Africa On My Mind

Blessing(s)

2011-05-16T15:31:00.000-07:00

When I heard Blessing was coming back to this ship this outreach and out on the dock I got so excited! Blessing is one of my favorite patients from Liberia back in 2008...she has had several surguries from us at different stages for noma on her face. Noma is the flesh eating bacteria that can leave gaping holes in the flesh. We made a new lip for her in Liberia. I can still remember her and Marthlyn trying to teach each other how to talk. One had no lip and one had a cleft lip repair. It was quite funny and rediculously cute!

I finally got down to the ward to see her and her mom today. She is so big and hardly recognizable. I brought a picture with me of her and I in case she was too young to remember. Her mom gave me a big hug and I think Blessing seemed to remember me, but she had just gotten out of surgery and a bit groggy. It's so fun to see how well she is doing from the last time I saw her...and hear some Liberian english from her mom (Blessings lips were out of commission after surgery again).:) She looks so good! Below is a picture of her on a chair next to me on deck 7.

Another patient from Togo last year was also flown in for further surgery. Afi had a huge neurofibroma on her face. Quite a bit was removed last year but it could not all be taken care of. We sent her back to her village last year after instructing a family member how to do her extensive wound care. You always wonder how those situations will turn out...if there will be healing or infection. It was great to see her back and looking fabulous. Her face had healed up great. She had surgery Monday here and things went well. She did lose alot of blood and ended up in the ICU for a day but is doing great now. She is still super shy because of her deformity and probably being in a new place also, but we will keep working on that;)

Tani is another favorite from last year who is supposed to come back for more surgery but there are visa issues...so we can keep praying her her to make it here.

It is just such a joy to see patients return and see how well they have done since the last surgery. God is good!

I SPY

2011-05-14T05:24:00.000-07:00

So now you can see why we need divers going down 2 times a day to keep the intakes clean or else we lose air conditioning and power -mission critical. It is quite a bad situation with all the trash that gets put in the water along with the crazy currents. We are currently frantically looking for a full time diver. Right now we only have a handful of divers that volunteer and 3 of them happen to be nurses which we also need to work full time on the ward...so Timo and Dan have been doing both. Many people have been putting in lots of extra time and effort. The diving conditions are less than ideal and down right scary at times with visability about 1 foot! Keep them in your prayers!

If you look closely you can see Olly...one of my favorite mates whose family is my family on the ship. I believe the other one pictured is Dan...one of our ICU nurses. It does not always look that bad in the water, but down below always seems to be quite dark and trashy.

One of my friends who was diving said that as he surfaced once he realized the sewage tank was getting emptied......onto him. MMM. Those divers are amazing..and pretty miraculous they are all still healthy more or less.

Stuck Between a Rock and a Bronchus

2011-05-04T14:00:00.000-07:00

I just want to update everyone on a story that is a bit overdue about God's continued faithfulness here. A couple weeks ago through an unusual circumstance we had a small girl come to the ship with "an object in her throat". This little girl has supposedly inhaled a rock a couple weeks before. We usually do not do any type of "emergency surgery", but in this case the patient was brought to the ship. A local ENT surgeon was brought to do the surgery, they just needed anesthesia which we could provide. When I first heard about this, I kind of groaned because I feel like often when we allow special circumstances to happen that we usually would not do we often set ourselves up for problems.

This was supposed to be a simple surgery that turned into a 6 hour long operation. You know it's hairy when even the orthopedic surgeon on board eventually goes in to check up them. During community meeting that Thursday night about 4 or 5 hours into the surgery they had us all pray. In my mind I was dreading the worst. I was envisioning a little girl losing her life here and having to process this with all the new nurses and justify what happened. The surgery was finished after 6 hours with the rock still stuck in the little girls bronchus. They tried everything...even a last ditch effort of super glue to get it out only pushing it down further. Little Josephine came back to ICU not doing so hot. I have to be honest that I really did not feel good about this supposedly simple operation turning horribly wrong.

I can proudly report though, that God worked in some amazing ways to allow this girl to be discharged last Friday with a great prognosis! Here are just a few ways God is amazing.

1. The first night Josephine got back from surgery intubated one of our adult ICU nurses was taking care of her. At around 2 am my roomate who is a pediatric nurse and was charge nurse in a ward down the hall decided to go check on this nurse and patient. At about the exact same time a pediatric ICU nurse was feeling restless in bed and could not sleep so decided to get some tea. She could not stop thinking about the ICU so decided to meander down to check on the patient. Both my roomate and this other nurse walked in at the precise moment the little girl was going down hill. The adult ICU nurse is used to leaving the airway in no matter what so she did not think to pull it out. The pediatric ICU nurse came just in time and said to pull the airway. Sure enough, they pulled it, and the airway had gotten clogged. They were able to reintubate the child and save her life. This happened very fast, but the fact that God orchestrated the two pediatric nurses to come in at that exact moment was a miracle and saved her life.

2. We do not always have pediatric anesthesia providers on board...but during the several days the patient was hospitalized and in ICU we had an AMAZING pediatric anesthatist - Michelle White- here to help provide care for this patient when she was doing very poorly and she was able to help run the code at 0530 one morning when the girl was struggling again.

3. God also orchestrated a cardiothoracic surgeon to fly in from Kenya on less than a days' notice to do a thorocotomy and get the rock out of the lung. This is not a surgery we do on the ship, but again, God provided. That weekend when we all of the sudden needed a pediatric ICU nurse, a couple of our few pediatric ICU nurses happened to be the ICU nurse cover for the weekend. We even had an ICU nurse who worked on a thoracic unit back home scheduled to be the ICU nurse a couple days later which was perfect when the patient had a chest tube!

All of this to say...God continues to blow me away here! So many times I have seen God provide the exact right people at the right time. When we have patients with specific issues it seems God always provides a nurse with that specialty who happens to be volunteering here at the specific time we need it. He provides the exact right ICU nurses and anethetists for the exact time we need it. He even provides the right surgeons at the right time for example when my friend had his finger chopped off last year and an orthopedic surgeon who has a specialty in hands happened to be on board to sew his finger back together. I do not know why I even consider doubting God any more. I am human so I still feel myself in that place at times, but absolutely LOVE it when God continues to work miracles and provide for dim situations right in front of my eyes. May HE continue to get the glory for what happens here. So many times situations are beyond our control, expertise, knowledge...but God continues to prove that HE is so much bigger than our limited resources and knowledge.

After the second surgery, Josephine did very well and was discharged less than a week later! She is coming back for a follow up appointment tomorrow actually. Here is a picture of this precious little miracle baby.

On a side note...this mom and dad lost their other little baby earlier this year, so it was awesome that we could be a part of giving their only child left another chance at life. To God be the glory!

Screening, Water Shortage, and Electricity Outage

2011-04-08T16:12:00.000-07:00

One of the views from deck 7 looking into Freetown...a beautiful site!

So once again I am behind on my blogs. It has been a couple weeks since our second screening day. If you have not already heard, it went super well. Thanks so much for all the prayers. God even granted us cloud cover! We got to the site around 0500. A few friends were on the overnight security team. They made sure things did not get out of hand and even did a little pre screening. We finished seeing everyone around 2pm. I am sure there were not as many people there as were at the original screening. It makes me sad that some people that came from far away for the original one did not get seen. I continue to pray for God's faithfulness in the situation. I think part of the reason the line was not as long was because we had so many pre screeners...who went down the line to get the obvious ones out-ex. dental and eye who get seen at our clinics in town and the usual illnesses that we cannot do anything about. I did see some large tumors and many little ones with crooked legs. The last patient who barely made it in the gate is the cute little boy pictured with me below. We had packed up, but managed to find the appointment cards to get him one:) The surgery schedule is not quite filled but we got a good start on it. Not sure if we will need to have another screening later in the year or not. So you can join in praise to God with me for the safety of all those involved and the success of the day.

On another note...we are continuing to just have a rough start here. It is getting better, but every time we seem to be getting somewhere we have another set back. This past week the power went out unexpectedly for a little bit. There were four patients on different operating room tables. The generators did kick in as they should, but made us a bit nervous when the flickered a few times. All the patients were fine and surgery was able to continue. God is good. It is cool in times like these when we can stop what we are doing on the wards and pray together for the outcome:) One of the return anesthetists, Dr. Heinz, laughed later when I asked him how it went when the power died. He said, "I finally got to use the headlamp I keep around my neck instead of feeling silly for always carrying it around with me!" The simple things you take for granted:)

We are also now on a water shortage. Apparently a water main in town broke last week and we have become quite short on water. It has gotten so bad that in order to prevent us from having to cut the surgery schedule short we are not allowed showers and the laundry room is closed. This ship could become quite smelly soon:) So far everyone is handling it pretty well and getting creative with keeping clean..or lack there of;) I used water bags to rinse off after my hike this morning...seemed to work ok. I have to say a bunch of us chuckled when a group returned from the beach yesterday covered in red dirt from head to toe from the poda poda (bus taxi) ride....only to get onto the ship to read on the captain's board "no showers". Hopefully we will be back up to capacity in our water situation within the next few days so we can shower again! We have been using water trucks to bring in water in the meantime, but the water is dodgy so will take even longer to clean before it is usable for the ship. I hear it was a problem for the city also as hotels were having to pay large sums of money to haul in water. All this while they are trying to prepare for the big 50th Anniversary Celebration April 27.

A Picture or Two Will Do

2011-03-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

Here are just a couple pictures I have taken. I hope to get one soon of the veiw of the town from the ship. It is quite beautiful, but it is often dark by the time I have time and think about it...

Reminder that screening day is this Saturday. Please pray! I will be back on the pre-screening team. Which means saying no to lots of people...and praying for wisdom to say yes to the right ones. Although me saying yes only means they will get screened for surgery, but still please pray for wisdom as we try to work through thousands on Saturday...also pray for stamina emotionally, spiritually, and physically...for the whole crew! May God be glorified Saturday and the right people be present for us to help!

The 500 year old cotton tree downtown Freetown. Beautiful big tree with the most unique huge trunk! This tree has seen soooo many things...if only it could tell stories.

Frisbee with the locals. As you can see my light grey shirt is dark cause I dove and caught the frisbee in the ocean as a wave crashed over me. Probably my one and only sweet sports move in my lifetime:) Of course the next day we got an email not to be barefoot on the beach and not to swim here...oops. Water felt woderful and it was so good to get off the ship a bit. So far I have not become deathly ill;)

Of course their endurance way outlasted us but it was great fun. Hope to play them regularly. The best part was at around noon when we had played 2 games to 10 and us Mercy Shippers were exhausted thinking it was over...when their coach said, "ok, 10 minute break before final game." Haha...we crawled onto the field for one more but convinced them to only play to 7 for the last game:) We actaully starting winning the last game..at which point they put in all their best players:)

"Wake Up and Eat"

2011-03-16T14:32:00.000-07:00

One of these days I will get around to actually updating the country I am in on my blog...one day:)

In the meantime I just wanted to write since I have not updated since we opened the ward on Sunday. It is SO exciting to have patients...especially REALLY cute little bowed leg ones running around! Im not going to lie though. The first few days have been maddness! I could make a huge list of all that we have dealt with, but I will spare you and only tell you a few to give you a feel. I find much of what I say is hard to translate without having experienced the ship and the hospital ward, but I will do my best to relay that. One of the first obstacles included getting 22 patients right from the start (as a result of the failed screening - we brought some from up country). Many were meant to be "hotel" patients not needing care but we had about 6 with malaria, 4 with scabies to name a few. So now we have 22 patients and trying to staff for it when we were not prepared. We more or less have all new nurses on the ward with LOTS of questions. They have had an orientation but no precepting like nurses get later in the outreach when we have experienced nurses to do this (Don't get me wrong, this is how it usually is and it's great...but just adds to the chaos). Then on top of that we have new local translators we are responsible for training as they start this week. This is just the very small list. So as you can imagine as we work we usually get 4 questions for every one that we answer;)

The new nurses have been AWESOME and really have stepped up to the plate. I think after these first 2 weeks of training everyone things will calm down a bit. God has TOTALLY provided though. Every moment I think about all that needs to be done or all the issues and think there is no way this is going to pan out...I know deep down God is in control and will be faithful and provide in the moment for what needs to be. And He has done this every day. It is amazing how things have come together. I always wonder why I ever underestimate God;) You'd think by now I would have this figured out. Yet I often find myself doubting again...only to be proven wrong by God. He always ends up showing up..maybe not as soon as I'd like, but faithful every.....single.....time. In his own timing and his own way.

So before I bore you any longer I just wanted to let you know I am doing ok and surviving my new role as assistant ward supervisor. It has been very busy but God has given me the strength, wisdom, support I need when I need it.

A cute story for the road:
In the midst of putting in another 12 hour day today and the chaos of again moving beds around to accomodate constant change I just had to laugh and got to enjoy the kids and some fun moments. At one point we had just moved a few patients into B ward along with some new arrivals. The 3 caregivers were asleep on their beds in the empty ward and 3 little ADORABLE kids (2 with casts on both legs) were sitting on the floor shoveling food into their little mouths. At one point the kids were telling their parents all to wake up and eat. One by one the parents woke up, streched and realized it was dinner time. I just loved how the little ones were running the show. Maybe you had to be there, but it was the cutest thing. Times like this make me smile and keep my mind focused in the right direction - not stressed but enjoying life's little moments. Oh, to have a childlike view on life...and not take it too seriously!:)

National Clean Up Day

2011-03-12T16:24:00.000-08:00

Well, it's national clean up day here in Sierra Leone today. I find it a bit amusing. From looking around in town when I had been through I think it will take more than one of those days to get this city looking nice and no trash everywhere. Although, I was impressed when a friend of mine dragged me off the ship today for a bit in between work. There were actually large trash piles everywhere. A friend of mine works in the engine room and said apparently it is all getting dumped into the river and causing problems for our ship and clogging up vents down below.
So I guess national clean up day here is also national pollution day as well:) It was soo good to get off the ship for a bit though. People here are so friendly and I have to say it is refreshing to be back in a country with english signs and english speaking people so you can have a conversation longer than, "hi, how are you."

The wards are finally looking ready for opening tomorrow. I did panic a bit on Friday when I walked through Friday evening and there was still nothing in many of the cabinets. Many of us worked hard today including the central supply team and got the wards stocked, yeah! Sure will be an interesting day tomorrow and week this week. God has been so good and faithful though! We are all excited to have patients. Getting off the ship into town today and being around the Sierra Leoneans was very refreshing too...a good reminder of how much I love the people of West Africa and why I am here. Sometimes you get so caught up in the busyness of your own work you forget what it's all about and need a bit of a reality check.

Opening Soon In A Ship Near You!

2011-03-10T15:13:00.000-08:00

Sorry I have not had a follow up post for a few days. It has been rather hectic around here!

As for the screening day...we did not have a second screening day after Monday. It was too risky and we did not want more damage done. The captain is still reviewing tapes and notes as to what happened. Two men were arrested Monday for contributing to the chaos. And what we have heard from those around town is that they are ashamed of how the people here acted and hoping we don't leave. So at least there are no hard feelings, but I feel sad for the people here that they feel that way. The plan is to try for another screening day within the next couple of weeks so please pray for that!

As for the hospital here...we are set to open Sunday. We did get a couple patients at screening Monday and we actually have many patients from up north who had already been screened by the advance team so we will bring them down early to fill the first couple weeks of the schedule.

Since we had a long dry dock and had to empty the wards completely it has been quite hectic starting back up again. I am in a new leadership position as well and feel quite overwhelmed, Im going to be honest. Please pray for efficiency and wisdom the next couple days as there is still lots to do before Sunday. We have a great team of nurses and God has been great! Please pray for leadership on the ward and on the ship, especially this next week. We are all running a bit ragged!

One of my good friends pulled me aside at one point during the ward open house Wed. cause she knew I was stressed and said, "Liz, look in the ward there (there were 4 nurses dancing to 80s music)...how can you be stressed when you have such a great team." It's true...the team of nurses we have have been amazing in helping us get ready and I know it will all work out!

2 Corinthians 4:7
"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."

Screening...Freetown.

2011-03-07T15:09:00.000-08:00

I do not even know where to begin this post. I think I will try to keep it on the shorter side just because I and each one of us here are still trying to process things in our own mind and don't know where to begin to express today's events.
For starters...here is the official report from the Mercy Ships blog:
www.mercyships.org/blog/entry/screening-day-update

We knew there would be thousands of people waiting for us at the national soccer stadium in Freetown when the first crew arrived after 4am. And yes, this was definitely the case. The line that NEVER ends is always a heartbreaking thing to see, yet encouraging in that we get to help many of them. Almost all of the ship was present to help with this huge day. Usually there is some unrest in the crowds and our team of security is able to handle it. Today however, this was not the case. By 0930 events started to unravel that caused people to storm the gate. People were pushing, shoving, and literally trampling each other. People began to climb the fence and our team turned from screening patients to triaging those who were getting hurt and attempting crowd control. Many crew have memories now of patients being trampled several people deep, and pictures that I am not going to even describe in this blog. Several of our cars started taking people to the local hospitals and one man lost his life. To say today's events were tragic is an understatement. We shut down screening by noon at which point we packed up and left quickly. About 20 of us stayed around and tried to do some pre-screening of those that were in the stadium already to get a few more patients. This worked for about 45 more minutes until the situation got unsettled again at which we piled into the back of the pick-up and landrovers and left also.
It is a very somber atomsphere here on the ship tonight. I think we only put 150 patients into the computer database for surgery before things got out of hand.
The whole thing breaks my heart. People here have no money. Many of these people have traveled from LONG distances to stand in line since yesterday morning for hope...probably not having anything to eat or drink in the meantime. Africa is full of poverty and people are desperate. It can definitely be a rough place sometimes. We are used to seeing many difficult things, but this is a whole new thing. My heart truly breaks for those who were hurt today but even more to all those who really need us and need surgery who we could not see.
Please, PLEASE, pray for the leadership of the ship as they deal with government, families, staff, in dealing with the situation. Pray for wisdom and peace. We are trying to figure out a way to do more screening in a safe manner but it is proving to be a very difficult sitation. Please pray that we can reach those who truly need us. We saw so many people in line with huge tumors but it was not safe to go out and get them. Pray that God connects us with them somehow.
Praise the Lord that all the Mercy Ships staff are safe as things could have gone much worse. God protected us! Also, we are thankful that more people did not get hurt. We have followed up with the ones taken to hospitals and they should all be ok.
I know at times like this we cannot even begin to know why this happened or why God allowed it. I do know I serve an awesome, mighty, sovereign God though. I know he will bring us through this and I know his ways are greater than ours. May we trust and rest in that.
Please pray for the crew as well as many have grave images carved into their mind. A couple of my good friends helped take care of the body of the man who passed away and will always have those images with them.
We are continuing to press on, but need ALL the prayers we can get. Thanks for all the love, support, and prayers!

Back On Board My Floating Home

2011-03-06T13:38:00.000-08:00

So I am wiping the dust off this blog and starting it up again. Not much to say yet, but I finally arrived safe and sound last night after a flight cancellation in Brussels...but free hotel and 600 euros cash, so cannot complain. I was quickly brought back to my new reality when I sat next to a gentleman from Liberia on my flight from Chicago. He left during the civil war and has not seen his wife and some of his kids in 15 years since! I cried tears of joy and sorrow listening to his story. I have been around people like that quite a bit in my life now but will never grasp or imagine the reality of that. I think that is a good thing.

The hour water taxi ride to the ship was amazing. Felt good to have an ocean breeze against my face again. I do have to admit that I had my escape route planned if the boat capsized though. It was a bit rocky at times and the engine never seemed to stay going for any amount of time:)

Today I was able to relax a bit and have breakfast with old friends. I sure does feel like home. I need to head to bed soon here as tomorrow is screening day. THE big day. Lines of thousands of people will line up with high hopes of life change. Surgery often means being accepted and having a life again and being told no is devestating. I will be leaving at 0530 to head to the big soccer stadium in Freetown. This year I get to do data input (put their names and info into a computer). I am excited as this means everyone I see will be happy and getting surgery. Last year I did pre-screening which means I had to turn many people away. That really wears on you emotionally, spiritually, physically!

So if you are reading this in time please pray for Monday and Tuesday (March 7,8)....for wisdom, discernment, empathy, strength, etc. for all involved. Pray God will give wisdom as to who we accept and who we don't. It is an exciting day but also very, very hard. More to come later....

Benin Roadtrip - Visiting a Precious Friend

2010-07-21T03:15:00.000-07:00

There was a special day volunteer last year who held a special place in my heart. I think I wrote about her a bit Benin. She ended up having an ectopic pregnancy while we were in Benin and I spent much time with her in the local hosptial while she recieved surgery. When I left Benin she found out she was pregnant. She was supposed to wait 6 months after the surgery but it had only been 3. She was quite scared...as was I. My heart broke as I said good-bye as I know how much she has been through and now might suffer more.

Well...a few weeks ago a friend and I went with a day worker from last year on a 4 hr journey to Benin to see her, her family, and her brand new baby boy! Praise the Lord! The pregnancy went well with no complications from her surgery and she has a healthy baby boy...Isreal. He was a little premature, but otherwise fine. She told me how she took a zemidjan to the hospital when her contractions were getting very close. I still cannot imagine riding on a motorbike while in labor!

It was SO fun to go back to her house and be reunited with her and her family. She was SOO excited that we made the trip t see her. Of course it was quite the adventure trying to find her home in another country after only being there once. However...after a long taxi ride, back road zemidjan rides, and a few tricky phone calls...we made it.

We enjoyed a delicious lunch of fufu and tomato fish sauce, held the baby and played with her daughter Mary. We also finally got to see her husband's field this time around.

We walked a good mile at least from the house to see where his "field" is. On the way we of course visited many neighbors and saw their village church-which was built beauutifully and then a heavy rain came and it collapsed. My heart broke for that...all the time and hard work they all put into it...only for this to happen. How frustrating! They are continuing to work together to build it back up and still praising God in the meantime. How humbling.

Her husband plants corn, basil, peppers, casava, and other things. The crop used be so big that he had 8 men working for him. Now the crop is not doing well and just he and Edith work the field. They are praying this changes again so they can provide well for their family and put their kids through school. I just can't get over how much these people go through here. How hard they have to work for such simple small things. Yet, no matter how hard it gets I know Edith always has a smile on her face and is usually found singing while going about her duties.

As we came back home from seeing the field and village, Mary came out with Isreal strapped to her back...as he was crying and getting hungry. How precious!

Encounter with poo- as told by Olly Peet

2010-07-04T15:25:00.000-07:00

I can't say it any better than Olly, one of my favorite Brits whose family is onboard. Here is his blog entry from today.

