Tretheway Lines

Forever in our Hearts, Nan

2012-01-29T23:00:00.000Z

This week we said goodbye to Sharon's Nan. Sharon and Nathanael were able to fly out to be with family and friends as they joined together to say goodbye last Thursday. We know that she has invested so much in our lives that we wouldn't be the people we are today if it hadn't been for her influence, so we wanted to share her life with you.

Gladys May Powell

24 May 1919 - 16th January 2012

Gladys was born in Bath on 24^th May, 1919 & had a strict upbringing with her younger siblings, Kath & Dennis. Her mother always said that she was different to the other two & had ‘big ideas above her station’. She was in serious trouble when her father once caught her dancing with a chair! She passed her 11plus, but her parents couldn’t afford the uniform for her to go to the grammar school & Gladys was too proud to accept the help offered by the State, so she didn’t take up the place.

On leaving school she went into service with the Maw family of Bath & took care of their 2 children. The house rule was that if the children didn’t eat their meal it had to go back into the larder & Gladys was instructed to bring it out every day until they ate it, but she couldn’t bear to do that to them & used to eat the leftovers herself in secret so that the children always had fresh food. The family kept in touch with her for many years & invited her to their weddings.

She met her husband, Cyril, at the drill hall in Bath & they were married on 22^nd November, 1941. Cyril wore his army uniform & Gladys wore her W.A.A.F. uniform.

Within days of the marriage Cyril was posted abroad to serve with the Desert Rats, while Gladys continued to serve with the W.A.A.F. as an equipment assistant, spending long periods not knowing where Cyril was.

After the war they settled in Bath & had 2 children, Jacqueline & Kenneth. When Jacqueline passed her 11plus, Gladys was determined that she wouldn’t let her miss the opportunity of attending grammar school & took a job cleaning a tailor’s shop to enable her to afford the uniform. She later worked in various grocery shops in Bath, then eventually took a job as a home-help & enjoyed helping the clients by often doing extra tasks that weren’t part of the job description, such as taking washing & ironing to do at home.

Gladys was always proud of her family & welcomed Jane & Bob on their marriages into the family. She was particularly proud when Ken went to work at the British Embassy in Washington DC. But, her proudest moments were on the arrival of grandchildren Sharon, Sally, Kimberley & the much longed-for grandson, Michael. She was delighted when Sharon followed in her footsteps & joined the WRAF, and then Sally worked as a nanny.

Gladys was a life-long member of The People’s Mission Church in Bath & her life revolved around the Church, both spiritually & socially. She served on various committees, taught in the Sunday School, & had very few friends outside the Church, enjoying many holidays abroad with other Church members, particularly a trip to Israel when she & Cyril were baptised in the River Jordan. She & Cyril eventually moved to Radstock & when Cyril’s eyesight started to fail they started to worship at Westfield Methodist Church as the journey to Bath became too difficult, but at every opportunity Gladys joined her old friends from The People’s Mission.

During the 90’s Gladys began to show signs of dementia, although Cyril was quick to cover up for her. One evening in 1998 she was walking to a ladies’ meeting at the Methodist church when she was knocked down by a car & sustained injuries to her head, eye & leg. The shock accelerated the dementia & Cyril‘s sudden death in April 2000 caused another setback. She managed to continue to live in her own familiar home, but became increasingly confused when she began to have hallucinations. In 2002 she was admitted to hospital after staying out all night & was sectioned, so in June of that year she moved to Heanton Nursing Home where she was cared for until her death. Although she met her great grandson, Nathanael, she couldn’t comprehend who he was, but she & Cyril would undoubtedly have been very proud great-grandparents.

Gladys was known to be very house-proud & had a very good sense of humour & told many amusing stories of her life in the W.A.A.F. but her references from the W.A.A.F. & Ifoulds grocery store probably sum her up very well:

‘This airwoman has reached a superior standard of efficiency in her trade.’

‘We have found her faultless in every possible way – always reliable, keen, energetic, punctual & most important of all, completely trustworthy.’

We lost the Gladys we knew many years ago, but the memories will always be there.

The Nail Biter

2012-01-11T13:00:00.000Z

Isatu was crying hysterically as she and her three-year-old daughter, Hawanatu, accompanied a friend to the home of his neighbor, a Mercy Ships day-worker named Bassey. Despite the fact that it was 6:00 a.m., the three were invited in.

But Isatu’s crying prevented her from telling Bassey what she wanted. She held out a large envelope. Bassey took it and pulled out an x-ray showing a 2½-inch nail lodged inside the little girl.

Isatu had seen her daughter put the nail in her mouth and had tried to grab it before she swallowed it, but the youngster was too fast. A quick trip to the pharmacy had cost quite a bit, but had not produced a solution. Isatu bought some fruit, which she thought would help. She planned to take the little girl to Freetown the next morning to get a medical opinion. But her focus was turned unexpectedly to her husband, who had a serious automobile accident that morning and was taken to the hospital in critical condition. The next day she found a doctor, but after listening to her story, he told her, “There is nothing I can do.”

Pregnant and with three other children to care for, she had reached her emotional limit. So, she took Hawanatu to the home of a trusted friend who lived in Bassey’s neighborhood. Bassey showed the x-ray to the medical team onboard the hospital ship, the Africa Mercy. The child was immediately authorized to see the admission nurse. A second x-ray revealed that the nail was taking its natural course. The little girl asked to use the rest room, and the nail came out naturally without piercing any organs.

There were shouts of joy from everyone involved.

“Everyone here who saw the x-ray has been making an effort to help. I’m very happy and very relieved!” said a grateful Isatu.

Story by Elaine B. Winn

Edited by Nancy Predaina

Photos by Debra Bell

2012-01-10T10:25:00.004Z

We just wanted to post our newsletter for those who haven't received it. If you would like to receive it by email please send us your email using the "contact us" page and we'll add you to the mailing list. Please click on picture below to open.

Catch Up

2012-01-09T10:20:00.000Z

At the moment we are playing catch up, so over the next few weeks I will be sharing what has been going over the last month - since the last time we wrote we are now in our third country. We left Sierra Leone at the beginning of December. As usual we hosted many thank you events, 2 of which were small lunches held personally with the US Ambassador and the British High Commisioner, both of which have been a huge help in our stay here. Plus we held a big thank you event to all that have helped our stay in Sierra Leone go smoothly.

Then we had the day worker thank you event. Each year we employ around 200 local people to help us out with extra work, translations, skills etc and they become part of our family for the 10 months we are in a country. Saying goodbye to them is hard. I must admit, the Sierra Leoneons topped it in the celebration category as they attempted to lift certain crew members up in the air and carry them around our international lounge, Tim included. Now I've searched and searched for photo evidence but all I can come up with is the initial push and lift - the carrying around the room, you'll just have to imagine and have a chuckle to yourselves.

So you lure him in with a bit of African Dancing

Make him comfortable with dancing and surround him

then grab and lift!

We have some very strong people!

Sharon and her friend also said goodbye to our tailor friends. We were able to get them a new iron and bibles to remember us by and our picture is stuck on their wall.

Saying goodbye to Foday, Osman and Omar, wearing one of the skirts he made

Nathanael said goodbye to Tenzing, a friend he made at the US Embassy.

Then there was the saying goodbye to everybody who has come across our path during our time in Sierra Leone. The sail wasn't too long because we were just going to Ghana for a few weeks of downtime before heading straight to Togo. Our schedule is changing this year so the dry dock can be done in the summer so we are fitting in 6 months in Togo as we only gave them a short time the year before! The sail saw many dolphins and we will tell you more about Ghana in our next posts.

Message in a Bottle

2012-01-06T11:10:00.001Z

Back in 2008 Joyce, one of the children on the ship, decided to send a message in a bottle. At that time she was docked in Monrovia, Liberia so she released it into the sea. Little did she know that one day somebody would find it. In 2011 a dutch archaeologist was working in the Caribbean when he found the bottle. He deciphered the message and contacted the Mercy Ships Holland office.

The story was aired on Dutch TV in December during a National News Program. It may be "dutch" to you, but hopefully you will get the idea of it. You can watch it at this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_1qHEpUU9w

Merry Christmas to You All

2011-12-25T00:55:00.003Z

Goodbye Miss Elizabeth

2011-12-22T23:47:00.001Z

This week was a sad week for the pre-school onboard - the time had come for Nathanael's teacher, Miss Elizabeth, to finally leave the ship. Miss Elizabeth has been Nathanael's teacher for 1½ years and she has been perfect as an introduction to school for the pre-schoolers. She always had time for all the kids and took a real interest in them. She knew their quirks, their strengths, their weakness, their tantrum moments, their moments of brilliance and Nathanael has learnt so much under her care. We will miss her! This is a picture of Nathanael saying goodbye

When January comes there will be a new teacher waiting in the classroom and already she has been taking part in classes so they could get used to her. Welcome to a pre-schoolers life, Miss Herma.

Princess Royal Visit

2011-11-25T20:55:00.001Z

A few weeks ago we had the privilege of hosting the Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral, Sir Timothy Laurence. They were touring Sierra Leone for a few days as part of the 50th anniversary of independance and a chance to visit some of charities that Princess Anne was patron of. They were onboard for just over 1.5 hours and talked to anybody they could. Their intention was to meet people in their daily "work" lives.

(with Tim at the Gangway)

(visiting the ward)

(on the bridge where Sir Tim and Tim could talk a common language)

(visiting the school)

(She casually stopped to talk to those who were just taking time out in the mid ships lounge)

(We met her as a family - please note, Nathanael's shirt was tucked in at the start!)

Before the visit, Sharon tried to prepare Nathanael, going through all the be good, be polite, answer questions if the princess asks you something etc etc talk. Nathanael's response was "ok, I will try mummy, (and with a big cheesy grin) but you never know what might happen". We don't know whether that was a disclaimer incase his body did something he had no control over or what, but it didn't exactly put us at ease. Hence I think the photo below is probably one of those moments when his body did something he had no control over!

To see more pictures of their visit around Sierra Leone you can click here to view the official photographer photo's http://ccc.photoshelter.com/gallery/HRH-Princess-Anne-in-Freetown/G0000O9fzbS.Ikrs/P0000aIxiBgkJ_U4

Plus you can read more about the visit on the Sierra Leone's British High Commision website: http://ukinsierraleone.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/royal_visit

2 Day Wedding

2011-11-12T21:30:00.000Z

Weddings are always exciting but even more exciting when you get to experience it in a different culture. Long time friend, Alfred, who has worked in the deck department both on the Anastasis and the Africa Mercy was getting married to Edwina from Sierra Leone who was working on board as a day worker with us. Here you have to do a lot of planning because just going to do a single task can take all day to travel there and back to complete a task.

PART 1

Events started on the Thursday night where we were invited to the "formal" part of the marriage. We filled 3 landrovers and drove to the family house of Edwina. Initially we weren't allowed to enter the building so the upstairs landlord gave us shelter from the sun rays. Meanwhile, Alfred left to "hide". Now you're probably thinking what is going on, well, yes, so did we, but this is Africa and we went with the flow.

After all the relevant people had arrived the ceremony began. I say arrived, because again, this is Africa and so you just wait until everybody is ready. If somebody is on the other side of town, you know you're going to be waiting at least another hour. It's just normal here, time is a guide not really a definate.

First came a knock at the door. The host asked who was there and the response was "visitors". "Are you good or bad visitors?"......."good visitors".....and so we went through this sort of drama/comedy play for a bit which had us in stitches with their quick quips. (Click play to see the video's).

Fiinally they let the visitors in and after introductions they had a seat. The leader then brought greetings to prove that they were REALLY good visitors. He passed envelopes with greetings and money gifts for the father of the house, the sisters, aunts, brothers, landlord, village chief....you name it, it was in there. May I add, there was still no Alfred at this time!

Then the real question came. The visitors had really come for a flower. Now the host met them with confusion because he was a pastor, not a gardener, he has no flowers. So they clarified it, a "special" flower. So they suggested that he must have a garderner in the house that looks after these special flowers.

Eventually a lady came who acted as the gardener and so she shuffled away to look for that special flower. Finally she came with a little flower with a veil over her head. The visitor looked and decided that the flower was too young and he would come back for her in 5 years.

The next flower was to skinny and tall and again didn't fit the special, perfect flower he was after.

Finally they found the right flower and Edwina came in covered in a veil. More jokes followed and the visitors presented a calabash bowl and asked for her hand in marriage on behalf of the groom. They take the bowl away to examine the goods before accepting his offer. It seems the calabash was good because they accepted their offer. The bowl included a ring which was placed on Edwina's finger and a bible which she showed to everybody. Big cheers!

Then it was food time. Each of us got given a plate of fish and chips which tasted wonderful. May I add.....still no Alfred. I was a bit concerned as it had been 2 hours he had been outside and he got to miss the good food too.

Finally after the ceremony had finished, Alfred came in so we could congratulate them together. Normally they would now take the bride to the groom's house and they would live together as man and wife, but because this is a christian wedding they will wait until after the church ceremony a couple of days later.

It was fun to be a part of this special occasion.

PART 2

So Saturday arrives and we all head up to the church in our nice african outfits to support Alfred and Edwina in the big day. The trouble with living here is that it's not worth spending too much time getting dolled up as you will be a sweaty mess by the time you get there.

The service was about 2 1/2 hours and the church was full by the time it ended as people continued to arrive through out the ceremony. We enjoyed a good dance to "O Happy Day" whilst the register was being signed, 3 offerings for various things and different groups came and sang songs for the couple with plenty of African dancing.

(The grooms party (left) & brides attendants (right))

(Here comes the Bride)

(The vows)

(Nathanael not coping very well with the hot temperatures)

(The kiss)

(Sharon and Nathanael dancing to O Happy Day)

(Dancing at the church)

After the service we drove to the other side of town for the reception that was being held at the Mercy Ships team house that usually houses our off ships programs staff. The sun was shining with a light breeze in a lovely grassed area, ideal for a wedding party. The top table was set up on a platform along with the cake and the guests sat below.

(The Cake)

(Tim was asked to bless the cake)

(The brides attendants having a rest)

(The happy couple)

All in all it was great to be a part of a Sierra Leoneon wedding and something we wanted to share with you. Please pray for Alfred and Edwina as they begin their lives together as a married couple. Edwina will be joining us as crew so we will be getting to enjoy them for a while longer.

