A Birthday Onboard

Another year, another country, another crazy birthday celebration overseas.  It seems that most June 24ths roll around while we are on outreach somewhere.  I remember turning 21 on a King's Kids oureach in Juarez, Mexico, turning 23 on the airplane to Paraguay, South America, turning 25 at Stratford Upon Avon in England, and turning 30 in Budapest, Hungary.  While I'm sure I've had some other great birthdays (like when all my aunts and uncles pooled together to buy me Louisa Dara, my first and only Cabbage Patch Kid in 1984; or both times I was pregnant and Dan threw surprise parties),  this one was definitely full of reasons to make it memorable.

1. Greeted by a birthday blast upon opening our cabin door.  
2. An introduction to French party thrown by my HR co-workers that put up with my shinanagans on Tuesdays.  Since we'll be in Togo next, I need to get my game on and start learning French!  They have just made Rosetta Stone French available to us!!

 

3. The traditional ringing of the cow bell at lunch to announce my birthday and being sung to by all crew members on board.

4.  Cookies waiting on my "doorstep" from the Hospitality Department, along with our ANNUAL $2.00 stipend (something about being required by maritime law...).

5. Various gifts showing up at our door and in our cabin all day long.

6. A party thrown by our Gateway "family" to celebrate with lemon muffins and sour skittles, and singing Happy Birthday the British way (try singing it with your lips pealed back into a smile so it doesn't come out BIRRRRRthday and Yooooouuuuu, but Buuthday to yuhhhh).

7.  Ice Cream night on the ship!

8.  A 'Come as Bizarre as you are' dance party onboard to party the evening away.

Of course this means that Dan gets to pull out his mullet wig and Billy Bob teeth - yay.

Kylie as Pippi Longstocking

Savannah as Angelina Ballerina

9.  Closing the night out with getting to meet Madieu Williams, #20 of the Minnesota Vikings, and NFL Player of the Year, 2010! 



The other Minnesota girls, Greta and Anna, and I meeting with Madieu



Madieu was born in Sierra Leone and lived here until he was nine.  He still has cousins in the area, can speak fluent Krio, and knows the names of the neighborhoods all around town. He and a group of 47 doctors, physiotherapists, sports trainers and other medical crew are in Sierra Leone with the Healing Hands Foundation and Madieu Williams Foundation to work hand in hand with some doctors at the local hospitals, and to check up on his educational programs, including a school he has had built in honor of his mother (beautiful story here).  Despite their group showing up almost five hours late to this tour and dinner on the ship, he was an incredibly gracious and humble guy with a beautiful spirit about him.  It was so encouraging to see him using his talents and resources to make a difference back here as well as in the states.

10. Lastly, I received word this morning that in the evening of my birthday, my beloved Grandpa Red passed away at the age of 91.  I am grateful to know that he finished my birthday celebrating his reunion with Grandma Grace and meeting the Savior that he loved and taught us all to love so well. 

 So for all the good and the sad, it will definitely be a birthday to remember. 

The Epistle Reading Mishap

My day started rather normally. The alarm went off at 7:45. I got dressed, attempted to curl my hair, brushed my teeth, and headed to the dining room to get breakfast for us all and pack our lunches. (Weekends there are no hot lunches prepared, so we pack sacklunches to eat during the noon hour).

I re-read Ephesians 4:1-7 in preparation for the scripture reading I had been asked to do at Bishop Crowther Anglican Church, where I have been attending since the beginning of March.

I don't go to this church because it's "fun," or it's "exciting" or I'm so "fed" there.  It's very formal.  It's very uncomfortable.  It's very long.  It's a little hard for me to get through the rigidity of the doctrine and the liturgy to find the message of Jesus sometimes.  But primarily I go to connect with the children from Cheshire Home who call it their home church, since it's just up the road from them. But, I also like connecting with the local community here. It would be easy to stay in our little white "bubble" floating on the sea. I find it so important to be reminded of where we are and how the people of Freetown live. For this reason, I get up every Sunday and go to local church.

Normally I attend with our Dutchy friends, Gerrit and Herma, but they are at home for a college graduation of their son. So, I was on my own.

I had promised Fatu that I would swing by Cheshire Home before heading to church so I could help her shower and get her ready. I arrived safe and sound at the home- the girls were already busy getting dressed and most had made plans to come to church today.

We walked to church and arrived at the middle of the five minute period of church bell tolling that marks when the service is starting (or, in African Time, time to get up and start making your way to church).