Sunday, 4 July 2010
Encounter with poo

To you and me, the Gulf of Guinea is somewhere to cool down on a hot day, and where fish come from. But to millions of West Africans, it's their toilet. Today, whilst frolicking in the waves, Libby shouted that she had poo on her arm...and sure enough she'd squashed a turd (not hers!) between herself and our friend Liz, smearing both with someone else's waste. Delightful. Olly http://peetfamilyinliberia.blogspot.com/

Needless to say, it was a bit disgusting to see little Libby with poo all down her side and poo all down my arm. I believe it went something like this:
Libby(in her cute British accent): Liz, I have poo all down my side.
Liz: No, Libby, it is only wet sand.
Libby: No, it's poo...and it's on your arm too.
Liz (after a closer look and a smell): Um, you're right...EWWWW! (Then yelling up to her parents on the sand)...Uh, we have a poo situation here!!!!

I think I used used so much hand sanitizer and microbacterial wipes on myself my skin is about to come off! :) TIA baby!

Youth Retreat!!

2010-07-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

Last weekend us youth leaders took the some of the youth group up north to Kpalime for a little retreat away. This is something they do not get to do much and it was so fun! Here are a few pictures.

First we walked to the market. It started to rain. A nice old man sold Ali an Obama umbrella.

We got hungry..and thought pineapple sounded nice.

We walked by a FanMilk store...so can't pass that by without stopping for a treat.

Ali found a cute baby along the way and had to hold it. Her name was Shakira..not joking:)

We stopped to look at some clothes on the side of the road. Kim Anna wanted a pair of pants and much to our amazement found out the manikin was wearin underwear underneath...backwards. We found this odd. I guess that shows how hygenic they are around here. Ali showed the owner the problem and turned the underwear around the right way.

We hiked to a waterfall.

Many Obama articles around here say "Yes We Can". However, we found out that clearly that is false...as seen by the way the umbrella held up (or didn't) under the waterfall...haha.

We played in the waterfall and followed the river quite a ways. Still wondering how many parasites we aqcuired from that fun excursion down the riverbed.

Gregory, our guide, cut us fresh pineapple...and squeezed lime on top..mmmmmmmmmm!

He also gave us tattoos like the one on his arm. John wanted his on his chest and took it like a man.

It was a wonderful weekend with some awesome kiddos!!

Riots and Popcorn

2010-06-23T15:49:00.000-07:00

The governement here hiked up gas prices. People aren't so happy and there are riots all over town...worse than the elections which is odd. No one is allowed off ship and all those who live off ship are staying on board tonight. We are hoping for rain to break things up, but the riots are supposed to go on til the end of the week at least.
Many of the translators are staying on the ship tonight if they live far away or feel unsafe traveling. It feels kind of like we are snowed in. We set up a movie for the translators spening the night in one of the wards and some of us got them sodas and popcorn. While Jenn and I were trying to figure out the tv volume, someone else came and gave the translators microwave popcorn and said they can use the microwave upstairs. It got quiet shortly after and I look around me and some of the guys are making a funny face. I then see an open bag of microwavable popcorn. I started to laugh and we told them what they had done. They all died laughing...and laughing. It was quite hilarious. Im not happy for riots, but the situation has created some entertaining moments.
Everyone is ok from the ship...rumors of burning cars, trees cut down for road blocks, rocks thrown at cars, people pulled out of cars and harrassed, and even gun shots heard. Hopefully it will be over soon.
We are taking the youth on a retreat up north Sat-Sun...we are all SOOO excited...especially since the youth do not get this opportunity very often. It is not lookin good for us going though. So rioters....if you are out there and listening....you best start behaving so we can leave Saturday, ya hear?

Knee Deep in Water

2010-06-21T06:50:00.000-07:00

It is now rainy season here in Togo. It does not seem to be quite as bad as Liberia was, but we are getting pretty frequent rain storms these days. Sunday I did not work until 2pm, so wanted to go to church at Action Faith. Some of our translators go there and the pastor is Ghanaian so the message is spoken in English first, then translated. I have really enjoyed this church, the pastor, dancing, worship, and people - many of which at least speak small amounts of english.

(My favorite part of this picture is the guy who just came on his motorcycle...helmet and all...and just got right into that drain to figure out where it was clogged. Guess the helmet is good to have if all the sudden it started working and he got sucked in...lol:))

The rain was comin down quite hard as we lfet the ship, but decided to brave the weather anyway. The translators assured us that most people will be late anyway because of the rain. When we arrived, this is what we saw. The area outside was knee deep in parts and water was spilling into the church because the drain could not handle the amount of water the sky was dumping down.

Once more buckets arrived, I hopped out and got to work...skirt and all. We all spent the first 1.5 hrs bailing water, mopping up with rags, and cleaning the church. Once we finished and the rain slowed, we put the chairs up and had church.

It was a lovely morning all in all. It was so neat to be a part of the church and everyone workin hard together as a team to protect the church from more water damage. One of our translators Thierry-(in the black with blue bucket) was even out in his really nice Sunday clothes...just took his shoes off, rolled up his pants, and got to work.

There are many things I love about the people and churches here. I rediscovered some of that today. They have an amazing love for God and each other...they take worship and church seriously. It is so easy for us, me included, to get caught up in my own time....thinking church should be from 8-10 and if it is not done in that time I get annoyed. Here, time doesn't mean much....the purpose of going to church is of greater importance and doesn't necessarily have a time restraint. If it means cleaning for a couple hours first, that fine...church will still happen adn they want to take time to worship no matter what. Of course after a long 4 hour service I would be lying if I told you I didnt get a bit antsy and sometimes I do wish time mattered to them more:)

Anyway...of course some people stayed home in bed, but many braved the weather and got wet trying to save their church...it was in no way an inconvenience for them. And once they spent a few hours cleaning they did not go home...but instead spent the next few hours worshiping God and even thanking him for the rain:) Thierry plays drums and didn't even think twice before going up soaking wet, sitting at the drums, and playing for worship. It was a wonderful morning.

The French are Coming, The French are Coming!

2010-06-19T05:07:00.000-07:00

Tour of the French Naval Ship that was docked next to us- commissioned in 2006.

All of the sudden our ship seems TINY!

Complete with a helicopter hanger and elevator to take them up to the top deck.

Elevator behind the yellow/black stripes and 6 landing pads for the helicopters.

My favorite part. "This is the chapel/ morgue." Notice the freezers behind the curtain.

The amphibious deck/ landing craft.

And of course they have a 69 bed hospital and 2 operating rooms.

Who wears short shorts? I think the U.S. Navy needs to implement the short shorts policy..haha.

Under Da Sea

2010-06-18T09:11:00.000-07:00

One day, Olly asked some of his "kids" if we wanted to snorkel and clean the ship with him. So, while Olly did the scuba diving to clean underneath, we did the surface cleaning. Ali's dad who was visiting even got in on the action. The ship has to be cleaned every 2 weeks underneath ro keep the vents working and keep it ready for sailing, since ships are not so much meant to sit for months at a time. The vents and sides need to be scraped off because barnracles, sewage, etc. collects on the sides and bottom...mmmmmm. It is especially yummy as you scrape it off and it floats around your face.

A not so good picture of some of the stuff we scraped off the ship.

It was actaully pretty hard work but we got one whole side cleaned in an hour with 5 of us. Enjoyed a few fish, jellyfish (from a distance), and some stinging plants that grow on the ship...that my neck got to experience. I only swallowed one good gulp of the port water when I got a charlie horse...but I lived to tell about it:) And I think I'll volunteer again next time.

Julle and I attempting to get the water out of our boots so we don't track it all over the ship as we head to deck 8 to change.

Watch One, Assist One, Do One

2010-06-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

Ok, so maybe it does not work that quickly, but one of the coolest things about this place is the constant training that goes on. Yes, we come to a country, help lots of people, but then we leave. What then?

If you happen onto this ship any day during working hours, and even after, you can find surgeons being trained in each operating room on the ship. Currently we have local surgeons who have been here most of this outreach learning from Dr. Gary how to do max-fax and cleft lip surgeries and others with Dr. Glenn learning new quicker and safer ways of fixing cataracts. We also have surgeons and nurses from Rawanda and nearby countries learning better ways to do VVF surgery and care for them.

Dr. Cristoph and Dr. Amaglo from Togo have been living and working on the ship for quite a while now. When Dr. Cristoph first came he had never done a cleft lip surgery in his practice. A couple weeks ago before Dr. Gary left for vacation Dr. Cristoph and Dr. Amaglo were doing them on their own! I had the privilege of going in and watching some of these surgeries. I just think that is such an encouragement to watch and see. Now, even though we are leaving, more people from Togo can receive this surgery.

(Dr. Mark (left) and Dr. Gary (right) helping/watching one of the locals do an operation. And yes that is a 400 gram lipoma they took out of a genteman's neck.)

It is fun to build relationships with them and see them in the hallways. Some of them even take call and get the honor of getting called in the middle of the night for their patients. A couple of the surgeons from Togo only spoke french so when I would call them for questions I always had to have a translator nearby but it worked:)

Dr. Amaglo even honored us by having the nursing and OR staff to his house in town for dinner one night. It was so fun to hang out with some of the local surgeons and their families outside of work...and even dancing with them to the little live local band that was there!

(Dr. Chrisoph with Karin and I and Dr. Ameglo and his wife who hosted us for dinner)

Heartstrings

2010-06-11T05:41:00.000-07:00

No matter how long I live and work here, there are many things that never cease to really get me and tug at my heart. I have come to the conclusion that this is a good thing though... that I do not get calloused to the need around me.

Yesterday there was a father and son on the ward that were ready to be sent home...back up far north to Kara. The boy had surgery to fix his eyes, but he was too old and we were only able to help his sight minimally. They supposedly came down with some other eye patients earlier in the week and were to go back with them. Well, when we discharged them I found out the others had left without him. Turns out they all paid their way to come down anyway and it wasn't paid for from an eye organization up north like origianlly thought. We do have some patients from up north that we bring down and then are responsible to bring back up north. In gerneral though, patients are responsible for their own transport. Since the man heard about us taking the others up north Friday he wanted to go with them and had been told that was the plan. But because he was not one we brought down by us we could not take him back and the cars were all full. We had to tell about 3 patients no for a trip back north because we did not bring them. This sounds horrible, but where do we draw the line?

After telling him this he seemed devestated. I understand the reasoning and if we give one person transport money then everyone will want some. But the man paid 10,600 CFA ($20) to get down here -prob. 12 hr trip, and only had 5,000 CFA to get back home which is not sufficient. I have no idea why he did not bring money for both ways or how he thought he was getting back. I do know that it is a lot of money around here though...$40 for travel. After talking to him and trying to figure other ways out he just said that he would manage. I felt horrible. I know this happens ALL the time and I can't give money to everyone, but this whole thing just left me completely unsettled. I have so much money compared to him...I could easily give $10 and be fine. I really felt he was not just trying to get money off of us. At the same time I thought...well, if I give him money where do I stop. EVERYONE in this country needs money. I had to debrief about this with 2 friends who agreed it is not wrong to use my personal money to help, but also think it is not necessary because that is life here and they were told they needed to have transport money.

In the end his nurse and I ended up slipping him some money in the hallway and told him not to tell anyone. I have done this a few times, but only when I really feel convicted too. This is a constant struggle though for me and many who serve here. You want to help everyone and you can't. What do you do with that in your head? You have more money than anyone here, yet everyone is constatnly asking for money and you can't help them all. I trust the Lord to guide me when I do in fact feel led to help specific people and the others I just find myself praying for - that God would be with them and provide for them. In the mean time, I find it helpful to talk with friends about the matter. It is a constant sturggle for us all who work here. I feel it is good to think about but not to dwell on. In the meantime I try to focus on how much we are helping and not just the devestating need that surrounds us.

Goodnight, Sleep Tight, Don't Let The AFRICAN Bugs Bite!

2010-06-04T09:14:00.000-07:00

I have never seen as many crazy wierd bug bites, infections, and swollen extremeties as I have since I have been in Africa. I mean, I guess it is Africa but wow. When you get an innocent bug bite you just never know what you are growing.

The other week a friend of mine, Alex, had 3 maggotts squeezed out of his leg/abdomen. I was very sad I missed the occassion so told them to tell me next time they catch wind of another maggott encounter.

Last night after community meeting a group of us was hanging out in the Peet's cabin...our adopted family on board...as we usually do after community meeting. The phone rings and Julle tells me that it is a call from down on the ward. Micah, one of the nurses, is down there and they are about to lance his incredibly swollen foot. I had seen the foot earlier and without a hesitation I said I would be back and promptly ran down...naturally. The whole thing was quite anti climatic, but quite entertaining. There soon was a group of about 15 people huddled around. First, Micah started with a needle pokin at the hard lump on his foot. Nothing much came out, so we got a stitch cutter blade. After cutting a bit he squeezed and squeezed. At this point he was getting to be in a bit of pain. So again, naturally, we get some lidocaine and inject it in his foot. This is what happens when a bunch of nurses get together to lance wounds as a favorite pass time. In then end we only got a little puss out unfortunately. I was really hoping for some more maggotts. He is on antibiotics, but his foot is absolutely HUGE. Hopefully they start working soon.

In the meantime, one of my really good friend's has gotten a bite of some sort on his cheeck. Within a couple of days it goes from lookin a bit red to..well..you can see for yourself. He is also on antibiotics now. Don't think we will go cutting open his face anytime soon though.

These are only the latest of African killer bug bites. I have even more stories from the beginning of the year, but will save you the gross gorey details...unless you ask;)

Ok, now who wants to come join me in Africa? :)

Please...no dog meat.

2010-06-01T16:15:00.000-07:00

Every once in awhile I have those moments where I all of the sudden remember where I am and how odd the life that I lead really is. It is so easy to get into a routine and everything is normal. Well, last week I had one of those moments. It was the crazy day we were admitting all the new VVF patients. I was running around until I noticed one of the admission sheets for one of the ladies.

Notice anything odd? (Besides the fact that they ask WHEN was the last time you had malaria...not have you EVER had malaria?)
Well, I thought the special diet needs were quite important. I notified the other charge nurses and the galley immediately...haha :) Earlier in the year we also had a request for no snake meat. Again...I had to notify the galley promptly so we could make them a seperate tray since snake meat was on the menu for the night. ;)
I just love these moments...when no matter how busy or frazzled I am...I am reminded where I really am have to take a moment to giggle small small.

That time of year again!

2010-05-30T09:45:00.000-07:00

So VVF has officially begun for this outreach. It is so wonderful to have my favorite ladies back. The day they all came was quite intense as we had to screen patients for 6 weeks of surgery in one day. On top of organizing 70 ladies from all over the country and neighboring countries we had to work lack of bedspace (anywhere-on ship and hospitality center) as well as many languages from the north which none of our translators know. The Lord was definitely in the day and much prayer went into it. The screening went faster than it ever has and we only turned down a few ladies. Last year we turned down SO many because they were too complicated or they had a different problems we could not fix. At the end of the day we filled the schedule, put 4 on a waiting list, and only turned away 6. As for the bedspace...we had to get creative and open up our extra ward just for housing and made little bunk beds. Nothing like puting 18 ladies in a room meant for 10:) Creativity and flexibility is always the name of the game here!

I was in charge that evening when we admitted everyone. Despite it seeming like mass chaos most of the evening it finished well. And there is never a dull moment when working with these ladies. My favorite part was teaching these woman how to do sitz baths with a syringe. Since some of the ladies speak a northern language that no one can translate I decided a demonstration would be best...fully clothed of course:) I got the pan and syringe and sat on the floor like I was doing it. It was quite funny. After doing it one of the ladies had a question about it, so the translator grabbed the syringe from me and proceeded to continue to demonstrate how to use the syring to clean "down there"...except she continued to demonstrate on me. Let me just say a bit akward, but all the ladies got a big kick out of it and some good laughs:)

The first dress ceremony was today...6 days after the first surgery. Five ladies danced and all five are dry!!!! Praise the Lord! The exitement for these ladies NEVER gets old.

2010-05-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

Happy International Nurses Day!!!!

(and Florence Nightingale's Birthday of course)

Even captain Tim joined in on the festivities!

Kids, Craziness, and Coffee

2010-05-11T15:02:00.000-07:00

The last couple days have been a bit crazy. Ali is gone to Ghana for a week with her husband which means I am playing assistant ward supervisor for the week...full well knowing this is in a small way a ploy to get me 'used to this role' in hopes of me doing it next year. This has been the basis of much thought and prayer lately.

As for this week, however, it means that I am the day charge nurse in A and B ward Monday-Friday. In other words, I am more or less in charge of 8 nurses (many of which are new) and 40 patients. Now that the wards are full, it is a bit chaotic, especially when you are trying to do a bajillion things at once with 4 kids hanging off you, tickling you, poking you, mimicking what you are saying in English (quite hilarious actually), and trying to sit on your lap. Playing the chicken dance song does keep the kids quite entertained, however, and they have it fully memorized.

Today was just crazy. Everything that could possibly happen, happened. Or so it seemed. I really do enjoy charge nursing but today I could not think straight...between missing labs, caregivers needing to be tested for typhoid, surgeries added and cancelled, discharges, figuring out who we can possibly send home to find space for the 7 patients coming in tonight, questions from nurses, missing patients (luckily we found them), chasing escaped kids down the hall, trying to find an IV or deciding to put an NG down a little baby who isn't eating well, and dealing with the wrong amount of food trays...to name a few....I could barely catch my breath.

All this to say, I really do love my job and I really do have amazing friends. Two of my closest friends-Julle and Jenn- came down to help me out. They know how busy it can get and thought they would check on me. Jenn came down first...not knowing what she was getting herself into. She came with a fresh cup of coffee and helped me out SO much. Julle came later and also did a bunch of work for me. Even with the two of them helping, and no lunch break....I was still finishing the nurse allocations when the next shift was coming on. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends and work with such helpful and amazing coworkers!

Please pray that God directs me this week as I do this job and gives me wisdom about the future. We also have several really big cases this week while a neuro surgeon is here to help Dr. Gary. This means several post op ICU patients. Please pray for wisdom for the MDs and nurses caring for these patients and the decisions that need to be made. For example...a woman with several large facial tumors went to surgery today at 2pm and at 9pm there was a page overhead for B+ donors to come to the lab. The woman had 8 units of blood already and they were only about half done with surgery. We are praying that we find enough donors for them to finish the surgery. Thankfully not every week is this crazy.

Sorry for the crazy long blog. This is just a little bit on my life at the moment. I am so behind on blogs...partially because of lack of motivation, partially cause I find it will be so hard to catch up, and partially cause so much is happened -many personal patient and friend stories that I do not know where to begin sharing, so I haven't. Not only is there a lot happening on the ward, but so much with crew as well. Two families have had to leave within weeks of each other very unexpectedly due to family health emergencies. It has taken a toll...but the devil ain't gonna win! In the meantime, we all keep keepin on....and to God be the glory!!!

Independence Day

2010-05-09T06:26:00.000-07:00

April 27 is Togo's Independence Day. It was quite the memorable experience. I worked in the morning, but there was much celebrating and dancing on the wards...as well as balloons and flag making. The best idea of the day was from one of our translators who suggested we take the patients to the parade in town. I mean, sounds logical right? After we said, ya..that's a great idea he again replied, "no really, we should ask them if they want to go". Well, apart from finding a large bus, and herding about 50 patients with casts, drains, bandages into town...it sounded like a great idea...:) At least the translator was really trying to help the patients out! In the afternoon there was a large celebration in the dining room for the day workers..complete with food, prayer, and dancing....LOTS of dancing.

(Aissa really was having a blast...I think this picture just caught her off guard:) Oh, and can you see the balloon crown we taped to her head....she was queen Togo in the ward that day. Will have to write a seperate blog just on this precious girl.)

The rest of the day was spent with two of my close friends- Jenn, and Kristen. We met up with some of our day worker friends and they had big plans for us. We checked out the new monument the president had built and opened that day. It was fun listening to them telling the political history of Togo. They are all so proud of their country and really take praying for their country and leaders seriously...something that convicted me about how often I need to be praying for my country and leaders.

The dancing and celebration at the soccer stadium was my favorite. The president even came for this celebration. At one point there were hundreds of dancers doing a choreographed dance on the field, complete with pink and blue flowers. We thought the chinese music they danced to was a nice touch for Independence Day...haha:) The dancing was quite impressive actually. As we left in a huge squashed crowd Kristen leans over to me and laughs, "I think these are the exact crowds we are supposed to avoid". It was pretty crazy as thousands of people exited, but our friends took good care of us.

And of course the evening would not be complete without visiting a couple family homes. Eric (one of the day volunteers) had his sister cook some yummy akume for us. I was pretty proud that one of the Africans started sweating from the spices before us yovos did.

All in all it was a wonderful day!..except for Jenn's really bad burn from the exhaust pipe on the zemi we rode home on...oops. It made a nice tattoo though.

Stress Test - Africa Mercy Style

2010-04-22T16:26:00.000-07:00

I have to say I was quite excited when I got report after the doctors rounded and I was told I needed to give a man a stress test. One of my patients has apparently had chest pain the last few years and Dr. Gary wanted a second ECG done this morning. Once they started talking Dr. Gary mentioned that we should do a stress test on the guy. After a few chuckles about the impossibility of doing that here there starts to be talk of a modified version.

The new game plan: have patient run from deck 3 (hosptial) to deck 7 two times and do an ECG immediately when he gets back. I found this idea quite amusing and was a bit excited about it, I'm not going to lie. I was up for some morning exercise myself. :) It gets better though...

The patient does not speak any of the same languages as the translators so his nephew stays with him to translate for him. Well, once I start organizing our stress test adventure I soon realize I need to be able to communicate with the patient in case he does in fact start having chest pain while running the stairs and that there will need to be four of us running!

Next thing I know, there are four of us jogging up and down several flights of stairs...me, patient, nephew, and a translator. Of course the patient and nephew only have flip flops which is not the most ideal for running or stairs...but no one had any severe trips.:)

I don't think this "stress test" is quite as accurate as we the ones in the states...but hey....we have to get creative around here! But if for no other reason, it sure did provide me with my entertainment and exercise for the day. It was worth it just to see the bewildered looks we got as we a nurse, gowned patient, and 2 others ran passed other crew on the stairs.