Congratulations Alfred and Edwina and thank you for letting us enjoy your day (s).

Making a Difference

2011-11-08T11:04:00.001Z

I love it when we are able to see former patients and see how God has changed their lives since having surgery on board a Mercy Ship. This is a follow up story on a Patrick, who's picture you've probably seen pictured on many Mercy Ships "before and after" pictures and leaflets. In the norm of a daily routine it's nice to know a difference is being made in the lives of many here.

Patrick Coker hid in the house in his village for sixteen years. The huge tumor on his chin had made him the target of hateful abuse. In 1992, his aunt gave him the exciting news that Mercy Ships volunteer surgeons could remove the tumor. Their hospital ship, the Anastasis, was docked in Freetown, Sierra Leone. But when he arrived, the field service was over. “Everything’s finished!” he was told.

“If I don’t have the opportunity, I will go back to the province ready to die,” Patrick responded.

He was given an appointment to be examined by Dr. Gary Parker, the Chief Medical Officer. “This is a minor job for Christ, but it’s a major job for me,” said Dr. Gary. Because the ship was ready to sail, Patrick was given the first surgical appointment in Senegal, the location of the next field service, and he was given money to cover the cost of his travel.

But when the ship’s engines were started, it was discovered that the boiler was broken, thus delaying the ship’s departure. The replacement boiler was the wrong size, which meant there would be an additional wait for the right one.

All of these problems worked for Patrick’s benefit. He had his surgery onboard the ship in Freetown. It took Dr. Gary nine hours to complete the surgery. Two weeks later, a second surgery replaced Patrick’s jaw with a titanium implant.

Patrick also found a way to help other patients. After his recovery, he served as a translator for two field services on the Anastasis.

Patrick had wanted to be a doctor long before his surgeries. But, as a youth, while studying a friend’s Bible, he dedicated his life to Christ. “The Lord called me to do His work,” he said. He became a teacher, instructing third-grade and fourth-grade students in math. During those years as a teacher, he met his future wife, Theresa, who sold snacks to the students during breaks. Today they are the parents of Mary, Emanuel, and John.

After Patrick left his teaching position, he took training as a pastor and served as a part-time assistant pastor for many years. But he was recently ordained as a minister in his church. “God called me, finally, to be full-time in ministry,” he said with a gracious smile. “But there are a lot of people in the provinces who are not saved and don’t know about Jesus Christ.” For this reason, he was urged to be in a mission church also. Every month, he spends two weeks in each church, and he is training people in both churches to fill in when he is absent. Before his surgeries, he worked for survival. Now, his work is a labor of love.

Speaking of his Mercy Ships care, he said, “I’m so grateful that I have been made a more perfect man than before, and I thank God and Don Stephens. I pray that God will continue to bless all the crew members.”

Story by the Africa Mercy Communications Team:

Written by: Elaine B. Winn / Edited by Nancy Predaina / Photos by David Peterson

Swimming Lessons

2011-11-01T11:08:00.000Z

Now and then we get new crew members come that want to use their different skills to bless the crew on board. Recently Emma, who is working in the galley, offered the pre-schoolers swimming lessons. Back in the USA Emma is a certified swim instructor so of course we jumped at the chance for Nathanael to get some more swimming time in. Over a 2 week period the kids have been meeting for 6 half an hour sessions and they seemed to have had fun.

Unfortunately our new pool can get a bit wavy when the ship is rocking slightly and the first two lessons were spent focusing on when the next big wave was coming.

This is the result when it comes!

At one point she had all the kids clinging on to her getting ready to ride the next wave!

But in the calmer moments they were able to practice their ice cream scoop

Although Nathanael focused a little too much on trying to eat ice cream than stretching his arms to motion swimming

A calm moment to practice airplane rides whilst kicking their feet.

Thank you so much for doing this Emma!

Preparing for Christmas

2011-10-21T15:16:00.004+01:00

Some of you who read this may groan at the idea of even thinking of planning for Christmas in the middle of October and it's just over the top, especially those who still have Thanksgiving to think of before that! Where as here in Africa, we start to panic as October approaches. We panic in case we didn't get that last gift for Nathanael on the last container that left Holland or the USA in September, or we're hastingly buying very "light" items to be sent in the mail and counting the cost of 55 cents an ounce for postal charges. Spending Christmas in Ghana has made us even more creative. For us, Christmas preparations almost start at the beginning of the year. So now we are here, October has arrived and the top of the cupboard is full awaiting it's gift wrap.

But amidst all the planning there is still one thing that is our focus and that is the celebration of the birth of our saviour. This year we came across the idea of the Jesse Tree. For some this might already be a tradition in their household but it was something we had never heard of before.

The Jesse Tree idea is taken from the scripture reading Isaiah 11:1:

"A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots."

It tells the story of God from the Old Testament to the advent season and the faithfulness of God across 4,000 years of history. The Branch is a biblical sign of newness out of discouragement, which became a way to talk about the expected messiah (for example, Jer 23:5). It is therefore an appropriate symbol of Jesus the Christ, who is the revelation of the grace and faithfulness of God.

We were able to get hold of a book which will take us through that journey through the month of December with daily bible readings and devotions and also gives decoration ideas. So Nathanael and Sharon are now in the throws of making decorations to go along with it. There are many ideas that can be accessed online (see some links at the bottom of this post), whether it's templates, readings etc. Some churches even do an "ornament exchange" where 25 people make 1 of the decorations 25 times and then meet together to swap and get a complete 25 day set.

These are our first ornaments in the making which include the sun to represent creation & light, Adam & Eve - sin, rainbow - Noah and the ark, coloured coat - Joseph, sheaf of wheat - Ruth &Boaz, Ladder - Jacob.

There are still more being cut out and needing to be stuck together, but we'll share the rest with you when we're finished.

If you're interested in maybe doing a Jesse Tree yourself, here are some links to get you going and please let us know how you get on:

About the Jesse Tree 1
About the Jesse Tree 2.

Jesse Tree Devotions to get you started

Organise an Ornament Exchange - Ideas

Ornament Idea's

Ornament Patterns

Back to Childhood

2011-10-11T10:54:00.003+01:00

On May 31, 1997, the Danish ferry Dronning Ingrid stopped running. A tunnel from the cities of Koersoer to Sproege made ferries obsolete. That was a very sad day for 11-year old Milan Falsing. “I cried for two or three days,” he said. Born and raised in the small town of Hoeng, Milan had traveled with his family by the ferry many times to visit family members in other parts of Denmark and especially to the small island of Aeroe, where his grandmother lived.

“It was always a special occasion for me and my sister,” he recalled. “On the starboard side forward (where the dining room is now) there was a play area for children.” Milan had so many happy memories of good times onboard the ferry, and he was broken- hearted to think there would be no more. His concerned mother contacted Scandlines, who owned the ferry at the time, and asked if Milan and his siblings could visit the ferry one last time to say farewell. The vice president granted the request. “When my mother gave me the good news, I was all jumpy and screamy and so happy,” he said.

Finally, the big day arrived – a day off from school – and he was very excited. The first thing he noticed when they arrived was that everything was being dismantled, and there were no lights – all was dark. The vice president of Scandlines showed them around, and Milan and his siblings enjoyed one last time in the play area. There were small ashtrays around, and Milan kept one as a souvenir. “Up on the bridge, I remember the huge glass plates in the floor. It was fun to stand on them and look down.” He was in the fourth grade at the time, and he was the last passenger onboard. “That’s when I decided to be a seafarer,” he said. “I just wanted to go out to sea.”

In the ninth grade, he began to prepare for his life at sea by choosing to go to a boarding school with a maritime focus. From there he went to the maritime high school, where he could get a high school diploma and a seaman’s degree that would allow him to find a position on a ship. He went to work for the Maersk Line for his basic training at sea. They also had an educational opportunity for a duel degree, but he wanted to become a single navigator and chose the Marstal Maritime Academy, located on his grandmother’s island. “I have a big association with that island,” he said.

As a member of the Danish Ferry Institute, Milan kept his interest in the Dronning Ingrid alive. When Mercy Ships bought the ferry in 1999, it was moved to Newcastle, United Kingdom, to be renovated to become the hospital ship, the Africa Mercy. “I had never heard of Mercy Ships before and wondered what Mercy Ships was. What would a religious group want with a ferry? We didn’t know what God was doing with the Dronning Ingrid.” Milan’s interest was piqued as he followed the progress of the renovation.

After seven years, he saw the ferry again. Totally renovated, she had become the Africa Mercy, a state-of-the-art hospital ship. “There she was! A new ship, all white with a new stack.”

As soon as he received his Master’s Unlimited Degree, he started looking for an opportunity to serve onboard. His commercial job allows for lots of vacation time, but often it doesn’t coincide with an opening on the ship. When he realized his vacation finally coincided with an opening on the bridge this year, he applied right away.

His application was accepted on a Monday, and everything was in order. But he needed his numbers for blood pressure and pulse. At midnight, he biked down to the emergency medical doctor, a short distance away, and explained what he needed and why. “It only took five minutes to get the numbers,” said Milan. He called them in on Tuesday, and Thursday morning he left for Freetown – and became the first Danish officer to serve onboard since 2009. He confided that his mother and sister were elated that he was going to be on the ship and asked if there was room for them, too.

Milan (his crew mates call him “Milo”) is very excited and happy to be serving onboard. “I don’t want to go home, but I have to,” he admitted. “I also would love to come back again.” He wants to promote Mercy Ships as much as he can when he goes home. “This is unique! You can’t find it anywhere in the world!” he exclaimed.

Keep Those Mossie's Away

2011-10-04T10:53:00.000+01:00

In West Africa, over 3,000 children die of malaria every day; 1 out of every 5 childhood deaths is due to malaria. Malaria kills a child every 30 seconds in West Africa and the disease can cause anemia and jaundice and, if not promptly treated, can cause coma, kidney failure, or death. To make matters worse, the West African rainy season that begins in June will cause flooding that will aggravate the problem, since standing water is a breeding ground for mosquitoes that carry the disease – according to Robert Agyarko, UN Children’s Fund Specialist on Malaria for West Africa. In Freetown, Sierra Leone, it is estimated that between 60% and 70% of mosquitoes are malaria carriers.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that malaria can be controlled, and even prevented, using anti-malarial drugs, insect repellent, or mosquito nets in sleeping areas. UN Special Envoy for Malaria, Ray Chambers, reports, “Mosquito nets are still the most effective tool for preventing malaria in West Africa.” Mosquito nets are infused with Permethrin, a long-lasting insecticide that acts as a barrier to prevent mosquitoes from penetrating the nets. It drives away the mosquitoes and kills the ones that land. Unfortunately, only 40% of households in Sierra Leone have an insecticide-treated mosquito net (ITN). St. Mary’s Church in Olveston, Bristol, United Kingdom, is taking a stand against this deadly killer. They have donated £5,000 to Mercy Ships for the distribution of mosquito nets at the HOPE Center in Freetown.

This land-based facility houses patients who are awaiting surgery and those recovering from surgery onboard the hospital ship, the Africa Mercy.

When the patients are discharged from the HOPE Center, they will each be given a mosquito net and told how to use it properly. They will also receive additional information on how to prevent malaria. This promising strategy will make a difference in fighting this deadly disease.

Stat's taken from WHO 2003 Africa Malaria Report & WHO 2010 Africa Malaria Report

New Donors Page

2011-09-21T16:15:00.002+01:00

With longer Field Services in Africa it is becoming more & more difficult for crew to get home to fundraise. So Mercy Ships has been trying to find different ways to help crew members raise their support base. One of their new developments is to set up fundraising webpages for all crew. So here's ours. If you already donate on line you can continue to do so on the old webpage for a short time, but it would be good to change over to the new page. You can click on the picture to take you to it, or if you ever need it in the future you can also find it on our blog under the tab "Support Us"

Thank you for partnering with us, we couldn't do it without God using you!

At the Beach

2011-09-16T12:12:00.002+01:00

The other weekend we had the opportunity to go to the beach. Nathanael misses out on many things so we try and give him a fun day out now and then. It was about an hour to Bureh beach and as with all trips out, other Mercy Shippers had also decided on doing the same trip as us and before long another few landrovers turned up which delighted Nathanael as one of his friends from pre-school joined him. They had fun together building sandcastles and playing in the water.

A small lagoon at the end of the beach

Many support English football teams here, I took this photo for my Dad!
You need to keep you food under cover, away from these vultures!
Food is ordered 3 hours in advance so they can catch it if they have to and cook it. This is our food coming from the village.

It was very yummy, fresh tuna fish, rice and onion tomato sauce, topped off with freshly squeezed lime

We even got to eat off a plate with "cookies for Santa", just love the things that pop in Sierra Leone

These are probably the guys that caught our fish that morning.

Mighty Ships Showing in the USA-4th September

2011-09-03T15:55:00.004+01:00

AT LAST - To all our USA friends. The Mighty Ships episode featuring the Africa Mercy & Tim will be shown this Sunday night (4th September) on the Smithsonian Channel at 9pm (EST) or click the link to find out times (also shown on Monday morning) - http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?episode=137194

Sorry you've had such a long wait to see this - hope you enjoy it!

Exploring Freetown

2011-09-02T11:24:00.014+01:00

Well we've been back just a few weeks and are finally caught up with things that are going on. We thought we'd show you a little of Freetown life. A couple of weekends ago we visited the local bakery in town then Sharon and her friend went off "exploring". They love to just mingle with the people of Sierra Leone, talk with them, find out about their lives and this day they ventured into some of the back streets and met some more interesting sights and people.

This is a church that was destroyed in the civil war. As we looked at all the overgrowth inside, wishing we could just step in, we were fearful of it collapsing and maybe rats biting us, locals started asking us if we were going to rebuild it. They seemed quite disappointed when we said no. It seems that they still hope that one day this church will be used again. Meanwhile life just carries on around it.

From the fabric alley (those in the UK will now be familiar with our fabric alley after the slideshow) we took this narrow passage off to the side and entered life in the back streets. It was a world of food, chicken, fish, chillies, people grinding cassava and a view of Freetown that we had never seen. We found this chicken market and we walked through and saw the fishing villages filled with tin and wooden shacks. Locals gathered around us to talk to us offering us a live chicken to take home. Unfortunately we had to decline, it would make too much mess in the cabin.

Further down there were these big steps leading down to a small river, where there were loads of pigs. We asked why were the pigs here, and the reply was, they live here.