I got Fatu settled at the back of the sanctuary and was sliding into the back pew when "rrrrrrkkkkkkkk." I feel a tug on my skirt, and then a give as the fabric rips like a sheet of tissue paper. A nail was sticking half an inch out from the wooden back of the pew in front of us. It grabbed my skirt at pocket level on the left side of my skirt. Lovely.

I sat down to do inventory on the damage.


As the other children and teens from Cheshire arrived asked if they had a pin - you never know, right?  Well, no such luck this week.  When they saw why I needed a pin, they all chuckled and wondered what I would do. 

Since I didn't really have time to hoof it back to the ship and change clothes, I decided I'd just have to tough it out. 

When #9 on the order of events for the morning's service (9 out of 28) arrived: New Testament Reading: Tiffany Bergman, I covered my thigh with my hand and awkwardly walked to the front to read. 

I noticed upon arrival this morning that the bulletin said the scripture I'd be reading was from Ephesians chapter one instead.  Instead of living in unity and focusing on a life worthy of the calling we've received, the focus was on the spiritual blessing we have in Christ. 

I rolled with the punches, and managed to read the passage without stumbling over the words.  I hesitated at the end- what do they say in an Anglican church at the end of the New Testament reading: This is the word of the Lord?  Here ends the reading of the Word? That was the New Testament lesson?  I couldn't remember.  I went with my gut, and the congregation responded with "thanks be to God."  Phew.  I must have been at least mostly right.

I grabbed a fistful of my skirt with my left hand, my bulletin in my right hand and made it back to the last row, where 13 of my favorite Sierra Leoneans were waiting for me, stifling giggles of their own, making fun of me with my fistful of skirt.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ was the opening verse of my lesson today.  But I don't think we have to wait to get to the heavenly realms before we reap some of these blessings.  Sharing an inside joke with these precious girls was definitely a blessing this morning.

An Important Visitor!

Below is our buddy Gus! I found this picture while looking through all the wonderful pictures that the communications department takes for us.  Last Friday we had a momentous day on the ship as the president and vice-president of Sierra Leone came aboard and received a tour of the hospital, met with some patients, and shared a speech of their gratitude of Mercy Ships being here, and their desire to see lives changed moving forward.

I bet Gus never knew what he was signing up for when he welcomed us into his life.  He surely wasn’t anticipating surgery to help him with a jaw that would refuse to grow.  He probably didn’t anticipate moving onto a giant ship or living on a window-less level with no fresh air while he recovered from this painful procedure.  And I’m fairly certain he never would have guessed that he would be greeted by the president of his nation! 

“Greater things are yet to come, greater things are still to be done, in this city.”

ps- the caucasian man in this photo is Dr. Gary Parker - the chief medical officer onboard and the maxillofacial surgeon who performed Gus’s surgery.

All Aboard! Special Visitors' Week

While last week seems like it was rather mundane, this week is quite a frenzy of activity.  There are several special visitors and events taking place this week!

ACSI - The Association of Christian Schools International has representatives here for the final step of the accreditation process for Mercy Ships Academy.  This has been a goal for several years, and a work in progress since 2007 to become accredited as an international school.  This serves many purposes:  1) for the students to receive recognition when applying to colleges and post-secondary options (especially those from non-American origins), 2) for the teachers to get credit for years of service they provide if and when they go back to working for a different district, and 3) to have greater accountability for our school and the academic level that it works hard to maintain.  There are three representatives from ACSI onboard this week, as well as the entire Mercy Ships' School Board.

Kylie is showcasing her writing on diphtheria.

the halls are loaded with amazing schoolwork and projects the kids have been working on

Here's some artwork in the school library being admired by parents on open house night

Savannah holds up her self-portrait, done while looking in a mirror

A Dutch Film Crew - There is a film crew from the Netherlands here that is collecting interviews and footage for a show that will highlight the work being done with Mercy Ships and serve as a great way to generate knowledge and interest in Europe.  This is not the first film crew that has been here in the past three months (I think it might be the fourth??), so it is not uncommon to see a crew member being followed with cameras, microphones and directors making suggestions all the while.

International Board of Mercy Ships - Many of the big wigs of Mercy Ships are headed here this weekend to make decisions and see for themselves how things are going in Sierra Leone with the Africa Mercy.  They will be flying in from several continents over the next few days and we have already been warned not to plan on barging into any conference rooms hoping to be able to set up a board game- since there will be numerous conference calls (with those members telecommuting) taking place. 