The Unpronouncable Volcano

2010-04-20T11:33:00.000-07:00

This whole volcano seems to have turned into quite the event. At first I just thought that this was a bit random, some flights would be delayed, and life would go on. HAHA. Guess the unpronouncable volcano had other ideas. So for now, it makes things quite interesting here. Many nurses and others were supposed to leave last week and are still on board trying to figure out how to reroute or get to Paris...when or if a plane goes. And I am not sure how "high priority" Togo will be on the list of places to fly planes to. The first plane actually left last night and those travelling got a 45 minute warning before they had to leave. Only one person ended up able to go though and the rest came back. Apparently you had to have proof of a place to stay in Paris and a flight out or they wouldn't let you even go to Paris...ugh. I am just happy I am not planning to fly out any time soon!

This does get trickier the longer it goes on. Many nurses who are supposed to be coming have been delayed and even more importatnly Dr. Tertius, our plastic surgoen, is delayed in Amsterdam. He was supposed to have a screening day yesterday and start surgery today. No idea when he'll get here, but probably not until next week at the earliest. The orthopedic surgeon who is stuck here has agreed to stay for the week to do more surgeries, which is a huge blessing. So...while it seems horrible that there will probably be some burn patients who will not get surgery, at least some ortho patients who were not supposed to get surgery will now get it.

The cool thing is knowing that God knew this would all happen and knows who is supposed to get surgery and who will not and will facilitate that. He is bigger than all of this and is actually the one in charge of the volcano in the first place:)

While we were doing hand over at work last night I started singing to the tune of "If you like it than you shoulda put a ring on it".....but changed the lyrics to :

If you don't like it than you shoulda put a lid on it
If you don't like it than you shoulda put a lid on it
At which point Ali chimes in:
Volcano-oh-oh-oh, Volcano-oh-oh-oh
Volcano-oh-oh-oh, Volcano-oh=oh-oh
All the stranded nurses, and the stranded Tertius
All the stranded nurses, and the stranded Terius...
(if you have any brilliant lyric ideas send them my way)

That is as far as we got on the song, but I think we are going to make up the lyrics for the rest of the song and record it. Maybe you had to be there, but we were getting a big kick out of it. Now if we could only pronounce the name of the darn thing.

In the meantime we will just keep on keepin on and pray that the right surgeons and nurses will make it here in time to get as many people surgery as we can. Please pray for wisdom, safe traveling, and flights:)

New Shoes

2010-04-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

The new ingenious way to use used zemidjan tires....cast shoes. Maybe ya'll won't get a kick out of it as much as me but I just love it. They work perfectly...to protect the cast and provide traction. As they say...one person's trash is another person's treasure...just takes some creative minds :)

This picture has nothing to do with tire shoes but was taken the same day and I LOVE it. Look at the baby's adorable squashed face.

2010-04-11T12:57:00.000-07:00

Ever since I got on the ship in 2008 and found out about their walking blood bank, I had been secretly hoping I would get that phone call asking me to give blood. I am wierd like. I love giving blood. And here on the ship when they need blood for a patient they call the crew member with a matching blood type to come give the blood when the patient needs it.

It so happened I was doin my usual charge nurse shift Sat. mornin and runnin around when one of the lab girls found me and told me I was the only one on ship who had the blood type they needed for a patient in ICU. So....my dream finally came true:)

A friend of mine had given blood a couple days before and I was trying to beat his time of 7 minutes...but alas...it took me 8 minutes. Next time...next time.

WHAT?! A 16 gauge needle- that is going where?...Awesome!

The completed product:) This bag was promptly taken a few doors down and hung for the patient...still warm. I still think that is so cool.

Napkins or Toilet Paper?...That is the Question.

2010-04-11T12:41:00.000-07:00

My favorite part about getting burgers at a local african place last night...

In the middle of our table is a large bag of tissue...to use for napkins....or so we were led to believe. In the middle of the meal, my friend got up to use the restroom; which, by the way was through the middle of the kitchen where they are grilling the burgers (yum). He disappears into the cooking area only to come out a minute later. Our waiter comes to our table, picks up the tissue and proceeds to hand it to my friend who goes back through the kitchen into the bathroom. Ah...guess he has to go #2 we decide amongst ourselves...he can't hide that now. Our waiter then proceeds to take a pretty kleenex box off another table and put it on ours.

So..moral of the story...bring your own hand sanitizer and napkins. That...or next time we go there and see the bag of tissue instead of a pretty kleenex box...we know where it's been!

We all agreed that no matter how long you have been in africa and get used to its crazy quirks...there will always be things that that just make you go...hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. :)

Miracle On The Ward!

2010-04-08T05:58:00.000-07:00

It is kind of ironic that I am doing a Beth Moore Bible study about Believing God. The first few chapters were about modern day miracles and how many people have lost belief that God is still active and doing miracles. Many people do not believe that God still does them so they do not even ask for his hand.

I do not know for sure why God doesn't heal everyone and just some. But, I believe He is sovereign and sees the bigger picture. I believe either way - healed of not- God has a plan in it and uses that specific situation for a greater purpose either in the person's life or others around them. I would rather pray for healing and err on the side of belief even if God does not choose to heal than to err on the side of unbelief and miss something GREAT God wants to do.

That being said...let me bring you to a sick little ICU baby on the ward at 1220am, April 7, 2010. Obre came to us to be on the feeding program to gain weight for a cleft lip surgery. He had been fine on the ward the day before and started going down hill quickly so he came to the ICU and put on a CPAP to help him breath. Around 11pm the anesthetist and surgeon came as he started to get even more sick and not getting enough oxygen. They spent an hour trying to work on the baby.

At about midnight they decided they only thing left to do was to intubate little Obre. One of the nurses working (Jenny Daras) described what happened next like this:
"I was at the counter drawing up medications to intubate the baby and I heard it get quiet for a minute so I looked and saw Dr. Gary (max fax surgeon) with his hand on the baby praying." He wanted to pray for God's intervention first before human intervention was done. She thought to herself, "that's nice and a good idea", anc continued to draw up her meds. Next, she looked over and saw they had taken the CPAP off of Obre, and the oxygen saturation had gone from 50-60% to 100%! Respiration and heart rate also came down to about normal. "I would not not have believed it if I had not seen it with my own eyes," she said.

Another friend of mine working, Natalie, was also there and telling some people about it the next day. She was telling them how serious it was by saying there are only 2 reasons you decide not to intubate someone. Either you decide to let them die, or try to wait a little longer to see if there is anything else you can do. This does not just happen where a baby cannot breath even with CPAP and within a minute has normal vital signs and hardly any oxygen. The anesthatist kept telling me last night how amazing it was! What an awesome testimony to that mamma and the translators who also got to experience it. The baby was completely fine the rest of the night with normal vital signs!

"Your ways, Oh God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the nations." Psalm 77:13-15

This isn't the first miracle we have seen here and it won't be the last! Praise the Lord! May this be a lesson to all of us to put our trust and strength in God and not ourselves! God wants to intervene...but do we take the time to ask? When you feel prompted to pray for someone-no matter when it is or where that person is- I hope you do not pass up that opportunity. God just may be waiting for a chance to reveal him awesome power!

Fun With The Cuz At The Hospitality Center

2010-04-06T04:19:00.000-07:00

We have tried something new the last two years of having a place off ship where patients can stay if they live a long ways away. Many times patients cannot afford to travel back and forth for follow up appointments or while waiting for their surgery. Instead of taking up valuable hospital bed space, they can stay here and get free housing, meals, and even some education. It is always fun to go over and hang out with new patients, or ones we have treated on the wards. While my cousin was here, I took her and her friend over to hang out for a bit. It is always such a good time! Fransoise (the woman on the left) was a patient I knew from Benin. She has been through so much...7 jaw surgeries. Since her jaw was once again infected this time, we had to take out the plate (fake jaw) that we had put in last time. She was pretty devestated, but God saved more of her jaw than we thought so that was a huge praise. The night she got out of surgery I went to check on her and sit with her a bit cause I knew how discouraged she'd be. The nurses were not letting her eat because she had vomitted after surgery. She was almost in tears telling me how hungry she was...so I got her a can of ensure and assured her nurse I would stay with her and take full resposiblity and clean up duty if she couldn't tolerate it. She ended up being ok and so grateful for my advocacy and friendship. It made me think of the verse in Matt. 25:40...'whatever you have done for the least of these, you have done for me.' It reminded me again how we can be Jesus even in the little things.

Blessing was a patient from Nigeria who had a tumor removed and hung out at the hospitality center until her follow up appt. She spoke English since she is from Nigeria, which is always enjoyable:) Monique (the one in the blue), just had surgery for a cleft palate. She ended up with an ear infection, and a couple other complications, but is now donig great. She is a ball of energy.

My cousin Dani, another volunteer from her organization (Emily), and I had a great time playing, dancing, and runnin around with kids.

Farouk (left) teaching Fransoise and I a dance. I have it on video- pretty hilarious. Farouk is also AMAZING! He has had SO many jaw surgeries, and like Fransois, also had an infections (MRSA) and needed his plate removed this time...and we could not replace it becuase of the infection. I would think that would be SO devastating...yet I NEVER saw him without a smile on his face and laughter on his tongue. Even at the hospitality center he was always smiling, helping others, and playing with the other kids. I think we all could learn a lesson or two from him!Spontaneous worship/dance outside...that will never get old!!!

Farouk helping one of the little guys with crutches play ball with us.

Tangled Emotions

2010-03-29T15:28:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have really hard moments in life where part of you wants to ball your eyes out and be consumed with emotion and the other part of you wants to ignore every bit of it and try to pretend life is normal? That is kind of the emotional battle I have had today.

Anicette was one of the babies EVERYONE loved...she came to the ship last year to be on a feeding program to gain weight for a cleft lip surgery. She was so cute and chubby when we left.

A couple weeks ago mom brought her to the ship here in Togo. Anicette was unrecognizable. She made it to 14 months, but now skin and bones -literally. She was incredibelly malnurished. It took her a VERY long time to gain weight last year and her lab work has always been not quite right, but she was doing SO well when we left her just months ago as the ship sailed away from Benin.

This morning I was not working when I heard "emergency medical team to A ward" paged overhead. As usual, I said a prayer for whomever the call was for...deep down hoping is was not Anicette.

A few hours later, I was devestated to hear that baby Anicette had gone to be with Jesus. My friend Ali did CPR, but to no avail. Her weak, frail, malnurished body could not hang on any longer. I cannot even imagine the pain Anicette's mom is dealing with. She has poured SO much time, energy, and emotion into getting her little girl well...and now she has to travel back without her precious little baby.

I learned today that Ani's mom had already lost a baby before Ani because it was not eating well...and I also learned that she is 4 months pregnant as we speak. I wish I could celebrate with her in that, but instead I know that she is terrified.

Her husband was coming tonight to the ship from Benin to pick them up and carry them back to Benin. All I can do is pray for overwhelming peace for the family. I know mom was blaming herself at one point, which breaks my heart- knowing she has done everything in her power and sacrificed so much for Anicette.

To think of the pain and grief Ani's mom has is already almost too much to bear in this broken place. And to know she has to go back and face a village that has ridiculed her and Anicette for being 'posessed' because of the deformities along with other insults...I just can't wrap my mind around it. Isn't it bad enough to lose a child, let alone not have your friends sympathize with you, but instead blame you? It is at this point that a part of me wants to wail right alongside Ani's mom and scream at the injustices of this world and the other part of me just doesn't want to think about it and pretend that life is ok because the grief is too much to bear. I just have to find somewhere in between to place my thoughts.

So please, as you read this...pray for Anicette's parents as they grieve, for a healthy baby that Ani's mom is carrying now, and for the village to be accepting of them as they return.

I will leave you with a few pictures of the beautiful, plump, happy Ani from when we left Benin.

Anicette and her wonderful mamma last year in Benin.

"Though He brings grief, he will show compassion. So great is His unfailling love. For He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men." Lamentations 3:32-33

Come Dance With Me

2010-03-24T06:11:00.000-07:00

It was about 11am one day last week and I was charge nurse on the max fax ward. It was not super busy so we decided to have a spontaneous dance party on the ward...one of my favorite things. The translators play guitar and drums, the Africans sing and dance, and the yovos (us white folk) do our best to dance and sing as well. It is always a joyful occasion.

One of the operating room nurses peeks in to give me a report on one of the patients. I invite her in for a dance...kind of pulling her in. As were doing what looks to us like a modifeid version of the chicken dance with our arms flapping she proceeded to tell me how the operation was going for this particular patient. This seemed perfectly normal and I did not think much about it at the time. Afterwards, as I thought about what just happened we both had a good laugh. In how many hospitals do you get a post-op report while dancing rediculously with the OR nurse and the other patients in the middle of the room. I told her that we were going to tell Dr. Gary, the surgeon, that he had to make "dancing" rounds in the morning!

Best told by Ali...

2010-03-09T13:18:00.000-08:00

Many of you know about and some have even met one of my closest friends on the ship...Ali Chandra. I am pretty sure she is world renown for her amazing gift at blogging.

I am going to let her tell the story of one of our current patients. He has been here for awhile on the infant feeding program to gain enough weight to get his cleft lip repaired. Today was finally the day...here is just a small peek at the joy we get to experience on a daily basis told by Ali...

Enyo Gangi

WARNING...after reading this and other blogs by her, you may become addicted...she is just that good :)

History In The Making

2010-03-06T13:14:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to lie...it is kind of exciting to be here in Togo during the presidential elections this year. This will be a turning point for democracy in this country one way or the other. We are hoping and truly praying for God to protect this country and it's people through the elections as well as bring the right man to power in a fair and peaceful way.

So far we have been "quarantined" to the ship since Thursday evening. The elections took place Friday and seemed to have gone peacefully. We will probably have to stay safely ship bound through the weekend. We are not sure when the election results will be official, but could be as early as tonight - Sat., March 6. That is when the trouble will come if there is any. The opposition party (UFC) seems to be promising violence if the current president wins.

Here is an interesting article about the history of the 2 main parties. It really is 2 dynasties, whose history goes way back, that are more or less running against each other.

Here is another article about the latest in the elections. It seems like it is long from over. As of Friday and into today it seems that both main parties are claiming victory...so makes for a sicky situation.

My cousin Dani who is staying and working in town decided to stay for the elections unlike many of her fellow volunteers who fled to Ghana for the elections. I spoke to her tonight and she is doing well...spending most of the day at home on her roof armed with her radio, camera, and cell phone awaiting results.

So for now we continue to await the results and what future lies ahead for Togo as we hang out on the ship. I enjoyed a lovely Saturday morning making delicious Napalese food with the gurkhas, a birthday picnic on deck 8, and last night we had a ceilidh/barn dance on the dock. We usually find something exciting to do when 400+ crew are confined to a ship. I'm enjoying and making the most of my weekend off relaxing on ship:) Hope to get out sometime this week to see my cousin again.

What is that you say?

2010-02-26T14:46:00.000-08:00

Another blog from Liz ALREADY you say? Yes...shocking, I know!

We have now had patients on the ward since Wednesday. It is SO exciting! Although with the excitement brings the challengs of any new outreach. It is good the wards fill up slowly as the wards are plumb full of new nurses, new charge nurses, and new translators. I have spent lots of time praying for patience with all the "newness" around me. God has been so faitful and I can honestly say it is all Him!

Just to give you an example of the entertaining chaos...many of our translators do not speak very good english come to find out. Let me describe a situation between my friend Ali, a translator, and a granmother of a patient from earlier today:

Ali to translator: "Can you ask grandma what operation her grandson is having done."
Translator: blank stare
Ali: "What operation is the child having done?"
Translator: stare
Ali: "What did the boy come here for."
Translator: "Ah.." ...rambles on a bit to the grandma.
Ali: "So?" "What did the grandma say?"
Translator: "It will all be ok, I told the grandmother to not be afraid and to take courage."

Later on in the evening when I was in charge I told a translator to tell the new ones coming on that they are not to wear the blue nurse scrubs but the older, light blue ones. I then pointed at the scrubs a nurse had on for an example of what not to wear. They all nodded excitedly..."aha, yes". Five minutes later...in walks one with the blue nurse scrubs...haha.

So needless to say it is a work in progress. We really do have some amazing translators too and they are all so excited to help. But in the meantime...a large dose of patience and laughter is on order:)

Praise the Lord that He delights to use us in our weakness to show His power, Amen?

"But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Cor. 12:9-10

And that my friends, is the reason Mercy Ships is able to do what it does...cause it is actually not us making things happen, but God!

Open House

2010-02-24T14:37:00.001-08:00

As most of you know...this is quite a unique place to live and work. Even though it is a hospital ship there are so many people who do not necessarily work in the hospital or with medical aspect of the ship. Sooo....once a year at the beginning of the outreach the hospital puts together a fun little open house so the rest of the crew can come down, have fun, and check out the secret world of the hospital:) All the medical staff do something different in each of the rooms. This year you could practice IVs, doing stitches, being a nurse for a shift (nurses played great patients), gown races, dental toothbrush toss, laying on a hospital stretcher with feet in stirrups for a bean bag toss (VVF room), and other crazy things. The crew and families love it and it is a great time for all.

The Beginning of Togo in Summary:)

2010-02-19T07:08:00.000-08:00

Bonjour! We have been in Togo now for just a little over a week. I have to say I am so excited and it is so beautiful here! The sail went smoothly except for a few rough days at the beginning. I only lost my cookies once, so I feel blessed;) They galley sure did become a mess though with things falling and spilling ALL over.

We are in a busy port, but the Lord has blessed us with our very own dock space this year..along with bees, cockroaches, and BIG rats, but that is another story. We have a great view from port side...trees, beach, ocean, and you can even hear birds!!!!!!!!!!!! The port traffic on the main road is not nearly as bad as Benin and the air and land is much cleaner. It is about an hour walk into town, but there are many taxi's so it shouldn't be too bad.

My cousin is working in the northern part of the city with a different NGO so this past Saturday and Sunday I was able to hang out with her and her local friends. It is so random and fun that we are here at the same time!

I have never been on the ship for the very beginning of the outreach so it has been crazy, yet fun unloading the ship, stripping/waxing floors, and setting up the wards. They look so great...we are all getting excited and anxious for the patients to arrive.

We had our first day of screening this past Tuesday. Because of the elections at the end of the month we could not do one big screening because of crowd control so we are doing 3 a week in different locations for 10 weeks. The heat index was 105 on Tuesday, but the patient line was under trees so it was not too bad. And as everyone knows, I love heat anyway:) I helped prescreen patients at the gate, so it if was something obvious that we could not help with I sent them away. That is the hard part of the job. It was SO fun seeing all the potential patients though and so joyful to see the looks on their faces when I was able to send them in for more screening! I can't describe the joy and feelings I had. I really cannot wait to see them on the wards! It was fun to tell some of the shy/scared kids that I was a nurse, talk to them, and tell them they may see me in the hospital. :)

Togo Bound

2010-01-31T14:29:00.000-08:00

The day has finally come...when we pull in our mooring lines and head back out again...this time to Togo. I had a few nice relaxing days with some work while enjoying Tenerife before we left. One afternoon I was able to go out with a friend on a 35km bike ride along the coast, up a steep mtn/hill side and down again to a little village. It was so beautiful. Tried to get out and get some exercise a little bit before we were locked on the ship.

We left Tenerife this afternoon (Jan.31) despite a little bit of weather delay. The captain warned us we would hit choppy water right off the bat, and he sure was right. Not only do we get the rocking back and forth this time, but even the bouncing in the front of the ship which is new to me. I am still at the stage where I am enjoying it...but I will keep you updated on that. Sure hope those seasickness pills work!

I enjoyed some time on deck 8 as we sailed away and then went downstairs to work a few hours and help get all the paperwork ready for the week of orientation for the new nurses. There are many new faces around so I have enjoyed getting to meet them.

Here are some things you can pray for:
-Safe traveling and healthy crew at sea
-Smooth transition of new leadership and all the new nurses as we do a week of orientation
-Youth group and leaders as it starts up again with a few new kids and leaders
-My relationship with God and the Bible study I am joining...that God will grow me
-Preparing the crew as we get ready for Togo-screening and surgery...and wisdom in decitions as well as unity with crew as we do this
-That I am able to raise the support that I need (I am at about 25% at the moment)

Praise:
-Able to spend time with Mark and Krystal in Switzerland and safe travels
-The advance team in Togo has really been struggling and fiding obstacles but has made much progress this past week
-For the relationships/good friends on the ship who are still here that he has blessed me with.
-The ship was able to leave on time and got everything taken care of in Tenerife that needed to be
(Out for crepes with 2 of my good friends/ youth girls -Emma and Kim Anna)

Heading back once again

2010-01-25T02:39:00.001-08:00

So I have to apologize again for my lack of posts. I am sure you all are used to my blogging defeciencies by now.:)

The 12 day sail from Benin to Tenerife, Spain was incredible! I have pictures on my facebook acct. if you are interested. The last 2 days were incredibly rocky, but sure made life interesting. I have enjoyed some time home seeing family and friends while the ship is getting the usual maintainance. It was so good seeing many of you! I sure got to enjoy lots of snow while I was away from the heat and humidity of Africa.

I am just finishing up spending a week with my brother and sister in law who moved to Switzerland in November. I head back to the ship Tuesday, Jan. 26 and we sail back to Togo on an 8 day sail Jan. 31st. I am really looking forward to meeting all the new crew, enjoying the ocean, and sleeping under the stars!

Please pray for safe travels, smooth transition into Togo, wisdom as we screen the patients for the next outreach, and fun/smooth time as we train all the new nurses during the sail. I am so excited to be going back. Many of my good friends have left, but some are still there and I am looking forward to meeting all the new crew!

Here are a few highlights from Switzerland...more on facebook if you are interested:):

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T07:16:00.000-08:00

So I told you yesterday I would get back to you on the price of a cow. It is about 150000CFA or about 300-350 USD!...That is for a grown, milk producing cow. We can't wait to give mamma the money toinght! I will be going with another nurse to take her to the bus at 530am tomorrow. She knows someone in Parakou that she thinks will know where she lives and can direct her in the right direction. (She is the one on the right).

Wow! I can't believe it is Thanksgiving. We played some Christmas music on the word...felt strange, but did make it seem a little more holidayish! So I lied about Monday being my last ward day. I was pleasently suprised to get called into the ward today...although slightly sad I would miss my weekly 12k run(well, maybe sad is not quite the right word!)

We are down to 8 patients in the hosptial now. It was a wonderful morning of smiles, laughs, dressing changes, and praying with the patients. Although..we did have a new admit. Even though we did not agree..Dr. Gary decided to do a last minute surgery yesterday.

Sneetch has a hemibeakectomy -tumor from lower beak removed. He should recover ok. We had everyone round on him this morning including, Dr. Gary-surgeon, ward physician, ward supervisor, charge nurse, post-op nurse, wound care nurse, hospital administrator, counselor/discipler and ICU nurse. He was a hit with the other patients on the ward. His language is Bika though and we have not found a translator who speaks that dialect...so we are doing a lot of miming. We have someone who speaks sqwauka but it is not similar enough to translate. He will return to us in Togo for a flipper flap graft.