This man was sitting on the side of the street carving wooden spoons.

So if you're ever wondering if you can live in Sierra Leone and have all your needs, just look at a few of the things you can buy.

Chicken feet - great for soup

No need to go to the neighbour for a cup of rice, just take your cup to the market.

Always nice to have some cooked fish with your rice, straight off the shelf in an open air market. It's probably good too. (don't worry the womans feet aren't for sale, she was just having a sleep whilst waiting for the next customer)

and finally after a good meal, pick up a toothbrush to clean your teeth.

Another day in Sierra Leone.

Barbara Receives life

2011-08-23T15:09:00.008+01:00

Babies born with deformities in West Africa start life as victims of the West African superstition that abnormalities are signs of a curse. When Barbara was born with a cleft lip that extended up into her nasal cavity, her father pronounced that she was a “demon child.” He ordered his wife to take the tiny infant into the bush and leave her for dead. Barbara’s brave mother, Aminata, refused to abandon her child. As a result, she was thrown out of her house and moved in with her sister. Without a way to support her family, Aminata was forced to separate her four other children and send them to the homes of other relatives. By the time she was eight months old, Barbara’s weight was drastically low because her cleft lip prevented her from getting the nutrition she so desperately needed. In fact she weighed less than 4 kilograms (8.4 pounds), less than half of what a thriving baby her age should weigh. To make matters worse, she had contracted tuberculosis and was placed on a TB program at a local hospital. Of course, the lack of financial support since the abandonment by the baby’s father was another serious obstacle. Broken and devastated, Aminata had reached her darkest, lowest point. Then God stepped in and brought a ray of light. One day Aminata met a woman who said that Barbara was not a “demon child.” She also said that Mercy Ships would arrive in Sierra Leone in just a few weeks. Volunteer surgeons onboard the Africa Mercy could fix the baby’s lip – for free! Desperately clinging to this fragment of hope, Aminata took Barbara to a Mercy Ships medical screening.

Aminata was delighted when Barbara was accepted for cleft surgery onboard the Africa Mercy. However, because the baby was below the acceptable weight for surgery, she was placed on the Infant Feeding Program.

This program provided proper nutrition for the infant and instructed Aminata in a better feeding method. Barbara’s weight gain was monitored each week. The baby girl gained weight the first week she was on the program, but lost weight during the second week. She developed a fever, and she struggled to breathe or keep her formula down. The nurses gave her nasal drops to open her nasal passages, allowing her to breathe more easily. The third week she regained some, but not all, of the lost weight. It was beginning to look like Barbara was not going to be able to have her surgery. The doctors suspected she might have a cardiac problem, too, which would interfere with plans for cleft surgery. Those working with the program began praying regularly for Barbara, and slowly she began to gain the required weight. At the end of three months, despite all her problems, Barbara was cleared for surgery.

The volunteer surgeons repaired the baby’s cleft lip and palate, as well as the centerline of her nose. Because of her delicate condition, they returned her to intensive care where nurses guarded her recovery. Clinical Dietitian Jessica King, who supervised Barbara’s case for the Infant Feeding Program, said, “Barbara is a miracle baby. She had a rough time in the ICU, but she made it. She’ll bring her mom a lot of joy.”

Aminata’s love and sacrificial care for Barbara has been rewarded. Her tiny daughter may be fragile, but she has a strong will to survive. She will bless her family with a future of beautiful smiles. “I’m feeling fine now,” said Aminata, as a tear of joy ran down her cheek. “I’m thanking God for what He has done for me.”

Written by our Marketing Department

Story by Elaine B. Winn / Edited by Nancy Predaina / Photos by Tom Bradley, David Peterson and Liz Cantu

School End of Year Celebration

2011-08-14T19:55:00.001+01:00

This last week saw Nathanael starting school again with him now being in pre-school 2 which means an earlier start. He is now having to get used to getting up early to start school at 8:00, early mornings are NOT to his liking.

Below, are some pictures of the end of school celebration when they officially graduated to their next class. Each child is presented with a certificate which includes a character trait and bible verse.

(Nathanael's class waiting in line for their certificates)

(Nathanael receiving his certificate)

(Nathanael "allegedly" reading his certificate)

Nathanael's character trait was:

Cheerfulness

Nathanael's smile and cheerful spirit are a pleasure to be around. He brings joy to others with his quiet and listening spirit.

"a cheerful heart brings a smile to your face" proverbs 15:13a (the message)

You can keep up with Nathanael's pre-school life by checking out their blog at: http://www.afmpreschool.blogspot.com/

A Pretty "Tire"ing Job

2011-08-02T08:01:00.002+01:00

“NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION,” so the old adage goes. Nowhere is it more apparent than in the physiotherapy department onboard the Africa Mercy. When patients’ legs are put in casts, they can’t wear shoes – but they can’t go barefoot, either. The Rehabilitation Team has found a suitable, inexpensive, and easily available way to give each patient the foot protection needed during their recovery. The answer is . . . tire shoes.

Anama Latta, a day-worker in physiotherapy, is responsible for producing shoes from tires in various sizes to accommodate patients. He gathers old tires from motorbikes and begins by removing the wire inside with a knife. Then he measures for sizes – 10” for large, 6” for medium, and 4” for small. Using a box cutter, he cuts incisions to mark where he will use the scissors to cut through. Next, he cuts three holes on each side. Then proper lengths of polypropalene ribbon are used to tie the shoes on.
Anama says the tire shoes are stronger than other footgear they might use, and they provide more protection on the sides of the foot. “When I was a child in Togo, I used to wear shoes like these to go to my Daddy’s farm,” said Anama. “They protect better than flip-flops, and the cast doesn’t get wet.”
Tire shoes last longer than ordinary shoes, and patients can walk easily in them. Anama says he enjoys making the tire shoes. “This is the way I can help them (the patients and the Rehabilitation Team), and I’m happy to make them.”

Ecobank Fundraiser

2011-06-30T18:02:00.007+01:00

History was made in Sierra Leone, the West African Nation ranked at the bottom of the Human Development Index. Seven years ago, 70,000 UN Peace keeping troops were in this nation. Today, the UN numbers less than 70. Two democratic elections have been successfully completed. The nation willingly disarmed. As the nation celebrates 50 years of independence, it seems fitting that West African businesses would donate to support the work of Mercy Ships.

It is the fifth visit of a Mercy Ship to Freetown so the organization is well known and trusted. Ecobank, the leading independent regional banking group in West and Central Africa, hosted a dynamic fundraising auction on board the Africa Mercy at the beginning of June. The auction attracted over 50 businessmen and women from Freetown, Sierra Leone; raising over $30,000 USD for Mercy Ships. The reputation of healthcare delivery to the poorest of the poor as well as the transparency of the organization convinced the West African businessmen and women that this was a worthwhile investment.

“I think it was time we showed some appreciation,” said Ecobank Managing Director, Clement Dodoo. “This is the fifth time Mercy Ships is in our town and we can all see the wonderful things they are doing. We will never forget this day. This is not an Ecobank event, this is for all of us. I am really, really touched.”

The West African business community commended the unique model of a global community living, working, serving and worshipping together while onboard ship. The guests attending the fundraiser were given a tour of the hospital and they were amazed by the work being done and the lives being changed. This event strengthened the excellent working relationship between Ecobank and Mercy Ships.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Gary Parker, addressed the group with a moving explanation of the mission of Mercy Ships and how the organization changes lives. Still in his medical scrubs, Dr. Parker had excused himself from surgery in the hospital, walked up three flights of stairs to speak at the event, and afterwards he re-entered the Operating Room to finish up surgery! The auction was conducted by Winston Ojukutu-Macauley, former BBC Africa Service correspondent in Sierra Leone. To liven the atmosphere, he spurred the crowd to open their wallets, digging deep to donate to such an outstanding cause.

(auction winner of the signed Chelsea football shirts)

Items up for auction included paintings, signed football jerseys of West African players who play now in leading European Clubs such as Real Madrid, dinner certificates, perfume by the First Lady and three books about Mercy Ships, signed by the author and Founder of the organization, Don Stephens. At the end even the Africa Mercy Head chef offered his services for auction to cook a meal for 10 people on board the ship.

In closing, Mercy Ships President/Founder, Don Stephens, addressed the guests. “Mercy Ships has been considering opening an office in West Africa because we had the sense that West Africans wanted to join us at another level to bring hope and healing to this region. What you have done today has confirmed you are well ahead of us! The time for Africa has come. What you have done tonight has encouraged me beyond words that we are on the right track. From the depth of my heart… it’s not Mercy Ships thanking you, it’s those who are outcasts and rejected and whose lives will be forever changed. Together, we have made history tonight!”

A Normal Afternoon of Fire Drill

2011-05-27T01:44:00.006+01:00

Do you think we have come, somewhat, over prepared when it comes to our fire drills? Just happened to have a chair, umbrella, sunscreen, book, ice lolly & water bottle at hand! Never underestimate a womans handbag!

(thanks Sandy for the photo!)

Sharon meet Sharon

2011-05-24T15:12:00.010+01:00

It was 10 years ago that Sharon first joined Mercy Ships and that first year included a field service in Sierra Leone. The war had just finished and we were met by the sweetest of people who graced our decks as dayworkers. At that time Sharon worked with the deck department as the deck administrator and got to know many of those who worked alongside her. One was Andrew. Andrew worked diligently on our gangway and was very useful in translating the odd krio sentence that we couldn't make out.

The sad part is, Sharon never got to say goodbye just before they sailed off, as his wife had gone into labour with their 2nd child, but the day we sailed Sharon was handed a note, scribbled on a scrap of paper, "a baby girl, named after you, Sharon - Andrew". That was the last she heard of them.

Sharon has always wondered how they are doing. So she enlisted the help of her friend, Alfred, who was also on board in the deck department at that time and continues to serve to this day and he remembered Andrew from when we visited his church. It turned out Alfred was attending the same church again (obviously he has a very good sense of direction as Sharon would never have found it!). Andrew had moved on, but with some enquiries and phonecalls he was able to track him down and we were able to meet again after just over 9 years.

"Little" Sharon is a beautiful girl with a big smile. It had been her fathers dream for her to meet the peson she was named after, but he thought that was never possible until this day. We look forward to seeing more of them during our time here and this time we won't loose contact!

Nathanael Turns 4

2011-05-10T14:31:00.005+01:00

At last, after living a party for 6 months, it eventually came. Preparations started way back when we were at the head office in Texas last November when Nathanael had to decide what kind of party he would like so we could buy some things to put on the container to meet us in Sierra Leone a few months later. Since then it has seemed weekly that Nathanael would check with us to see if it was his birthday yet. When May came he could hardly contain himself and preparations were in full swing for his "Cowboy" party. In just under 3 hours we turned 9 little pre-schoolers into real cowboys by playing tin can alley, cow round up, pin the tail and catch the bandits., followed with Cowboy stories and lunch around the campfire, a cowboy outfit and saddle bags to take home. A good time was had by all.

2nd Screening

2011-04-19T12:16:00.018+01:00

On the 26th March we held our second screening. This time we wanted to get it right, following the unfortunate incidents of the last one. One of the ways we use to advertise it in town is on the radio. Click below to here the jingle that was broadcast across the airwaves. It's in English, well actually Krio, which is sort of English, so you should understand it. ?!?

By mid afternoon the day before people were standing in line with the hope of being seen first. We had a security team stay over night who were able to sort through the line and pick out those who were not suitable candidates for surgery. It saved people staying in line all through the night to be disappointed the next day when we weren't able to help them.

At the crack of dawn, crew gathered together to pray for the day.

Many queue for the chance to see a doctor, a touch by a nurse that cares or an appointment card for surgery.

This time things went smoothly and we ended with around 500 patients being examined and handed that special bit of paper, an appointment card.

During this time we had Bill and Sherry from Tim's church in Olympia, WA joining the crew for 2 weeks. Bill is a plastic surgeon and worked alongside Dr. Gary doing various surgeries like cleft lips and tumours and Sherry worked with programs and helped out with some physio for the orthopedic surgeries. It was so great to have them here and they were certainly kept busy! We're hoping they come back again!

Below you will see some examples of the conditions people came with.

There is a great need here!

Soap and Hula

2011-04-18T11:13:00.009+01:00

These last few weeks we seem to have gone into blog brain freeze and so we are back and trying to catch up with all that has been happening. Quite a random variety of things has happened in the last month and so we will attempt to share what's been going on over the next few posts to bring you up to speed.

This past month has seen 3 actresses come and work with us from the German soap "Aller Freundschaft", it's almost like a cross between ER and the UK show, Casualty and doctors (if you know those programs). They had heard about Mercy Ships and thought to themselves,"we can do that" so they did. Their TV show kindly wrote them out of the series for a few weeks, one has chickenpox, one has gone away and another has something wrong with their hand and can't work in the TV world "hospital". Cheryl Shepard, Hendrikje Fitz, and Alexa Surholt, known to many as Dr. Elena Eichhorn, Pia Heilmann and Sarah Marquardt worked really hard in the dining room, serving meals, washing dishes for 400 people and cleaning up ready for the next meal. Then during their time off they got involved with many of the other things that Mercy Ships does, like watching a surgery, helping out at the dental site and experiencing the extreme poverty of Sierra Leone.

(working in the dining room)

We had the opportunity to spend an evening with them and enter a little into their world back in Germany. 2 of them have been with the soap for about 13 years and the other, 9 years and it is broadcast on the public free channel in Germany. They showed us an episode and they translated it into English for us so we could at least follow the plot. They have been so humble in their work and they have most certainly embraced life here.

We also hosted a vision trip from a church in Honolulu and what a lovely group they were. They have been raising funds for Mercy Ships through concerts and this is the first time that they have had the opportunity to come and visit and see what they have been supporting for all these years. They brought along their pastor, a film guy and even Miss Hawaii 2009.

Pastor Elwin Ahu Pastor Elwin is the Lead Pastor of the Honolulu Campus of New Hope Oahu, a network of churches that averages approximately 12,000 in weekend attendance. In 1995, while sitting as a Judge for the State of Hawaii, he experienced a radical transformation in his heart and accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It was a decision that emerged as the defining moment in his life. On January 1, 2000, Pastor Elwin resigned from his promising judicial career to respond to God’s call and stepped into full-time ministry.

