabou that she did well for bringing her back to us. I hoped with all my heart that we could get her back to what she was when she left us in November. Clearly there was something very wrong with her little body and its inability to digest nutrients, as she’d been throwing up and having diarrhea for weeks. I hoped we would have the capability to send away for specialized tests to work up whatever metabolic issue it was. I hoped to make a case to the formula company for her incredibly expensive specialized formula that worked previously onboard– a hope that she could get the formula for years to come if needed. Perhaps a large feat for a child living in Africa, but nothing is impossible with God.

But I didn’t get that chance. Yesterday, the overhead pager went off “Emergency Medical Team to A Ward” and my heart sank. I thought “please God we have a full code palliative care patient on A ward. Don’t let it be Anicette.”

But this little bundle of love went to be with Jesus yesterday. Her frail body couldn’t take it anymore when her airway became compromised and she was too weak to fight. I watched her mama Zenabou with wailing sobs as the nurse took her away from the commotion of trying to resuscitate her, and my heart broke.

As the doctor onboard said yesterday, while God didn’t intend for this, he did allow it. Our goal isn’t always to heal people. Sometimes it is to make the effort to help them in the best way we know how. Sometimes that results in death and sometimes in new life.

When Anicette died yesterday, Zenabou explained that Ani was her second baby she’d lost. Her other baby just couldn’t eat she said. None of us knew she had been through this before. Currently Zenabou is pregnant for the third time. So after asking for prayer for Anicette yesterday, today I ask for prayer for Zenabou. Pray for a miraculously healthy pregnancy. Pray that the baby in her tummy wouldn’t be born with the same problem that her other two children had. That she would be welcomed back into a village where she was previously cast out for having a child with a deformity. That despite her huge loss and grief, pray that Zenabou would feel overwhelming love and peace that surpasses all understanding.

“God is too good to be unkind. He is too wise to be mistaken. So when you can’t trace His hand, that’s when you must learn to trust His heart.”

A Prayer Request

2010-03-28T17:34:00.000-07:00

They came to a local church in town this morning, a church known for the presence of Mercy Shippers. We are the white people with the means available to help, she said. She had heard that we were there, and although she doesn’t attend church herself, she didn’t know what else to do. So on the gangway I saw them, brought from the church to the ship. The characteristic picture of the emaciated child with the sunken in eyes, drowning in his little African outfit in his mama’s arms. She cried out in frustration when we tried to get a history of what was going on. “Nothing is working. My milk is drying up, and he is too weak to suck. He throws up what food I can give him and he can no longer walk. My husband has kicked us out because my child is cursed. I have no money to take him elsewhere. Please help me.”

There is a woman downstairs in the ward with bruises on her back; bruises from her husband who beats her and her children because she doesn’t have the means to bring in enough food for the family. She speaks to me so cautiously, and questions why I am asking about the food her malnourished child gets at home, leery of divulging too much information.

Or take Anicette, the poster child for the Mercy Ships feeding program last year in Benin. She traveled over the border with her mama this week to visit us here on the ship. It wasn’t a visit to say hello and tell us how well Ani was doing; she traveled cross country because she didn’t know what else to do. At fourteen months old, Ani has regressed to the weight of a one month old. Mom saw a picture of Anicette plump and happy on the door of the feeding program exam room, a realization of sad irony as she walks in with Ani, now skin and bones and crying in her arms.

I’ll be honest. This was a tough week. Despite all the joys that occur on board and how happy I am to be working in the ward, there are weeks like these where I just want to wrap up these families and take them home with me to the states. I want to take them to a safe place where fathers go to jail for beating their wives and where children get subsidized foods to keep them growing strong; a place where I know help is available for the long term.

But here in Africa that is not always the case. The sad reality is that there are only so many feeding programs in the country and more than that, when these kids are only moderately malnourished they may not even qualify for help. Sometimes I feel like my hands are tied when I’m seeing a child for malnutrition, but the only problem is they lack the finances to buy food. If we can, we keep them here on the ship to fatten them up. Or we give them formula or money and send them on their way, hoping and praying that God will intervene for the long term. Despite the sad circumstance, I still trust that God is in control and He knows what is going on in each and every life here.

With all the resources available at home in the states, it was a lot easier to find the answers myself. But here, where the answers aren’t always obvious, I have to trust in God and have faith that God can and will provide if I ask audacious prayers beyond what I know is capable of happening. So I seek him and trust him and ask for his help every single day. Along with me, please pray for this little baby that came to the ship today with his mama that we couldn’t keep on board. Please pray that they make it to the feeding program in town and we gave them enough money to get situated there and grow. Pray for good care at the local hospital, which I’m learning, is often hard to come by. Also pray for the family with the abusive husband. Pray that this mama would be brave enough to seek help elsewhere and that these kids would gain weight while here. Finally, pray for Ani. Pray that she grows strong here on the ward as we figure out what went wrong and correct this problem now, so when the ship leaves again, she thrives.

Please also pray for me. I truly love the work that I am doing here in Africa and despite these sad events, I know that God has placed me here for a reason. I’ve invited the head of nutrition from the Ministry of Health to the ship tomorrow. I want to show him what we do onboard and collaborate with the local Togolese feeding programs already in place. So far, my contacts at UNICEF haven’t been able to offer much, so I am hoping and praying that he has something more encouraging to say. Please pray that Mercy Ships is able to help with the lack of infrastructure that exists in this regard. As I’ve seen before, we serve a big God that can provide in really crazy ways. Give me some time, and I’ll tell you what He’s doing here in Togo with us.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory.” Ephesians 3: 20-21

Home

2010-03-26T17:15:00.000-07:00

Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder. After many weekends of Lome-filled ship life and a relatively peaceful election here in Togo, last week we were finally able to venture out of the city to see the African ways. Oh, how I've missed my African delights.

My six friends and I hopped into a taxi last Saturday morning and tried to get to the bus station. But detours and riots seemed to deter us from our portal to the north, so we found the first taxi that would fit us all, asked where they were going and hopped on for the ride. Three hours later, we arrived in Atakpame, the fifth largest city in Togo, with no rhyme or reason as to what we would do for the weekend.

Our first stop: the most expensive hotel in town. When dropping us off, the driver of our taxi assumed that because we were white we wanted to stay there! If only they knew we'd acclimated to the African standard of living. We headed somewhere closer in town. I've learned that the further out of the city you go,the more interesting the African observataions. Never before have I been one of the only white people in an entire city. Here in Atakpame though, we were it. Everyone asked where we were from, and if we were in the Peace Corps. I almost felt like we were on parade; mothers constantly waved from their windows and children pointed at us yelling "yovo yovo bonsoir!" (white person white person hello) the never ending children’s song that everyone in Africa seems to know. Oh the joys of minority living!

Here are the children carrying the yellow water canteens to the wells, happy to have clean water.

We took a hike up to the mountaintop and came across this mural that I really liked: knowledge is life.

After our short hike up the mountain we came back to have some traditional African food, including palm wine made from the neighboring palm leaves plus a few extra African treats you can see in our drinks

The next morning we got up at 4:15 bright-eyed and excited for our excursion to see some hippos. Can you tell who the morning person of the group is?

We got on our zimi's and for two hours rode through the African grasslands to get to the hippos. Here is Davide leading the way.

I literally held on so tight I bruised my palm. My first zimi-ride in Africa was exhilarating. We took a break midway and our drivers informed us that before we could see the hippos, we needed to visit the chief of the village to ask for permission. So off we went to the village to meet the chief. He was very gracious and invited us in for a nice breakfast.

Then, we were really off to see the hippos. Back on the zimi's and to the lake we went.

The first sign we were getting close.

We canoed over to see them and got relatively close. Here are me and Christina excited to finally see them after a full morning of travel!

There were a bunch in the water but just this mama hippo and her baby walking around.

It was only after our excursion that my father informed me that hippos kill more Africans than any other animal. I stumbled across this nice article on an African travel website:

"Despite being a vegetarian, the hippo is responsible for more human fatalities in Africa than any other animal, making it Africa's most dangerous beast. Hippos spend most of their day lolling about in water and can stay submerged for more than 10 minutes. If a small fishing boat or canoe filled with tourists happens to be above their heads when they come up for air, there's little to protect the vessel from capsizing. Females have been known to get extremely aggressive if they sense anyone coming in between their babies, who stay in the water while she feeds on the shore. Hippos can run at speeds of over 20 miles an hour and they have enormous jaws which host up to 20 inch canines. There's not a lot you can do if one comes straight at you."

We look so eager yet unassuming. Sometimes ignorance is bliss =)

After our busy day with the hippos we headed back to Lome in an African style taxi, made for 14 people. However, it wouldn't be African if it had only 14 people. We had not only 21 people in there but a cat, two live chickens and a goat. No biggie though - the goat was in a bag on the roof, bleating at every passing car the whole way home.
Below, my proud African neighbor with his chicken!