On a more serious note I had to say goodbye to Veronique, VVF pt, today. She had gone home and come back with an infection. She was always so smiley and joyful and learned quite a bit of english while here too. She still has an uproad battle, but sure goes at it with her chin up and a smile on her face!

Tonight is thanksgiving dinner. Jessica, my roomate, and I made pies and hand turkey invitations last night and transformed our usual sitting area in the dining room into a holiday table! We enjoyed yummy food with some good friends!

Just another day...

2009-11-25T06:55:00.000-08:00

Monday was my last day on the ward as a nurse:( The ward closes Friday. Yesterday consisted of lots of scrubbing, cleaning, moving, packing, scanning charts, and of course dancing in between! Funny how a little bit of music and good friends can make ANY job enjoyable! Here are a few pictures interesting happenings of Tues. Nov. 24th.

Even the kids from the hospitality center joined in to help. No child labor laws here right?..:)

The quote of the day is from Danae in central supplies when Ali and I went to get some baby formula. As we were leaving she says, "Oh, and by the way, if you are going to need that cow, let me know and I'll donate." Oh the random things you hear around here. One of the mamma's on the ward had sold her land and cow for medical help for her cleft lip baby after her village disowned her. Her baby had surgery but she has no money and actually does not know where her village is to get back. So today Ali's we were going to try to figure out the price of a cow so we can take up a collection for her. Ther verdict is still out...but I will keep you updated!

Are We Sinking?In the afternoon the laundry room and ward kitchen flooded...about 4-6 inches deep of water...so much it went over the lip at the doorway and was traveling down the hall past xray and towards central supply. So in a matter of minutes there was quite the commotion on deck 3.

At dinner time I found out that a tanker 18 miles off of our coast was attacked by pirates in the afternoon. The chief engineer was killed before the pirates got scared off. The tanker is from Monrovia and now in our port. I have been praying for them...what a traumatic experience! There is a news article about it on bbc: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8376715.stm. Guess it is pretty bad along the coast on either side of us. Don't think we will have a problem though as we don't have too much precious cargo. And I think the pirates would be in for a rude awakening when they got on and realized how many crew are on board!

Prince Eddie

2009-10-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

It is 4am and I am on my last night of 3 night shifts. One of the translators just made fresh squeezed orange juice and brought it into A ward for the 3 of us working tonight. Oh, the little things that make life so grand sometimes:)

I know I have been slacking the last couple months on my blogs so I am trying to slowly write a few that should have been written long ago.

Prince Eddie is a patient who was here for burn contractures on one of his hands. He was screened when the Anastasis(old ship) was in Ghana but was put on the waiting list and not called. When he found out the ship would be in Benin he came again for screening. This time he was able to get surgery. Even though he did not get treated in Ghana he did not lose heart or joy.

Prince Eddie had a smile that could light up a room. I have to say it was also refreshing having an english speaking patient.:) This patient was such a joy to take care of. He was here at a God ordained time I believe. He was always encouraging the nurses and telling them what a great job they were doing. He was always reading his bible and even prayed with other patients who were having a tough time.

I was working one day when he handed me a poem and I wanted to share it with you. Prince Eddie is a very gifted poet and ended up writing several poems while he was here, but one in particular really stood out. After I got this poem I immediately brought it to Ali and Suzanne to share with them and it almost brought them to tears. At that time on the ward we were dealing with some really hard cases and patients who did not have a good prognosis. One of the patients he prayed for actually had a rare kind of lymphoma and the boy actually ended up passing away. This poem was a reminder of why we are here and a welcomed encouragement in a great time of need. Without further delay...here is what he wrote:

Angels Amongst the Sons of Men

The day the Big White Whale landed on the black shores of Africa was a blessed day to the Sons of Men.
It came with Angels to walk amongst the Sons of Men.
Why do I call them Angels? Let me tell you of my time with them.

I came onboard the White Whale with rooms filled with
the lame
the maimed
the formed
the deformed
the wrong
and the rough.

And deep into the darkest part of the night, I saw men and brethren,
maidens and ladies, though flesh as us, yet with hearts as Angels.

Sleeplessly and tirelessly they toiled through the night,
through the pains and aches of men;
They, with hands to heal and mend,
bringing from above the Father's love to the Sons of Men.

Some they cut.
Some they tie.
Some they seal, and yet others
they fix with tools untold.

Like messengers of the Most High they came.
Not thinking of their own, they risked their lives
and sailed the seas to lands beyond the endless world,
to shores of Men afflicted and in pain.

Their hearts and lives they came to share,
as Angels walking amongst the Sons of Men.

Some in this life are born to pass,
and some are born in life to live,
Yet these Angels are born to preserve humanity.

Though some may see lives as waste,
yet with speed they move to save.
With words of love and touch of peace,
they endlessly toil to make right the wrong.

You were born as Men to your lands,
and yet as Angels you served the earth.
Gold is digged from earth beneath.
Treasures are hunted on high seas.
But love so pure and true
can only in hearts like yours be found.

Your labor in the Lord shall not be in vain.
For every life you touch and every soul you save,
For every bone you mend and every face you straight,
The Lord of Life and Light will light your path and guide your life.

For you are truly Angels amongst the Sons of Men.

Prince Eddie wrote that as a thank you to the nurses here. He explained that he wanted to write what the other patients also thought but could not express well without speaking english. He was very touched by his surgery and stay here and in turn left behind powerful impression and some inspiring poems.

A Visit to Edith's

2009-10-19T18:23:00.000-07:00

First of all...my mom has been here for a week now and it has been so fun having her here and being a part of the ministry first hand that I have told her so much about! She started work right away so has not had much time to get off the ship except to walk on the dock. Wed. she was able to finally get out when she went to visit Edith with me.

Edith is the housekeeper/dayworker on the ward that I have written about many times. She is very dear to my heart. She has been wanting me to come out to her house to visit for quite sometime and after she had her surgery that delayed it more. Well, this past Wed. finally worked out for me and a friend to go. It was neat how it worked as this way so my mom could come along. My mom has really enjoyed getting to know Edith and Edith was so excited to have her along as well.

Edith lives about an hour away from the ship with her daughter and husband near the agriculture site that Mercy Ships is helping with. It is a long bumpy dirt road to get there. It had just rained so that always makes that trip a bit more adventurous! Mom enjoyed the long drive and finally getting out to see some of Africa.

They have a typical humble African home out in the bush as Edith says. It is so beautiful out there...nice to be away from the city. Edith cooked some yummy fish and sauce with rice. It was incredibly delicious! We took lessons as we watched her get her grinding board and grind the tomatoes into a paste and cook up the yummy meal. Even Mary, her daughter, helped stir the pot once in a while. In the meantime, Luara, mom, and I enjoyed playing with Mary and the neighbor kids. I had met Mary when they came to the ship and she kept asking her mom when I was going to come out. Apparently she had been really excited that I was coming and told her friends at school that a yovo was coming to visit her.:) One of the neighbors had the multiplication table written on a chalk board and repeated it several times for us. We got our work out as we were human jumgle gyms for the 3 kids to climb up and down on...was great fun!

We only had the car for 4 hours so we did not have time to go see her husband's agriculture site and meet the neighbors this time. I am hoping to get back there though. We enjoyed many laughs, dancing, and a yummy meal together before we had to go back. I am so humbled by the hospitaliy of the people here. I know they do not have much money but Edith had gone to buy a special big fish for us and make a really nice meal. SHE kept thanking US for coming out there...it meant so much to her. I always feel like I need to give something in return to help pay for the meal but I know that would be offensive to them as this is their special gift to us. It was so fun for me to have mom be a part of that and for her to be able to meet the family of Edith who means so much to me. I am looking forward to sharing more great memories and experiences with her in the coming weeks.

Zemidjan Bingo

2009-10-07T05:14:00.001-07:00

So one day Ali and I were riding in the car noticing all the oh so random things they put on their zemidjan bikes here. We decided it would be so fun to make a roadtrip game called zemi bingo. You would have a bingo board and would have to find a zemi that represented each square. For example, one square could be a piece of furniture, one a live animal, one 5 people on a zemi,etc. We still have not made it, but maybe for the next road trip:) I have collected several entertaining pictures for your viewing pleaseure:) Many things I have seen on zemi's I would have thought I couldn't even fit them in my car at home...yet they manage carrying it on a motorbike. Some of my favorites that I have seen or heard include a door, large live pig, couches, 6 live goats, family of 5 (who needs a 4 door sedan?), and my all time favorite...a casket!

Joy Comes With The Mourning

2009-10-03T04:26:00.000-07:00

We had a patient and family a month and a half ago who really impacted me and many of the nurses here. I have been studying the book of Esther and through that and this patient God really taught me a lesson in humility and trust.

Baby Hubert came to us as part of the baby feeding program we do. He was 9 months, but looked SO tiny and week and wieghed next to nothing. He stayed on the ward quite awhile and we all fell in love with him. It was so hard to watch his mamma just not seem to care about him...she wasn't motivated to feed him and you could tell the way she held him that the bond was just not there. It is hard to understand how this could happen. You see, he has been sick since he was born and he did not get the scars on his face like his siblings because his voodoo practicing parents were not sure they wanted to claim his life yet.

My friend Suzanne and I were on night shift together with him for awhile and enojoyed taking turns holding him. Even though he was so week and small he had such energy...he was a fighter. He was finally slowly putting on weight when he fell quite ill all of the sudden. He was diagnosed with malria and soon got a horrible rash, his heart starting beating quite fast, and lungs started getting stiffer and stiffer. He was soon moved to the ICU for isolation at first and later intubation(as we did not know what infection he had)/life support as his little body could not keep up with the infection.

Through this time there was so much prayer for him and the staff. Many of us kept wondering why this would happen...he was doing so well and then this happened. I felt like God would heal him...he had too...afterall, God brought him to this ship and we are a Christian ship that provides healing!!!!

Hubert did not make it. This was really hard for us to take and process. However, through this time there family was able to see how much we desperately loved and cared for Hubert and his family. His older sister Pauline was very distant when she first came and would not smile and did not seem to have a very stong bond with mamma either. As time progressed however you could see the change in her disposition and even her bond with her mom. Hubert's dad wanted nothing to do with him at first. And I was in the ICU with them one of the last few days Hubert was with us when his father asked me if he could hold Hubert and give him a bath! It was amazing to see the parent's hearts change and really care for and love Hubert by the time he passed.

Yes, Hubert's passing was very hard on us and the family. But through this God taught me once again that his plan is SO much bigger than ours. Hubert's life is precious and he was loved soo much by the time he went home to be with the Lord. But God had a bigger plan in this than healing Hubert. Through his life glory was brought to God and God's love was shown to him and his family.

This is where the book of Esther comes in. There was an edict made that all the Jews were going to be killed. At that time there was much desperation and mourning amongst them. God however, in his perfect timing and providence changed that and ended up protecting the Jews. He turned their mourning into joy...and in a way that only He could so that He would get the glory. He also used Esther and Mordacai to fulfill this...two common day people who probably did not aspire to be used or seem qualified. In the same way, even though God did not spare Hubert's life I know God had a plan for this. He turned mourning from Hubert's death into joy in the new family relationships/bonds that had formed and renewed. And the family who openly talked about their practice of voodoo was open to talking about God by the end of this.

Since this time the family has come back to the ship. Pauline was all smiles as was the husband and mamma. They are a new family. We can never understand circumstances or why things happen, but we have to look at the bigger picture and trust that God is faithful and works through all situations. Yes, we need to do our part in using our knowledge to provide care and pray against strongholds and pray for healing...but at the end of the day we need find peace in the fact that God is God and we are not. As it says in Is. 55:8-9, "For my htoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my thoughts higher than your thoughts." We also know that God does not willingly bring harm on his children: Lamentations 3:23-33, "Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men."

We have to place to judge why Hubert did not stay with us, but we can find peace that does know what He is doing and that He can use any situation to be glorified!

For Such A Time As This

2009-08-11T19:51:00.000-07:00

Last Friday my evening shift started off like most and actually was pretty calm. Around dinner time one of our translators called me into the kitchen to which I found Edith, our housekeeper, crawled up in ball on the floor in lots of pain. Edith is one of my favorite day workers whose wedding I had written about earlier. To make a long story short, we had her checked out and it was quite probable that she had an ectopic pregnancy which is very painful and would call for an emergency surgery back home. We do not do ob/gyn surgeries on the ship so we had to arrange to take her to a local hospital that evening. It was a total God thing that she was working for us to see her and get her to help immediately. She is a very strong woman and had been living with the pain for a while because her and her husband did not have money to go to a doctor.
I was not very busy and since she is so near and dear to me I was able to lay with her while she was getting tests done on the ship before leaving for a hospital. Ali was doing charge nurse with me and gracious enough to let me go to the hospital with Edith.

It was such a blessing to both her and I for me to be with her Friday and most of the day Sat. Edith was in so much pain and so scared. I was able to sit with her as we waited for the doctor and pray with her and sing. Several times when it got quiet she would turn to me and say, "Liz, you know what I am thinking?", and proceed to share with me her feelings about losing her baby, how her husband will deal with this, and questions she has about what is going on. She could not stop saying thanks to me for being there and at one point told me I was like her mom as I let her rest her head on my lap and stroked it. We are the same age and at that point I felt like I was her sister. Although our lives are so different they seemed so close. I could not imagine going through what she did without having another close female beside her for comfort and a good hand squeeze when the pain was at its worst. I waited with her until midnight just sitting in silence at times, and at others hearing her awesome testimony and about her family...1st husband who died, her one child, and her remarriage.

Finally we were told they were going to postone the surgery until early Sat. morning. I decided to go to the ship for sleep since her church friend was staying and come back at 6am. We were told she would have surgery at 5 or 6am. When I got there, there were no doctors in sight. She was fed up with the pain and wait so she marched down the hall to where the doctor was sleeping and knocked on the door to wake him up! Only in Africa do you wake your surgeon up to tell him to get a move on!

One of my dear friends and fellow nurse from the ship, Suey, came with Sat. which was so nice! We waited with Edith's husband and church family as they did surgery. Since I had worn my scrubs they actually called me in to watch the laparoscopic surgery. It was quite a clean and sterile environment...I was impressed with it compared to other places I have seen. The nurse would come out occassionally with a slip of paper with writing on it, upon which we would take to the pharmacy there to get what it was and bring it back to her (since you have to buy all your supplies in advance for medical treatment in Africa). About 30 minutes after they took her in we took the first slip to the pharmacy and brought back an ET tube. Suey and I couldn't stop laughing. We were like, well, "guess they havent intubated her yet since we are bringing her ET tube!" Later we were sent at times for IV fluids, antibiotics, pain meds, tubing, etc. We decided we could see what stage of the surgery they were at by what supplies they were sending us to get!

It was quite the experience to be with a friend through a surgery in an African hospital, but I believe God had brought us together earlier in the outreach and had me working the night she was here for a reason. God is always in control and I believe it was He who had her in so much pain here Friday night so we could get her help and I and some others could help financially since they would not have asked for it yet truly needed it! I was so grateful to be able to be with her through this difficult time.
"And we know in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." -Rom. 8:28

Please continue to pray for Edith and her family..that she may be free of infection and pain as she is still recovering in the hospital.

Some other interesting tidbits from those days for those of you who are not tired of reading...;)

-Sat. morning they had hung another IV after the 1st finished. The nurse left the room and I didnt think they would prime the tubing and would let the air flow into Edith that was left in the tubing since Suey has seen this done. So while the nurse was gone we disconnected the IV and primed it. Turns out the nurse came back to prime it and was probably confused to see no more air in the tubing...Suey and I just looked at each other and snickered.
-Recovery room consisted of a few nurses who were rarely in the room and checked Edith's blood pressure every 30 minutes for about an hour until the next pt came in and needed the vital machine.
-The whole surgery, medicine, hospital fees, etc. totalled approx. 200-250USD! A steal when you compare the same procedure to the cost of that in the states...yet a fortune for people here!
-We were not allowed in the recovery room unless we had scrubs...which I at the last minute decided to wear Sat. Suey did not so they finally gave her a sterile gown to wear. We laughed that to us it was more for our protection than the patient's as they left soiled beds just sitting there after the patients were long gone.
-The patients had to use their own buckets from home for bed pans and of course had to have someone go out and buy them food when they wanted to eat.
-Edith had to wait 6hrs post op before they would allow her to have even a sip of water.

I know there are more things, but it is 530am on night shift so if I think of more I will add them later:)

"Africa: 1 Yovos:0" -Suzanne Zickell circa Aug.2, 2009

2009-08-02T16:05:00.000-07:00

I know...2 blogs in 1 day...I am really outdoing myself:) However, this is just a short funny story I had to share.

So tonight 4 of us who play tennis regularly went to the place we usually go for a little Sunday evening tennis. We went at 8pm which is a little later than usual, but not much. This is a fairly nice "club" by African standards. Well, we get there and the lights are off and it looks like no one is there. We are a bit confused but thinking since it was a Benin national holiday yesterday maybe it is closed for the weekend. We ask the guard why it is closed. He proceeds to tell us that all the workers decided they didn't want to work any more today and went home...there was no real reason they were closed, just that. LOL...TIA. We found this quite amusing, yet for some reason not a bit suprising. We pulled ourselves together after a good laugh and drove back to the ship. Right when we got back someone who had seen us leave asked us how tennis was and why we were back so early... in which Suey responds...well, lets just say, Africa-1, Yovos-0. For those of you who do not know, yovo is what all the African people call white folk. Anyhoo...pretty funny. I laughed so hard.

Im going to have to try that one when I get a job someday back in the states. "Ya know boss, Im just not feelin like workin right now..think Im gonna head home for the rest of the day."

"Excuse me, can I get a pair of briefs with my drink?"

2009-08-02T15:11:00.000-07:00

By now I have figured out that the moment you think you don't need a camera is when you will regret not having it. Last week a group of us went for a walk after dinner to get some passport pictures for a Togo visa. On the way back we decided to stop at O'Grille...a local favorite...for a drink before heading back to the ship.

We sat down and proceeded to order while looking at the table next to us and noticed a group of 3 African men getting a drink and a man selling them boxer briefs. The briefs were layed out all over the table as the men rummaged through them. We all found this quite amusing when Richard, one of the guys with us, mentions that he actually needs some. Well, of course we couldn't let this slide and helped wave down the brief salesman to come to our table. We insisted that he buy some from this guy...seriously, how convenient! We helped him pick out 3 pair of the non sketchy looking ones.

This is where the bardering comes in. None of us can speak much french and we were trying to get him down on the price. The concensus was to try and get the 3 pair for 1,000 cfa each. It was quite amusing watching us all try to do this each our own way when finally I yell out, "trois (3) for trois". He understood this, but everyone was dying laughing at me and my amazing french/english combo. I don't think I'll hear the end of that for awhile. All in all it was quite the successful outing...passport photos, drinks, and briefs for Richard. Ya just never know what goodies you'll end up finding on a trip out:)

Aneho, Togo in pictures....

2009-07-23T03:15:00.000-07:00

Four of us went to Aneho, Togo a few weekends ago so the guys could surf before one of them went back home to the UK....here are some pics from the weekend.

The Oasis hotel we stayed at. Looks abit dodgy from the outside but really pretty nice....except for the REALLY hard cement-like pillows:)

Walking around town cause it was rainy and bad surf Sat. morning.

Everyone was really excited about the "side path" I took.:)

We stumbled upon a beautiful cathedral...something you do not see often in Africa. It just so happened to be named Peter and Paul's cathedral...ironic that Peter and Paul were the two guys on the trip.

We even got someone to let us up to the top of the bell tower!

Headed to the beach in the afternoon for some surfing...

A few boys could not get enough of the surfers...they burst out into hysteric laughter everytime they crashed:)

Fear Person!!!

A satellite is a necessity here of course!

The monkey at the hotel being all dramatic for us....

Baby Odilon

2009-07-17T08:26:00.000-07:00

This is the story of Odilon...one of the patients who was here for quite a long time and who we all grew to love... written by a friend of mine who works in communications here...

A recent publication released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that the killing of infants with birth defects is still commonly practised in much of Northern Benin. Although awareness campaigns and other attempts to curb this disturbing phenomenon are in place, the practice continues. Sorcery, ignorance, and cultural pride are to blame.

When her aunt delivered the tiny bundle, it cried like a healthy baby should, but 19-year-old Edwige could tell by her aunt’s expression that something was wrong. When the newborn was placed in Edwige’s arms, she began to cry. “Is this the baby I gave birth to?” she asked her aunt. The child, a boy, had a bilateral cleft lip and palate. His appearance was unlike anything she had ever seen.

Despite her initial shock, Edwige’s motherly instincts took hold, and she accepted her son lovingly. She named him Odilon. For a few hours, an exhausted mother and her child slept peacefully. Then, just as quickly as Odilon had entered the world, their troubles began.

Edwige’s mother-in-law arrived and inspected young Odilon with disgust. Because of his cleft, Odilon was called evil and inhuman, and Edwige was blamed for giving birth to a demon. Edwige’s husband was told to leave her to avoid bringing shame upon the family.

The environment Edwige now found herself in was far from pleasant. Rumours were heard around the local community about Odilon, spread no doubt by her mother-in-law, who almost constantly spewed slander and judgement. When Edwige ventured out into the village, she was met by a barrage of accusatory stares, hisses, and taunts. She did her best to ignore them. “I didn't want to remember those cruel things people said,” Edwige recalled. “I cared only about my baby. God gave him to me, how could I throw him away?”

In the shadow of verbal abuse, a far more serious issue was developing. Because of his cleft, Odilon struggled to feed from his mother. Edwige turned to her mother-in-law and aunts for help, but received none. Slowly, Odilon began to starve.

Weeks passed. One day, Edwige sat in a church with her weakening son when a man happened to notice Odilon’s dire state. He told her about a ship offering free medical care in the port of Cotonou. Desperate and without options, she decided to make the eight-hour journey to the coast.

When Odilon arrived onboard the Africa Mercy he weighed a mere 5.5 pounds (2.5 kg). He was in such bad condition that the medical staff onboard the ship did not think he would last for more than a few days. But Edwige’s faith was strong, and the will of her tiny son to live was even stronger. Dr. Craig Albrecht of Canada, the Africa Mercy crew physician, became Odilon’s doctor and spent the next several weeks monitoring his health. The first step was for him to adopt a regular feeding pattern and be nursed back to full health. The ultimate goal was for Odilon to gain enough weight to be eligible for corrective surgery on his cleft lip.