We were invited to an african dinner with them all and Miss Hawaii, a christian now working at their church, performed a Hula to a christian song. It was very interesting to see how her hands portrayed the music. Then the fun followed. The Africans had already got them up dancing to their African songs so now the tables were turned. She had them all up and dancing some hula moves, it was so funny to see our African friends wiggling their hands and bodies around. Good on them for being such good sports. Click here to read their church mission blog and read what they experienced during their time here.

Running Club Starts Again

2011-04-07T23:50:00.015+01:00

Thursday was the start of another season of running club for the academy. All the kids receive a laminated foot and the idea is that they receive a star punched out for each lap that they achieve. 5 laps = 1km and the aim is to complete a marathon over the following weeks to the end of the school year.

(The school getting instructions from the school Principal, Miss Nikki.)

Nathanael with his class - "ready, steady........

"GO!"

Lap one!

Getting tired

"Mummy will you carry me?"

He managed to complete 6 laps and get dirty knees and Sierra Leone dust on his shoes. This marathon could take a long time.

Mighty Ships-Australia

2011-03-29T11:10:00.001+01:00

GREAT NEWS! The episode of Mighty Ships featuring our ship, the Africa Mercy will finally be airing on Australian TV this coming Thursday, 31 March. Tune in for the hour-long program at 7.30pm on 7Mate (digital channel 73).

ENJOY!

Salamatu's Story

2011-03-22T11:13:00.004Z

We seem to be settling into a life in Sierra Leone. The people are wonderful, but as you walk around town you can still see the many remnants of the years of civil war that ended in 2001. We'd like to share with you this story about Salamatu from when the Anastasis last visited Sierra Leone. It gives you an insight of what people faced as they ran from the rebels during that time. For us, it is hard to imagine being faced with this and the trauma people have gone through. Click on the picture below to read her story. (in this evergrowing technical world, you can also download this story as a PDF if you would rather read it on a kindle, Ipad etc.)

Nathanael's New African Outfit

2011-03-14T08:46:00.004Z

Each year Nathanael grows out of his African outfit so it was time to get a Sierra Leone outfit. We always try and get something different so this week we found this in the market and thought it was just right, what do you think? His Granny thinks he looks like Joseph and his coat of many colours!

Aloyi Update

2011-03-10T11:24:00.007Z

Remember this?

Togo?........Village of Aloyi?

Click here & here if you missed the 2 posts on our involvement there.

We recently received news that after 2 years of fundraising, they have finished the school building.

The school opens on the 12 March.......what a great achievement!

Screening Day

2011-03-09T10:47:00.001Z

The day we all wait for, happened on the 7th March, screening day. The day where we screen thousands for the surgeries that we offer. Somehow this day turned out to be very different to what we expected. If you've ever seen the movie "Vantage Point" you will know that there are probably many things that may have contributed to this and so we can't clearly describe what happened but this is the press release that was done by Mercy Ships so you can feel, somewhat ,of the tragedy of the day.

Mercy Ships is deeply saddened by the tragic events that occurred today during medical screening at the Freetown National Stadium when a crowd stormed the gate resulting in several injuries and one life lost.

Mercy Ships personnel working at the site attended the injured and accompanied them to local hospitals. "Our hearts and prayers are with the individuals and families of those affected by today's events. The occurrence of this incident in the course of activities intended to restore lives is tragic. We move forward with tremendous sadness, but great determination, to assist as many people as possible in the next ten months," stated Mercy Ships Founder, Don Stephens.

Mercy Ships exists to serve the forgotten poor and has served Sierra Leone five times over the past two decades, also helping establish two land-based health care facilities. For the next ten months, Mercy Ships will be providing surgeries for qualified patients while working alongside the Sierra Leonean Government to support its five-year healthcare plan and strengthen the functions of the national health system. Please keep the people of Sierra Leone and the Mercy Ships crew in your prayers, not just today but in the months to come

If you would like to post a prayer to the Mercy Ships wall, please click here.

Arrival in Sierra Leone

2011-03-06T22:39:00.012Z

On 27th February we arrived in the country of Sierra Leone in the city of Freetown.

Celebrations awaited us on the dock and that morning we weren't even too sure whether we would be able to dock there. The previous day we had heard that there was a strike at the port due to another company taking over on the 1st March. Our aim was to get in before that, but hadn't planned on strike action which meant there were no linesmen to take our lines to tie us up. Fortunately our advance team had a "deckie" as part of the team so he quickly gathered volunteers from the Mercy Teams and Gateway that we already had situated in Freetown and gave them a quick lesson on how to tie a ship up.

It worked and we arrived safely with the help of the 2 pilots, below, to guide us in.

It was a joyous occasion, the children had made Sierra Leone flags in School and the police band played and the baton twirler, twirled and even balanced his baton on his head.

Then we had the great moment as our 2 Sierra Leonian crew members walked down the gangway with their country's flag and at the bottom a child waited to receiveit, what was special was that child had received a surgery on board one of our previous ships, the Anastasis, when he was a baby. He was so proud as he carried that flag.

Our managing Director and his wife were received by the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and she gave a speech to welcome us.

We are so looking forward to serving in this country and to see the changes since Sharon's last visit in 2001. Already Sharon walked down town last weekend and enjoyed interacting with those in the market. They seemed very respectable and never pushed to get you to buy things, if you said no, they accepted it. I think we are going to enjoy it here.

You'll Be Missed

2011-03-03T23:13:00.018Z

Last week in our meeting we were singing the song, Blessed Assurance Jesus is mine. As we sang verse 3, tearfully, my thoughts turned to a dear friend who I knew was living his last days. Perfect submission, all is at rest; I in my Savior am happy and blest, Watching and waiting, looking above, Filled with his goodness, lost in his love.

Cyril lived and breathed Jesus and my heart is divided today as I mourn the loss of my dear friend, the other half of me is joyful because he is now living everything he has lived for all his life. Cyril, along with his wife, Mary, have been a constant source of encouragement, love and support in my life. Without them and their faithful prayers I wouldn’t be the person I am today and I wouldn’t be in the place I am today.

Many Christians have those bands on their wrists with WWJD (What would Jesus do), if I had a choice I would have 2 on my wrist, the other one with WWCS – “What Would Cyril Say”. I always knew that I could go to him and he would give me a straight answer, along with Scripture…..you just can’t argue with that and I know that he has shown me what Jesus would do in just his living for him every day.

He has certainly left his mark on many peoples lives and he will not be forgotten in a hurry. I remember his face grinning as he greeted the kids at the church outreach rainbow club, his joy of gardening, his excitment of us having Hamworthy equipment on our ship, his love of hymns, there are too many memories to list here....but when it came down to it, he recognised his Saviour and desired others to know him too.

A big gap has been left this week and I kind of wonder how God is going to reward him.

God Bless you Cyril

When I stand in Glory, I will see His face

and there I'll serve my King forever

in that Holy place.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------(There is a Redeemer - Keith Green)

Togo Statistics

2011-02-26T22:30:00.008Z

As we are due to sail into our next Field of Service this weekend I thought I should tell you a little about it, then I realised I hadn't really told you what was finally achieved in Togo last year so I'm going to try and cover it all in this post. For those that like to see the figures, here are the statistics from our last Fields of Service in Togo and also for South Africa where we had some programs going on (click on the pictures to enlarge and view)

Togo Statistics

South Africa Statistics

Now we are about to embark on another journey of hope and healing as Mercy Ships serves the country of Sierra Leone whilst docked in Freetown.

Many of you will know that this country had a civil war for so many years that ended in 2001 that they are still recovering from. It is, however, good to see that they have actually gone up slightly on the Human Development Index. Here are just some statistics about the country:

Human Development Index Ranking - 158 (USA ranked 4 / UK ranked 26 / Togo ranked 139 ) Population (by thousands) - 5,835.7 Health: Life expectancy at birth - 48.2 years old Under-five mortality (per 1,000 live births) - 194 Prevalance of Undernourishment in total Population - 46% Maternal mortality ratio (deaths of women per 100,000 life births) – 2100 Education: Adult literacy Rate (those aged 15+ who can read and write a short simple statement of their everyday life) - 41.4% Expenditure on Education - 3.8%

Mean years of schooling (of adults age 25+) - 2.9 years Expected Years of schooling (of children) - 7.2 years Internet users (per 100 people) - 0.3 (could you imagine a life without internet now?) Poverty: Population living below $1.25 per day – 62.79% Refugees by country of origin (thousands) 32.5 (to see full statistics for Sierre Leone click here)

This past week we have been joining together as a crew to prepare for our time here. It has been fun & very thought provoking as our two fellow crew members from Sierra Leone shared about their country. We have even learnt the national anthem and some of the local language, Krio.

Some Krio Phrases

How are you = How d' body

I'm fine thank you = D' body fine tenke

I'm not well = D'body no wello

See you tomorrow = We go see tomalla

National Anthem

(click play so you can sing along to the midi file) -

High we exalt thee, realm of the free

Great is the love we have for thee

Firmly united ever we stand,

Singing thy praise, O native land.

We raise up our hearts and our voices on high,

The hills and the valleys re-echo our cry;

Blessing and peace be ever thine own,

Land that we love, our Sierra Leone.

One with a faith that wisdom inspires,

One with a zeal that never tires;

Ever we seek to honour thy name,

Ours is the labour, thine the fame.

We pray that no harm on thy children may fall,

That blessing and peace may descend on us all;

So may we serve thee ever alone,

Land that we love, our Sierra Leone.

Knowledge and truth our forefathers spread,

Mighty the nations whom they led;

Mighty they made thee, so too may we

Show forth the good that is ever in thee.

We pledge our devotion, our strength and our might,

Thy cause to defend and to stand for thy right;

All that we have be ever thine own,

Land that we love, our Sierra Leone.

Please pray for our arrival and for these coming weeks as we continue to screen patients. Already thousands have been screened in the north of the country by our teams who are already on the ground.

See you soon, Sierra Leone!

School Spirit Day

2011-02-25T19:30:00.001Z

Each month the school has a 'Spirit Day' where all the kids have to dress up for a theme for the day. Yesterday was African Dress Spirit Day, in preparation for our arrival in Sierra Leone. Nathanael dressed up in his elephant african clothes and joined his class in the academy big room to show it off with his friends.

(Nathanael with his classmates from pre-school and nursery and teachers)

Sharon Turns 40

2011-02-24T23:42:00.009Z

Yesterday was Sharon's 40th birthday. Originally we were supposed to be in Sierra Leone but due to the shipyard delays she got to enjoy it with a cruise. Last night the mum's put on a surprise party for her, of which she had no idea. Even talking to a mum in the dining room as she's holding coffee pots on her way to the event didn't even set any triggers of suspicion.

(Trying to blow out the battery powered candle - a naked flame is not allowed on board so we result to the battery type)

Thank you Mum's for a wonderful surprise, you're the best!

Cape Town

2011-02-21T18:12:00.023Z

At the beginning of February we finally sailed out of Durban, South Africa to make our way to Sierra Leone, our next field of service for the next 10 months.

So much has been achieved during our time there. Here are just a few of things that were accomplished:

1. Replaced 6 old "ship-original generators with 4 new generators 2. Air-con "SABRO" units replaced - (our cabin is now a bit cooler!) 3. Engine Controls from Bridge to the engine room - LOTS of cables 4. Food Stores shelving - if you saw the episodes of Mighty Ships you will know that our galley staff will be glad of that, especially on the sail! 5. Lifeboats 5 year survey, along with servicing the davits. 6. Fire-fighting and SCUBA equipment repaired/serviced 7. A new Mercy Ships logo welded to the funnel and the website painted on the side 8. Swimming Pool was modified - last year a generous donor gave the crew a swimming pool, unfortunately it was still requiring some changes to stop the waves that were forming even from the very slight movement of the ship. Now it's in full use and people are loving being able to go for a cool dip in the pool after the heat of the day. 9. Additional Sprinklers added on 10. Many windows replaced - we got 3 in our cabin so now we can see through them. Plus all windows were covered with a film to help keep the heat of the Africa sun out of the ship. 11. Engines serviced along with all the landrovers. 12. Lift/Elevator had new controls fitted, it now has lights!

We had 3 days of testing things out before having a 24 hour stopover in Cape Town to pick up extra fuel and water.

The school gave the kids the day off (with a catch up work day on the Saturday during the sail) so they could enjoy Cape Town. Cape Town is the home of the School Principal so she knew there was a good time to be had there. So Sharon and Nathanael, along with our friends hit the ground running to cover Cape Town as quickly as possible. That morning we had booked the hop on hop off tour bus so we could at least get a tour of Cape Town.

(Cape Towns 12 Apostles)

This included a stop at Table Mountain where we took a cable car up to the top. The view was amazing and we were glad that we had made the effort to go.

That evening and the next morning we enjoyed the atmosphere of the V&A Waterfront where the ship was docked, filled with many interesting tourists attractions, restaurants and shops. Here we enjoyed our last fill of Fish and Chips for 10 months.

(Nathanael holding Nelson Mandela's hand, part of nobel peace statues)

(Made out of Coca Cola crates!)

(smaller version of the London Eye)

We set sail the following evening and enjoyed the sunset as we sailed out for a 10 day voyage.

Shredded Fingers

2011-02-18T14:02:00.007Z

Yes you did read the title right. Last week Nathanael had the unfortunate experience of finding out what it's like to have your fingers shredded in a paper shredder. Not something he is wanting to repeat EVER! After Sharon had the frantic panic and pulled out his hand, she was next running off down to the crew clinic where the doctor happened to be sitting without any patients. It just so happened that morning the doctor had shared with us at the sailing brief that he will try and sort out little things, but he's really good with trauma and gun shot wounds. So Sharon felt pretty at ease that he was the right person to deal with this emergency, and he was. He got right onto it, untying everything that he had already tied up for the sail to try and find the needle and thread and before long Nathanael was the proud owner of 5 stitches for his 3 paper slits. This is Nathanael all bound up afterwards:

Today (10 days later) he had the stitches removed and this is what they looked like just before:

He still has to keep it covered up for a while as we wait for the split nail to heal, but all in all he was a VERY brave boy. Get better soon Nathanael.