No less than 24 hours later I came across this....

...so lets hope we don't get bird flu!
Atakpame proved to be quite the memorable weekend away. It made me realize that while Africa has its oddities with its third world standards, I have joyfully come to call it home.

Just Another Stop To Get Gas

2010-03-19T17:04:00.000-07:00

My Friday favorite this week involves a monkey - actually, two of them. We were at the gas station and came across this monkey, fully clothed, with his son, shaking hands with everyone from the window of the car. Only in Africa....

Friday's Favorites

2010-03-12T14:17:00.000-08:00

I thought I would start a new blogging trend to try and post more regularly. I'm calling it Friday's Favorites. These are snippets of some of my favorite or most unique moments throughout the past week. This week I have three Friday's Favorites.

1) I was visiting one of the kiddos on the ward today and we were playing a game with the translator. Since I am working as an RD now I wanted to get a little perspective on the food here as that will be one of my tasks (to keep the patients happy and get them to eat). I ask this 14 year old guy Mati if he likes the food here and at first he says yes, but then he gives me a confused look, changes his mind and decides no. I ask him why and the translator replies "it makes him want to vomit!" complete with hand motion of the vomit. I really hope not everyone feels that way about the food here, but I guess I have my dietitian work cut out for me!

2) This one actually came from one of the other nurses as I didn't see it myself, but I thought it was very African-esque. Listed on the admissions form for the patient food restrictions: "no snake please"....no worries about that one!

3) And my final favorite's moment: realizing this week that most of our donated rice cereal that we give to the babies is infested with weevils. Yes, these fun little black bugs lay their eggs inside the rice kernels and eat away all the good nutrients.

But more than that, coming to the realization that many of the mothers here have no problem giving this to their kids anyway (as a little extra protein never hurt.) Never, ever would you see this happen back home. I suppose though that here you've got to appreciate all the donated, expired products that have been sitting in hot temperatures for far too long creating ideal conditions for the little critters. From now on the rice cereal boxes go into the deep freezer to prevent bugs, but I'm sure going to think twice about buying expired food products in the ship shop here on board.....yum. I can't wait to see what other fun food issues come up!

Not Your Average Barn Dance

2010-03-11T04:58:00.000-08:00

This past weekend the Togo Presidential election results were announced. For safety purposes we weren't allowed out past the port gate (given the violence that had ensued with elections in years past). So what do you do when stuck on a ship with 400 people all weekend long? You have a barn dance on the dock (naturally) complete with instructor, microphone and plenty of sweaty dancing goodness! (Please note the on-lookers standing on top of the containers - men from the other boats that wanted in on our Mercy Ships fun!)

Togo Part II

2010-03-06T15:51:00.000-08:00

I previously wrote a blog about the country of Togo. I said I'd update on what Mercy Ships is doing in Togo for this field service. You can see some of that here in this PDF. Pretty good stuff!

A Day In The Engine Room

2010-02-23T14:54:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday was a black-out day. This means there was no electricity on the ship from 7am onward, so most people went off ship to explore our new surroundings in town. My roomie Sandra and I decided we would stay on board and try something new: help out in the engine room to clean the water coolers. With our arrival into the port just a few days prior, we didn't yet have local Africans working on the ship to help out downstairs. The Chief Engineer asked for help from the non-engine room folks onboard, and Sandra and I thought it would be fun to volunteer for something so different.

During the sail shells, sand, and other fun things make their way into the water cooling system. It's necessary to clean the coolers before and after each sail to keep the water freely flowing and the engines cool. This is a full day task that involves turning off all the generators to clean, hence the blackout. I-pods and speakers in hand, we headed downstairs to suit up and get cleaning. Below you can see all the gunk that had accumulated.

Here are Sandra and I with the other non-engine room helpers Ginger and Alainie after our first cleaning attempt. Different teams took turns cleaning due to the strenuous nature of the work.

Cleaning involved inserting a long, thin, flexible brush into the holes to clear out all the shells and other sea remnants that restricted the water flow. One of the brushes even had an electronic hose head to help dissipate the sea remains and get through the cooler. Removing the brush also removed whatever was stuck inside. We only got shells, sand and smelly sea water, but in the past they've had live crabs!

There are 1500 holes in each water cooler and the brush goes into the cooler for about three meters before it comes back out again. With two coolers onboard, that math alone means we cleaned miles of water cooler space!

Here we are taking a break between two of our six engines. They were off the entire time we were downstairs, but it was still pretty hot. The engines themselves were about 125 degrees Fahrenheit.

Despite our multiple battle wounds...

...we are still smiling at the end of the day with some of the regular engine room guys!

To top off our experience, one of our engine room friends Dennis let us re-start the ship after our day long black out! Perhaps not a normal day by Mercy Ships standards, but nontheless, fun times were definitely had in the engine room!

Welcome to Togo - Part 1

2010-02-11T14:30:00.000-08:00

We made it! Yesterday right around lunchtime we arrived at the port in Lome, Togo - our home for the next six months. Here is our dock complete with a welcoming party eagerly awaiting our arrival!

We were greeted by many Africans in song and dance

...and even a sea turtle (a good sign that the water quality can't be that bad!)

Mercy Ships works on an invitation-only ideal in regard to the chosen country of service for any given year. However, when looking at field service potential, many things are taken into consideration. Amongst these decision factors is the Human Development Index.

The Human Development Index is a tool established by the United Nations that ranks countries based on three areas: living a long and healthy life (measured by life expectancy), being educated (measured by adult literacy and gross enrolment in education) and having a decent standard of living (measured by purchasing power parity, PPP, income). Currently Togo ranks almost at the bottom - 159th out of 182 countries ranked. Hence, Mercy Ships is here.

I thought in this blog I'd share a little info in regard to Togo to have a frame of reference. Part II will include what Mercy Ships is doing to help out Togo. Look for that coming soon. This info is taken from the trusty CIA World Fact Book and the (sometimes not so trusty) Wikipedia.

The population of Togo is 6.7 million people and the capital lies in the port city of Lome - our home. Togo stretches 360 miles north from the gulf and is only 100 miles wide at the broadest point. In comparison, it's slightly smaller than West Virginia. The coast along the southern end is roughly 30 miles long. (Stay tuned for a blog on our upcoming walk across Togo.) Interestingly, Togo receives less rainfall than most of the other countries along the Gulf of Guinea. However, there are two rainy seasons here and the first is from March to early July (practically our entire field service!)

In regard to health statistics, the life expectancy is roughly 51 yrs old for males, and 55 yrs for the ladies. An average of 4.79 children were born per woman in 2009. There are roughly 4 physicians per 100,000 people in Togo. In comparison, there were 256 physicians per 100,000 people in the US as of 2007.

As far as the literacy rate goes, 61% of Togolese people can read. 75% of males can read, and 47% of females can read. The average education level of the Togolese people is completion of the 8th grade. Radio is the most popular medium, particularly in rural areas. Approximately one half of the population lives below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day.

Natural resources include Phosphates, limestone, marble. The main agricultural products include yams, cassava, corn, millet, sorghum, cocoa, coffee, rice, and cotton.

Togo gained its independence from France in 1960. In 1967, Gnassingbé Eyadéma led a successful military coup, after which he became president. At the time of his death in 2005, Eyadéma was the longest-serving leader in African history, after having been president for 38 years. In 2005, his son Gnassingbé became president, and then the government engineered his formal election two months later amidst much political strife and bloodshed. 40,000 political refugees relocated to neighboring Benin and Ghana. Many still live there today.

Democratic gains since then have allowed Togo to hold its first relatively free and fair legislative elections in October 2007. After years of political unrest and fire from international organizations for human rights abuses, Togo is finally being re-welcomed into the international community.

This month of February will be an interesting month for Togo with the 2010 elections taking place on the 28th. Please pray for safety and peace for everyone here in Togo. Please pray that Mercy Ships could still be effective in this time as we set up camp and start our 2010 field service. Please pray that God will be present every step of the way.

Tenerife Tidbits

2010-02-09T14:30:00.000-08:00

After a month long break in blogging, I figured I should update y'all once again! For the last few weeks we've been in Tenerife while the ship continues with annual maintenance and I continue on in HR. I thought I'd share a few fun facts about Tenerife as it's a beautiful place and we've all had a great time.

Fact # 1: Tenerife has the same longitude as Florida, making it an ideal place to enjoy outside activities. Although the hospital is dormant while in Tenerife, HR has been quite busy since we are preparing all the files for those that are volunteering this year in Togo. Despite the constant pace of HR, in my off time I've had some good adventures exploring the island on the weekends.

Fact #2: With the volcanic activity of the island, much of the Tenerife sand is black. However, when Haley, Leah and I biked 14 miles to the beach and back, we found that they import the sand from the Sahara Desert to give the beach a more "tropical" look. Above is this oh-so-tropical import. Below are Leah, me and Haley biking back from the beach with one of the many hillside cities in the background.