The baby's recovery was erratic. Over a few days he would gain weight, only to lose it again. For Edwige, it was a stressful time. “I trust only in God. Since Odilon was born, I have trusted God to help me,” she said. “I asked God to help him with his life, for Him to give Odilon strength like He gave Jesus strength, so that Odilon will give glory to God and witness to others about the miracle God has done in his life.”

After nearly seven weeks of care and weighing 8.1 pounds (3.7 kg), Odilon was finally ready to receive surgery. Edwige was anxious about the well-being of her son as he was placed under the operating room lights, but a few hours later, when she heard her baby’s hungry cry and saw his newly formed mouth, she experienced inexpressible joy.

As he lay quietly on his bed sleeping, Odilon would suck on the new formation that was his upper lip. Because of Mercy Ships, he had undergone a miraculous transformation that brought him back from the brink of starvation and gave him a chance to live a normal life. Edwige’s joy for her son resonated with the nurses, doctors, and crew onboard the Africa Mercy, many of whom had been touched by the plight of this frail little boy.

In West Africa, particularly rural Benin, cultural mindsets and ignorance about certain medical conditions are still rigidly entrenched. Such ideas lead people to label babies like Odilon as cursed, and very often some will even attempt to completely eliminate a child’s existence through whatever means possible.

Unfortunately, two weeks after leaving the Africa Mercy to go back to his village with his mother, Odilon died. The exact cause of his death is unconfirmed; a local social worker reported that he had died of starvation. Given the troubled past Edwige had lived through in her village and the disdain that was shown toward Odilon, ignorance and fear may well have triumphed over compassion.

Odilon’s death reminds us that the need for God, demonstrated through love in action, must continue to be shown passionately and effectively in West Africa and throughout the world. Despite such tragedies, Mercy Ships perseveres and continues to bring hope and healing to the world’s forgotten poor.

“Odilon was a beautiful little baby made intentionally by God,” said Dr. Albrecht. “He makes us answer the question, ‘What value is there in a person who is not perfect?’ God has made it clear to us that He knows that none of us are perfect and that we all need His help in our weaknesses.”

Story by Richard Brock

Edwige said that since Odilon was born she had “trusted in God” to help her take care of him.

Odilon’s mother, Edwige, had hoped that her son would become a witness to others of the miracle God had done in his life.

The news of Odilon's death was quite hard for all of us nurses to take. He and his mom had been here so long and Odilon finally made it to a successful surgery after a long haul. The news we got was that the baby started losing weight again and that the mom refused hospitalization and milk supplies. However, after having his mamma here so long and watching her care for her baby we are pretty sure she is not the culprit. I know her mother in law was pushing her very strongly to get rid of the child. My guess is that others in her family and village forced the situation. I can only imagine the heartache of Edwige. This is such a tragic story that sadly Im sure happens way to frequently here in West Africa. Please lift up Edwige in your prayers.

Runnin, runnin, and runnin, runnin

2009-07-13T07:51:00.000-07:00

Our 6am running crew...well, most of us. This was Kim's (purple shirt) farewell run...she headed back to S. Africa last week.:( Took me a while to yank myself out of bed before the sun was up when I first started, but after a week I was addicted....so much cooler, less traffic, and a bit less exhaust/pollution (... really makes running not quite as fun around here when you are inhaling exhaust with every breath). After my morning runs I usually head to the end of the dock and sit on the break wall for some push ups and sit ups...surrounded by a sunrise, crashing waves, and fishermen heading out in their little wooden boats...makes it all worth while;) I just make sure I wash my hands a few times when I come in for breakfast cause its pretty much guaranteed that if you are anywhere on the dock...someone has peed there;)

Wedding Bells

2009-07-09T14:53:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, July 4th, I was invited to attend one of our day worker's weddings. I had gotten an invitation a few months earlier and was very excited that I would be able to attend. Edithe is one of our housekeeping day workers. I wish I could describe her to you in a way that would fully give you a glimpse of how awesome and joyful she is in everything she does. During a dress ceremony for the VVF ladies in the morning Edithe was in cleaning one of the bathrooms on the ward the ceremony was on. We were singing, dancing, and singing praise songs when I looked over into the bathroom and Edithe was in her own little world...she was singing at the top of her lungs, jumping around with the biggest smile on her face all while scrubbing the bathroom walls. I will never forget that picture in my mind. She always has a smile and an encouraging word to say. If there is a dancing during the ward service we always find each other to jump around and dance...she was one of my first African dance instuctors;) Needless to say it was a priviledge to be able to be a part of her wedding day.

A group of about 12 of us from the ship piled into cars Sat. morning and headed to their church. We parked the car and zigzagged back and forth between little shacks until we could hear the music. It was a small little church with LOTS of people inside singing. We were ushered to our seats and I nestled in preparing for the next several hours. The invitation said 10-2pm, but as is with most things African you can be almost guaranteed that it will be longer. They had a bulletin and each thing listed had a time next to it...5min, 10 min, etc. This was amusing to me as about an hour into it, we were only on bullet point number 4 which up to that point was like 20 minutes according to the bulletin. We sang and danced and finally there was loud cheering as the groom made his was into the building. Then another 20 minutes or so of dancing and singing and dance performances by the kids (all dressed alike) and the bride came. There was all kinds of hootin and hollerin and rice was thrown on her as she walked up the isle. Edithe looked very somber which was very odd to me as I knew she was excited about getting married. I still havent figured that out except that maybe that is tradition.

After about 2 hours they finally started the vows...which took about 30 minutes. One of our translators who helped lead the worship for the day helped translate some of it into english, but it was still rather confusing. The sermon (well, first one anyway) did last only about 30 minutes...I was very impressed. The title was 'Marriage is Good', which they emphasized over and over. Most of the sermon consisted of how wives should submit to there husbands. They did not go on to continue the rest of the verse...just stopped there. This I found quite interesting, yet not a bit suprising for this culture.
At this point, it is nearing 1pm and most of us have to leave to get to something else planned that day. Well, at 1245 one of the pastors announces, 'and now time for Mercy Ships to present their special song'. We all looked at each other..'is he serious?', 'uh', 'what could we sing', 'uh','this is akward', 'uh'...this went on for a couple minutes until their song finished. Some members of the congregation started coming towards us and helping us up to the front. This caught us off guard, yet it is common knowledge when you go to any church event in Africa you should not be suprised if you are called upon to sing or preach a sermon on the spot. I guess they enjoy the element of suprise here. As we made our way to the front I still don't think we knew what we were going to sing. I felt kind of silly, yet at the same time was like, 'whelp', at least Im not gonig down alone.:) Thankfully one of our translators who was helping lead worship helped lead us in one of the songs that we often sing on the ward. It ended up going quite smoothly. It sure made for an interesting end to the festivities for us as we had to leave early.

I would have enjoyed staying longer and for refreshments after but our ride was leaving...and who knows how long the wedding actually lasted. Edithe is off work for a few weeks, but I look forward to catching up with her and hearing more about it when she gets back.

African Farming 101

2009-06-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

Last week on our day off, Ali and I went with Karl to visit the Agriculture site we are helping with. Karl is an Aussie friend of ours who is in charge of the construction projects the ship does. We drove 1.5 hours out to the site. I could sit in a car for days here and never get sick of it....you just never know what you are going to see. The last 30 minutes was on a pretty pot-holed road and I felt like I had shaken baby syndrom by the time we got there....and that is even riding in a landrover.:) The whole time we were in the car we were on a mission to see how many random zemidjan pictures we could get. Zemi's are motorbikes that everyone has or uses to get around here...you rarely see a car taxi. On any given road trip you always see these bikes carrying the most unusual things...for example full size refrigerators with a microwave on that. That is a whole new blog though so stay tuned.

So Mercy Ships helps out communities in many different areas. This project is using our construction skills and agriculture skills. We are working with another Christian based organization called Bethesda for this ag program. We just finished training a class of 30-40 Africans about agriculture in Africa...planting, fertilizing, etc. We also trained some teachers as well, so when the ship leaves they can carry on this class. We are currently building dorms to house 40 students and 3 teachers as well as a classroom in the building. It was quite fun heading out into the country and seeing the men hard at work...I can't get over how hard manual labor is in Africa....no cement trucks here and the guys make their own bricks, etc. Karl showed us where the training field is...each student has their own little plot where they practice planting and yielding a crop. They planted the corn 2 weeks ago and already haver a large sprout. It is good for the fatalistic nature of many Africans to be able to see results and fruit of their labor so quickly.

It is cool to see a part of what the ship does that is not as publicized, yet will leave a lasting contribution to Benin. Although, I did enjoy the old man on a motor bike driving by with a shirt that said, "stop picturing me naked." lol....my guess is he he doesnt speak english or know what that means...but then again, who knows;)

Best care package EVER!

2009-06-10T03:32:00.000-07:00

So, this week after the hard un-screening day we had Monday I got back to the ship to find out I had a package. I knew my friend Jenn had sent one to me so I ran to pick it up. My friends Ali, and Suzanne and I were all hanging out in Ali's room so I got the package and ran it back to the room. It was pretty much like Christmas. We all sat around the box and were in awe as we pulled out all the goodies one at a time...including magnets, a shirt, tank tops, twizzlers, cookies, pictures, music/video cds, stationary, note cards, magazines, sticy notes, cards people at church had written and sent, gum, and jolly ranchers. Thanks SO much Jenn...it made my day...and everyone's day with whom I shared the goodies. Thanks for those who contributed notes and a few other things as well. I have been so blessed by the support here. Thanks also to Dave, mom, Kari for their amazing care packages and the letters I have recieved from some of you as well! I can't tell you how much that means to me!

Priceless

2009-06-07T08:37:00.001-07:00

And just another reason I love Africa......

Un-screening day

2009-06-07T07:59:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, Mon. June 8 was going to be the second and final screening day here in Benin. They had a 2 days screening at the very beginning of the outreach and at that point decided they should have a second half way through the outreach to fill the rest of the surgery schedule. Well, in the meantime we have booked the surgery schedule plum full. This is good...in the sense that we will be running at our full potential, but tomorrow is going to be a hard day. They have asked for extra volunteers to go help out as they have to trun away EVERY person who comes. The word has been spread since the beg. of the outrach about this screening day. We are praying there will not be a big turn out. But no matter what, there are going to be quite a few people showing up tomorrow hopefull and excited with anticipation that they may get a free surgery and we have to tell them all no. If you get this in the next day please pray that is goes well.

This is a very hard thing to do here. Just last week as I was the charge nurse on the ward I got called up to the dock. There were parents of a small boy with a hernia as well as a woman with a goiter. Both were asking if they can get surgery. I had to tell them both no. I can't even begin to describe the looks on their faces. They were so hopefull that we could help them. It is not just an easy "Im sorry, our schedule is full." They often plead with you that they have no money and cannot get help elsewhere. Just that moment was heartbreaking, so I can imagine how tough tomorrow will be.

I will be at this screening tomorrow, but not to turn people away. I will be screening the VVF women again. I love doing this as you get to know the VVF ladies. You get to know so much about them although most of the time their stories are pretty tragic....and I can't even begin to imagine myself in their shoes. I will actually be helping these women get surgery...the only patients in our schedule are looking for. There are a few we still have to turn away, which again, is devistating as they try to plead with you. Most of the women we will see tomorrow will be able to get surgery though. We have some VVF women now on board now and they are just so delightful. I love working with them.

Reminded

2009-06-07T07:21:00.000-07:00

I have been keeping a list of my prayer requests this year in my journal and actually keeping track of how they are being answered. I have been doing this for some time now, but last week as I was praying through it, I stopped to look at my list. It was so cool to see how many requsets I had been able to write "praise" next to. I just stopped what I was doing and again, was reminded at how amazingly faithful God is. I always take it for granted. If you do not do this already I encourage you to keep track of your prayer requssts on paper and how they are answered. Many of these were not answered overnight..in fact some I had been praying about for a few years...but God in His timing answered that prayer. I had also been reading in James this same day and want to share with you some of the verses I had read. The power of prayer really is amazing! I was again reminded this week just how important it is. May this be an encouragement to you as well to not give up...be persistant and patient...God does care and will answer in His timing!:)

James 5:16 "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

James 4:2 "You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not recieve, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."

A day on the town...

2009-05-15T05:31:00.000-07:00

Last week 3 of us nurses went out with some of the translators (Jean and Mennasau) for a day on the town. It's so fun to go out with locals and get off the beaten path! One of the translator's dad's owns a hospital in town so we started by touring that. It was a pretty nice hospital compared to others in Africa. Here are a couple interesting facts:

-It costs $5 to be admitted

-It costs $16 to spend the night

-You have to go to the store in or nearby the hospital to buy all your supplies before you are admitted ( ex. IV fluids, tubing, syringes, antibiotics, dressings, sutures, bottles of ether for surgery etc.)

-If you do not pay up front or have money to do so you get no care....no exceptions.

-Many women die during pregnancy because of blood loss. The hospitals do not have much if any blood to give because there is still such a stigma with needles and HIV here. Even using sterile needles, people are too afraid to give blood.

It sure was an interesting experience as usual. The oporating room looked like something we would find in a museum, but it seems to work for them for surgeries.

After our tour, we walked around more by where one of the guys grew up. The guys took us to a typical hole in the wall restaruant on the side of the a street for some cassava and fish. It was AMAZING!...and no, none of us got sick:) They sure put some spicy sauces on there. I left most of mine on the side of the plate. One of the girls from Sweden ate all of hers and was sweating bullets for about 30 minutes. It was pretty funny. The guys got a big kick out of that!
This week they took us out again, and this time we checked out the christian radio station that Jean volunteers at. Apparently you can get it online too, but havent looked into that. It's 103.1 I think...out of Cotonou. Jean does a program on Friday nights. We then met up with Mennasau at the beach in a little bungalow and picked up food to eat. We spent the afternoon playing cars, relaxing, and playing in the waves a little bit.

Praise the Lord!

2009-05-15T05:03:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to write a quick note to update ya'll. In my newsletter I had asked for prayer for one of the general surgeons here, Dr. Bruce, who had to go home at a moments notice because of possitlbe metastatic cancer. His whole family went home a few weeks ago and they did some tests right away. The spot they found here was nothing!!! Praise the Lord! There was no cancer found in him!!! They are now planning on returning back to the ship in a week! Thanks for the prayers...God is SO good and we are so excited he and his family are coming back! Just wanted to share the exciting news. Thanks again for all the prayer, support, letters, packages, and encouragement from back home! God is using you to help use me:)

Who doesn't love a little Bob Marley?

2009-05-12T15:34:00.000-07:00

So picture this....you are sitting in a little amphitheater that is line on all sides by palm trees. As you look ahead you barely notice the band on stage against the breathtaking backdrop of palm trees against clear skies, smattered with a few fluffy white clouds, and sprinkled with bright shiny stars. A cool breeze and some amazing Bob Marley hits from the live band made last night amazing.
May 11 is the anniverasry of Bob Marley's death, and, as one of our translators said, "if you are African and speak english you have to love Bob Marley." The french cultural center here has a concert in commemoration of this day each year. A group of us girls from the ship went and really had no idea what to expect. We were just told there would be lots of people and live bands playing Bob Marley songs. Honestly, we all were thinking we need to stay together and be safe since any big groups in Africa can get out of hand at the blink of an eye. When we got to this venue though it was a really nice outdoor amphitheater and a wonderfully fun and relaxing night....just lots of people chilling and listening to some good music...and of course as the night went on everyone was on their feet dancing to the music. They even played some of Marley's songs in the local languages...very cool.
We were very sad we had to leave at 1015 to be back by our 1030pm curfew here on the ship. Howere I am happy we didn't leave any sooner or we would have missed the very important community health demonstration. In between bands a group of community health workers got on stage and had a wooden penis (the kind you can buy at the local craft market...not kidding) that they proceded to use to demonstrate how to put a condom on for HIV/ disease awareness. We all just stood there with our mouths open. It was pretty funny. Welcome to Africa.... You just never know what you're gonna get to experience!:) It really did not suprise me though, considering how open they are with public health. In Liberia too, you would see semi graphic billboards with a man raping a woman saying something about how rape is bad, or others about safe sex, or knowing you and your partner's HIV status. You sure wouln't see these posters, billboards, or demonstrations in the states...but it is good that they are so open with it here and really are working hard to educate people.
Anyway, it ended up being one of those random gems of a night that I will stay in my memory. I guess there are concerts on a pretty regular concert at the same place, so I'll have to make my way back again:)

Penjari...safari time!

2009-05-01T22:32:00.000-07:00

I have to do some traveling before rainy season begins here shortly. This past weekend 10 of us went about 10 hrs. north to Penjari...game reserve. It started out with an 8 hr. bus ride in a coach type bus. I went armed with toilet paper...as the the bathroom stops consisted of the bus pulling over in between villages and everyone going into the bush to do their thing. Lunch was 15 minutes as ppl got off the bus and got fruit, bread, fufu on the side of the road by local vendors. On the way up there was a woman who had purchased one seat and had 2 babies and an 8 year old girl who stood next to the seat and helped with the little ones. I was amazed. Don't think I heard the babies cry once or the little girl complain.

We spent 2 days in the park on safari. All 10 of us were able to ride on top of the van. Our days consisted of going out with our guide from 6am-11...back to our 'hotel' on the reserve for sietsta then back out from 4-dark. Our room had no air and a fan that barely turned. Needless to say those were some HOT afternoons with no place to go for relief...except ordering a cold coke. Even the restaurant and reception were open air. Our room at night was 98 degrees F! Nothing like takin a sweat bath at night!
We were able to see elephants super up close as well as hippos, crocs, many species of deer and antelope, water buffalo, and wart hogs. It is quite a large park and at the northern tip there is a river that borders Burkina Faso...so one day we got to take little wooden canoes to the other side to a fishing...watched them smoke their fish and try some....so yummy!
I had to laugh when we were by the elephants...my friend Linda was freaking out when we stopped the van near them since we were so close. Then the next day the guide told us the male can attack if annoyed and shortly after saying this made this really loud sound to get their attention. She grabbed my arm and had some words to say about that...lol. But alas, no elephants charged us.

At one ponit we came across some stray goats that did not belong in the park so the guide and driver got the guys in our group to join them in capturing them. This was quite the amusing site...I suddenly felt like I was at the rodeo. And soon enough they brought the 2 goats back and put them through the window into the back of the van...I mean, naturally...lol. Then they wanted to bring them back with us 2 hours to Natatingu...2 goats with 10 of us..would have been hilarious...but then they had to leave them at the park.

On the way home to the village where we picked up the coach bus, we stopped at a waterfall. It had been raining this last day so we swam in the rain and stilled jumped off the cliffs. It was quite nice but the water was quite brown from all the run off from the rain...I really dont want to know what all was in that run off:) We also stopped by one of the old style huts where a 94 year old witch doctor lived. The amimals are on the bottom and the others live in the little domes on top. Each wife gets her own dome. It was quite facinating.

Bowling, face painting, and yovos.

2009-04-21T06:37:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few pictures from this weekend. We work 12 hour shifts on the weekend, and since there are no surgeries or new admissions there is often a bit of down time. A few weekends ago I did a little line dancing lesson for the VVF ladies. This weekend it was bowling in the hallways. We have a bunch of little balls of yarn and one of the nurses had the great idea of turning A ward into one big bowling tournament. All the patients lined up in the hallway and bottles of water were filled up just a little bit and place on the floor. It was good fun to watch! Most of the patients were either on crutches or had at least one or two casts on their leg(s) so some had to sit in chairs.