Teachers Needed

2011-02-10T14:21:00.004Z

Are you a teacher? Are you interested in missions? Do you know a teacher who is? Please read on.... As the academy on board look to the next school year, they are in need of teachers. Is God calling you, or is there somebody else you know who needs to know that God is calling them HA! Check out this advert from our Academy: Greetings from the Mercy Ships International Operations Center. The Mercy Ships Academy is a unique K-12 school located on the hospital ship – Africa Mercy. The Academy has provided a quality education for the children of our international volunteer staff since 1978. Our school uses a standards-based curriculum in order to meet the needs of our international student body. In 2011, the Africa Mercy will be docked in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and The Mercy Ships Academy is looking for volunteers to apply for the following positions: Physical Education Science Social Studies (new) Kindergarten 1st Grade 3rd Grade 4th and 5th Grade This is a unique opportunity to serve onboard our state-of-the-art hospital ship. To see a list of requirements as well as other resources for teachers, visit the Ship S chool on the Web. Teachers have one of the most critical and challenging jobs in the world – educating young minds and laying the groundwork for children to become adults. In a spin on a traditional teaching job, Ben Calvert decided to take his teaching career to the high seas. Read Ben's story. Consider joining our teaching team in this unique ship-based setting in Africa. Your life will be changed as you serve the children of the Africa Mercy crew! Prayer Requests: - Please pray for our students, school staff, and other ship crew as they are currently living off the Africa Mercy in a remote area of South Africa. They daily face inconsistant: water, power, phones, and internet access. - Please pray for safety of the students and staff while in this new location. - Please pray for new staff for the 2011-2012 school year. - Please pray for the finances of our teachers. If you would like to assist a teacher with finances, please click here. Contact:

Brian Blackburn brian.blackburn@mercyships.org

Emily Siemens (recruiter) Emily.Siemens@mercyships.org

Return From Appelsbosch

2011-02-08T13:14:00.003Z

As we mentioned in our last post, we have now moved back on board and things are gradually getting ticked off the list in preparation to sail. This week sees the final tests on the generators and engines before we let go of the lines. On our return we couldn't wait to be back on board again. We knew that things might not be working as we are used to but it was nice to be "just" home. When we turned the corner of the shipyard there was a special greeting waiting for us. Seeing the banners, balloons & flags that the crew on board had put up in preparation for us brought quite an unexpected emotional response, we knew we were home with not just our immediate family, but our Mercy Ships family. We were all back together.

Now we are enjoying the luxuries of our cabin that weren't luxury to us before, but just because we were without them at Appelsbosch it has made us appreciate them more now.

No more paint chipping off the floor of the shower

Carpets

Sofa

TV & DVD

A bed without a lump running down the middle

More choice to our wardrobe, rather than what we can fit in my suitcase

A Crew Galley, being able to cook for ourselves when we want

Nathanaels toys

These are just a few things that we are enjoying, but Appelsbosch will always have a special place in many hearts.

Pizza Making

2011-02-03T13:03:00.011Z

Being in South Africa is certainly a treat and we are trying to enjoy the last weeks here before heading out to Sierra Leone. The crew have now moved back on board from Appelsbosch college and we have power, A/C and flushing toilets-what more could we ask for. Appelsbosch has really made us appreciate our cabins more and more.

Last week we were able to take Nathanael for pizza, but this restaurant went the extra mile and let the kids design their own pizza by giving them a base and the ingredients, then taking it away to cook it for eating. Here's Nathanael's creation.

The finished product!

Africa Mercy Shipyard

2011-01-15T13:50:00.002Z

You've probably picked up by now that we are still in South Africa waiting for the remainder of the work on the Africa Mercy to be finished in the shipyard in Durban. The main reason for the work is to install some new generators. The old ones were proving too noisey for the hospital and even the surgeons were finding it hard to hear each other when in surgery. Click on the "power the vision" picture below to see the work that has gone on.

Mercy Teddies

2011-01-10T14:01:00.012Z

Some of you may have remembered the post I wrote about a lady who was knitting teddies for the hospital ward on the Africa Mercy (click here to read again if you don't).

Well it seemed to inspire others and the ladies in my Mum's church at Roundswell church got inspired and started knitting. Last week, 3 boxes full of teddies were sent off to Rebecca. Here are some of the results.

(Sharons Mum with some of the teddies)

Thank you all so much for taking part in this - we are sure that each teddy will go to a good home and will have lots of love!

If you haven't had a go yet and are interested in taking part you can download the pattern from here and it also gives you details of where to send them

Christmas

2011-01-06T12:46:00.003Z

With us being the USA we couldn't pass the opportunity to fly home to Tim's family for Christmas. It was almost 10 years since Tim had spent Christmas with his sister and brother and the first for Sharon and Nathanael so as you can guess we were really excited. It was quite a quick trip so we are sorry if we didn't catch up with some of you. Nathanael got to help Uncle Terry with chopping down the christmas tree with his toy saw.

which followed with decorating the tree with the Tretheway family

Nathanael got to make cookies with dear friends

and somehow we went mad with the stocking which overflowed onto the floor!

all in all it was a special Christmas.

At the Headquarters

2011-01-03T12:21:00.004Z

In November we spent time at the Mercy Ships Headquarters in Texas where Tim was able to be part of the International Programs & Operations Conference. It's been the first opportunity for all the senior leadership from the Head office and the ship to meet together in one place. With the ship being in dry dock it was ideal time to do it.

It was also a good time for us to see what people do to support us on the ship and put a few faces to names that we have heard of for so long. It's amazing what it takes to keep us afloat, without all those that work so hard at our international offices, the ship could not operate. We were able to visit the newly built warehouse that sorts through all the supplies that come through our doors and pack the containers that we receive on the ship. Plus it was a nice opportunity to catch up with friends that have left the ship and moved to work there.

Tim also spent time with Marine Operations as they plan for the next outreach. Tim reports directly to Marine Operations and they run all the technical side of the ship. Meanwhile Nathanael and Sharon were able to go run through the autumn leaves in the grounds, visit the nearby farm and enjoy the space and fresh air for Nathanael to have a good run around.

Winter Newsletter

2010-12-19T00:57:00.006Z

As we approach the Christmas holidays, may we take this opportunity to send our greetings and our new newsletter and hope that you have a great Christmas, full of wonderful blessings.

click below to read our winter edition newsletter

Nathanael's Firsts

2010-12-16T00:03:00.005Z

During our trip Nathanael has got to experience a lot of "firsts" in his life. We forget all the things that he misses whilst living on the ship. Taking his first trip on a steam train-just like "thomas, playing pooh sticks, using binoculars, seeing a search and rescue helicopter practicing their rescues, a drive in a uncle daves kit car, climbing trees, walking 3k's, hide and seek in a big house and in a car (amazing what my sister does to keep him amused whilst waiting in the car!), Seeing Bob the builder, Barney, fireman sam at the theatre, laying the table for lunch - strangely enough all the food ended up at one end of the table, feeding deer, t-ball (younger version of baseball) and chopping down a christmas tree with his toy saw!

San Antonio

2010-12-14T22:46:00.001Z

As with all holidays they all come to an end and it wasn't long before we were boarding a plane making our way, via the UK, to our head office in Texas. Tim took some maritime courses in Baltimore before meeting up with Sharon and Nathanael in Texas. It was a good chance to meet and put a face to names that we knew and see how things run at the head office.

Whilst we were there we were able to spend thanksgiving with our friends (Tim's long time friend and best man for those who were at our wedding) down in San Antonio. We had a wonderful time with their family. We experienced Texas ribs, Tex mex,

Alamo

feeding deer and the beautiful riverwalk. Thank you for a wonderful time, Wimer family, we were sorry to leave.

(With our friends, Vern and Carole)

(and the rest of the Wimer Family)

(Nathanael's new buddy, Jeremiah)

Our Holiday Time

2010-12-12T22:43:00.003Z

This year we saved up to do something that we haven't done since we got married, a holiday. A proper holiday and a rest. With us being in South Africa and the ship not needing a captain whilst it is in the dry dock, it seemed the ideal opportunity to do it and experience this wonderful country. Sharon used her google and tripadvisor skills to hunt out the best places to go and form a holiday for 3 weeks. We started off with a trip to a game reserve about 3 hours away. It was amazing to be so close to the animals

Here are some pictures from our holiday.

On Safari - once you get here, going to a game park is pretty cheap so we we couldn't not go to one for a few days. We spent a few days in Umfolozi/hluhluwe game reserve. Unfortunately we didn't get to see any lions (something the rangers hadn't seen for 6 weeks), but we saw many other animals and it proved to be a very exciting part of the holiday. Nathanael was a particularly good spotted. Nathanael spotted this rhino turning up at a water pan for a bath! After a few days up in False bay we came back down to St Lucia where we were able to see more animals in the reserve there and hippo's and crocodiles on a boat trip that was included in the price of the cottage that we were staying in. We then continued up to the Drakensberg mountains for some amazing scenery and ended the trip with a week at Morgan Bay. Thank you to all helped out to make this trip possible for us, we had an amazing rest and break.

Move to Appelsbosch

2010-11-30T21:43:00.011Z

As the Africa Mercy prepared for the shipyard phase to replace the generators, many of the non-technical crew were preparing to move ashore. Now that's probably got you thinking, where on earth do you put 150 crew in a new country. A few month's before, our advance team were asking the same question and were hunting out several locations in South Africa to solve that problem. One day they received a phone call from "Wayne" ?!? who arranged to show them a property that might work. This phone call turned into reality and as soon as we were docked the crew went into action packing up their "needed" belongings for 4 months ashore. As you can see by the picture, bags for 150 crew takes a lot of room (and there was more round the corner!).

There was even a "plant hotel" so somebody on the ship could look after our precious plants whilst we were away (thank you so much!).

It was amazing how everybody just pitched in and worked together and soon all the bags, galley and office equipment were loaded onto a Pickfords truck and ready to go. The crew climbed into Landrovers and buses and took the 1.5 hour journey to Appelsbosch, their home for 4 months. It was quite funny to see pedestrians on the road stop and stand with their mouths wide open as they saw one landrover after another pass them in a convoy.

It wasn't such an unusual sight when we got nearer to Appelsbosch because they knew we were coming. At Appelsbosch there was a disused college, it was as if the previous occupants expected to come back as things were left on shelves, science equipment in the labs, full sets of cheerleading costumes!?, trophies from past achievements and many books in the library. When we arrived the tuck shop was open, selling lots of goodies and crew were soon lapping up the doughnuts and fresh milk as if they hadn't seen it before. That's what living in west Africa does to you. As we all took a look around we knew this was going to be a great place to live.

Sailing

2010-11-29T22:23:00.004Z

It's often said that a picture can say a thousand words. So here are a few pictures from our sail down to South Africa last August.

(Tim and the pilot preparing to leave Togo)

(Nathanael and his pre-school buddies on the bow)

(Sometimes the sea was a little rougher than we would like)

(In Durban, South Africa, the Pilot often arrives by helicoptor)

(arriving in Durban, South Africa)

(Our advance team waiting our arrival on the dock)

We're Back on Line

2010-11-18T16:54:00.008Z

(whilst in South Africa)

At last we are back on line and the blog is fixed and looking a lot better.

After coming ashore and using a faster internet connection without all the firewalls etc. that we have on the ship, we came to realise that a lot of the code on our blog site had got a bit messed up-it looked fine on the ship, but it was definately not the same picture on land. So we are sorry for those who have had to suffer by working out the grey writing against the grey background. Not so good!

We've now changed to the new blogger layout and everything seems to be working a lot better, especially for those using firefox.

So now we've got a lot of catching up to do since we've been travelling around, so in the next few days we will try and bring you up to speed on all our travels and what's happening with the ship whilst it's in South Africa.

Mighty Ships Update - Showing 14th September

2010-08-31T12:38:00.004+01:00

Just a note to follow on from my post earlier this week. Quest TV have now brought out the schedule to say that the Africa Mercy episode of Mighty Ships will be shown on Tuesday at 21:00 in the UK. Click Here to view schedule for Quest TV.

Freeview Channel: 38 Sky Channel: 154

Please post a comment if you watch it, we'd love to hear what you think.

Ready for Sailing

2010-08-31T00:15:00.002+01:00

We are constantly amazed at the world that Nathanael lives in and how he easily adapts to it. As we prepared for sailing, I asked him one day what he does when the alarm goes off - this is his reponse:

Whenever an overhead announcement is made he always comes running over to me to check whether it's a drill or not.

He doesn't go out hunting for slugs and worms, instead he looks for flying fish, dolphins, sharks or whales.

He hasn't got a back yard to play in, but the bow is a great alternative on the sail

A pre-school field trip is a trip to the bow

and having to constantly try and keep his balance whilst walking just tires him out that he just falls asleep where he's playing!

Togo Honours

2010-08-30T22:01:00.008+01:00

When it came to the time to leave Togo, our hearts weren't ready. It's been amazing how our lives have been wovened into this country in such a short time. How they have embraced us into their country and called us friends. This friendship was portrayed to us on the last Friday/Saturday we were there. We say two days because we started out on Friday only to find that it might not happen and then we started out again on the Saturday! The ways of Africa just don't surprise us any more and we just accept it, whereas if this way of life was the norm back home we would lead a very frustrated life.

During our last week the health minister visited the ship to say "thank you" and presented the crew with a beautiful wood carving.

During this visit it was hinted that somebody higher up wanted to honour them. Immediately panic set in as visions of the president wanting to visit the ship as we were trying to pack everything up, could delay our departure time. It soon became clear, we would go to him and we did not expect what was going to happen next.

A local hotel was the venue and as the time went on and we were briefed on standing positions and protocol. We lined up to meet the Health Minister and we proceeded into a big room, half occupied by a full military band! Members of our senior management team lined up, and the wives stood on the side lines, looking pretty! 9 medals sat on cushions - it soon became clear that this was more than just a thank you dinner. 1 Officer Mono, 4 Chevalier Mono and 4 Chevalier Merit were awarded.

(Tim receiving the Chevalier Mono Medal)

(Saluting for the USA National Anthem)

(Even a full Military band)

The event was followed by a dinner with various Government Ministers.

(Tim and Sharon with Madame Adjei - a remarkable lady)

We feel humbled that when we felt honoured to be serving in Togo, that they would want to honour us, but it's not just about the Senior Managment Team, these medals represent the work and dedication of the entire crew of Mercy Ships, both on the ship and those on shore in our land based offices, because it's not just one person that does all the work, it is a joint effort and without each other and the Lord working through us, nothing would be accomplished and complete. So we say well done good and faithful servants, the Lord honours your work and servant hearts, and so does Togo!