Fact #3: Much of the northern part of the island is quite rocky and without sand along the shoreline, so the Canarians have made a recreation of swimming in the "natural rock pools." My HR counterpart Marianne and I went to Garachico one day to see these little pools and just walk around. You can see the natural pools just over Marianne's shoulder on the right.

Fact# 4: Los Gigantes (the cliffs of the giants) were once very sacred and thought to be the end of the earth. They rise out of the sea from a height up to 2600 feet.

Last weekend a few of us took a bus up to Masca - a small village of about 150 inhabitants set up in the hills far away from the conveniences of modern life. The villagers grow their own wheat, veggies and fruits along the very rocky and uneven hillsides. Masca looks like this:

Here you can see how uneven the roads are. Literally you take a few steps the wrong way and down you fall into the abyss! Along the north and western ends of the island are many gorges formed by erosion. We hiked down a massive gorge starting in Masca, scaling large rocks and going through small streams.

It's hard to describe the enormity of the landscape around us. Here is Clare at the top before we'd started our four hour descent, but you can still see how vast the surrounding hillsides are.

Here we are almost all the way down and still happy despite our tired thighs

Some of the girls coming down

Then we emerged from the rocks to this:

and to this:

Pure beauty where we relaxed after a good hike amidst Los Gigantes. We jumped into the warm green waters in our hiking clothes to cool down before taking a boat back to the city (at which point we rode past multitudes of dolphins!) An amazing day and a great way to end our time in Tenerife.

While it has been a nice break to be out of the sauna-like heat of Africa and see new parts of the world, it's good to be heading back to Africa for Part II. Once we get to Togo I'll transition to working in the ward as an RD. We are currently almost done sailing down the western coast with plans to be in Togo tomorrow. More to come soon!

Trust Revisited

2010-01-07T05:00:00.000-08:00

I live in flip flops in Africa. However, for the sail we are required to have shoes with more support so flip flops don’t cut it. I went to the outlet mall with my sisters this week with the intent to find myself some cute shoes for the sail down to Togo. (On a side note, why in the world they have outdoor malls in MN when it’s -5 degrees outside boggles me.) As I sat in the Gap outlet trying to rationalize the purchase of a pair of ballet flats for $20, I realized somewhere along the way in Africa I'd become frugal. I think what $20 could get in Cotonou and I couldn’t bring myself to spend an entire Andrew Jackson on just one pair of simple ballet flats. Oh, how I’ve changed.

One year ago I didn’t know where or what I’d be doing in the months to come. I had my townhouse, my job, and my life in Phoenix and I was letting go of it all for something unknown. As the Mercy Ships process moved forward I was definitely excited, but at the same time I critically examined the potential reactions of uprooting my life. I questioned leaving a job I loved so much to do something completely different than nutrition. I questioned whether or not I would ever find someone to sublet my townhouse and how that would work from Africa. I questioned the idea of new relationships I would form and felt so sad about leaving those back home.

So as 2009 has now come and gone, the stand-out theme in my life seems to be God’s goodness. I’ve fully experienced the idea that when we give God all we’ve got and earnestly seek Him in every area of our life, He comes through. I’ve seen that when we are still clinging onto things we want to control in our lives, He’ll keep giving us lessons time and time again to show us that we need to let go, as He wants in on our plans. All of them. Take my job for example. Knowing full well that there were no RD positions on the ship, I struggled so much with leaving my dietitian position and wrote about it here. Well starting in February, I’ll be working full time as an RD in a position they just created (and without my doing nonetheless). Or example number two: my townhouse. Trying to sublet from another country and take care of maintenance issues is a daunting task. Thankfully, I have amazing friends who have taken care of all the small or sometimes larger unexpected necessities of home ownership. (As painting wires on a rooftop and cleaning mold out of the cupboard sound like so much fun!) I also think of relationships. While I am excited to return to old friends, I have some really thoughtful and generous friends here. After celebrating my birthday earlier this week, I returned to the ship yesterday and was greeted by a lovely birthday banner and handmade card complete with fun memories and pictures of all the fun things we've done here in Africa thus far.

This year has shown me that I can’t fully grow in faith until I throw my own expectations out the window and trust that God will give me His best, in whatever form that may be. More than that, I have to remember that God won't give me good things when I plan on providing for myself 24/7. We have to be willing to ask for help every day. It's like providing for a child. If it costs twenty grand a year to raise a child, a mother wouldn't hand her son $20,000 on January 1st and say, "Here it is. Go and have a great year." Instead she would want him to ask everyday for what he needs, and she would give accordingly - even when we don't deserve it. The goal is relationship. So when we do ask with a right heart, we get to see how God provides in sometimes really crazy ways. It says in Malachi 3: Test me in this," says the LORD, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” So try it out. Ask God and see what happens. Heck, who knows, you may even get a pair of really cute and comfy $8 ballet flats too! =)

Bienvenido a Tenerife!

2009-12-30T17:35:00.000-08:00

A week ago Saturday and after ten days of sailing we arrived to this - our view from the dock in the Canary Islands.

Technically a part of Spain, the Canary Islands are located off the coast of Morocco. This is one of the closest countries to West Africa that is considered first-world. Here in Tenerife the ship will get its annual inspections and maintenance done while the crew has some time to relax before heading back down the coast at the end of January.

We had a few days to walk around and take in first world living once again before many left the ship for the Christmas holidays

While enjoying a snack we got to see dinner preparations in the meat market..yum!

Haley and James were excited to see fresh fruits and veggies once again

and Jamie and I had a moment with our festive friend

Last Sunday we attempted to hike Mount Teide, both the highest elevation in Spain and the highest elevation in the Atlantic Ocean. Mount Teide sits 12,198 feet high. We arrived at the cable car for a bathroom break (which you can also take to the summit) only to find out the cable car was closed due to 75 mile per hour winds at the top.

The volcano last erupted in 1909, and you can see in this picture the lava that came down the sides.

Despite the strong winds we headed up anyway.

There were times when it was physically hard to walk forward due to the strong winds!

Due to a delayed start in the morning with our car rental, we knew we wouldn't make the six hour summit, but attempted at least a portion of the trip.

Minus the craters and the extreme cold, I almost felt like I was hiking at home in AZ!

With our volcano rocks...pumice stone anyone?

Haley, me and the clouds

While it was cold, drizzly and a hard hike with the elevation, we will re-attempt the hike to the summit in January when we have more time...so stay tuned!

Two days after our hike both Jamie and I left Tenerife. I'm just headed home for the holidays but Jamie left for good. I'll miss you friend!

After some crazy flying from Tenerife to Madrid to Paris to Detroit to Minneapolis, I am now enjoying my white Christmas in the frigid tundra of Minnesota. Happy Holidays!

Sailing up the African Coast in Pictures

2009-12-24T15:39:00.000-08:00

For twelve days we sailed north up the coast of West Africa and arrived this past weekend in the Canary Islands. Many Mercy Shippers had already left the ship to return home or help with advance team preparations for our 2010 field service in Togo. The rest of us enjoyed the sail north with a number of ship wide events all week long.

Every night people fell asleep to the sound of the waves and the rocking of the ship up on Deck 8. Here are Jamie, Becca and I out underneath a meteor shower with our rafts (the best $2 investment for Mercy Ships) singing Christmas carols before sleep time.

Each night consisted of a different Christmas event on the ship. There was a story telling night, Christmas craft night, Santa Lucia event and a Christmas sale. At one of the Christmas events Danae, Jamie, Christina and I got a branded Christmas photo with the Mercy Ships mug!

Christina and Becca acted out our Legend of the Candy Cane story for the Mercy Ships families on the Christmas story telling night. They did a great job!

I also teach piano lessons on the ship. Me with my two star students Caleb and Ken after our Christmas recital. They are so precious and just the cutest guys ever!

We've seen quite a few beauties here on the sail - dolphins, whales, meteor showers and even a water spout pictured above.

My HR office after a rocky night

The sail was relatively painless the first eight days, however the last two days were quite a bit rockier due to the swells in the water. I would sit in my rolling chair in the office and every few minutes I'd roll to the other side of the room! This made for an interesting experience to say the least. I've never been on a cruise, but I can imagine that sailing on the Africa Mercy is a little more authentic with the constant rocking back and forth!

The view at sunset - absolutely breathtaking. All in all, very memorable times sailing up the coast of Africa. Next up, Tenerife, Spain!

Packing Up and Saying Goodbyes

2009-12-18T16:46:00.000-08:00

As the 2009 field service in Benin comes to a close, we've had many goodbyes over the past few weeks. The first was a very generous thank you dinner with the President of Benin Yayi Boni at his palace in Cotonou. Five Mercy Ships folks were knighted into the National Order of Benin on behalf of all the good works Mercy Ships has done for Benin. No small feat!