One of the translators did some amazing face painting as well. There were some twin 2 year old boys whose faces he painted and it was SO cute. The boys however are quite afraid of white people...yovos as they call us in the local dialect of Fon. When I would walk near them they would start crying..sometimes even if one of us white nurses would look at them. It was kind of a fun, sick game....take one step near and they cry, one step back and look away they stop. They got much better over the weekend, but it was kinda funny:) Here are some pictures for your viewing enjoyment:)

"For our stuggle is not against flesh and blood" (sorry, this is a long one)

2009-04-09T11:23:00.000-07:00

I have been working with the VVF women now for the last 3 days. This was the first night of 3 night shifts in the same ward. Little did I know at 930pm what I would be walking into. First, here is a little history.
Bed 17 (Ramatou) and bed 11 (Kolani) are from the same village up north, Muslim, and met on the bus coming down here. Realizing they were going to the same place for the same thing and from the same village, they had an instant bond. Ramatou is the only one who spoke Kolani’s language, although Ramatou could also speak French. Ramatou was going to be discharged but we kept her for Kolani since she was the only one who could speak her language. Kolani was really upset when we told her Ramatou was maybe going to go home, so relieved when we let her stay. I had also been told in report that Ramatou had become a Christian and since then Kolani and her had not gotten along as well. Clemintine (our awesome ward discipler came down to pray with them and talk in the morning yesterday and they went for a walk and things seemed to be fine the rest of the day.
So I walk onto my shift and there was a lot of noise on that side of the room. Bed 11 and 17 seemed to be arguing with the other ladies chiming in. I asked the translators what was going on. He kind of gave me the same story as I had been told. There was only one translator (who wasn’t stationed in my ward) who kind of spoke 11's language. He came over as well. I was told bed 11 acted up a bit the night before as well and that tonight she was paranoid and not going to sleep , saying she thought the white men were going to kill her. I’m not sure if this is because she was Muslim and her friend was converted, or what. But later she tried to warn the others that she had seen me pouring poison. We finally calmed everyone down and I gathered the translators and some other nurses to pray. One of the translators said that this was a spiritual battle and the woman would not find rest until she finds the Lord. I agreed that this seemed to be spiritually rooted. Another patient later was saying that Kolani had a "bad spirit" and it could not find a place to go while on the ship so she (Kolani) wanted to leave.
Well, we finally got everyone calmed down and Kolani was just sitting on her bed. I was sitting at the computer and had a curtain up to block the lights from the patients at night. I heard a yell from behind the curtain. I pull the curtain back and Kolani was crouched by bed 14. Now bed 14 is all upset cause she was sleeping and woke up to Kolani just crouched by her looking at her. Well, this got the whole side of the room in an uproar again. All the ladies woke up and starting talking loudly back and forth. Bed 14 refused to go back to sleep and wanted a light on because she was freaked out by Kolani and said she had a bad spirit and was practicing witchcraft. I told her I would take the curtain down and leave the light up front on so I could watch Kolani so the others could sleep.
Everyone went back to sleep for about another 30 minutes. It’s about midnight now and I look behind me and Kolani is standing by bed 17 now. I go over there and this commotion wakes bed 17 up. Kolani refuses to leave "her friend’s" side and says she wants to sleep with her. This gets everyone riled up again and the translator and I decide we need to move either bed 17 or Kolani. Bed 17 was fed up with 11 always bugging her. We figured we wouldn’t be able to get Kolani out on her own will so we decide to move 17 into another ward. Bed 14 wanted to leave too, but we can’t move everyone. Well, moving her friend made bed 11 more upset, but there was no compromising with her.
Again, things calmed down for about an hour…Kolani went back to sit on her bed. However, anytime anyone would come into the ward or the phone would ring she would get startled and stand up and go over to bed 19 and shake her legs, wake her up and cause more commotion. This happened almost every hour or two. The translator and I finally had to take turns sitting in a chair at the end of her bed so she could not get out. At times when she had gone to bed 19, the translator and I had to forcefully pull her back to her bed and sit her down.
At one point at like 3am during another escapade, 14 came over and started yelling at Kolani again. The translator interpreted that she said, "I have Jesus in my stomach (they use that instead of heart here) and if you come near me He will kill you!" Thank goodness no one else spoke Kolani’s language or I feel like that would have been another whole ordeal.
I spent most of the night reading scripture and praying for Kolani and for protection for the other women against whatever Satan had in His mind to do. It was a long night needless to say. At 6am I went to empty her foley catheter and it was not by her. I was so confused cause I had been watching her and she had it with her all night. I finally found it under her bed. The translator had fallen asleep watching her at one point and I’m guessing this is when it happened. At this point I am beyond frustrated. She had just had surgery 3 days ago and was now dry from leaking urine...if she pulled a catheter out, that would cause some serious damage. However, when I saw the catheter, she had managed to tear the rubber part so the bulb of the catheter was still in her. She would not let me touch her to get it out. I paged the VVF coordinator on call and we discussed what to do. We decided to leave her alone and wait until bed 17 comes back and see if we can get it out without having to hold her down. This is where I left it at shift change in the morning.
I went to bed and slept until about 4pm. I ran into one of my roommates who was in B ward in the morning and asked her how it turned out. It took them until 10am to convince her to let them take out the catheter. Then she still refused to stay here. We are not going to hold them against their will, so she got discharged. I guess midmorning she calmed down until the Jesus film came on at which point she just sat in her bed and screamed for 30 mintues. They had her then sent to the hospitality center. On the way out she sat in the middle of the hallway and screamed again. When they finally got her to the hospitality center she caused more chaos and either left on her own or was kicked out. So now she is wondering somewhere in Cotonou, even though she is from up north.
I continue to pray for her that she finds the Lord and that the devil will release His grip on her. I also continue to pray for Ramatou who will be going back to the same village that her faith will remain unshaken and used to convert many in that village and even in Kolani’s life. I praise God for His grace and protection last night as it got a bit scary at times. This was the first time in Benin that I really was involved in something like that. I know there is a big spiritual battle going on and it is even more prevalent here with all the voodoo and witchcraft we are surrounded with. I truly believe everything that happened last night was spiritual. I also continue to pray for the other ladies on the ward that God will protect them and not be affected by Kolani. I know Kolani is a precious child of God and I pray so hard that she will find Him and His freedom and love! The spiritual warfare going on is very real! I am so thankful that Ramatou became a Christian!. Our God is a God of healing and reconciliation emotionally, spiritually, and physically. What an awesome God we serve! He is breaking bonds, revealing His love, giving freedom and healing right in front of my own eyes. The resistance from the enemy is very real, but our God is bigger!!!
Ephesians 6:12
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

Dirty Jobs

2009-04-08T14:59:00.000-07:00

We think we have a new idea for the show Dirty Jobs. Four brave divers had the chore today of going down to clean off the air conditioning vents on the ship. This has to be done on a regular basis because they get clogged quickly and then the air conditioning doesn't function so well.

Tracy was one of the lucky divers. She got to the ship this past week. She did gateway with me and is so fun to be around. The last 6 months before gateway she spent hiking the Appalachian trail. Well, I had to giggle because when she got here she was all excited that she was a certified diver and she wanted to go down and help look for all the honey and other paraphanalia that fell to the ocean floor when a couple crates broke when unloading a container. Others heard about this and next thing she new she was designated to go on the honey expedition as well as clean off the vents with some others.

I saw her coming out of the water after I finished my run. Needless to say, Im pretty sure she will not be quite as quick to volunteer for the next dive...the look on her face said it all. I think the pictures do all the explaining. It sure takes a lot of soap and scrubbing to feel clean after comin up out of that water:) But thanks to Tracy and the other ship divers for doing that so we can have air conditioning!!!:)

On a cleaner note...I am doing night shift right now and at about 1030pm one of the translators who plays guitar came in and we had a spontaneous (those are the best!) worhsip, dance, singing session. We had already shut the lights of but the ladies loved it, so we sang for about an hour. I wish I could videotape some of this stuff some times because words can't explain it. Several of the translators and a couple of us nurses just sang and danced. One of the translators can make a trumpet sound...different notes and everything..sounds exactly like it...he joined in as well. It was amazing starting the night out like that...praising God and asking for His presence here. I just wanted to share how cool that was. Praise the Lord!

Emma's Birthday

2009-04-06T16:05:00.000-07:00

The other week I was invited to Emma's 17th birthday party. Her and her family have lived on the ship for quite a while now. I became close to her when I was here last year. She is such a fun girl! Her family is from England, but she is actually thinking about doing nursing school in Texas next year...:)

Well, when you have been living on a ship for years you kinda have to start getting creative with birthdays. This year Emma had a custome party/video scavanger hung. Emma gave each person an invitation and a person/job on the ship they had to dress up as and act like throughout the evening. It was quite fun...i had to come as an officer, there were some who had to dress up as a nurse, baker, academy (school on the ship) kid, housekeeping, hairdresser, engineer, surgeon, etc. We thensplit into teams and each team given a video camera. We had an hour to go around the ship and do the tasks that were on our sheet. Each one was worth different points. Then we had to have our team videotaped while doing it. The team with the most points at the end one. Some of the things we had to do included:

-forming a pyrimid in by the cafe and singing a song from Sound of Music

-having a team mate shower with their clothes on

-knock on the door of a family cabin and sing a Christmas carol

-have a team member run through the midships lounge (where everyone hangs out) singing and acting out I Believe I Can Fly

-drinking from the sludge bucket (where everyone dumps their unused liquids after meals)

-the group doing the Macarena

-borrowing money to get a coke then having someone drink it in one swig and burp the alphabet

It was great fun needless to say. I will try to add some pictures:)

Team Rockstar

2009-04-03T13:26:00.000-07:00

The last week or so I have been working on D ward....the maxillo-facial surgery ward. It has been pretty busy in the evenings getting patients back late and having several little kiddos that have had some not so fun surgeries needing lots of care, meds, suctioning, etc. I have to say...I don't believe I would enjoy having those mouth surgeries, having my jaw wired shut and spitting up blood. It has been quite busy but I have been working I have been working with Linda...my favorite Dutch Canadian and we do AWESOME team work if I don't say so myself.

Linda and I have so much fun together and work so well as a team....well...except the time we were drawing blood and I got stuck with a needle. I am good at IVs and she is a pediatric nurse so we went to another ward to draw blood for a baby. Well, long story short, after getting the blood I was holding the needle and she was trying to push up the safety cap and somehow I got poked (always a bit scary in Africa). Luckily it was a small needle and not deep and I bled a bit after. And again... God is SOOOO good....the patient's blood was negative for HIV and Hepatitis. I will get rechecked in another 3 and 6 months...so it is still a prayer request, but God has been good! Now it's just a big joke. But we are a great team at drawing blood on kids I have to say! It is just quite humurous now when we do it and how far away from the needle we stay:)

Anyhoo...sorry about the rabbit trail. But Linda and I have had some busy days but manage to still laugh, have fun, and help each other out. After our run of evening shifts last week we went and had some cookies outside up on deck 8. It was quite entertaining. Around midnight we saw cars pull up to the ship next to us and people on the ship with flashlights so we made up this whole story of how they were dealing drugs and gonna throw a body overboard any moment. Well, it was entertaining to us anyway...I guess anything is at that time of night though:) It will be a sad day when she leaves in June:( I'm sure you will hear about her again;)

Oh, and random thought of the day: I have had about 6 people now (nurses and African day workers) ask me if Im Australian because of my accent. ..ya, I have no idea. But I thought that was kinda funny. Maybe that is what happens when you mix midwest accents with Texan ones;)

Joy

2009-03-29T05:42:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share something that really made me smile...and even shed a tear. We had a 7 year girl named Blandie staying on the ward a few days before surgery with her dad. I got into work Friday eve. and told that she was in surgery, but apparently that day the doctors looked at the cat scan and realized how critical this surgery was going to be and even if it was worth the risk. They would be awfully close to the carotid artery to remove the tumor the girl had. The doctors had talked to the father earlier in the day and told him his little girl may not make it through surgery. Since they were working so close to a major artery, if they nicked it, it could be life threatening. The patient was in surgery for 7 hours with people outside praying pretty much the whole time. It was a bit tense on the ward as we awaited news.

At 8pm we heard the surgery went well and we could get the patient back from post op soon. At 9 we got the privilege of getting Blandie back. As they pushed the stretcher in the room the dad followed...with the BIGGEST grin on his face. A nurse and I stayed over after our shift to help get the patient situated and I don't think I saw the daddy once without a huge grin from ear to ear. I hugged him a few times and was just over joyed to watch him and his girl. He was SO happy his daughter made it through surgery. We are so thankful that God guided that surgery and protected her through it. It's days like this I leave work reminded again why I am here and so blessed to be doing what Im doing:) ...And also reminded it is not by our strength, intelligence, resources but God's. I am just blessed and humbled to be a part of it:)

The "Beach"

2009-03-26T16:51:00.000-07:00

I was sitting at dinner and a friend was telling me that there was a nice little place to eat right off the dock on the beach by the ship. This really excited me so a few of us went there to get a coke one evening and take a walk. I was warned that the beach was not so clean before I went and as you can see from the ship, the beach near here is lined with shacks/huts. And since it is on the beach, the beach is the choice toileting place for the people who live there...it only makes sense right?;) We walked through a fish market to get there, but unfortunately all the fish were put away for the eve....but the smell sure didn't. I will have to go back and check out the fish next time. As we walked through to the beach many little kids swormed us and hugged our legs and followed us for a bit. As we walked along the beach we definitely saw several people "using the bathroom" there on the beach. Sure made us look twice before each step:) So nice to get out and walk along the beach though...I love the sound of waves crashing and the breeze brushing against my face. We went to get a drink and some fries and then left to walk back shortly after dark. And yes, I washed my hands a few times before eating after witnessing what I did on the beach and giving all those little kids a high five:)
Anyway, we had walked down the beach a bit toward the fish market when our waitress came running after us yelling. I thought we had forgotten something. Instead, in a cross between french and sherades I could make something out about bandits and white people and stabbing. She did the stabbing motion quite well;) She pretty much told us we could not go back that way becuase it was unsafe and we may be attacked. So we took the road home instead. We made it back safe and sound but thought it was afully nice of her to run after us and enlighten us. God is good:)

And, on different note, I survived my first set of night shifts. They went quite smoothly actually and I stayed awake quite well...better than I remember. Although, I do believe some of that was adrenaline as I had to take care of a nauseated little boy who had his jaw wired shut from surgery. I was giving him some NG tube feeds and I would only get halfway done when he would motion to me to stop and motion he felt like throwing up. So, being on night shift and not having a lot of extra hands around I did not push it. We keep wire cutters above the bed in case those patients throw up and start choking because the fluid cannot get out. However, I REALLY was hoping I would not have to deal with that situation on my shifts. Needless to say I did a bit of extra praying for him those nights:) Praise the Lord he did not end up throwing up:)...But I think I constantly kept looking at him half the night paranoid he was going to and that I would have to use the wire cutters.

Sorry so long..I know, I promised they'd be shorter....next time;)

Celebration

2009-03-21T14:39:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday instead of going out to church I went to church on the ward. I know I wrote about this last year as well. I always enjoy being able to worship with the patients and hear their testimonies and it's always so vibrant and joyful. Patients covered in bandages from their legs to some on their faces with drains all come together into one ward to sing, dance, or if they are unable to do that, at least clap:) Although many of them are uncomfortable and healing from surgery it is a time for them to come together and enjoy each other, sing, laugh, and smile!

This past Sunday during service and again Tuesday I was able to be a part of the dress ceremony they do for the vvf women who have had surgery to fix a hole that causes them to leak urine and are now dry. Many gave their testimony and told about the tragic life they had suffered many years because of this and all the options they tried including hospitals, fetish priests, and witch doctors-none of which worked. Most women tell of how their own husbands, families, communities disowned them. C-sections are not available so women suffer through labor days before having a still born and consequently having a fistula between the bladder and vagina from the prolonged labor. And as if all the suffering they go through is not enough, they are often blamed for their 'illness' as a consequence for a sin or something they have done. their husbands often abandon them and just use their other wives for child birth.

Anyways...back to the ceremony.....It is such a cool thing to see the women with a new beautiful dress and make-up leaving a brand new woman. The joy and happiness they express is life changing. Because all the other solutions they tried failed, many of them are now going home believeing in the true God and say they are no longer going to sacrifice chickens and give money to witch doctors because they know who the true healer is! This is such a cool thing to be a part of!

Attatched are some pictures from Sunday's church/ceremony.:)

TIA

2009-03-15T10:05:00.000-07:00

So the other day I admitted a patient who had had a previous below the knee amputation. This time he was here with a broken arm....it was pretty cool looking. When he tried to move his arm it definitely bent at 2 spots instead of one. It had been quite awhile since it happened and he was finally able to get it fixed. Well, I had him two days and the second day I was able to discharge him home. He is from Togo and after talking to him with a translator it sounded like his daughter who was with him would take him home in a car.

However, by the time we carried him down the stairs ofthe gangway in a narrow stretcher type wheelchair and started walking in the rain down the dock I realized they didn't have a car here like I thought I had heard. The translator from the ward was pushing him and I followed as we walked further down the dock. So I asked the translator..."how is he getting home." I did not quite understand what he said but knew he meant some sort of Taxi. So we get to the end of the dock in the rain and the daughter waved down a motorcycle taxi. It's like a cross between a motorcycle and moped and the most common taxi here. Anyway...I looked at the translater with a strange look on my face and we both kind of shrugged our shoulders.. I was like, "is this how they plan to get home to Togo?" He nodded and told me this is how they got here. I knew there was nothing I could do at this point and no convincing them otherwise. So, in the rain, the daughter, translator, and taxi driver had a long discussion looking back and forth at the patient. The taxi driver finally agreed to take him. So the translator, daughter and I proceeded to lift this man onto the bike.

This whole time in my head Im in a bit of disbelief that I am sending a man with one leg and a knewly fixed broken arm home on a motorbike after explaining to him that he cannot use that arm. I was at least relieved to see the daughter decided to ride behind him on the bike and hold him snug in between 2 people instead of ride on a seperate bike. After getting them all situated and seeing them ride off the translator and I ran back the long dock in the rain back to the ship....the whole time I'm replaying in my head what just happened and thinking to myself..."TIA...This is Africa".:)

I've arrived...and still standing.

2009-03-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

So I've made it to the ship in one piece. So wonderful to be back. Definitely more developed here than Liberia and much different but I am excited.

The night we arrived on the ship I was standing at the reception desk getting my picture taken for my name badge (ya, not nice how they make you take your picture the night you arrive) and I thought I was going to faint. I have never fainted before but I was pretty sure this is how I would feel when I fainted. I felt like I was swaying back and forth...a lot. I looked around and kind of held onto the counter thinking I was going to collapse at any moment when I looked out the window. I then realized the boat was listing (swaying) really far back and forth...then I felt dumb. Well, at least until I found out later 2 other girls I am freinds with who flew in with me admitted to the same feeling. In Liberia if you looked at the horizon you could tell the boat was moving back and forth a little but only when you tried to look. Here, if you stand still for a minute..or sit a computer... it is very evident. I was hoping it wouldn't be enough for me to notice or get sick over and it hasn't.

I have now had 2 days back on the ward. I got so excited going back down there for the first time and seeing all the patients. I had one day of orientation and then was on my own. The whole french thing is taking some getting used to. The translators are great but there are still many dialects from all over. At one point the other day a nurse and I were trying to teach a patient something that would be difficult to teach to someone who speaks english let alone a dialect most don't know. However it took a nurse and 3 translators to speak to the patient. It went something like this...I would tell our ward translator something who would tell a caregiver the same thing who would attempt to tell another caregiver the same thing who spoke the patient's language and tried to tell the patient. I REALLY wish I could have known what the patient was really told. Im pretty sure it was not what I had originally said as I saw many shrugging shoulders along the way amongst the translations. lol. It's like Chinese telephone but through 4 different languages. Good times...more to come:) Surgeries and everything are going well so far though. Thanks again for all the prayers and support!

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane...

2009-03-05T19:36:00.000-08:00

Ok, so bear with me...it's been about a year and I still do not like to write, but Im gonna try to get back into blog mode....and I'll try to make them shorter this time round...no promises;)

So as most of ya'll know, I finished a month long traing course at the headquarters in Tyler, TX in Jan. with 30 others of all ages from all around the world. We had 3 weeks of missions training which was superb. I learned so much I cannot even begin to say it all, but I guess the parts that impacted me the most were spiritual warfare and worldview. I realized how much my worldview affects my faith and my ideas of missions and God sure opened my eyes to many things! The last week we got to do basic safety training inclucing cpr, first aid, firefighting, and sea survival. I'll tell you I sure have much more respect for firefighters after having to wear the full gear and put out a fire.

As of this Sat., March 7 I will be boarding a plane for Paris and meeting up with others from the Jan. Gateway course to spend the night in Paris and explore a little before making my way to Benin. I am very excited and know this is where God wants me now. Thanks SO much for the prayers, I cannot tell you that enough! I will keep you updated!

P.S. I love mail so in case anyone wants to send me some snail mail my address will be:

Elizabeth Espeland - HCS
Mercy Ships- M/V Africa Mercy
P.O. Box 2020
Garden Valley, TX 75771-2020

*I also love packages and know a few people had talked about sending them. Please be aware that I will have to pay $5-8 a lb. for any packages I recieve. So if sending packages, please make them either light or as people have done in the past - put a few bucks in to cover the cost if its over a few lbs:):)

God's plans are bigger than ours

2008-05-03T18:41:00.000-07:00

So this past week I had a crazy schedule and I had switched with someone to go camping so I ended up working nights last weekend and then had to work eve. shift Mon. I still got 5 hrs. of sleep in between which has become more normal for me than is probably healthy. I was ready for work and feeling fine and awake and actually excited to come to work again...which is also pretty normal for here...God is awesome:) Anyhoo...I showed up and Red was like...I can't believe you are working eve shift after you just got off nights...you must be so tired. I explained how it was kind of flukey and I felt fine and was ready to take the full patient load. She said they were going to be getting an infection patient into C ward later and a nurse would have to be in there so I would just get one patient. Usually I would get patients in D ward as well as that new admit...who was not even here yet. She said I could take it easy and play/ do activities with the kids on the wards and help out where needed. I kind of argued with her cause I really wanted to work and was fine. We had enough nurses though and she insisted. Then we were talking and discussing one of the guys who had been here for quite a while and was supposed to go home a while ago but his wound keeps oozing so he is still here. We were discussing how that was kind of odd and wondering why God still had him here. He is french speaking and often translators come here to lead worship songs and share scripture/testimonies on the ward, but since he is french speaking he probably does not take too much of that in. He can speak small small english but not much. Anyhoo...to make a long story short I used that eve. to grab one of the french speaking translators and talk to him a little bit. He is muslim and I didn't convert him to Christianity but hopefully planted a seed. I also ran into Andrew outside when I was looking for the translator and we had a really good talk for about 30 -45 minutes. He is back home now but now his house got washed away since it is right by the ocean and the water came up and I guess washed out several houses. Andrew has awesome faith, but was cool to be able to encourage him through that situation and talk to him about some other things as well. I believe God used that converstion to speak to both of us. I was able to help another nurse out later that evening who was super super busy, start an IV, and play some games with some of the patients as well. It ended up being a great evening. I was just really frustrated at the beginning and prayed that God would give me peace about the situation and it's so cool looking back and seeing how God had different plans for the evening and it ended up being great.:)

Patrick

2008-05-03T18:29:00.000-07:00

So I was going to do a blog about Patrick...the "patient" who was here a while ago I had written about. He was from Sierra Leone and here for plastics screening. He did not end up getting surgery while here but hopefully will if Mercy Ships goes to Sierra Leone next year which is the tentative plan depending on if the government there will allow us to come.

Patrick is 14 or 15 and lost both of his parents in the war. After the rebels killed his parents they threw him into the fire. He lost his siblings as well. He is blessed to have an uncle who he now lives with. He has an amzing story. With all the scars he has he looks like he is 15 going on 60. Despite all that he is the most joyful guy. I took him up to deck 7 after work one day and for whatever reason none of the patients on any of the other wards came up that day. I ran into Ali on the way up who was not working but came up just to hang out for a little while. That was the most wonderful hour or we had. The 3 of us had so much fun that day and the next few days he was there. That day on deck 7 Patrick was telling us all about Sierra Leone...teaching us the language Creo and teaching us the dances they do there. We were laughing so hard and having such a good time. What an amazing kid. He is another one we would visit everyday. The day he left Ali and I walked him to the end of the gate. That was another hard one to say bye too. We got the address to the tailor shop his uncle owns so if Ali and/or I are here next outreach and go to Sierra Leone we can find him. Not sure exactly why he came all the way to Liberia only to get told he will prob. get surgery in Sierra Leone..but I know God had a plan in the time he spent here. There is another patient here now who has been here forever and has continuos oozing from his wound and not sure why God has him still here except that God probably has a plan behind that too. Anyhoo...sorry to get off subject. But here are some pictures we took that day on deck 7. Cool to see the contrast of how much joy he has, but at the same time, you can see the pain and hurt behind his eyes. I wish I could get the videos of him teaching us how to dance on here. I do believe Ali tagged me in one on facebook that you can get to from my page.