(Medal recipients)

(the wives)

Potty Handover

2010-08-29T23:20:00.001+01:00

Today we witnessed the historic event of Nathanael handing over his potty to his friend, Xavier, as Xavier embarks on his own potty training quest. So they sealed it with a hand shake and Xavier knows that Nathanael is always on hand to give advice, if needed.

Meanwhile Nathanael has now started target practice at floating cheerio's in the toilet.

Mighty Ships on UK Quest TV Channel

2010-08-29T22:25:00.001+01:00

Remember Mighty Ships?

QUEST TV CHANNEL - UK VIEWING

Freeview Channel: 38

Sky Channel: 154

Quest TV Listing Schedule: Click Here

We are now calling all those who have sky or freeview in the UK to check out this listing for Quest TV channel over the next month or so as it looks like the Africa Mercy episode is due to be shown. At the moment the series 3 of Mighty Ships is being shown on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the only problem is that the website only lists the schedule for the next 2 weeks so you'll have to keep your eye out for us as we might not be able to remind you due to our limited internet connection over the next few weeks as we move of the ship, then go on holiday!

Series 3 includes ships: Africa Mercy Cristobal Colon, aka, Christopher Columbus G.O. SARS Oasis of the Seas Solitaire U.S.S. Kentucky

Click Here for episode write ups

Please try and take a moment to watch it-they did a really good job and it shows a little more of what goes on, on the technical side that supports the programs ministry we have here.

Would You Shop Here?

2010-08-27T22:05:00.011+01:00

.......Because we did and were very happy with our products!

With different functions going on, we thought it would be a good idea to expand our "African wardrobe" so on good recommendations we ventured out to Samuel the Tailor. This is his tailors shop. (thanks Marty for the picture!)

It doesn't look much, but what goes on in here is the work of a great designer and tailor. He measures nearly every part of your body and says in his limited english "it is ok, I do something good" and you trust him. Sounds easy doesn't it? So we thought we'd give you a glimpse of our outfits so you know what the latest trends are in Africa if you ever come this way.

Tim's shirt - if you look too long at it you might get dizzy, we almost expect one of those 3D pictures to come out of it, but it looks great on him, in Africa!

Nathanael's shorts in the left over material from Tim's shirt.

And Sharon's 2 piece

Please know that we won't be offended if you would like to follow our fashion trends, we just need to add a disclaimer that, folk might laugh at you at home.

Knitting for Mercy

2010-08-20T10:20:00.005+01:00

Theresa Rowntree, (75) from Braintree in Essex, who recently lost her sight, is part of a knitting team producing teddy bears for child patients onboard the Africa Mercy.

Rebecca Bond from Bassingbourn, Hertfordshire, was deeply touched by stories from her sister, who volunteered onboard the Africa Mercy in Togo earlier this year. Rebecca wanted to do something to help. She had heard how comforting the teddy bears were when children would come onboard the ship to receive treatment, and so created an advert, asking for knitters, to produce as many teddy bears as they can.

Theresa’s daughter read the advert and thought that knitting teddies for Mercy Ships using a simple pattern was a way to re-ignite her mother’s interest in knitting. Friends and family had always said that Theresa could knit with her eyes closed.

Rebecca is keen for as many people in the local area to help in her knitting mission. She said: “Anyone who can knit will find this pattern easy to do and the joy it brings to children is beyond imaginable. These young children are often very frightened and also very poor so to receive a gift like this means a great deal to them and sees them through a difficult time. “I am surprised at the amount of people who have responded to the appeal and delighted by the number of teddies that arrive almost daily.” Judy Polkinhorn, Executive Director of Mercy Ships UK, said: “This is an amazing gesture by Rebecca and all the knitters. Donations like this make such a difference to the child patients on board the Africa Mercy who love teddies just as much as children here. We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone that had kindly given their time to knit teddies for the children on the ship. Their efforts show real compassion and commitment”.

If you would like to help Rebecca in her knitting mission and would like details or the pattern please ‘phone her on 01763 246556 (leave a message) or email beccibond@hotmail.com

Pink Slips

2010-08-15T11:49:00.005+01:00

As we wrapped up the field service in Togo the hospital still had lots of pink slips. Pink slips belonging to many who we could not help or couldn't make contact with. We wanted to share this blog that is written by one of our nurses, Ali. Please read it, it will tug at your heart! Ali was involved in praying for everyone of those written on those slips. They didn't stop there, they got others to pray and now have 600 people over the world praying for those we left behind.

A New Lip

2010-08-11T23:59:00.013+01:00

Amavi and her baby sister, Kossinovi, are from a family of eight children. They share a distinctive characteristic – they were both born with a cleft lip. In the West African culture, such deformities are viewed with superstition and ridicule.

Little Kossinovi is only seven months old – too young to suffer from the harsh remarks of unfeeling friends. But Amavi is twelve and has felt the sting of sharp tongues all too often. An 8th grade student, she has struggled to make friends. But her classmates find her disfigured upper lip a good reason to belittle her and call her names. Her mother says when she sends Amavi out to play, there is always a fight, and she comes home crying. Amavi has coped by becoming shy and retiring, keeping to herself to avoid hurtful remarks. The children's mother has been very concerned about their future, but surgical repair has been out of reach because of the cost. So when a friend at the local hospital told her that the volunteer doctors with Mercy Ships would do the surgery without charge, she quickly made arrangements to get Amavi and Kossinovi to the Africa Mercy . Following a medical screening, both children were admitted to the hospital ward. They received successful surgeries and went home the next day. They returned to the ship for post-operative care until they were totally healed and released. Amavi, who usually says very little, expressed her happiness about the successful procedure. She hopes to train to be a nurse after she graduates from secondary school. And the children's very relieved mother said, “ Thank you Mercy Ships for what you have done for my children.”

(leaving the ship fully healed!)

Story by Elaine B. Winn (Africa Mercy Communications Department) Edited by Nancy Predaina Photos by Liz Cantu

What You See Is Not Always What You Get!

2010-08-10T22:19:00.003+01:00

This weekend proved to be a treat for us, we got to go out as a family for the day. A couple of times we've driven on the road towards Benin and have noticed a huge sign "HOTEL LE LAC" but however much we tried, we could never find it. We had heard others had been and we were told that it was right on Togo Lake. Sounds wonderful. So last weekend we thought, this is it, we are going on the hunt for hotel le lac. A nice relaxing day near the pool, over looking the lake. Some friends came along with extra pairs of eyes to help us find the hidden haven. We had even looked up the website, www.hotellelactogo.com, kindly translated for us by google:

"For lovers of swimming, a large well-maintained pool is available in the heart of the hotel with views of Lake Togo. The lifeguards are there to teach you to swim or watch your children. We also welcome the swimming competitions under the supervision of our highly experienced lifeguards. The pool is free for hotel guests with room and pay for everything else. Forever you serve, we set foot on a monthly subscription with very competitive prices to help you to swim at any time according to your wishes"

sounds promising?!

We were successful, we found it, after a detour to a craft shop on the way. We parked up and walked in. From afar we thought this could be good and quiet.

But then we got closer to the swimming pool-hmmmm we have a problem!

it was VERY green.

So green we couldn't see the bottom and wouldn't be surprised if toads or something were living in the bottom of it. As you can imagine we promptly got back in the car and made our way back to a pool that we knew would be good. See if you can spot the colour difference in this video of Nathanael swimming.

Church - African Style

2010-08-05T01:12:00.005+01:00

Ever thought about broadcasting your church service over really loud speakers so the local community can hear it. In many countries we would probably have the police or local council knocking on our door telling us to turn the noise down. Here in Africa it's a different story. In fact the louder the better. The church we visited last week has really grown since Mercy Ships crew members have been encouraging them in their meetings, whether it's just turning up and worshiping with them or preaching God's word. Even so, the village has built a small mosque directly across the road during our time here. Is God impacting this village? we ask ourselves.

We thought we'd share a video clip with you so you can experience "church" in Africa.

Are you dancing yet?...we can't help but dance!

Twins

2010-07-30T15:00:00.003+01:00

Following on from our visit to Gape Aloyi we have come to learn that they have a high percentage of twins and even whilst we were there on our first visit a set of twin boys were born.

The Yoruba people boast a twin birth rate of 4.5-5%. They believe that the twin that emerges first from the womb is considered to be the younger of the two. Whether male or female, this twin is named Taiwo, which literally means, “experiencing the first taste of the world.” Taiwo is believed to be directed by the older twin, Kehinde (also male or female), to explore the world outside the womb and confirm whether it is okay to come out. Taiwo’s cry, after he or she emerges, is a sign to the older twin that it is safe to come out; Kehinde, which means “comes last”, then makes his or her way out of the womb and is considered to be wiser and more cautious than his or her younger sibling. With such a high rate, twins are perceived as a sign of fertility, they are believed to possess powers over wealth, health, and happiness, as well as over suffering and destruction. So care is often taken in giving them respect, love, and care. Parents will often seek the blessings of the “Babalawo" (the divination priest) 3 days after their twins are born. He supposedly drives out any evil spirits that may harm the children and educates the parents on how to raise them, including instructions on the color and type of clothing or jewellery for them to wear, foods that they should eat and animals they should avoid.

According to tradition, twins have two halves of the same soul. If one twin dies they believe that the balance of the soul is upset. Subsequently the Babalawo would direct a carver to sculpt a small figure that symbolizes the dead child, or in rare cases, 2, if both twins die. They believe that the sculptures house the soul of the dead twin and are called “Ibeji” which means, the sacred image of twins. They are believed to possess as much powers as the twins and are treated with a lot of respect. Like real children, these statues are bathed, fed, clothed and carried around. They are particularly special to mothers who pamper them and keep them close to their beds, occasionally rubbing them with red wood powder in order to give them a glossy look. They are caressed frequently and their birthdays are celebrated with rituals and prayers.

Here are some twin sculptures that we saw in a local museum in Lome.

Why the high birth rate? There are many conclusions, the favourite one is the large consumption of yams. So if you want twins, try eating yams for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Special Delivery to Gape Aloyi

2010-07-18T15:35:00.021+01:00

Last weekend we made another visit to the village, Gape Aloyi. (You may remember reading our last post "Gape Aloyi Village Visit" back in May). This time we were there to see another historic occasion for the village and also deliver medical supplies. Having loaded up 2 landrovers full of supplies the night before, our trip started at 06:30 in the morning, along with some fellow crew members. The hospital supply on the ship were amazing in helping us find things that they could do without. We embarked on our very bumpy journey, having to take a different route due to recent heavy rain and potential flooding on the other road. We arrived to a sea of kids, excited at seeing us again and it was nice to see familiar faces from the last time. After greetings with the village chief we proceded to a grass roof shelter for a meeting. Everybody from the village gathered around, peering over the wall to hear the news that had been brought by our friends Eric and Fabienne. Eric and Fabienne have really taken this village into their hearts and are currently working to raise money to build a school. This is the site where the school will be built.

Already they have seen a clinic finished and the village are willing to help work to build it. This meeting was to see the start of this as they announced the sponsorship from the Air France foundation which will provide half of the money for the school. The school foundations can be started and as you can see by the video they were very happy with the news.

A contract was set up so that the village would agree to provide things like sand, water and workers to help the builder so that the cost can be kept down and they would take ownership of the project. This was signed by the chief.

Tim also gave a speech and he had the added pleasure of sharing that the Africa Mercy Crew had made a collection of just over $700 which will be put towards half of the toilet block or for the complete appatame (african style circular yard) When the builder got up to talk we found that we were talking in 3 different languages. The builder in the local language Ewe, then translated to French (one of the languages of Togo) then into English for us. This is often how a lot of people have to work on the wards in the hospital, you sometimes wonder if anything is lost in the translation.

The next item on the agenda was to present prizes to those that had passed their exams in the school. The students were delighted with their gifts and we hope that it inspires others to do well in the school.

Lunch followed with goat and fufu on the menu, cooked by the chief's, 4 wives!

We then proceeded over to the clinic to deliver the supplies.

The nurse was speechless, stunned, tearful, to put it in a few words, yet he beamed from ear to ear, as more and more boxes were carried in. He could not believe all the things that came in through the door.

We will never forget the look on his face when he discovered a set of baby weighing scales, something he had wanted for a long time. Many things like syringes etc have to be reused as they haven't got the supplies and our boxes of about 1000 syringes was just what he needed. 6 mosquito nets were the perfect match for the 6 beds in the little ward and gauzes galore will help cover healing wounds.

This is a visit we will never forget. It's great when God can make a difference in people's lives.

For Nathanael, the girls loved our little "Yovo" (name for white person) and he had a few marriage proposals whilst he was there, mainly from Mum's eyeing him up as a future son-in-law (we must say, one 2 year old was very cute!). At least he knows where to go when he's older and stuck for a wife.

Mistral Visit

2010-07-09T15:13:00.015+01:00

Recently we had a visit by a French Navy Ship, The Mistral. The Mistral is one of the French Navy's new 21,300t amphibious assault, command and power projection ships and was commissioned in 2006. It has the capacity to carry up to 16 medium or heavy helicopters below deck, e.g. the NH90, SA 330 Puma, AS 532 U2 Cougar or AS 665 Tigre helicopters.

The flight deck has six landing spots and a 1,800m² hangar. The 5,000m² flight deck can accommodate up to six helicopter movements simultaneously. They have an Amphibious assault capability and can carry either four CTM, landing craft utility (LCU) or two air-cushion landing craft (LCACs).

They also have a 69 bed, 750m² hospital, equipped with two operating theatres. If additional hospital or medevac space is required, the hangar can also be converted into a modular field hospital. Seeing the hospital and then pictures of past evacuation on the walls really brought the reality of war to our minds.

As you can imagine our ship looked very small compared with this.

Tim and Sharon had the pleasure of being invited to lunch with the Captain and his officers with a delicious 4 course meal, including duck for the main course and a "melt in the mouth" mousse for dessert. Visits were also arranged for our crew to have tours and then they in turn came over to us. We were also able to attend an official function and spend time with a few of the officers over a Togolese meal at a friends house in Lome.

The Navy crew were able to use their skills ashore by helping to renovate a local school by painting, putting in electric lighting and making desks etc for the classrooms. They did an amazing job and the school of 800 kids are certainly enjoying it. We had the opportunity to visit and see the improvements just as they were finishing. The school, is run by a French man and has an amazing story behind how he has built it up to what it is now. He has a heart to provide the opportunity for schooling to kids and only charges a small amount so those who can't afford the big expensive schools in Lome can still have an education. So the French Navy has really added a lot to help this cause.