Here we are in our finest African attire getting ready to celebrate

The venue - the Presidential Palace

and the fabulous African entertainment: tribal dances with beautiful costumes

Who would have thought when in Africa we would dine with the President?

We also said goodbye to our 200+ day volunteers that live in the local community and came to work on the ship every day. Sadly I didn't bring my camera so the pictures are minimal. We ate, celebrated them, and appreciated all their hard work this year. One of my favorites is Rebecca. She and I spent every morning together as I dried my hair in the locker room while she folded the scrubs working in the laundry department. Every day she would just stare at me awkwardly. I couldn't figure out what her deal was. After a while I realized it was because the sight of my hair dryer amazed her! She had never used one before and turning it on every morning caused her to stop folding her scrubs and just watch me dry away in awe and wonder...every single day. Sometimes it's the little things here that still surprise me most. Only in Africa! =)

I constantly tease my friend Jesse about getting an African outfit made for him because he always says he'll never wear one. However, at our day volunteer event he was presented by his day volunteers in the galley with a nice African outfit which he wore proudly!

Me and Jamie with Jesse in his true African attire

In other thoughts on packing up, we prepared for the sail with a swimmers and pirate watch. Just a few weeks ago there were pirates of the coast of Benin that attacked a ship about 20 miles away from where we were docked. Watching for any unwanted visitors in the days before and after leaving was critical. This involved wearing some rather snazzy reflective gear up on deck eight between two and four a.m. and shining our huge flashlight (more like spotlight) into the water every 20 minutes to look for potential swimmers that might make their way up the side of the ship. Yes, that is a real possibility. We had some fun moments hanging out on deck eight amusing ourselves in the wee hours of the morning this past week.

A glowing Haley and I with our fun gear

Kelly: Is that a swimmer I see? Haley: No Kel, just a fish.

At one point my friends even took me hostage! Fun times on deck eight. So far we haven't had any unwanted guests, so I guess we are doing our job! Next up...the sail!

A Little Perspective

2009-12-18T14:56:00.000-08:00

Recently I had the opportunity to go with some friends to visit a few hospitals here in Cotonou. Was I in for an eye-opener. Six of us went with Jean, one of the translators on the Africa Mercy ward. He had some connections with the local medical folks that allowed us to tour both a government and a private hospital here in town.

People had mentioned that the African health care system was pretty different but I didn't know to what extent. Upon my arrival to the Africa Mercy this summer, I remember thinking that some of the equipment on board was pretty old in comparison to back home at PCH. Granted we are in the middle of Africa using donated supplies so this is to be expected. But after visiting the local hospitals here, I realized how lucky the Africans are that get the opportunity to come to our ship. It doesn't even compare.

The first hospital we visited was the local government hospital. Upon arrival we met the charge nurse and had a walking tour of multiple areas. Think of a creepy hospital horror movie with dingy lighting, dirty floors and rusty medical equipment. Then fill the halls with people sitting on gurneys, lying with open wounds, and their family members all just waiting around patiently. This was our tour of the ED. We learned that everyone has to pay for their own equipment, supplies, meds, and so on, and they don't get treated unless they have the cash up front. Even outside, there were tons of people milling around along all the walls of every building, with their blankets set up for sleeping and their cooking utensils in tow. Jean explained that the hospital doesn't provide food for the patients, so care givers must come to provide the necessary nutrition and sometimes even patient care, pretty much living outside the hospital doors in the sweltering heat.

We saw the OR's (one of three were being utilized as the surgeons were on strike) and we had the opportunity to see every exam room on our personal tour complete with patients being examined as we walked into their room! (HIPPA violation anyone?) About 70% of the people in the ED were there due to zimi accidents (the ever-present motorcycles that skid about town before crashing periodically). We learned that it cost about $8 US a day for a standard bed in the communal ward, and roughly $60 US day for a private room - VIP style.
As we walked to one of the OR's we encountered an overwhelming stench. I looked at my friend Christina and said "I think I'm going to throw up. What is that?" Now hospitals don't smell all that great to begin with, but this was unbearable. I had never smelled anything that literally made me gag instantly and I couldn't place it. As we walked closer to the OR I realized it was the smell of rotting flesh, coming from a man lying almost naked on a gurney set apart from everyone else. There was just a small sheet covering from his belly button to the bottom of his right leg. Other than the smell I noted the flies. They were everywhere. Upon further prodding, the nurse explained that this poor man had been lying there in the hallway all by himself for a week. The flies were due to the fact that his leg was rotting underneath this cloth and needed to be amputated, but he had no one to provide the money for the operation ($160 US) and the scan needed prior to amputation ($12 US). He only had enough for some antibiotics, so there he lay, drifting in and out of consciousness. It was awful to think that this was ok. Back home this man would have been treated emergently regardless of his financial status. We spoke to one of the doctors about paying for the operation and she didn't seem too optimistic that the surgeons would be off strike in time. Then she wished us well and sent us on our way. We left feeling rather defeated.

We moved on to visit the peds clinic (also where the dietitian works!) which looked very peds-friendly, as well as the dialysis center. On a more uplifting note, the doctor explained that people with renal disease get government funding for their dialysis trips. In the dialysis center things seemed pretty up to date. Some of the nurses even said these were the same dialysis machines they used at home. Such a stark contrast compared to the ED.

Our next stop was a private hospital where Jean's brother was an OR nurse. We had a patient show us his skull fracture via x-ray (he was rather excited) and then we happen to walk in on the preparation for a C-section. We were able to watch the whole entire thing from about 4 feet away! (Roughly HIPPA violation #18 at this point). We saw the much more sterile procedure this time around. We got to watch the epidural go in, and we saw the surgeon perform the cesarean and grab around in that mama's belly to pull the baby out. The crazy part was when the OR nurse actually handed the baby through the window one foot away from us on a platter (yes you read that correctly) for clean up. Then she proceeded to hand the umbilical cord through the window as well. We had the opportunity to stay and wait to see the baby, interestingly, before mom even got to hold her. We all took turns oohing and ahhing over this little bundle of love. It was so great to see this after our very dreary experience at the government hospital. While we were still noticeably in an African hospital by African standards, it was refreshing to see the joy of bringing a new life into the world. While we were waiting for the baby to be cleaned up we came across this ad on the wall below. Mercy Ships teaching in the local community!

Our African hospital tour provoked unexpected emotions in each of us. From the birth of a baby to a very unkind dying process we were each changed that day. The lack of access to good healthcare just doesn't sit well. So much of third world living won't ever sit well. Conclusion: When in Africa, never get sick.

P.S. After much more wrestling that night about what to do, we decided regardless that we wanted to try again to get this man his surgery. My friend Christina spoke with Jean and he returned to the hospital the next day. This man's brother arrived that day as well and the man did get his surgery. Unfortunately he died afterward - at least with dignity and surrounded by his family.

A Day at the Exodus House

2009-12-16T15:20:00.000-08:00

The world is as many times new as there are children in our lives ~Robert Brault

We went on a Sunday morning to deliver bags of rice, oil and school supplies. We sat in a hot and stuffy room consisting of wood benches and concrete walls, packed in with the sand fleas. The kids all sang their hearts out in a way I've never seen, and it was beautiful.

Exodus House is an orphanage on the outskirts of Cotonou. Mercy Ships has partnered with Exodus house and made multiple trips during this outreach to help build bunk beds, deliver food and school supplies, and just spend time getting to know the children. Usually between fifty and seventy five children reside here, some with families close by that just can't afford to keep them. Others don't have parents at all. I had the opportunity to visit the kids at Exodus Orphanage just once before our departure out of Benin.

About ten of us went on a Sunday morning to provide some donations and spend time with the children. We attended church where we sang songs (mostly in French) and I have never seen children worship with so much enthusiasm and love. Especially when you think of the circumstances in which they live and the passion they have. Completely inspiring. We heard a short message and we were encouraged to come up and share a favorite bible verse or word of encouragement.

After the church service we spent time playing with the kids. Living amongst fifty other children with just a few caregivers makes for some children that want love! This was apparent by their desire to constantly touch us and talk to us and just love on us the entire day. I brought stickers and nail polish which went a long way with everyone. Interestingly, the African children only want to paint their left hand. The right hand is the dominant hand used for every day tasks so they keep this hand unpainted.

One girl asked to get the nails on her right hand painted as well, and let me tell you, the other children were more than upset, as this was not ok!

Our very typical lunch by African standards. Yum!! Always available - massive amounts of carbohydrates (at least a good three cups of rice in this bowl)!

Our lunch was a gesture of thanks for all the work Mercy Ships had accomplished during our time in Benin. The children were amazingly well-behaved and had good manners and hygiene practices. This was so refreshing to see in comparison to the normal African standards of children on the street. In visiting just one time you could tell these children were cared for well. They were charming, friendly, joyful and beautiful!