Alfred "the scientist" Renner

2008-05-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

Where do I begin about Alfred. One of my favorite patients....although Auntie Ali was the one he was acually in love with;) Ali and I (auntie Liz) had a great time with him. He is a 14 year old boy who was here for quite awhile after he had surgery on his leg. He was very mature for his age for the most part. Ali and I would visit him pretty much every day even when we were not working..although sometimes he would not talk to us. We decided this happened when his dad would take off and leave him for the weekend and that really hurt him. I think there is some pretty deep emotional hurt in that boy. He has no mother, only his dad. We would hang out with him in the hallway during the day and at night when he wasn't sleeping. He is the one that told both Ali and I serperately that we would not get married because we are too crazy...lol. He told me I needed to be more serious. I said, "well, what if I find a crazy husband" to which he replied.."he stupid"...lol. He told me about growing up and explained the games to me that they would play in the river. He had the biggest smile and always made us laugh...unless he was in one of his non-speaking moods. He was an expert at the whole eye brow raising thing. I think I wrote about that in a previous blog...often Africans when they say "yes" to something just raise their eyebrows...and often very subtly so it takes a while to pick up on. But Alfred would always do that when I would ask him something.
One day I was visiting Alfred and he asked me why we allow muslims on the ship. That was a cool opportunity to talk with him. After explaining that to him I realized his bed neighbor was muslim and that is why he asked. I was probably talking really loud when I answered him too..but maybe that was a good thing. Ali said that one of the days she was working that muslim patient was doing their prayer and Alfred starting singing "we worship you papa"...(one of the worship songs sung here) at the top of his lungs until she stopped praying. That was a little immature of him but slightly amusing too. He is a boy trying to figure things out...at least he recognized the difference there. It was a sad day when he went home.

Mother Fatu

2008-05-03T17:04:00.000-07:00

So I am going to try to get caught up on some blogging finally. It's been way too long. Im workin night shift tonight, and even though a nurse called in and I have all 15 patients to myself it should be a pretty quiet night:) Yeah for flexability.:) Ali and Phil just stopped in to say hi and hang out for the last hour...that made my night.
So I have been going to Mother Fatu's orphanage a few times on off days with one of my good friends who has been going there since they have been back in Liberia for this outreach. It is about a 30 minute taxi ride away. They have been working on painting the classrooms. I love it there. It is run by a mother Fatu. She has an awesome testimony and felt God called her to start this orphanage. She lives with her husband there, although he has had a stroke and pretty much stays upstairs. He was very highly educated in the states but missed Africa too much to stay there. He helped write speaches for the president here before he had a stroke. The kids are so fun to just hang out and play with. They love singing, dancing, braiding our hair, running around and climbing all over you:) It's so fun to see all of their different personalities. They never cease to entertain:) The kids have school every day until about 12:30. One of the older girls was teaching me how to dance. And before we left that day most of the kids ended up in the room that was being painted and singing worship songs for us and other songs they had learned in school. Some of the little boys use the wooden chairs as bongo drums. The kids have so much energy...sometimes too much ...in which case a game of follow the leader may be necessary to get some of the kids out of the room so that at least some work can get done in between playing.:) I hope to get back there again before I leave in a week. And hope to get mother Fatu here to the ship for dinner one night. She is such a blessing to those kids and an amazing woman to get to talk to. Im gonna miss the sound of little kids constantly calling my name..."lizbet, come here.....lizbet"...both at the orphanage and on the ward. The last time I was there it was raining so we went into the church building and were listening worhsip practice and dancing all around. I love watching the kids interact with each other and run off to play games with each other. Oh, to be a child again. Earlier I had tried having them build a pyramid...bad mistake...lol. It ended up with a huge "lets all pile on liz" game. I was pretty much covered in sand by the end of that one. And if you ever sit down on the steps be prepaired to be swormed and tackled:) It's neat to think about how each one of those is God's precious child and how God has a plan for each one of their lives.

Roberts Port Camping Adventure

2008-04-21T15:45:00.000-07:00

So first of all...I cannot believe I only have 3 weeks left. I have made some of the most amazing friends and had some of the most amazing experiences here and will be very sad to say good bye. But who knows...maybe I will be back before I know it.
God has used some of the ppl I have met here to teach me some amazing things through their lives, testimonies, and encouragement. Some of these are personal so I will not share here, but if you ask I'll probably share. It is just so cool how God works in such strange yet cool ways and through people you'd never expect.
I walked Andrew (the albino I have been referring to) to the gate to say goodbye today. We will miss him. He has been such a blessing to me and to the ward. I am going to try to visit him at his home. And he has gotten special permission to come back each Sunday to do drums at ward church...so that's awesome...but will still miss poppin my head in to say hi every time Im down on the ward.

Ok...sorry for getting side tracked...back to camping...
So Sat. 4 of us left to go to Roberts Port (closer to Sierra Leone border). The youth group also took some vehicles, but 4 of us went seperate with a taxi and camped further down the beach. We actually made it there in an uneventful trip only about 2.5 hrs...unlike the last group that took a taxi there and got a flat tire then ran off the road into the woods and had to be taken the rest of the way in UN vehicles). The most eventful thing that happened was when we picked up extra ppl on the way (we already had 4 of us in the back seat and 2 other passangers up front). The drivers son actually road on the front of the hood the last couple miles...good times! We got to town and bought some water and kerosine before heading to the beach. We hung out with the other mercy shippers for a while in the afternoon. Ali, Red, and Paul who I think I have referenced before were all along on the youth trip. Then we went down the beach and I watched the guys body board and surf for a while. I have to say this is one of the prettiest beaches I have seen...just cause it was so lush and green and had dark black rocks scattered along the shore here and there. I did a little body boarding myself...the waves were ok, but I guess usually better for surfing than this time. The guys knew some of the local surfers from before so they joined them. We set up camp before it got dark. We planned to sleep outside but brought a tent in case of the usual late night rain shower or in case the crabs were biting too much. I made sure to wear plenty of insect repellent as well. We made a big camp fire and cooked noodles, sauce, and some meat and beans we had brought along. It was quite yummy...a little salty being cooked in salt water but quite delicious. We were relaxing on the beach watching the waves roll in when I was like.."so is anyone else feeling a little ill?" Well, I guess I was the only one...at around 830pm I started throwing up every 30 minutes till probably around midnight. Good times. I have no idea how I got sick...it could have been anything. I have to say I have never thrown up with such a nice view before though! And I was well taken care of. It was SO nice out..we slept out all night and it didnt rain...and we were close enough to the fire that the crabs didnt bother us either. At about 1030 one of the guys took the long trek back to the youth site to get some meds from Ali from the med kit for me. She came back and stayed with us. She is my kindred spirit here....so was nice to have her by my side through the night and help me out (I'll spare the details:)). I took some benadryl and was able to finally get maybe an hour or 2 of sleep off and on. I dont think any of us really got much of any sleep. I felt better in the morning just 100% wiped out since I had nothing left in me. At 730am it did start to rain so 5 of us piled into a 2 person tent for an hour. I had already been thinking how long of a walk I had ahead of me expecially with how exhausted I wass. Two of the youth came to get me to see if I wanted to walk back with them and go in the mercy ships vehicles since they knew I was sick and probably didnt want to be crammed into a taxi. So they carried my stuff and we started walking..I warned them I was going to be REALLY slow and would probably need to take some breaks. Then David volunteered to save my life and he piggy backed me half way back. We left around noon to head back home. The others took the taxi back and came back a couple hours later. I still had a great time...but was sad I didnt get to climb the rocks and see what was around the bend which had been my plan for the next day. But, such is life. Good memories, good friends, and yeah for God's gorgeous creation. I am feeling much better today. God was gracious in that I had today off anyway so I got to relax and recoup.

A day out in rural Africa

2008-04-17T16:42:00.000-07:00

So sat. I pulled myself out of bed to head out early for an orphanage. There is a group of older guys and Scotland Peter who go out every weekend to help build a new orphanage. I had asked to go awhile ago to help out cause I like playing with kids and I love working and getting my hands dirty. We drove 2 hrs out and through the firestone plant to get to this place. It was so peaceful and pretty out there. As soon as we pulled up of course the kids came running. One of the guys from mercy ships has actually been staying out there for the last 2 weeks, so I got to see the hut he was staying in. Crazy! He had lost quite a bit of weight and complaining that he washes his clothes daily and still smells. We played with the kids a little while. The two women we came with read to the kids. I was ready to get my hands dirty so I helped plant some bananna trees around one of the huts with a chisel type thing. Now too long into the day Peter comes over with a little boy holding the strangest looking bug. It looked like a little alien with a bunch of twitching feet. I have a good video. But ooooh...scary looking. I guess they did eventually rip the head off and eat it. MMMM. I also got to see HUGE magots and watch the boys eat them. I almost put one in my mouth but really didnt want to catch some wierd disease.

During lunch Peter and I went to the field down the road to play soccer with the boys. good times...but quite hot in the afternoon...and they sure are a ton better than me...they got several good laughs watching me play:) Although I did somehow manage to score a goal somehow. One of the little boys was carrying around a large machette with him everywhere he went...I still get a kick out of that common site here.

After lunch I helped the guys dig trenches for the foundation. Quite hard work. Actually I had blisters within minutes. We would hoe the rocks and dirt loose then use a shovel to clean it out. Two of the older girls jumped in and helped when they saw me and it was mentioned that women are the hardest workers in Africa. We all laughed and had a good time. Even enjoyed an afternoon rain shower. The kids gave me what looked like way under ripe green orange...but they said it was ready..so we peeled it and man, that was the yummiest, juciest thing ever. It was a great day filled with fun and hard work. I love the country anywhere so it's always enjoyable to get out. It is crazy how desolate it is out there and think they survive ok. Wow, does it make me count my blessings. And it was so cute having a little train of kids following you everywhere you went. The kids are so precious and beautiful here...breaks my heart to think how many are orphaned, yet fun to hold them each and silently pray in my head for them...knowing God loves them so much and has special plans for everyone of their lives even though it looks so bleak at times.

Night Shift

2008-04-08T20:52:00.000-07:00

So this is what happens when you go up for a break at 1am on night shift.

Tom (aspiring hair dresser from England): "Liz..your hair looks kind of poofy."

Me: "I know, that is why I hardly ever wear it down."

Tom: "It doesn't look bad, but I have just the thing to fix it."

(Tom proceeds to go to his cabin to get his styling gel, puts some in his hands and rubbing it all over in my hair)

Afterwards:

Tom: "Wow Liz...you look amazing..you would totally be a hit in England with that hair."

Me: "Yikes....uhhh...I had better go do something with my hair before I scare all of my patients."

Good times!

Patients

2008-04-08T19:44:00.002-07:00

So, can I just say I love my patients. I worked this past weekend so I went to the church service we have on the ward. I think Im going to do that again next Sunday, just because it is SO lively and celebrational and I actually know people in the congragation. All the patients that are able to from all 3 wards cram into one and there is drums, worship, and time for patients to give their testimony. Then there is a small sermon. This past week Andrew (the albino who I have written about previously) gave the sermon based off of the Luke passage where the sick woman just touches Jesus's cloak and is healed and Jesus feels the power leave him. He did a great job. It was fun taking care of him this week cause he gets dressing changes three times a day and you have to put vinegar/saline water soaked gauze on the wound and let it sit for 10 minutes. We would go to a different room to do this so we just hung out while we waited for the 10 minutes to pass. The whole week he was so excited about talking in ward church. He would go over the passages with me and what he was going to talk about. He also shared with me much of the hard times he had been through personally and how he didn't give up and how God provides. I also started praying for him while we waited for time to pass. I have really enjoyed those times with him. He is still here and is going for his second surgery tomorrow actually to get a skin graft from his leg to cover the open muscle on his shoulder. After he preached Sunday I told him he did a great job and he said, no...God did...how cool is that.
I also enjoy walking back to the ship from being to the market and often seeing some of my patients being discharged and walking out..or leaving after a follow up apt. It is so fun to see them, and run up and give em a hug and say hi. I was running with Red (one of the charge nurses here who is amazing) and we saw one of the patients we had really gotten to know. We both ran up and gave her a hug. Then we started talking about how cool that is and how most of these patients are probably not used to being loved like that and having people be excited to see them after they have lived with illness and deformaties.
It is always interesting nursing here and exchanging information with patients...as I have mentioned before regarding translating. Well, another thing that Africans do is raise their eye brows...for everything it seems. I had a girl last week who was queen of this. Usually when they raise their eye brows (ever so subtly) it means yes. Again, it took me a long time to even notice them doing it cause it is so subtle which ads to the entertainment. But I had a girl and granted she did have jaw surgery and couldnt really talk she still had the eye thing mastered. But I would ask her if she wanted to take the medicine liquid or in pill form and she would raise her eye brows. Well, thtat didnt help me so then I would ask her if she wanted it liquid...raised eyebrows. Then I did the same with pills...same response. I was crackin up inside cause Im like...really...I think Im missing some hidden signal..she would raise her eye brows for everything. Anyhoo...guess you have to see it..but good times.
Here are a few of the patients I have gotten to be close with. One is a girl who had no nose/lips because of the flesh eating noma bacteria. Thanks to the surgeons here and many surgeries later she has a nose and lips and was just back for a revision of that. One of these pictures was taken after she finished braiding my hair. Then her mom taught me how to wrap and hold a baby on my back like the women here do...the woman in the next bed over had a little baby that we all enjoyed helping babysit while mom was getting surgery.

Another man..Popey..had had a part of his jaw (mandible) removed and was here to get a bone from his hip placed in his mouth to be his jaw bone. He had to have his mouth bandaged shut for a few days and was having a hard time after the surgery...we were both getting frustrated and I was able to pray with him and I visit every day to see how he is doing. That is another fun thing about working and living in the same place...even when Im not working I'll often pop my head in to say hi to the patients...they love it.

2008-04-08T19:44:00.001-07:00

Testimonies

2008-04-05T06:35:00.000-07:00

Every time some of the VVF ladies go home we had a dress ceremony to celebrate. Sometimes it is not the most exciting as many women do not get healed of their problem (leaking urine) during their first surgeries..and sometimes never. This can be very discouraging. However, most of the ladies here this time around for the surgery are on their 2nd, 3rd, 4th, surgeries and they have been healed and are now dry. This is SO exciting. There are only a few VVF ladies still here from when Dr. Steve was here to do surgeries. I think I talked about dress ceremonies in a different blog...but pretty much there is lots of music, drums, dancing, and celebration. All the ladies get new dresses to represent new life as they are now dry now. The ladies also share their testimonies....very tragic to say the least when they describe all they have been through. Well, one of the nurses typed up some of the testemonies from one of the last ceremonies and I thought I would share the email she sent to all of us nurses. Many of the ladeis who are still here have all gotten the same infection and that has been discouraging...that is what is being referred to in this email. It is so cool to see God working here....

Hi dear all,

Some of you have maybe heard allready the wonderfull testemonies of 3 beautiful ladies on the ward and the work Jesus did in their lives, but I really like to share it with you all.
I also like to encourage you, remember God is so faithfull and so personal!
Last weekend, if I may be honest, was a bit hard for me and I really asked God about the infections on the ward (especially the ladies). I asked the Father about it and realized one thing. God said;
'Bad things can happen.The devil wants to steal your joy, but don't allow him to do that! Turn this situation 180 degrees. Not 160 or 170, but 180 degrees. Turn it into the opposite, take a difficult situation and turn it into a good situation, turn it into a blessing for them! You have so much to give; give your love, minister to them, listen to their stories etc. Finally show them My love!'

So, I really like to encourage you, now and even in later situations. You have so much to give! This is a great opportunity to share the love of Jesus!

Well okay, enough for now. Hereby you'll find the testamonies. Enjoy them!

Esther (2nd VVF repair):

Esther came on March 14 to the ship. A girl of 24 years old. When I talked with her she told me she had a difficult past behind her.
She was living in a village and during the war, she and her family, had to flight in to the bush. The rebels came into the village.
At that time (18 years) she became pregnant. All the time during her pregnancy she lives in the bush. Finally the time came that she had to give birth. Esther was more than a week in labour. Than the time cam that she couldn’t walk anymore. Her brothers carried her to the hospital.
After that she gave birth, the baby died in one week and Esther started leaking.
She was leaking for years. She was crying and crying to the Lord.
One night that Esther went to bed, she had a dream…
Esther told:
‘I was crying to God and than I felt asleep. Than I got a dream. A man in white clothes came to me and talked with me. He said; ‘Come, the time was long enough, lets go for your operation.’ The man in white took me to the operation table and than I was healed. I was so glad! I was healed!!!
But than I woke up… Still I was leaking. I didn’t understand the dream. But than I heard from the white ship that came to Monrovia.
My grandmother and I were talking about this ship, but I had no money to go to Monrovia. But after a few day’s my grandmother came and gave me the money and send me to the ship.
So I got operated and… here I am and… I am dry!
God has healed me!!!

Elizabeth (Urethroplasty):
Elizabeth came on March 19 to the ship. Elizabeth is 49 years old and got 9 times pregnant. Only 5 children are still living. Elizabeth started leaking when she gave birth to her first child. She don’t remember at what age she gave birth. She knows that she was very young. In her testimony she told:
‘ I was leaking for a long long time. It was hard for me! I suffered a lot, but God also blessed me and I have still 5 childeren. Even though it was very hard. On night I was crying and shouting to God; ‘Help me!’ And than I got a dream…
A man in white came to me and stood beside me. He carried a white towel. He laid his hand on me and with this white towel he wiped my tears.
Later on I woke up and was so encouraged!
Than I heard from Mercy Ships and I went to the ship. I got this operation and… Praise God, I am dry!’

Jawara Jenreba (PV Sling):
Jawara, 29 years came for the 2nd time to the ship. After the first surgery she was still leaking. She is a pretty girl, and was teaching the nurses Pele. She was always optimistic and said; ‘ Balika Melika’ (Thanks God).
This time was a hard time for her. She had pain in her stomach and the wounds were hurting. She felt weak and had to go to isolation by typhoid.
Later on she went home. Last week she came back and told us;
‘I felt so down and depressed. After my first surgery I was leaking. It was no life for me. I didn’t want to life anymore and I thought about suicide.
But than I heard Mercy Ships came back again. I thought; ‘this is the last thing I want to try’. And now I had surgery and I am dry! And even I am menstruating again.
I found new life!’ Balika Melika!

Saturday in Pictures

2008-03-31T06:06:00.000-07:00

This past week was wonderful...work went well...still love being able to be a nurse and have time to play with the kiddos...and adults:) This past week they have been doing a lot of ortho surgeries...so lots of unhappy little kids with casts on:) One of my patients..a 14 yr old girl had surgery on her toes on both feet and came back with casts up to her calfs on both legs...we put little booties on her so she could walk, but def. needed someone to help her..she was a trooper. Those same days I took care of a little boy..his name was Sunday Boy. So cute. He was there with his dad and didnt smile much so such a cuddly boy to hold..he loved it. I would be on the other side of the ward taking care of patients and I would feel something on my leg and it was him following me around...so cute. And we did get him to smile:) Not sure where his mom was, but seemed like he missed the cuddling:) Anyhoo...onto Sat.:

Walked to an orphanage in the morning with some ppl from the ship. After a long, hot, fun morning playing with kids we stopped for some fresh cocunut juice on the way back..then they cut it open so you can spoon out the coconut to eat:)

Later, we were going to go to the market, but some guys were here from the USS Fort McHenry Naval ship that is stationed off the coast and were offering to take ppl out to it to tour it. So a bunch of us did that instead. It is a flat bottom transport boat so QUITE rocky...I took a video..but after being on that thing an hour a few of us were ready to get off...oosta. They say you get used to it though. I coulnt even walk straight it was tipping so much. They can flood the bottom of the ship to let their smaller boats on for when they go out to sea...or flood it to make a swimming pool...fascinating. Sure made our ship look like a cruise ship though after seeing where those guys live. Sure is fun meeting and thanking our troops though for all their hard work and time away from family for our freedom!

Sat. night 4 of us went out downtown Monrovia to a rest. with live music...had some food and drinks and danced...SOOOO fun!

Last night about 20-30 of us practiced to be examples for the Scottish Ceilah dance we are having on Sat. night. I cannot wait...it was SOOOOOO fun practicing. Peter and a few ladies are from there and teaching us all the dances they do at Ceilahs back home. Sure was a lot of laughing and quite the workout:) Cant wait for Sat....although I think I broke my toe on the wooden elephant that was in the room when I was swinging around at one point..good times. I went running this morning and found myself limping a bit...haha.

This morning on my run I was listening to Caedmon's Call..."Thankful". One of the lines says, " Im so thankful, that Im incapable, of doing any good on my own." Cool thing to think about, and humbling. Reminding me I need so spend time with God every day and asking for His help, because there is no way I can do this on my own...only through His power and strength. SO cool though...that He can do things in and through us that we couldnt never even comprehend doing on our own! What an awesome God we serve!

Snippits

2008-03-26T17:02:00.000-07:00

So I just thought I would write a random blog tonight with a few random pictures.
First of all...I took care of a baby who recieved surgery for his club foot today. His mom had on a Valparaiso University T-Shirt...how RANDOM!...in Liberia. I tried to explain to her that that is the town I gerw up in....but dont think it translated well:)
Here are a couple pictures of one of the empty wards so you can kind of get an idea of where I work...and also a picture of inside the bathrooms on the ward...because most of them really have not seen a flushing toilet before...and they were really having these problems:)

Yesterday I had the day off...quite relaxing...pretty wiped still from getting off night shift...But I have made good friends with the three amigos I now call them...they have beds next to each other and have a good time together. Henry(with bandages around his head) has been here forever..and he is so happy to have friends to hang with now. Earlier he was kept in one of the corners away from everyone because of infection. Andrew (the albino) is the one who's surgery I watched with the cancer. And Even is the 3rd. I went down and hung out with them for a few hours yesterday and Evan and Henry taught me how to make friendship bracelets...it's been way too long since I had made one...so I hung out with them while I made it...then went up with them when they went to deck 7. It was so fun...I always pop my head in and say hi when Im around down there. They all have such amazing stories and faith! Henry wants to stay and be a day worker when he is eventually better...which will still be a long time as he still needs skin grafts.