Africa Mercy on Discovery Channel Tomorrow!

2010-06-22T22:53:00.012+01:00

**AFRICA MERCY - WEDNESDAY 23rd JUNE - MIGHTY SHIPS**

You might remember at the beginning of the year Tim was wearing his film star hat and doing lots of filming with the Canadian Discovery Channel for a new series of Mighty Ships.

Well the day has arrived for all our Canadian friends who will have the opportunity to see the first showing of the "Africa Mercy" episode on the Canadian Discovery Channel, scheduled to broadcast on Wednesday night (23rd June)...that's tomorrow! To check your viewing times click on this link to see the schedule for your area. http://www.discoverychannel.ca/Schedule.aspx

Alternatively, according to this link, it looks like you can download it from itunes, you might want to try that out if you want to see it but don't have access to the Discovery Channel. http://www.discoverychannel.ca/Showpage.aspx?sid=13057

If anybody is able to record it for us, we would really appreciate it. As you can imagine we are really looking forward to seeing how it comes out after seeing behind the scenes of what it takes to film a show like this.

Enjoy the show!

Tim's Photo's

2010-06-07T00:39:00.007+01:00

We thought we'd share these great photo's that the ship's photographer recently took of Tim.

Tim's New Acting Career

2010-05-26T23:56:00.006+01:00

Recently we attended the Africa Mercy Film Festival where all the crew dressed up in their best dress as if it was the oscars. The crew had been asked to submit movies that they had made to be shown and judged by a panel. The event has become a favourite date in the crew entertainment calendar and a great time was had by all. Micah Holden and Hannah Van Leeuwen won best film for their humorous depiction of life on the Mercy Ship. If you've been on the ship you will identify with a lot of it, if you haven't, you'll still find it funny especially when you get to the bit where Tim stars.

Enjoy!

Gape Aloyi Village Visit

2010-05-23T00:02:00.004+01:00

Recently we had the privilege of visiting the village Gape Aloyi. It's quite a long story how we have come in contact with a village that is quite remote and not something you would come across on a leisurely drive out in the country. During our time here we have come to know a French family, through the Navy, who are living in Togo. After an evening at their house we learnt of Gape Aloyi, a village that they had inherited from their predecessor but have also come to love and adopt as their own. The great thing about this village is that they want to make things work. An NGO had started building a Dispensary clinic, but left before it was finished taking the money with them. The village worked together and finished it off. They hired their own nurse and pay the wages between themselves. Often Government paid nurses are unreliable, if they don't get paid by the government they don't turn up. Money has also been raised and wells have been installed. Now they need a school.

To help fund this we attended a fundraising cheese event. The cheese was even flown in from France, along with the cheese maker. For us, the taste of the cheese in our mouths was amazing after not having quality cheese for ages and it was a good opportunity to meet more of the vast ex-pat community that lives here in Lome.

By now we were also getting enthusiastic for this village and wanted to see if there was anyway Mercy Ships could help. So we started on our 2-3 hours drive up north, along with our friends, the Jacobsen family, to make a visit.

(Alisia and Josh Jacobsen getting ready for a bumpy ride in the back of a landrover)

For this occasion Tim was one of the VIP guests, along with another French lady who had helped raise funds through the cheese event, so a grand ceremony was arranged on their behalf. On the way you soon knew you were getting off the beaten track as concrete houses turned to mud brick houses with naked kids and goats running around. Somehow life is a lot calmer and slower paced compared to the fast paced, technological world that we ourselves live in. We knew we were approaching Gape Aloyi when we saw our escort of motorbikes waiting to drive us in. We were welcomed with groups dancing and singing and excited at our arrival. We almost felt embarrassed that they would put on such a display for just us. We were met with a huge ornate umbrella with the village chief and his entourage standing beneath it.

Now for some of the rituals you might need a strong stomach to read this. The village priest first offered a drink which he spilt on the ground (if you were to drink it you would definitely need a strong stomach!).

Then they offered a live goat. You can see him standing in the welcoming entourage picture, awaiting his fate. They proceeded to cut the goats neck and spill the blood on the ground (we'll spare you the pictures-email us if you really must see them!) and then they hauled it off to cook ready for lunch. We were then led to a covered area where the women put on a great display of dancing and Tim was taken away to be "robed and crowned". The cloth is an expensive cloth, made only by virgin men and takes a lot of work, something we will treasure. We followed with speeches and fortunately there was a man in the village who had studied in Ghana and could speak English, so he was able to translate Tim's speech into the local language. Nathanael was amazing and very flexible during this time, whilst chomping on the ritz crackers that we had fortunately stuffed into our bag, as a last resort and then on the spot training on how to go to the toilet in a bush without a potty! We then followed on to have a tour of the dispensary clinic. The nurse there was doing his best with the resources he had available. Whilst we were there a lady was in labour with twins, but they said "oh it's a while yet". But when we returned to drop off some medical supplies that we had brought to give to them, she had just delivered them and they even brought them out for us to see within minutes of them breathing in their new African air. Two beautiful baby boys. Twins are very popular in this area, we will write about that in a separate post. It was nice to interact with some of the kids and mothers. They loved having their photo taken and when you showed it to them on the camera they would laugh out loud with delight.

We continued to see the site where they plan to build the school. As you can see their present school classrooms are just 4 shelters with a chalkboard at the end. They currently have 240 children and their dream is to raise money to build a proper school. We hope to be a small part of the dream. The children sang songs, giving us a warm welcome. By the end of this the goat was calling and was cooked and ready to eat. We sat down to a wonderful generous meal of goat meat, some kind of fu-fu and spaghetti noodles, followed by green oranges and banana's which tasted wonderful.

We parted, handing over gifts of a Mercy Ships T-shirt and Cap to the chief, he presented us with the left over, back end of the goat (RAW!) and a yam, along with the robe and crown worn by Tim.....they truly blessed us with so much when they have so little.

But it doesn't stop there; we had one more stop to make on the way back, to the chief's brother. His brother owned a small distillery for making palm wine. It's made from the palm tree and can blow your head of when you taste it.

His brother had his own little business making it and then a forest plantation of teak trees at the back growing for his "retirement". Quite a little enterprise! He, again, was very generous and presented us all with a bottle of palm wine (in volvic bottles).

Nathanael, on the other hand, just enjoyed dancing and playing in the dirt.

So there you have it, a taste of Togo life.......fancy living here?

Africa Mercy On ITV TV Channel

2010-05-18T23:43:00.004+01:00

We thought you might be interested to see a series of short documentaries on the Africa Mercy that ran for a week on the ITV TV channel in the North East of England earlier in the year.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Kossin Delou

2010-05-11T16:11:00.005+01:00

Sixteen-year-old, Kossin Delou, spent four years of his life sheltered by his family and kept out of the public eye due to an enormous tumor that dominated the left side of his face. When the tumor first appeared, Kossin visited local hospitals in Lomé, Togo. But his family could not afford the necessary surgery. So, the tumor, which started from Kossin's upper jaw, continued to grow. It soon covered his eye, hindering his vision. As the insidious growth enlarged, Kossin's life became more difficult. Kossin's father is a local pastor, and the church is an important part of his family life. But people viewed the tumor as a curse, so Kossin's shame prevented him from attending church. In fact, the children who were once his friends now ridiculed him on the streets and at school. He even felt like an outsider among his own siblings. His emotional turmoil intensified as his dream for his future began to fade away. Kossin wanted to study at a university to become a teacher. He wanted to enrich the lives of children with knowledge and love. His grotesque facial deformity would prevent him from pursuing his education.

Then Kossin came to our hospital ship, the Africa Mercy . After many hours of surgery, he emerged with a newly constructed face.

Joy radiated from Kossin and his family. His father, Pastor Delou, says, "In this life each one of us needs help in some moments of our life. I can say that through Mercy Ships, we have found that help. You can have a bad story - but, before the end of your life , God will open a door and smile deep into your heart. I know that God is working through Mercy Ships for the best in my life and in Kossin 's life ." (3 weeks after surgery standing alongside his father, Pastor Delou) Kossin is ecstatic about his new life. He can go to church with his family and friends. He's no longer an object of ridicule. And - best of all - in September of 2010, Kossin will be able to start school to fulfil his resurrected dream of becoming a teacher.

Written by Joy Clary Edited by Nancy Predaina Photos by Debra Bell and Liz Cantu

Redesign

2010-05-11T00:01:00.004+01:00

You may have noticed things look a little different on the blog. We've been cracking the html code and having a shuffle around to reorganised our blog so instead of having alot of headings down the side menu, you can now access them from the navigation bar at the top, making life a lot easier.

Birthday Boys

2010-05-10T21:06:00.004+01:00

The end of April and the beginning of May bring a special day for the boys in our family as we celebrate their birthdays. For Tim, if you find a museum it's guaranteed to be a hit, and it was! After picking up some tips from some of the ex-pats here, it was recommended to us to visit the Musee International Du Golf De Guinee that is situated on the main boulevard towards town. The museum consisted of the private collection of the trader and African arts expert, Mr.Rene David from Switzerland. He returned his collection to Africa and it has been added to by his wife Mme Enam David. Today, the museum happens to be the most popular one in Africa with pieces from different cultures of Africa. Our tour guide for the visit was Amoudji K. Junior who spoke excellent English so we were able to learn alot about the different masks, statues, jewellery, drums etc that we saw on display and get little more of an understanding of how and why these things are used in the African culture. Tim of course was in his element and we have the 100's of photo's to prove it!

(a tribal mask/gown)

(480 year old statue of a portuguese explorer)

(Ancient African drum, the old fashioned cell phone!)

We finished up at the local Lome fast food restaurant, Al Donalds, for lunch. Decor was a bit basic but the food didn't taste too bad. We had to give them 10 out of 10 for creativity for copying the MacDonalds sign.

Then Nathanael's birthday followed at the beginning of May. Somehow the museum wasn't his choice, but a Bob the Builder party sounded much more fun. So we got creative and did lots of googling to create a fun party for 9 kids.

(Nathanael in his Bob the Builder outfit)

Classic games included, pass the parcel, pin the tool on Bob and a "build a tower" scavenger hunt. They enjoyed a builders lunch of hotdogs, cement drinks, traffic light jelly/jello and hard hat birthday cake and went home with lots of Bob the Builder goodies that we had been organised enough to get when we were home in the UK last January. (ebay is our friend!).

(Kids making toolboxes)

The greatest idea we found was making t-shirts with all their faces on a Bob the Builders body, a great keepsake. We got the t-shirts at a bargain price of 50p and used iron on transfers.

All in all the kids went home happy and Nathanael still talks about it and we survived to live another year before we have to organize another one.

(the hard hat cake)

Presidential Visit

2010-05-03T20:28:00.004+01:00

At the moment we seem to be playing a little catch up with our news. Life has been so busy that we just haven't got round to telling you about it.

Last month we had the privilege of having the President of Togo visit the Africa Mercy. We had about a days notice to get everything in place and many security guards turned up to stay overnight on the ship.

(Tim greeting the President at the gangway)

This is the spread that I happened to come face to face with when I walked into the crew galley as our hospitality team were working hard to make refreshments. for the visit.

All in all the president seemed very moved by his experience on board. Click below to view a video of his message to the crew.

2011 Field Service Anounced

2010-05-01T00:00:00.001+01:00

High we exalt thee, realm of the free Great is the love we have for thee Firmly united, ever we stand Singing the praise, our native land We raise up our hearts and our voices on high The hills and the valleys re-echo our cry Blessing & peace be ever thy own Land that we love our Sierra Leone

(Sierra Leone National Anthem) Recently Mercy Ships announced that our Field Service for 2011 will be in Sierra Leone. This will be the fourth time that Mercy Ships has delivered free world-class medical care to the impoverished West African nation. The protocols and Memoranda of Understanding have been signed. The agreement provides the necessary collaboration with the Sierra Leone government in regard to the port, security, water and sanitation. It also opens the door for the Mercy Ships Advance Team to do the preliminary work necessary for the upcoming Field Service.

Health care in Sierra Leone is unaffordable and often unavailable. The country ranks 180 out of 182 nations on the 2009 Human Development Index, and the majority of the population lives on less than $2 per day. Infant mortality in Sierra Leone is 159 per 1000 births as compared to the USA at 6.3 per 1000 births. Dental care is another illustration of the conditions within the country, with one dentist for every one million people, where as it's 6,000 dentists per million people in the USA Mercy Ships looks forward to their continued partnership with the West African Fistula Centre in Aberdeen founded in 2004. The clinic is now under the management of the Freedom from Fistuala Foundation. The Centre offers free surgeries to women suffering from childbirth-related injury and has the capacity to serve between 500 and 600 patients per year. The Africa Mercy will also serve as a platform for training African healthcare professionals and for community development teams. These programs ensure that the positive impact of Mercy Ships will continue long after the ship leaves Sierra Leone. Don Stephens, Mercy Ships Founder/President said, "Sierra Leone holds a special place in the heart of Mercy Ships. We are looking forward to building upon the foundation we established in 3 previous visits. The people of Sierra Leone started asking ‘when will your hospital ship come back to our country in the immigration and customs lines at the airport. Welcome Mercy Ships was the greeting of several officials. You help our people. Please come back!’"

(The famous Bat tree in the middle of town, bats can be seen hanging there all day)

For Sharon it will be a special time as this was her first Field Service when she joined Mercy Ships in 2001 and was captured by the sweet nature of the Sierra Leoneons, even now she can almost hum the tune to their national anthem. In 2001 the civil war was just ending and poverty was at it's lowest. It will be interesting to see if there have been any changes during the last 10 years.

Hospitality Centre

2010-04-29T10:58:00.001+01:00

The Hospitality Center, situated about 3 ½ km. (two miles) from where the Africa Mercy is, opened its doors the first week in March. The 40-bed facility offers overnight provision for up to 90 patients awaiting surgeries and other procedures. It also provides on-land office space for eye services and other programs.