This little guy was precious wearing my sunglasses!

Proud of her beautiful hand!

Leah and her new friends

People say the difference between happiness and joy is that joy is independent of circumstance. You can still be joyful when you have so little to call your own, because joy is an attitude of the heart. This was so evident amongst the children at Exodus House. They reminded me that the richest person isn't always the one who has the most, but rather the one who needs the least.

And the blogging returns....

2009-12-13T17:12:00.000-08:00

So this past month and a half has been just plain busy! My apologies for my blogging absence. But alas, we are now sailing up the African coast and I have a little more time to blog once again. I believe today we are passing Guinea. More to come on the sail later. Let's stay in chronological order here....and start back in early November. Let the blogging begin! =)

The Ghanaian Life

Eleven of us headed to Ghana for a long weekend last month. We became tourists and saw a few sights such as the Kakum National Park Canopy Walk where we walked 30 meters above the ground and got a bird’s eye perspective of the forest.

Only one of four canopy walks in the world, we learned that some of the chemo drugs used back at home called Vincristine and Vinblastine come from the rosy periwinkle found here in the rainforest. How educational!

We also visited the Portuguese slave castle in Elmina, which is just one of many slave castles along the Ghanaian coast. We learned that hundreds of thousands of slaves were captured in the African interior by slave-catchers and then sold to Portuguese traders in exchange for goods such as textiles and horses.

The slaves were subjected to all sorts of torture and indignities. They spent their days in dark dungeons, shackled, without room to live humanely. They were piled in so tight they couldn't lift their arms up and were made to eat and relieve themselves all in the same dungeon floor. After their captivity, they were sent through the castle’s infamous “Door of No Return” to be transported and resold in the "new America."

Next to the Door of No Return was this plaque:

Also very educational, but very sad history.

Next we went to Umbrella rock to get some good hiking in.

After our hike we had a chance to visit the waterfalls

The hike was long and the humidity was high. Despite the signs we couldn't resist a quick dip. Hopefully none of us encounter any parasitic friends in the months to come...we will see! =)

We also drove hours and hours on end to get to our daily destinations. But eleven people and a minivan can make for some interesting situations! Other than a few minor mishaps such as a breakdown in rural Benin...

...or the trunk flying open in Togo as we drove down the highway, we were good to go.

I came away from my Ghanaian experience with a new perspective on Africa. Ghana is one of the most developed West African nations. There are no zimi's (the ridiculous fatality-causing motorcycles and main mode of transit for many in Benin). Driving in Ghana without zimi's going every which way felt much more safe, not to mention more peaceful. The roads are regulated with guarded check points to ensure that there are no extra passengers in your car. Real in-the-ground gas stations are prevalent (and not just the imported Nigerian gas stands you see so often in Benin). And they speak English which is always nice. There were moments sitting in Ghana with my Mercy Ship friends that I thought I could be back at Kierland Commons after a day of shopping and eating appetizers in the sunshine. Snippets of my time in this African city of Accra were so similar to home.

However, not long after that thought, I was taken right back into my previous African mindset as I know in Benin. We went to get after-dinner drinks at a bar down the street and watched in awe as the amazingly limber African street performers did their acrobatic routines. While we were enjoying the street performers some girls of about ten or twelve came over and started talking to us. The first thing that came to mind was the fact that they were light-skinned. This caught me off guard as most everyone in Ghana is as dark as can be. While visiting the slave castle the previous day we learned that many light skinned Ghanaians were the product of rape, when the white government officials would rape the African slaves in the holding rooms of the slave castle. In chatting with these young girls we realized they weren't just looking to get to know a group of Americans. Rather they were working as child prostitutes and out to make a few bucks. Ugghhh. I was reminded that night on the streets of Ghana, that centuies later, slavery is still prevalent; perhaps not in the form we think of most, but it's there. Whether it be human trafficking or child labor exploitation or something else, there is a world of injustice right outside our door step if we care to look. So many of us are born into a life of privilege, while others will do just about anything to survive. Unfortunately, sometimes that "anything" can be a bit harrowing.

As I'd hate to end my blog on such a negative note, I thought I'd leave you with this. Gandhi once said we must be the change we wish to see in the world. I have a friend in Phoenix who is doing just that in regard to this human injustice. He works diligently to combat child prositituion in Phoenix. You can check out some amazing work of his organization here.

For the rest of my pictures of my weekend in Ghana (and definitely more uplifting!) check out this link here.

Fall Newsletter

2009-11-28T16:00:00.000-08:00

The first Newsletter is finished! You can read it here.

Alba's Tears

2009-11-10T12:47:00.000-08:00

This is a story written by Megan, who works in the Communications department here. Alba was on the ward about two months ago. I remember seeing her before her surgery with her rag over her mouth (to cover her tumor - not only the sight but also the smell) and she was so shy! The story is a good representation of what so many of our patients experience. Their lives are radically changed for the better after a successful operation. This story was nicely done so I thought it would be a good one to share...

Ankosua was outside carefully mixing herbs and water to create a concoction prescribed by a traditional doctor in her village. It was mid-afternoon, and her daughter, eight-year-old Alba, was sitting alone in their home. “She should be at school right now,” she thought. Struggling to hold back tears, she poured boiling water over the crushed herbs and sieved the mixture into a cup.

Two years earlier, an outgoing and vivacious Alba was attending school with her friends. Now, she spent her days hiding in a dark room, too insecure to look people in the eyes.

When the drink had cooled, Ankosua walked inside the home and handed Alba the cup. Taking the cup, Alba tilted her head back, creating a small gap between her cheek and the large tumor that filled her mouth. Slowly, she poured the liquid into the small gap and swallowed in intervals. While she watched her daughter struggle, Ankosua thought back to the day she first spotted the small bulge on Alba’s gum line. Never could she have imagined the fear and discouragement it would cause her heart.

After Alba had drunk the entire cup, she began crying. Ankosua couldn’t bear looking into the tear-stained eyes of her daughter. Slowly, she wrapped her arm around Alba, who then buried her head on Ankosua’s chest. As Alba’s tears collected on her shirt, Ankosua did her best to be strong.

But Ankosua was depressed. Alba had performed this routine hundreds of times, but the tumor hadn’t gone away. In fact, it was growing. At times, it felt like it was shooting out of her mouth, causing her great pain. Ankosua realized the traditional herbs were not working. There were no other options. All she could do was keep trying and pray the herbs would begin to work.
***********
“When the tumor first appeared, my husband and I took Alba to the hospital, but we didn’t have money to pay for it, so they wouldn’t treat her. We had to use traditional medicine,” said Ankosua. Alba was taken out of school so her mother could give her the traditional medicine daily.

When asked how the community treated Alba, Ankosua stared at the floor and remained silent. After a 10-second pause, she looked up, her eyes filled with tears, and she painfully replied, “Some people received Alba with good hands. They prayed for her and encouraged me. But others shunned her. They said, ‘Go away, we don’t want to see you.’”

Whenever it was time to eat or drink, Alba hid herself from other people. If she went out in public, she kept the tumor covered with a rag. It served as a disguise and caught the foul-smelling and constant drainage.

After two years of watching her daughter struggle, a woman in her village told Ankosua of a hospital in Benin that was performing free surgery. Finally – a glimmer of hope! They scrounged to get enough money for transportation and traveled to the hospital, which was hours away.

However, Ankosua’s new-found hope quickly morphed into deep disappointment. “We were there for two days, and nobody attended to us. I asked a woman who worked there why we weren’t being helped. She said, ‘They don’t do surgery for free, you have to deposit money.’ I trembled when she told me that. I had come with nothing,” said Ankosua sadly.

After Ankosua explained that she had no money for treatment, the woman told her about Mercy Ships. “This woman had heard Mercy Ships was in town, helping people and healing people for free. She gave me directions to the Africa Mercy, and I immediately went,” Ankosua added.
****
Still attached to noisy monitors and IV fluids, Alba had been dozing in and out of sleep since returning to the Africa Mercy ward. Finally, a few hours after surgery, she opened her eyes and sat up. Seeing she was awake, Becca, her nurse, came to Alba’s bedside and handed her a small mirror.

Alba looked down, paused in a state of bewilderment, and began touching the empty space on her mouth. The tumor was gone. After 20 seconds of staring, a single tear rolled down her cheek. With great determination, she tried not to cry. But another and then another tear soon followed. Finally, she gave up trying to hold them back and cried freely. Alba’s tears were earned through years of heartache and rejection. They were mature and raw – heavy tears for an eight-year-old to cry.

Ankosua stood next to her bed the entire time, carefully observing her daughter. When Alba began crying, she turned away. Ankosua couldn’t bear looking into her tear-stained eyes. After two hopeless years of discouragement and depression, healing had finally come. The mixture of joy and pain in that moment expressed itself in tears.