Red and I went running again yesterday too...had a little African boy and girl run along with us for a little while:):)
Today I worked...then I took my 1 patient who could go up to deck 7. Ali...one of my good friends here had the day off but came up with us. Usually patients from all 3 wards come up..but today it was just me and one of my patients. His name is Patrick....he is from Sierra Leone...he is here early waiting for plastic surgery screening on the 30th. Ali and I had SO much fun with him. He was teaching us Creo(sp?)...the language they speak there...as well as some African dances. We have some great video tape of both...but it's on Ali's camera so I will have to get it from her. I was asking him about his family...he said he has no brothers or sisters. His parents and siblings were all killed in the war...and the rebels put gasoline on him and threw him in the fire...still dont know how he survived...has burns ALL over. I cant even imagine...yet he has such a bubbly personality and biggest smile. But there are times when he has a serious face that is just makes you want to cry...he looks like he has literally been through hell and back. I have to put the pics up for u guys...and the videos are quite enetertaining. Anyhoo...I still cannot fathom stories like that. He is only 15 now. I think he thoroughly enjoyed our time on the dock today...we all laughed so much and had so much fun:)
Tonight went out for Emma and Peter's birthday's.....3 landrovers full of us...so fun...even when Carlos got one of the landrovers stuck on the way back.:)...Never a dull moment around here:)

Easter

2008-03-24T15:34:00.000-07:00

So I survived my night shifts! I stayed awake for the Easter service on the dock at 8am Sunday...then brunch at 10...finally went to bed at 11am til 5. Then had another night shift Sunday.
Easter was such a cool experience. The service was on the dock overlooking the ocean. Such a cool way to celebrate Christ's ressurection...lots of praise songs...even the kids on the ship did a dance..thanks to Elizabeth...as she teaches dance back home. The sermon was based off of Matt. 25...serving others..it was really good. It gave everyone the rare opportunity to dress up..many wore their African dresses that they have had made here. By the end of the service we were all sweating pretty badly.:) Then we all went inside for the yummy special Easter brunch...of which we are still eating today..and prob. tomorrow too:)...it's all about leftovers here...or shall I say variances on a theme.:) Good thing Im not a picky eater...actually they really do a great job and make some yummy meals. At 7pm there was an open house where families opened their cabins if they wanted to you and could go to different cabins to get some snacks and coffee and say hi...woulda been fun, but had to be at work at 7.
Work went well Sun. night...was kinda overwhelmed when I heard I had the whole B ward to myself...at least only 14 patients instead of 20 since some had been sent home. The nurse who was supposed to work with me was sick. But...it's all about flexibility:) It actually ended up being a great and quiet night...and I had a little help until 9:30. I had half the patients Sat. night so knew most of them. I got to do the dressing change on the guy who's surgery I had watched the other day...I think I had written about that...he is an albino who had a huge, smelly, cancerous mass removed from his neck and the Dr.s did a crazy skin flap and he will later go back for a skin graft. Anyhoo..so really cool to see that. And is was just a blessing being in that ward. There were 8 VVF ladies on one side and 6 guys on the other who had had different surgeries. I had a lot of fun with them. Andrew...the one who had the tumor removed is sooo joyful. He is in his 30s...and when I was starting vital signs early at 5 to get them all done he was up walkin around praying and singing worship songs. I just couldn't help but smile. And the patients are so appreciative for everything you do...for the most part. All in all I survived the night...just a little busier at the beg. and end of shift...but made time go by fast...and I had a few friends stop by to see me during the night. Six people were starting a puzzle when I came up to get coffee at 11. I went up at 2:30 and helped for a while on my 30 min break...then when I went to get croissants at 430am they were still there...and still there when I finished at 730!! Glad others arent getting sleep around here too:) Good times. I hope everyone had a joyful Easter!
Well, Im off to bed since I only took a 2.5 hr. nap this morning when I got off work. A bunch of us went to the beach since it's still holiday here on the ship. Maria and I swam way out to a rock...quite fun and good exercise. We were out ther for a while cause one of the Africans on his little wooden fishing bote went by and asked if we wanted to go for a ride...so of course we said yes...he said he had tdo drop some stuff off and he'd be back. We were thinking maybe he'd be like 10 min...then we thought about it and figured African "right back" is prob. dif. than our def. of "right back". So, ya we ended up having to go in before he came back...sad. A few of the guys got stung by jelly fish on there way out to the rock we were on....nothing serious though.

Nights

2008-03-21T16:24:00.000-07:00

So I survived my first night shift last night...went really well actually...and I stayed awake the whole time, no prob...even with me running 3 miles and playing flag football before...(prob. not the smartest idea). But maybe that helped me stay awake. I worked in A ward with the VVF ladies. So cool to be in there with all of them. There were 2 of us in there with 20 patients, but once it got past 11pm it was really quiet for the most part all night. The best part of night shift is looking forward to 4am when Albert, the baker from Germany, has his fresh croissants ready. We go up and get them hot off the press. We are spoiled to have him..he starts at 1am every morning making fresh rolls and croissants. SOOO yummy..but I hear he is leaving in a few weeks. I went to bed at 730 and got up at 1215 to go downtown for Pricilla's birthday and go to the craft market. I went down to ask about scheduling quick and got a pleasant suprise...I get tonight off:) So just work Sat. and Sun. night now. There were 8 girls that took 2 cabs downtown to eat and hang out..was a wonderful fun and relaxing afternoon.
Tonight a different group of us went to eat at Sajj...lebanese food..but also pizza's etc. Was super fun. On the way back we did not have enough room in the one vehicle so a few of us volunteered to walk back and catch a cab. Two guys and two girls...prob. not the brightest thing we have ever done..but we were planning on catching a cab. We were enjoying walking though so we ended up walking the whole way...2 hrs. and made it back just in time for curfew @11...good times. As we were walking I realized there were 4 of us from 4 different countries walking together...Canada, Scottland, America, and South Africa...how cool. We had some interesting experiences on the way back home, including seeing a girl get slapped upside the head quite harshly by some guy...we just hurried by. Plus we were always kept on our toes by watching for the random uncovered manholes in the sidewalks...not so pleasant to fall into I dont think. At dinner I had pita bread and hummus and a shwarma...mmmm. As we were waiting for our food the generator/electricity went out...I was wondering if we were gonna get our food...but it did come back on. Anyhoo...I am planning on sleeping in tomorrow then working at 7pm. As far as Easter...I should be able to stay awake Sunday for the Easter service on the dock here at 8am after I get off.

Jogging in Liberia..and other thoughts...

2008-03-18T16:03:00.000-07:00

So today I ventured out on the streets in Liberia with "Red"..(she has red hair...hence the nicname). ..to go for a 3 mile jog and dodge cars, bikes, and pedestrians. It was so nice to actually run somewhere...and it was like running a 5k race...cause we had Africans..moslty male...cheering us on the whole time...lol. Anyhoo...we survived.
Earlier today they had a dress ceremony for the VVF ladies. I dont know if I have explained the whole thing yet, but pretty much before they have surgery they have urine running down there legs constatnly and are a social outcast. Well, after the surgery when they are dry (sometimes the surgery doesnt work) they are given new dresses to represent their new life. There was very lively African music and dance on the ward and each of the ladies who left gave their testimony. Very touching and SOOO cool to be a part of such a life changing experience for these ladies. Although often times it involves loving on the ladies when after they have surgery they are still not dry...I took care of 2 of these ladies today...I cant imagine how discouraging that is. And for many of the ladies this is their 2nd, 3rd, or 4th surgery.
The last two days have been super busy in the ward...but there is a boy named Abraham who came in because of excessive playing after his hernia surgery..so it would close and it got infected. He is SOOO cute and never ceases to make me remember the reason I am there and to be joyful in all situations...not focusing on the medical work...but taking time to love on God's children. Working here you have to be flexible and just do your best with what you have. As I would hustle around every now and then I wuold feel him poking my leg or asking me to hold him and spin him around...so of course I found myself taking breaks in what I am doing to love on the little guy. I will put a picture up here of him.
Sunday I went to a new church that had lots of kids since it is a school too. It was so cool watching them as they did sunday school and leading worship at church. It made me think of what I had been reading in Matthew..."let the little children come unto me"...and having childlike faith. They were all so happy and joyful...and carefree. And it made me chuckle cause every time someone says praise the Lord...the response is always Amen. During the sunday school lesson some kids would start staring off, but as soon as the pastor would say praise God (which was quite often) all the kids would respond Amen. Ok, so maybe you have to be here to appreciate it, but it was so cute. I guess it is a good way for pastors to keep the congregations paying attention too:) After church they even made us dinner...rice and casava...cooked greens..and peppers..very hot peppers. Was sooo yummy though..and so touching as I know no one here has extra money just hanging around.
And for entertainment purposes...you should check out the blog of Dr. Mark and Dr. Peggy. They are a young married couple here from New York. They are very fun and both doctors...Mark does many of the face/neck surgeries. They wrote a great blog about taking health history on patients here..quite different from back home. http://mercyinafrica.blogspot.com/. It is the second entry (march 10).

Bong Mines

2008-03-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

So, as expected the trip was as amazing as I thought it would be. One of the guys who now works on the ship actually worked at Bong Mines for 10 years and was working the day the rebels came. They held all the workers at gunpoint and took them down to the main gate. There they either approved you to go on or shot you dead. It was pretty crazy hearing all he had to say..fascinating but SOO heartbreaking. He actually escaped and fled to Guinea and returned after the war. He had friends that joined the rebels just so they could eat and survive. He lost 2 children to hunger during this time. The mine was actually run by a German company for iron ore. There is a hospital there too that he showed us. As we went into the mountian he showed us where the Germans came and actually landed a plane to get all the German workers out when the war broke out. The Germans ran the hospital...so now it is government run. You have to see the pictures I took... CRAZY! No running water most of the time and electricity by generator that comes on a couple times a day. They do a few surgeries daily..mostly c-sections, and hernias. The pictures of the ICU would amaze you...so dirty..and ancient. They just do not have the funds to run it like they did when the Germans ran it.
The mine is going to be rebuilt though. There are bids in for it now..I think it is narrowed down to 3 companies. So that will be good. There are still many ppl who live in the mining towns there.
So as far as the trip...wow. We left the ship at about 730am and drove to the train. We then waited awhile to load the cars on the train beds...in the mean time of few of us went off exploring and climbing oil tanks:) The trip was AWESOME! And the train didnt break down at all which I guess is unusual. We all sat on top of the land rovers or the hoods on the way there...or the hamock Carlos brought and tied between two of the cars. Def. nothing that would be legal in the US...walkin around and climbing or standing on landrovers on a moving train. The train ride was about 2.5 hrs. one way...through little villages and jungle. We got there and drove up to a lake where we had lunch. We couldnt go swimming though..even though it looked SO clean and SOOO inviting..even cliffs to jump off...but I guess the last group that went is still on pills for the parasites they aquired...glad they were the ones who had to learn for the rest of us;)
After lunch we got back in our cars and went further up the mountain..some fun off roading:)...until the road pretty much got impassable. Then the man who went with us who worked there took us to the different mining sites and explained the process and where he was when the rebels came, etc.
Oh, and when we were pretty far up on the mountain we stopped where there was a SWEET overlook. As we were standing around enjoying the view somone noticed there were a couple areas of piles of bullet shells laying on the ground..some big and some small. Just a crazy reminder of how real and how recent the war was. I guess the mine was one of the main rebel camps and some pretty gruesome things happened there.
We got back around 6 just in time for dinner. There were about 30 of us that went (3 landrovers). That night we were all pretty exhuasted...I just ended up watching a few episodes of The Office with a friend and went to bed.

14-3-08

2008-03-14T15:40:00.000-07:00

Yep, still trying to get used to the way they write dates here. Good times. Today was great...slept in til 1030!:) Worked evening shift. Slow at the beg. but then after I got my patient back from OR it was crazy. She had a mouth absess removed...but then in recovery spiked a fever, bp dropped...prob. septic...(big infection). Anyhoo...so guess who got her next....me! So I spent my evening hoping she wouldnt crash on me...but luckily we have great doctors and they come right when u call...so Dr. Mark came down and we got some blood culutres, I put a foley in, started bolusing her with lots of fluids. She still seemed kinda sketchy when I left, but hope she is ok. I think her bp got as low as 79 systolic a couple times...ya...eek. Then on top of that I still had 2 other dressing changes to do..one that takes 20 minutes...crazy dressing...he has holes all over his chest pretty much that had drains...most of which are out not. He had had a huge mouth infection as well before he came to the ship. All of us on D ward tonight were running like crazy. We all had post op patients and patietns with NGs needing tube feeds, suctioning, dressing changes. Sure made time go fast though.

Anyhoo...enough about the medical stuff. I have the weekend off and I think 20-30 of us younger ppl are takin the land rovers to Bong Mines. Leave here at 630 am and put the land rovers on trains...for 2.5 hrs...then get off and drive up a mountain..and hike...but no swimming this time...I guess they tried that last time and the ppl who did are still on meds for the parasites they aquired...mmm. ANyhoo....Im excited..Im sure you'll hear about it. :)

Addendum to the last

2008-03-13T15:26:00.000-07:00

So after I wrote that last entry i was on my run and just kept being reminded about how God is the one who should be getting all the glory for my day today:) I had been praying that I would feel more comfortable and be able to spend more time with my patients and building relationships with them ...and God totally answered that today. Anyhoo...what an awesome God we serve...and none of this I could be doing on my own if it were not for Him..trust me...but how cool is that!...
Volleyball was a blast...except good thing someone on the ship had a spare net since apparently someone got onto the UN base and stole theirs...prob. for a fishing net.
I have been doing my quiet times out on the dock at night...oh is it wonderful....no bugs, perfect temp. and always a breeze. Ahh...

My first pediatric experience

2008-03-13T08:49:00.000-07:00

So I worked day shift again today. I had the same patients as yesterday..except fo a new baby. I took care of a 3 month old with an infected head wound. SOOOO cute. Everytime you look at her she smiles and laughs...except when you are changing her dressing or her IV goes bad and you have to start a new one...oops. But def. my first time providing medical care and giving IV antibiotics to a baby...and learned a lot:) Her mom is wonderful too....and is the only one who speaks the same language as my 84 yr. old patient so she always translates for us:) I love how the patients translate for each other even though we have translators who work with us:) And many times the translators say the exact word for word thing we say but the patient doesnt understand it when we say it cause they have such a strong accent on their words. But it's humorous...when the patients nod after it is interpretted and Im like...dude...I just said the same thing. :) Or I have patients that interpret for others and then when you talk to them they still need an interpreter. Good times:) So one of my other patients is an 84 yr old man...so cute. He had a cataract fixed as well as a hernia...as well as some other edema down in that area. Poor guy. And they just found pnemonia. So I have been getting him up to walk in the hallway and get his lungs moving. Today I took him in the elevator to deck 7 where us day nurses take the patients who want to go at 2:30 to get some fresh air. I think it took us like 30 minutes to get there cause he walked so slow...lol...but his face lit up when we got there and he didnt want to leave, so I stayed awhile with him and held his hand. Oh, and I also got the enjoyment of teaching him how to use an incentive spirometer to help him take good deep breaths...now that was quite the task...trying to translate that...I think he is kind of getting the hang of it now...:)
Last night I went to go watch the soccer game and then went to hear one of the plastic surgoens talk about the nooma infection that is very common here..and eats away at the skin. Crazy pictures and even crazier description of how they treat it and fix ppl's mouths, noses, and faces that have been affected...by taking skin flaps from the scalp and neck. Fascinating. Well, Im off to go run before volleyball tonight. Hope ya'll are donig well. Oh, and if you are looking for something to pray about you can pray that we (mercy ships) can find a way to get synthroid into this country. The surgeons have had to cancel many goiter surgeries because many of the patients would have too much thyroid removed to be ok without taking synthetic thyroid hormone. It's cheap to get in the states and is available here...but only by like 1 company who has a monopoly and can pretty much charge whatever he wants and pts cannot afford that even short term let alone the rest of their lives...which they need it for. So docs here are trying to find a way to get someone to supply it here reasonably priced without wanting to make mad money off it and jacking up the price. Many women have been sent away crying and devastated that they could not get the surgery they were once told they could get. Their is such a social stigmatism to having deformaties here and they were SOOOO excited when they thought they were gonig to be fixed and now they are being turned away. Most countries that Mercy Ships visits does not have a problem getting this hormone...but here it is a big obstacle...so pray for that situation. ...and my apologies fro writing another book;)

Sunday

2008-03-11T15:30:00.000-07:00

So Sunday I got up and went to a small African church about 30 minutes into the country. It was the prettiest little place..they are working on building the new church so still dirt floor and just finished the tin roof. I love the worship here. Everyone is so lively...drums, dancing, jumping around. Truly what worship should really be I think! And they are all so joyful and thankful for what they have even though it is not much! The children here are SO beautiful too! The sermon was on Matthew 18..."Go into all the nations...". Oh, and we almost didnt make it to church cause the battery was dead in the land rover we had...so we got to push start it. Although that was quite a bit more difficult when we had to do it after church on a dirt road with lots of ruts. Very entertaining...but this time we had all the guys from the church to help. Later in the afternoon we went to Elwa beach about 45 minutes away...several Mercy Ships ppl were there...you gotta be smart making friends here and find out who can drive:):) It was beautiful and nice to get out off the ship, go for a swim, run, played frisbee...and many Africans came to join. We then had a church service here around 7. I worked Monday days...was really busy...had a guy with every 4 hr. nebulizer treatments (something I have learned to do here since respiratory ppl at our hosp. usually do it), suctioning, and tube feeds. Then I got another woman back from surgery with a tumor removed from her lip...she had 2 twin babies with her...so cute. I also had a couple pts with dressing changes. It was good, but busy..mostly because I spent most of the time trying to find out where things were. Played volleyball Monday night at the UN base. Today I had the day off and went to town with a few other girls...we walked most of the way, as the first taxi we took broke down:) It is amazing how dirty it is here....but I know ya'll have seen plenty of pictures of Africa to know this...but stil so crazy. And driving is insane...walking along the road to the markets is quite the adventure. I got a bit burned today too...and surely sweated off a few pounds...but dont worry, I have been drinking my water:) Played soccer tonight after being coerrced (sp?) into it...I showed up and it was all guys....I was like, well...here we go...Im gonna look foolish. Most of the guys are from here and Europe which means they grow up playing soccer. I felt like I did horrible but I guess they thought I was decent. It was so fun though. Just now we finished Salsa dancing lessons...good times...Im a pro now...or something. Tomorrow Im back to work:)

Haunted Ship

2008-03-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

Just for entertainment purposes...there is a ship that is half sunk right off our dock...I guess 3 yrs ago it was unloading cargo when it flipped...and they are trying to slowly remove water from it and get it up and out so they have more room on the port. Anyhoo...it is half up and last night a few of us were sitting on the dock at about midnight when all the sudden 2 lights on it turned on and we heard a generator start...but saw no movement... Anyhoo...it was funny, cause it just happened out of no where and we saw no one working on it...so now it's the haunted boat. The lights were off this mornin. Ok, so that was probably not entertaining for anyone...but it provided us with some. I'll keep you posted...maybe we'll see pirates..lol..ok, maybe not:)

TGI Saturday?...ok, Im so not creative with titles...;)

2008-03-08T13:38:00.000-08:00

So these are probably going to get shorter and not every day...I know...thank goodness you all are saying:)...I just want to make the most of my time here and not spend it all writing...although some days are better than others and on my days off Im sure I'll have plenty of time. Anyhoo...today a goup of 8 of us went to an orphanage...good to get off the ship, see the area and meet people...sure is an eye opening experience...something you always read about or see pictures...but so neat...and humbling to experience in person. The kids are so well behaved. We sang songs, made name tags for beds with the kids, painted nails, jump roped, played soccer, painted nails....and sweated a lot...which as most of you know, I dont mind..the heat really does not bother me that much:) The kids were sooo cute and so well behaved. After reading A Long Way Gone (HIGHLY RECOMMEND)...about a boy soldier in sierra leone...it gave me a whole new outlook on kids here since they have been through similar things. I caught myself really being drawn to the young boys and wanting to just give them a hug and picturing the boy in that book whenever I see them here. Many of them have to grow up at such a young age. Then I kicked the soccer ball around with a couple ppl on the dock after returning...almost loosing hte ball into the ocean a couple times...oops...not to mention myself. After lunch a group of us walked to one of the markets...about 45 minutes from here and bought some fabric to take to a tailor to make skirts and bags. Again...cant even being to put in to words the experience....and happy to be alive....as the road is crazy! And I wish I could have gotten pictures of the chicken wings, feet, etc. sitting in bowls in the hot sun for sale....uuuggghhhhh! Wonder what kind of things are growing in there. Did take a picture of a lockheed building though for you you lockheed martiners in texas...i will try to post it or send it to ya'll. Tonight they showed a documentary on the ship the the vvf surgeon brought. It is about women all over the world who suffer from this and how their life is a living hell because of it...many say their ownly option is suicide because EVERYONE ostracizes them..even their whole family. That is one of the surgerys they have been doing on the ship. The documentary is called A Long Walk to Beautiful. It has actually done really well in film festivals and is up for an academy award. They interviewd Dr. Arrowsmith (surgeon here) for when they play it in the U.S. on May 13th...it will be on Nova...so watch out for it...it is REALLY good...and humbling. Ok, so this wasnt short like I promised...sorry. Tomorrow is church then the beach and back to work on Monday. Thanks for the continued prayers. Pray that God continues to use me, challenge me, and grow me:)

Day 2 and stayin alive

2008-03-06T15:13:00.000-08:00

So today I worked the evening shift...tomorrow is my first day on my own. Since all the patients are so different all I can do is throw my hands in the air and say, well, here we go...jumpin in with both feet and we'll see what happens. Glad God is my partner and can use me to do things I never dreamed I could:) Today one of the nurse here had an emergency appendectomy...I think it's the first time they have had a crew member get surgery here...she is now down in the icu. She should be fine. I guess there has been a crew member with malaria that was actually on a ventilator here who they shipped off to england and made it as well. That would be pretty scary though...being in ICU on a vent on here...eek...u should see some of the machines:) Anyhoo..I digress...I took care of a female who had had a goiter removed, a guy with a tumor on his back that had been removed and a little boy...5yrs old with burkett's lymphoma...cancer. Cutest thing ever and SO joyous despite the situation. I enjoyed playing with the kids. I love how all the patients and caregivers get up and visit with everyone...we all sang some praise songs together and I think it is so cool to have kids and adults on the same ward. Watching the kids chase balloons around made sure cheered some of them up that really needed it. Im still doin well...although this mornin woke up and went to bkfst feelin fine...then after breakfast thnought for sure I was gonna barf. I was afraid to get up...how embarassin would that have been..lol. So I skiipped the heath care devo and went back to bed...taking a garbage bag with me just in case. But after a nap I felt better...no clue what that was all about. Ok, sorry these are so long!

No Mama Papa Business

2008-03-05T15:58:00.000-08:00

So a few other funny thoughts from the day...as background...you call the women and men mama or papa to be respectful..or by their first names. Well, when we discharged the hernia guys we had to tell them no mama papa business for 6 weeks...aka no sex...but I had to chuckle at that.
Secondly..one of the nurses was looking for honey for a wound...I was like..huh? I guess the doctors often put honey on infected wounds cause the bacteria feeds on the honey and not the wound...so you put honey on it for a while, it draws out the bacteria, then you wipe of the honey...they all say it is amazing.
And last random thought of the day....I decided I am very blessed to be able to sleep anywhere at any time. Jet lag never really seems to affect me...and I feel really bad for 2 others who came last Sunday who still are having trouble adjusting and sleeping. But Im feelin so blessed;)