During its first week of operation, the Center handled pre-op and post-op services for 240 eye patients. 80 of those patients were receiving cataract surgery. Eye Specialist Woody Hopper, who heads the eye services office, estimates that 1600 eye patients will utilize the facility during this field service. The Center also housed 88 patients and caregivers overnight to prevent travel problems during Togo's recent national election. Surrounded by a gated cement wall, the Hospitality Center is a peaceful oasis in the middle of the tumultuous city of Lomé. It is housed in a government-owned clinic that is being transformed into a hospital. The Togolese government is allowing Mercy Ships to use one wing of the clinic for the duration of the Togo Field Service. Mercy Ships workers have replaced the leaky roof, installed electricity and air-conditioning, and done a thorough cleaning. The result is a sanitary, up-to-date, and pleasant environment for patients awaiting medical services.

The Hospitality Center is under the supervision of our Land-Based Programs Manager and a management team who share the workload. They are assisted by 22 day-volunteers, divided into teams to do maintenance, drive the shuttles, and assist guests. On the Centre's opening day, 30 patients received pre-op services before receiving their eye surgeries onboard the Africa Mercy . They returned to the Center for post-op care, including instructions and eye care products. Assistants translated instructions into French, Togo's official language, and Ewe, one of the country's most prevalent tribal languages.

You can often here the native drum and celebrated singing of people giving thanks to God. Faces glow with smiles, and arms rise in praise, as patients sing and move with the beat of the music. One eye patient, Kossi Diabo, smiled widely "I am very happy to be here this morning to get a healing from God " he said "and would thank Mercy Ships for what they are doing. First , I can't see anything. Now, I can see! May God encourage you and give you strength." Patients who undergo cataract surgery return for a laser procedure 6 weeks after surgery. When those treatments begin, a Celebration of Sight will be held every Friday for up to 120 patients, a wonderful opportunity to join together in thanking God for His goodness.

A Glimpse Into Our Screening Days

2010-04-27T23:30:00.000+01:00

In Togo we have been taking a different approach by holding more smaller screenings. Here is a video which gives you a glimpse into the lives of the screening team and what it takes to assess if somebody is suitable for surgery.

New Legs!

2010-04-16T18:49:00.004+01:00

Patients like 11 year old Abel Dalome experience life changing surgeries thanks to the dedicated volunteers on our ship! This young man's life will never be the same.

School Photos

2010-04-13T00:57:00.003+01:00

This week we received Nathanael's school photo's. Isn't he a cutie? Apparently it was quite an interesting morning for the photographer and 7 pre-schoolers!

This is Nathanael with his nursery class. As you can see, getting them all to look the same way and smile at the same time just didn't happen.

.....and this is our academy (school) on board. Ages range from 2-18 years.

Would You Be a Deckie

2010-04-09T14:23:00.003+01:00

Let us introduce you to our deck department. They are amazing hard working guys and girls. Whether it needs painting, lifting, securing, moving, fixing, purifying your water, fire extinguishers, steering the ship etc, there is so much that they do and to write it all here would take forever. A lot could even go unnoticed by many.

But there is always one job that I don't think I (Sharon) could ever bring myself to do. During our field service our deckies and day volunteers take on the task of painting the outside of the ship. Now we're not sophisticated enough to have running platforms that run round the ship like they do on the posh cruise ships. Instead we use the old fashioned bosun chair. Old fashioned? you say....oh yes, some rope and a plank and it works, along with a safety line!

First, it can be a long way down that rope ladder.

Then you get on your plank, along with your friend and lifejacket.

You chip away the rust spots and spruce it up with some paint.

You can even do it in teams!

So if you like to live life on the edge, come be a deckie for a few weeks.

Thank you Deckies you do an amazing job.

A Busy Week

2010-04-04T14:18:00.001+01:00

A week of challenges and surprises, typical for us...?

It began last weekend with a wonderful dinner with new friends, Glotin family, working with the French Navy in Togo. The US Ambassador turned up and we learned a lot about Africa Art, politics and other interesting subjects.

Of course there were the usual demands of work and preparations for surveys and other business of operating a ship, Mercy or otherwise.

On Tuesday morning, we received word that the President of Togo, Mr. Gnassingbe, would be visiting the ship. It is an interesting challenge to make all the preparations for a visit of a Head of State in less than 24 hours, but our great team pulled it all together, from Security arrangements to special arrangements of chairs and so much more. I believe that the President's visit was a meaningful experience for him as well as an honor for us. It is part of the amazing ministry we have.....to be able to touch the hearts of the poorest of the poor, and a President, on the same day.

Life quickly returned (for Tim) to the other important tasks, like trying to confirm some permits for the ship, arranging for the delivery of 600 metric tons of fuel, sharing with a local businessman that we were following the example of Jesus in coming to bring Hope and Healing in his country. We plan to meet again.

Mercy Ships Founders Don and Deyon Stephens were back on board, with friends of Mercy Ships US Congressman and Mrs L. Gohmert. Later, I met Former VP of DR Congo visiting on board for two days as well.

The Taxes were finished (hurray) and we ran errands in the city (accidentally meeting the Glotins on the way) and dodging a large "political rally." Nathanael got a fever last night. This morning a good turnout for the sunrise service on Deck 8 and a wonderful Resurrection Service later. With Nathanael sick, we'll have Brunch in the cabin, and, we hope, an afternoon of rest and joy in the Resurrection of our Savior.

Oceane-A Story from Benin

2010-03-19T12:00:00.003Z

Whilst Megan was working in the communications office, one of the photographers, grabbed her attention, saying, "You need to have a look at this pre-operative photo." She spun her chair around and was horrified by the image on his computer screen. There was one-year-old Oceane. Tears were streaming from her eyes. Her little face grimaced in pain. A grotesque mass, larger than her head, hung from the back of her neck. The photo made her uncomfortable. Instinctively, she turned away. "Children aren't supposed to experience that kind of pain," she thought.

Oceane had an encephalocele - a rare neural tube defect characterized by sac-like protrusions of neural tissue through openings in the skull. A small gap in the back of her head, only 1.4 cm wide, was the root of her problems. It allowed cerebrospinal fluid to escape from her brain and collect in the ballooning skin on the back of her neck, which formed the disturbing "second head."

Oceane's mother, Philomen, had brought her baby to a Mercy Ships medical screening day in February 2009. Upon evaluation, surgeons planned on removing the mass and placing a small tube in her brain. The tube, called a shunt, would drain excessive fluid from her head into her abdomen. However, the earliest surgical opening wasn't until October.

During the seven months of waiting for the surgery, Philomen faced great discouragement. As the bulge continued to swell, simple things, like bathing Oceane, began to scare Philomen. "When I gave her a bath, I never washed her head. I was scared the tumor would explode, and the baby would die."

To make life even more miserable, others began to mock Philomen, saying, "Look at the horrible baby she has."

Philomen said, "I never replied. I felt very ashamed and always stayed in the house." Friends and family increased the tension by saying that Mercy Ships was making her wait because they couldn't perform the surgery.

Despite the discouraging voices around her, Philomen never lost hope that Oceane could be helped. On Sunday, October 14, she brought the child to the Africa Mercy . That evening, Megan walked down to the hospital to meet them. Oceane was helplessly lying on the bed, unable to sit up from the weight of the mass. "There is no way they are going to be able to remove that," she thought to myself. Cautiously, she introduced herself. She knew it was still uncertain that she'd receive her surgery. She was scheduled for a neurosurgical procedure that normally required multiple surgeons, expensive equipment, and a follow-up stay in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. It would be high-risk, even with the boundless resources of Western medicine. We were on a hospital ship with half of those resources. The surgeons weren't certain the operation would be safe. Already, Megan could see high hopes and expectations in Philomen's eyes. Oceane was wearing a hospital ID band and sleeping on an Africa Mercy bed . This was the moment she had dreamed about for seven months. But the odds were still against Oceane. Megan didn't want to act too excited for Philomen - not yet. She held Oceane's hand, told Philomen it was nice to meet her, and walked away praying, "God, please help that baby." The next day, a CT Scan of Oceane's head was taken. The results spawned further discussions among the medical staff as they weighed the risks/benefits of her surgery. Finally, the medical team decided Oceane would receive surgery. Her big day was Friday. Thursday afternoon, Megan walked onto D ward looking for her, but the bed was empty. "Where is Oceane?" she asked one of the nurses. "She's in the recovery room. She had her surgery today." Five minutes later, a recovery room nurse walked into the ward holding a small baby with a white turban of bandages. It was Oceane. Again, Megan was shocked. The mass was completely gone. While the nurses listened to her lungs and connected her to a heart monitor, Philomen came to the bedside. When she realized the mass was gone, she was speechless. All she could do was stand by the bed and hold Oceane's tiny hand. For fifteen minutes, she stared at her daughter, oscillating between contented smiles and joyful tears. Megan couldn't hold back her own tears. Throughout the next week, she continued to visit D ward. For the first time, Philomen could see the back of Oceane's neck. Proudly, she tied Oceane to her back like other African mothers and walked up and down the hospital corridor. Philomen was glowing. "When I saw the baby in the surgery room, she was laughing. God has done something great in my life that has lifted me. I have to thank God and ask Him to bless Mercy Ships," she declared. Three weeks after surgery, Oceane came to the Africa Mercy for her final post-op appointment. Megan came down to the hospital to say goodbye. Smiling and laughing as she held Oceane in one arm, Philomen greeted her with an enthusiastic, " Merci, merci, merci beaucoup , " - French for, " Thank you, thank you, thank you very much ."

She handed Megan Oceane, who stared into her eyes and reached out her small hand to grab her hair. All Megan could think was, "God has done a miracle."

---------------------------------------- Taken from a story written by Megan Petock Photos by Mercy Ships photographers, Megan Petock, PJ Accetturo and Esther Biney

Academy Arts Fair

2010-03-18T14:10:00.008Z

Last night the Academy held an arts fair so the children on board could let others see some of the things they do in school. It's amazing to see so much talent in such a small school of about 50 students. Reciting poetry, playing recorders and a karate display (including karate chops, breaking planks of wood!) were part of the entertainment for the evening and lots of art was displayed on the walls.

Display that has been turned into beautiful cards and sold to the crew.

Nathanael's "art" display, obviously having a green day!

Musical Instruments made by the Kindergarten's that Sharon helps teach.

Music lesson display.

US Ambassador Visit

2010-03-05T11:35:00.007Z

This week has been a busy week as Togo holds it's elections. Tim has been kept busy putting many security measures in place so we are ready for any problems. Please pray for peace as the votes are counted and the result is announced in the coming days.

We also had a visit from the US Ambassador. She spent time touring the ship and was moved to tears when she saw God's love in action in the wards.

As with many that come to visit, the Starbucks coffee hit a spot and was a real treat. They were presented with Mercy Ships mugs so for the next time that they come they can "bring their own mug" like everybody else does.

Tim was also able to show his area on the bridge

We love it how Mercy Ships can connect with people of all walks of life, we pray God's love is evident in all that we do and say.

Nathanael Completes the Potty Training Program

2010-03-01T20:40:00.004Z

Today, Nathanael completed his star chart for his potty training. He's done really well and is dry. We started adding Bob the Builder stickers when he told us he needed the potty and was able to get to the potty on time!

WELL DONE NATHANAEL!

If An Anchor Could Speak

2010-02-26T11:26:00.006Z

Here is a copy of an article that was recently written by Mercy Ships which involves Tim in his younger days!

Click Here to read article

Screenings Begin

2010-02-25T10:49:00.002Z

Here are some of our medical crew who do such an amazing job. Over these coming months they will be joined by many others as we seek to bring hope and healing to the country of Togo.

Over these last weeks the first of many screenings have started to take place with many people attending with a hope of an appointment card. This year we are doing things a little different due to the coming elections in Togo. We have been asked not to have big gatherings so we are doing lots of smaller screenings to minimise crowding. Although if you heard that you could have a life-changing surgery, free of charge, it's not going to stop you queueing up for that hope, as we saw about a 1000 turn up for some.

This is Dr Gary (Our Chief Medical Officer) performing a ultra sound. This can tell what the tumour could contain, certain ones could cause the patient to bleed to death if the operation took place.

Many came with different afflictions

Here you can see the diagram drawing of the shape of her legs.

For many it is a day of rejoicing as they receive their appointment card for surgery. For others, we find it so hard to say we can't help and have to send them on there way. Each of those have crew members spend time with them, who pray for them, praying that the new hope of Jesus Christ will fill their lives.

Pray that God will bless all those that we come in contact with.

Let the surgeries begin!

Hospital Open Evening

2010-02-24T10:49:00.012Z

Things all seem to be happening all at once in Togo and it's difficult to keep up with the amount of work that is needed to get ready for patients. All this last week the medical staff have been cleaning the hospital from top to bottom, they are just amazing! Last Friday they had an open evening for the crew, so we can have an inside peek of what goes on. We enjoyed it so much last year that we went again. Nathanael got to throw the toothbrushes and floss in a tin can.

Tim got to play the stirrup game, which seemed to amuse a big crowd.

Kids got to operate on a monkey ?!

we met the pirates that pass gas

others tried to feed a dummy

and some even got to play at being a nurse.

It was a great evening and gives us a bigger appreciation for the medical staff have to do.

Pancake Day

2010-02-16T21:57:00.008Z

Happy Pancake Day / Shrove Tuesday to everyone. Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the ritual of shriving, when the faithful confessed their sins to the local priest and recieved forgiveness before the Lenten season began. It also marked the beginning of the 40-day Lenten fasting period when the faithful were forbidden by the church to consume meat, butter, eggs or milk. However, if a family had these foods in the cupboard they would all go bad by the time the fast ended on Easter Sunday. So what did they do.....with the addition of flour, they made pancakes! Today, the Shrove Tuesday pancake tradition lives on and in the UK it is simply known as Pancake Day.

So what do you do when you have a crowd of Brits on a ship in Africa......you got it, make pancakes. Around 50 Brits got together to enjoy the tradition of lemon juice and sugar on pancakes (crepes to some countries!). Plus we even sang the national anthem to make it really British!

Sharon helping to cook the pancakes - 4 Stoves on the go

Sharon's pancake station!

Brits getting together

Easter Breakfast

2010-02-15T07:00:00.005Z

Do you like food? Like to eat with friends, church , work etc? Why not consider holding an Easter breakfast for Mercy Ships.

Mercy ships UK is again running it's Easter Breakfast Fundraising Campaign. Click the link below for more details if you would like to get involved and sign up to receive a fundraising pack.

http://www.mercyships.org.uk/easter-breakfast-2010-0