When Alba regained her composure, Ankosua returned to the bedside. Carefully, she wrapped her arm around Alba, who then buried her head on Ankosua’s chest. As Alba’s tears collected on her shirt, Ankosua did her best to be strong. But her heart was too overwhelmed with joy. Tears of relief and joy flooded her eyes as well. They sat and cried together, each tear serving as a testimony to the transforming power of God’s mercy.

Some thoughts on African Efficiency

2009-11-08T03:48:00.000-08:00

According to dictionary.com: efficient (i-fish-uh nt), an adjective, means performing or functioning in the best possible manner with the least waste of time and effort; having and using requisite knowledge, skill, and industry; competent; capable.

When I think of the African way of living these ideas aren’t the first to come to mind. However, there are some things that I just love about Africans and their efficiency…

Africans know how to pack stuff in. Driving hazard perhaps?

Lets hope there are no sharp turns!

Need a place to sleep? No worries – you’ve got the hammock under the truck

Banana Anyone?

They women carry babies on their backs everywhere - even while bowling

Or doing hair

Construction efforts involve local branches – how resourceful!

But my all time favorite event in regard to African efficiency occurred just this week

My friend Scott, whom I know from Phoenix, was working here as an anesthesiologist. We went out to dinner and had the most inedible chicken I’d ever attempted to consume - skinny chicken as they call it here. The waitress came over, took one look at our plates (which were as far as you could get from the clean plate club) and asked if we were done. We replied “yep, we are full” (translation: we couldn’t even cut the chicken let alone ingest it!) She then proceeded to compile our leftovers including our chicken bones, meat, mushy fries, and ketchup, putting half in a to-go box and the other half on one of our plates. Here’s where the African efficiency comes in….she then served the compiled leftover dish to the table next to us, and gave our mushy, half-consumed fries to some guy walking down the street. Only in Africa! =)

A Month of Games in Pictures

2009-10-26T14:07:00.000-07:00

"If winning isn't everything than why do they keep score?" As Vince Lombardi first said, I've learned here that most Africans would say the same. Africans take winning very seriously. On the contrary, they are pretty sore losers too! Some examples…

First, the soccer game here: Benin vs. Ghana. Ghana was already in for the world cup qualifier, but nonetheless the stands were full and the enthusiasm was high. I think the pictures speak for themselves

On the way to the game: mass transit – Benin style

A friend took this across the stadium. Can you find us? We stick out like sore thumbs!

After Benin scored the winning goal in overtime the crowd went a little crazy. Here me, Haley and James celebrating with one of the crazies all dressed up.

The following weekend we had something on the ship called the Benin Games. This was an organized ship event similar to a mini-olympics – with rather unique games.

Here are the Super Squirrels – Doug, Jamie, me, Christina, Danae and Murray. Yes that's right folks, the Benin futbol team mascot is the squirrel, and since we are wearing our Benin jersey’s we felt it appropriate to name ourselves accordingly. While our athletic abilities didn't bring in any awards, we did manage to go home with the best costume award at the end of the day.

We played numerous games including relays, ping pong and pictured here, the ski in Africa event.

After the Benin games, I was talking with Ellen, one of the ladies who works the Mercy Ships clinic off ship. She thought it would be fun to do something similar to the Benin games with all the patients at the clinic. So Jamie and myself offered to help out and run some of the games.

The African bowling event

Playing a "capture the balls blindfolded" game

And my personal favorite, pure bliss and celebration after this team won a “fill the water bottle the quickest" type event. Let me tell you they were excited! Singing songs of joy and dancing like they’d all just won the lottery! Although the other team was rather put out when they lost. I've also learned that Africans sure know how to pout!

But at the end of the day, even if the Africans are sore losers, they definitely get the concept that team victory is far more fun than individual glory. This made for some rather momentous shared joys here in Africa this weekend, and who wouldn't want in on that!

The Nine to Five Routine

2009-10-04T09:18:00.000-07:00

Some of you may be wondering what fills my working hours. Well here on the ship I work in Human Resources. I am in charge of processing the applications for all those that work in surgical positions like OR nurses, surgeons, and anesthesiologists, and all those that are considered part of the “general” crew – people who work in finance, PR, the Mercy Ships Academy (our pre K-12 school onboard), housekeeping, etc. We really are a whole little community here on the Africa Mercy! When someone is accepted to Mercy Ships their application gets scanned into the system in TX (at the world headquarters) and then we print everything off here in Africa and make a hard file for them. I facilitate part of the weekly orientation that occurs for all the newbies, which is a general overview of what life is like on the Africa Mercy, and lots of signing of forms for purposes of maritime law. It’s nice because I get to meet all the new people that come through Mercy Ships. I also prepare licensure documents for the Ministry of Health and communicate with everyone coming to welcome them and explain what happens with their initial orientation. Amidst all these desk-type tasks, someone probably comes into the office at least once every five minutes with a question about taking a vacation or to drop off evaluations or something else along those lines. So the constant flow of people helps to keep things varied. Here are the fabulous people with whom I work:

From left to right: Brenda and Anne, both from the UK, Beth and Christine, both from South Africa, Jo from the UK, and me - the only American! Agnes is missing. She is from Ghana and provides a little African perspective for our group.

I also get consults to see kiddos in the ward and help out from the nutrition end. So far I’ve been helping out primarily with the Baby Feeding Program. This involves all the underweight babies that are scheduled for cleft lip and palate repairs and ensuring that they take in enough calories to gain weight to get them ready for surgery. They often come in malnourished because they have problems with their suck due to their cleft lips, or most recently we have one little guy who is a premie and has a cleft palate. He came to us at 3 1/2 pounds. This is a photo of one of the little kiddos named Anicette with whom I’ve been working. When I came in August, she was severely malnourished and not gaining any weight despite taking in massive amounts of formula well over what a normal baby her size would need. This is a before shot - look at those tiny arms!

From the supply end, Mercy Ships relies heavily on donations. When I first started it was a process to figure out what kind of formula was available. I’d write up this whole note with a detailed recipe and specific directions on how to mix the concentrated formula, only to find out they’d switched the kid to a new formula as they’d run out of the previous one making all my work irrelevant. I’d then have to re-work my plan with the new formula which was a lot of calculating. This happened three times before I learned my lesson!

They do have a really great donation program set up with a major US formula company well known to me which has been helpful for some of the more complex kiddos. Within a week we were able to get Anicette a different formula shipped right from the states that is more easily digested, and since then she has been gaining weight like a champ. Here she is with a little more weight gain on her. She will get her cleft lip repair next month.

I’ve also helped out with writing nutrition education materials and consulting on other general nutrition issues as they come up. Most recently yesterday they asked me to come downstairs and see a little girl named Gisele. Gisele, her mother and sister had come the day before from Nigeria. Gisele has cataracts in both her eyes so she sees minimally. When the doctor saw them in the morning, she told Gisele’s mother that because she was so emaciated and had some unspecified liver and heart problems they didn’t think her body would be able to handle the stress of the surgery. They were sending her home. They called me down to talk about high calorie African foods in hopes that if she put on more weight, perhaps she could come back next year, should she be in an overall healthier state. Although in all honesty the doctor didn’t know if she would make it. She weighs about 20 pounds and is 5 years old. In comparison, a healthy five year old girl should weigh about 40 pounds. Her diet consists of just beans, rice and water.

Gisele’s mother wouldn’t even look at me when we were talking. She was so devastated. Here was this mother who had traveled across the country with the hope that her daughter would now be able to see again, only to have her joy crushed due to the resulting complications of her socioeconomic status. I felt helpless as I sat there talking to the family. Often it’s not so much a matter of educating these families on high calorie/protein foods and variety, but rather finding the financial means available to feed them. You can only send someone home with so much Pediasure. Someone here recently said it's a sad reality when you realize that where you are born so often determines how you will die. Please pray for God’s provision in the coming months as Gisele and her family return to Nigeria. Please pray that they would have the financial means available to them and that Gisele would gain weight. Pray that her body would return to its previously healthy state and that she would be able to return to us next year. Please pray that God would bring them peace.

Cheap Ways to Amuse Yourself in Africa

2009-10-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

Sometimes work is really busy and at the end of the day, I am glad to be done! In my off hours over the last few weeks I’ve had some pretty fun times, mainly due to the creative minds of those that have been here longer than I. Without mountains to hike or the convenience of entertainment by American standards (not to mention an income), all us Mercy Shippers have had to come up with our own means of cheap fun.

A few weekends ago we had an 80’s party. Everyone got completely decked out, thanks to some fabulous finds in town and something here on board called "the boutique." The boutique is like a Good Will, where those leaving the ship can drop off unwanted items and those staying can scrounge through the goods and take anything for free. As the saying goes, one person’s trash is another’s treasure! I snagged a sweet Michael Jackson shirt, some plastic heart bracelets and a nice t-shirt tie for our 80's extravaganza. Everyone had fun as we danced the night away up on deck 8, the top level of the ship.

This past week I had to go to the US Embassy here in Cotonou to get something notarized. My friends Christina and Sarah and I decided to bike to the Embassy across town just to see more of Cotonou and to get off the ship. We checked out some mountain bikes from deck 8, and managed to carry them down four flights of very narrow stairs to get to the dock. Unfortunately it was raining which made things interesting as we waded through shin deep puddles of rainwater mixed with who knows what else in our flip-flops. We did make it to the Embassy in one piece, but encountered some open manholes in the middle of the sidewalk which made for an unusual experience! Everyone kept laughing and pointing at us yovo’s (the term for white people here) as they thought we were ridiculous riding around in the rain. Well worth it though as we saw more of Cotonou and had a great time.

I also went to Grand Popo this weekend. It’s a beach town about two hours out of the city. For a mere $3/ night we got to camp here and use the facilities of a nice pool and a beautiful beach (complete with an African, his machete and coconuts at our disposal!) Such a good deal. Some of my favorites of the weekend in Grand Popo:

The speedometer in our minibus that read 0 km per hour the entire way. I’m quite certain we were driving over the speed limit even by African standards for most of the trip. Very safe. Especially when we got pulled over.

An African gas station. Imported Nigerian gas. Probably watered down quite a bit.

Just filling up. Check out those sweet African pants!

The beautiful African scenery on the two hour ride there! This is what Africa is all about.

The fisherman along the beach.

The whole village participates in carrying the nets and bringing the fish in.

We also went out one morning with Roger, a local guide. He showed us around Grand Popo via this canoe. It was literally a huge hollowed out tree. Absolutely amazing.

We visited the mangroves (a malaria breeding ground) and also learned about local fishing practices (different in this small village as compared to the huge nets that were cast into the ocean in my previous pictures.) Here we met some fun friends that were hanging out in this basket in the lake ready to escape at any moment...yikes. Glad I wasn't swimming in these waters!

Our last stop with Roger was a small voo doo village in Grand Popo called Heve. We got off the canoe and were met by a swarm of people. Apparently the village had been flooded and they were handing out new mats for people to sleep on. Pure chaos ensued. The people of Heve were elated to get these new thin, straw mats upon which to sleep on the hard ground. Some good perspective of a life so different than my own. Roger introduced us to the voo doo chief of Heve as well. Below is Legba, a fetish. A fetish is an object meant to contain the power of a spirit - here the spirit of protection over the village.

Most Africans here practice Catholicism in the morning and voo doo at night. In talking with Roger and our varying differences in religious beliefs, he assured me he only practices "good" voo doo. He explained to me that while many see voo doo as evil, there are also good practices associated with the religion. Bad voo doo involves curses and witchcraft, where as good voo doo involves healing sickness similar to folk medicine. To conjure up these spirits of healing the voo doo practitioners must sacrifice things. Roger uses oil and coke and sometimes animals. Oil and coke are not the first things that come to mind when I think of healing sickness, but then again, this is Africa. Never a dull moment here!

Animistic traditions shape the way people function here. They so often live in fear and feel the need to sacrifice regularly. They live fatalistically. We see this at Mercy Ships with so many of the babies that are born with cleft palates. The mothers believe babies born with deformities are evil. Some would rather let their children starve to death than get them help. Sadly, this happened with one of the cleft palate babies right before I came.

In the states the presence of spiritual warfare is often seen as taboo by so many, but being here and seeing voo doo life makes me realize how prevalent animism really is. My hope is that the presence of Mercy Ships here in Africa does change Africa for the better. But experiencing this makes me realize there's a long way to go. "For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline" ~ 2 Timothy 1:7

It was quite the eye opening weekend from the serenity of Grand Popo to the voo doo history of Heve...

...but at $3/night in the presence of good company and beautiful scenery, I'm sure I'll be back soon!

Interesting medical tidbits with an African twist

2009-09-19T15:39:00.000-07:00

Back at PCH I worked with kiddos that had cancer - varying kinds including cancers of the blood or tumors of the central nervous system just to name a few. Here in Africa, there seems to be an unusually high amount of Burkitt's Lymphoma, which is a malignant cancer of the lymphatic system. I read somewhere that Burkitt’s accounts for almost 75% of African childhood malignancies but back in the US I saw just a handful of kids with Burkitt’s. I was talking about this with one of the physicians here and she shared this interesting fact with me:

Yep, Burkitt’s is the most common childhood cancer in equatorial Africa. Here in Africa they call it "endemic" Burkitt's which has a different etiology as compared to the "sporadic" Burkitt's at home in the states. With endemic Burkitt's there seems to be a connection between other common viruses that play a role in increasing risk for Burkitt’s. Epstein-Barr virus, which commonly causes mono, is one of these. B-lymphocytes in these children have been infected with EBV. Unfortunately EBV coupled with chronic malaria (which so many Africans have) causes a reduced resistance to the virus. This allows the virus to change the infected B-lymphocytes into cancerous cells, leading to the development of lymphoma. Interestingly though, in areas where malaria had been eradicated, Burkitt’s Lymphoma has declined dramatically. Who knew Malaria prevention might help eliminate cancer in Africa?

Back at PCH I also was part of a comprehensive clinic for kids with Sickle Cell Disease. Interesting fact #2: Those with Sickle Cell trait have a genetic advantage for malaria prevention.

Sickle Cell Disease is a blood disorder in which red blood cells are sickle shaped due to a hemoglobin gene mutation. The sickled cells get stuck in small blood vessels during periods of high activity, resulting in pain, fever, swelling and tissue damage – often called a vaso-occlusive crisis. In order to have full Sickle Cell Anemia you must have two copies of the mutant gene, one given by each parent. So those with just one mutant gene and one healthy gene have something called sickle cell trait. Kids with sickle cell trait don’t experience nearly the physical effect of the disease as those with sickle cell anemia.

The beauty of sickle cell trait is that it provides a reduced susceptibility to certain types of malaria. Since the gene is recessive, carriers can produce a few sickled red blood cells (too few to cause symptoms but just enough to provide resistance against malaria). The malaria plasmodium can’t infest itself fully in red blood cells that are sickled, so the cells rupture making the plasmodium unable to reproduce itself. In some African regions, up to 40 percent of the population carries at least one mutant hemoglobin gene, keeping Malaria away in these folks. It’s kind of crazy how genetics works out sometimes!

Why I Wear Shoes In Africa

2009-09-15T13:22:00.001-07:00

A concrete ledge about two feet wide sits along one side of our dock. It protects us from falling into the ocean below. When you sit on the ledge you look out to this:
It’s become a new favorite spot of mine when I just want to get off the ship and get away from folks. The breeze is cool and it’s refreshing to take in this wide expanse that has no visible end. It reminds me of Malibu (minus the ever-present ocean debris and the constant smell of garbage).

So this weekend, as Jamie and I were doing some Beth Moore on this ledge and enjoying the peaceful scenery, I glanced behind me onto the dock to see an African woman, about fifty years old, legs spread and squatting with her colorful African dress hiked up. Yep that’s right folks - she was peeing on the concrete next to my new favorite spot. It was only a matter of seconds before the smell of her urine made its way over to us sitting so contently. Small bladders are quite the trend here let me tell you. It's the little things like this that remind me that I am in Africa. This happens all the time and it shouldn't surprise me anymore. But it still does. I’m not quite sure how long it will take before I'm used to this.

Blood Donation Done A Little Differently

2009-09-11T16:50:00.000-07:00

Here on the Africa Mercy we each have the opportunity to be blood donors. At any given moment, your name could be called over the PA system to go to the lab to give your blood to someone in need right then and there. Last Thursday afternoon, my day came as I was sitting in my weekly work meeting and heard my name being called. Due to my travel history I haven’t been able to give blood for years in the states. However, here in Africa the need to protect the patients from Malaria isn’t nearly as relevant, so donating blood African style isn’t really an issue.

As the lab tech was drawing my blood, I really appreciated the nurse who came in and said “dang it, I’m so sad I missed the needle stick. I never see needles this big! We don’t use these in peds!” Very comforting. Five hundred mls lighter, I sat drinking my coke as my still-warm whole blood was transported directly to the OR for the patient in surgery.

The best part about blood donation on the Africa Mercy is that we have the opportunity to meet and hang out with the recipients of our donation after their surgeries. My blood went to a lady named Iyabo. She had a huge benign tumor removed from the side of her head and then had some skin grafted from her thigh. Here on the ward, the concept of HIPPA somewhat goes out the window as everyone shares a communal room, not to mention constant interaction with all those in your five foot radius. So what was intended as a get to know you visit with Iyabo soon turned into a Jenga-fest on the B ward as the ladies in the neighboring beds laughed as we played game after game of Jenga. Whether it be sharing in a game of Jenga or sharing some blood, life here on the Africa Mercy never ceases to amaze me.

Experiencing Africa Venice Style

2009-08-31T12:33:00.001-07:00

This weekend twelve of us headed by boat to a village called Ganvie. What makes this village so interesting is that it sits about six feet above Lake Nokoue – entirely on stilts. Ganvie is home to roughly 25,000 Africans of the Tofinu tribe. The stilt village was built to escape enslavement from a neighboring tribe called the Fon. The Fon people believed the water was cursed so they wouldn’t fight over it. Therefore, the Tofinu people lived safely thanks to the water below them. In Tofinu, Ganvie translates to “those who finally found peace.”

Given the large prevalence of water-borne disease here in Africa, I find this whole “safety by water” history slightly ironic. Example in point: this highly technological toilet where you relieve yourself into your own personal water plot. Good thing no one fell in.

In Ganvie, everyone travels by handmade canoe to the various homes, school, medical clinic, hotels, bars, beauty shops, and even the local post office. Each family has its own plot of water on which to fish. At one point the government tried to tax the Ganvie citizens for the water plots, but the people refused, claiming that their ancestors had the rights to the water and so should they. Eventually the government gave up.

Fishing drives the economy as evidenced by the many fishermen casting their nets on the hour long boat ride north out of Cotonou. The people of Ganvie plant branches on the lagoon bottom. As the branch leaves decompose, the fish come and the fisherman cast their nets.

Tourism also thrives. The African children here understand economics all too well as they readily beg to exchange anything - a photo op or a pretty African flower for a shiny new coin. Tours to this small retreat of African life are a daily occurrence, so the citizens of Ganvie were less than thrilled to have their picture taken (unless of course some form of payment was involved.) Most of my pictures are still shots, as I didn’t want to exacerbate the tourism tendencies. Click here to check out my photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33470&id=1038415965&l=3e90c4f7c0

Other highlights: The Challenge of Driving

Being that Cotonou is a major port access for the rest of the country, many cargo trucks sit for hours on end waiting to get onto the dock. Since we didn’t want to wait endlessly with these trucks that were blocking the entire road, we just went over the median and drove on the wrong side of the street. Conclusion: land rovers are a most definite necessity here in Africa.

Week One Highlights

2009-08-25T05:53:00.000-07:00

The days fly by too quickly living on this huge ship. So many told me I would have all this down time without grocery shopping and bills to pay and errands to run, but thus far, no such luck. Life here on the Africa Mercy is proceeding at an alarming rate, and I’m learning that I need to be more intentional with my time. So for now, just a quick re-cap via photos.

The Gates family has arrived! The “Gates family” is my Gateway fam - all the people with whom I spent the last month in TX, learning and growing in numerous ways. As of this week, the majority of us are here, with a few stragglers making their way in the coming months. It's so nice to have these folks around as we share the newness of ship life together. Ahhh community living - only gets better from here!

I visited the hospitality center this weekend. This is the equivalent of an out-patient clinic just down the way from the Africa Mercy dock. It houses the pre and post-op patients as the Africa Mercy hospital beds are at a premium. A mattress sits underneath each patient bed so a care giver can sleep next to the patient, and the mosquito nets are above.

Mercy Ships had a local group come in and paint fun themes above each bed space - usually fruits, animals, and such....except for this very kid-friendly hatchet! Supposedly, it was painted to chop away the sickness.

Eating ice cream. While this may not seem like quite the momentous occasion, I share this point only because as Jesse and Jamie and I are enjoying our milky desserts this past weekend the power goes out. All the employees just get up in the dark and walk downstairs, leaving us to sit and eat our ice cream in the pitch black stillness of the African ice cream shop.

As I continue on into my pistachio milkshake, the power returns. But no, just a few sweet seconds later it goes out again. Pure third world electrical goodness.

Hotel Du Lac - where many Mercy Shippers relax on their off days, was our Saturday excursion. As you can see, I unfortunately was a bit early in the group flip effort. We had a group diving board effort as well.

That's a recap of some fun tidbits from the past week.* Now, off to French class. While many of the Africans speak the local dialect (42-plus dialects in Benin alone) French is the official language of both Benin and Togo (the 2010 Mercy Ships location)…and just in - the ship will be spending the second half of 2010 in South Africa. Now, I’m really late for class. Au revoir!

*Of note, I actually am working here in Africa despite what my current blog updates may depict. More on that soon.

Just A Day At The Beach

2009-08-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

Thus far I've been settling in quite nicely and relaxing. It was a three day weekend here on the ship which means a good majority of the people went out of town. I couldn't find anyone who actually knew what the holiday was that we were celebrating on Friday, but according to Wikipedia, we were celebrating Assumption Day, which honors the virgin Mary’s ascent to heaven. In addition to unpacking, trying to sleep and getting things settled, a bunch of us went to the beach, or rather the "beach club." Yes that's right, this beach club is complete with ocean, pool and tennis court. Brings me back to my Malibu days! (Other than the constant slight stench of African body odor and the smelly water) ..... =)

Picturesque!

Haley, me and Jamie soaking up some African sun

Work starts tomorrow so I’m off to bed. In the meantime, here are some fun facts I’ve acquired from various sources – the CIA World Factbook, WHO and Wikipedia (so I don't think I can validate the authenticity of this last resource), but interesting nonetheless!

Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in Western Africa with a population of almost 8,500,000. Its capital is Porto Novo, but the seat of government is Cotonou (where we are docked). Benin is slightly smaller than Pennsylvania and the coastline measures 75 miles. In the north and the northwest of Benin the Reserve du W du Niger and Pendjari National Park attract tourists eager to see elephants, lions, antelopes, hippos, and monkeys.

About a third of the population lives below the international poverty line of US $1.25 per day. Natural resources include small offshore oil deposits, unexploited deposits of high quality marble limestone, and timber. Agricultural products include corn, sorghum, cassava, tapioca, yams, beans, rice, cotton, palm oil, cocoa, peanuts, poultry, and livestock.

Although trade unions in Benin represent up to 75% of the formal workforce, the large informal economy has been noted by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITCU) to contain ongoing problems, including a lack of women's wage equality, the use of child labour and the continuing issue of forced labour.

The population is young, with a life expectancy of 59 years. The average number of children born is 5.49 children born/woman (2009 est.) 148 children out of 1000 will die before the age of five. 31% of the children who don't die by the age of five are stunted in their growth due to lack of proper food supply.

Local languages are used as the languages of instruction in elementary schools, with French only introduced after several years. Education (2007): 48% of men are literate, and 23% of women are as well. The school life expectancy (primary to tertiary): Male: 9 years, Female: 6 years.

Several religions are practiced in Benin. Animism is widespread (50%), and its practices vary from one ethnic group to the other. Muslims account for 20% of the population and Christians for 30%. Many nominal Muslims and Christians continue to practice animistic traditions. Voodoo originated in Benin and was introduced to Brazil and the Caribbean Islands by African slaves taken from this particular area of the Slave Coast.

Benin's politics take place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, where the President of Benin is both head of state and head of government, within a multi-party system. The political system transitioned to democracy in 1991 after many previous years of political unrest.

Pretty interesting stuff!

Finally Here

2009-08-15T04:29:00.000-07:00

So I thought I had this time difference thing all worked out, but at four a.m. and two Benadryl later, I am still wide awake. Time for a blog update!

Jamie and I made it in late Wednesday night. We were two hours late, thanks to our fellow passengers that were meandering around the Paris airport somewhere, holding up the departure of the plane. No need to just leave without them (perhaps the more logical choice by American standards), as that would require finding their luggage underneath the plane. So we waited….and waited some more. This concept of “African time” has begun! Joy =)

Since my arrival a mere two days ago it still feels somewhat surreal that I am actually here. I first heard about Mercy Ships over two years ago and got really excited about going at that time. But the more I prayed about it then, the more God changed my heart and made me sad about leaving my job at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. So I stayed. Now, two and a half years later, after much more prayer and confirmation, I know this is where I’m supposed to be, and I love it. I love meeting all these people here and I love learning their stories. I love that I constantly have to steady myself as the ship sways back and forth all day long (which, by the way, makes for a very interesting attempt at an early morning Tae Bo session.) I love that if I want, I can catch up with old friends over ice cream on deck seven as the smell of the ocean air envelops us. I really just love soaking in the newness of it all. I am finally here.

If you know me well, I’ve probably whipped out one of my quote books in discussion. Perhaps a tad bit corny, but I think they are great. I thought I'd share this one I came across recently, as I think it really exemplifies the mindset of those here. It's called "A Benediction":

"May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace. May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy. And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done." ~ Unknown

I've barely gotten my feet wet here on the Africa Mercy, but I've seen what a cool group of people these folks are. They do really amazing things. Call me foolish, but I’m so happy to be here amongst them.