The President! No, Obama is not coming - though he would probably draw more fanfare here than he would in the US (I think the ratio of Obama clothing items to people in Sierra Leone is 2:1). 

The Honorable Ernest Bai Koroma, the president of Sierra Leone, is coming to the ship this weekend.  This is a BIG deal and we have special instructions on where we can be, what we can where, and when we can move from place to place!  It is all VERY exciting!

Tonight we had the chance to listen to the Executive Representative to Sierra Leone for the United Nations, Michael von der Schulenburg.  He met our Managing Director in February and was willing to come and speak to all of us about the recent history in Sierra Leone, what the UN's mission here is, and the tension between providing help and promoting independence.  His charismatic and humorous style kept us all attentive (even Savannah) while he talked about the long road to development that Sierra Leone has ahead of her.  (him??)

Please be in prayer as we prepare for this busy week:

• lots of travel details that could be affected by blowing ash over Iceland (again?? feels like de ja vu!)
• lots of opportunity for God to be glorified through actions, thoughts and words
• grace for those who are working around the clock to get all details put together

Dan the Rescue Diver

All this time that Dan has been collecting hobbies, I didn't think of it as missions prep.  Who knew that these skills would come in handy? But, now I'm very grateful for the hours that Dan invested into scuba diving.  And so is the rest of the crew of the Africa Mercy.

This is the view from the side of the ship, yesterday.  You see, we live in a port.  With the flow of boats and the runoff from the urban river in Freetown, comes the flow of trash. 

Also known as rubbish. 

 Waste. 

Garbage. 

Yuck. 

The ship has four generators onboard that are used to provide power to our ship.  Surgical equipment, lights, sterlizers, x-rays, lab tools, lights, washing machines, copy machines, computers, ovens, dishwashers, coffee pots, ceiling fans and air conditioning and more on this 499 foot long ship require a lot of power. 

The intake valves for these generators are underwater.  So, plastic and other trash blocking our intake valves has become an enormous problem.  If the generators go out, we are unable to operate. 

(Not just in the sense of the power is out and we don't remember how to live in a non-digital world.  But in the literal sense of no operations.  Period.  No operations means we are not able to do what we have committed to Sierra Leone to do: provide free surgeries for their people during this ten-month field service).

This is a big problem.

We have engineering and deck crew that work 24-7 jobs just like the hospital crew. Only, their jobs are to make sure that the hospital can stay up and running.  Manning the crises in the engine room is an around-the-clock job.  The generators and a/c issues have been huge over the past few months, and with the rainy season starting this past week, we have seen an enormous increase in trash run-off from the river.

When we arrived they were needing to send divers down three times a week to clean out the intake valves by pulling all the rubbish out of the vents so that clean water can move freely through it. 
However, they have had to increase the schedule to daily, or semi-daily. 

This is a tedious process.  Meet at deck eight dive locker, gear up, check equipment, create a plan with the other diver(s), and begin the journey down to the water some 50' below.

Sometimes they are lowered in the boats (especially if the current is strong).  The dive times are determined based on the tides of each day and they try to find a time when the currents are at their minimum.

Other times they walk down the gangway and jump right in.

The visibility is pretty atrocious.

Does this look like a task for the light-hearted?

Start to finish each dive is about a three-hour long task. 

Added to an already full work week, and this makes for some long hours, and lots of wet swim trunks.

 

It's not all bad -there is a fish (or something)

Ah, yes, sealife at it's best.

After they have cleaned the valves, they look pretty good- for the next few hours anyways.

Because this issue has become so huge, the engineering department is working hard with the deck department to create a better solution: bigger cages around the intake valves? Nets? A pulley system?  High powered cleaning with the fire hose?  No suggestion is ridiculous at this point. 

Earlier this week they put a new system in place to cover the valves.  That one was a combination of aluminum, mosquito nets, and magnets.  It was too close to the valves and trapped in lots of scum and dirt.  They have fashioned new cages for around the valves and just this afternoon they put one into place.  We are waiting to see if it is effective or not. 

While they work hard to make sure we don't lose the generators, the A/C issues are getting a bit neglected. Our cabin reads 86 degrees currently.  This is a tad bit warmer than my liking.  (However, the one perk is that Dan's not complaining about my cold hands and feet these days!)

So, we are praying for our divers.  They are getting dirty.  Smelly.  Covered in slime.  For the sake of the cause.  This is one dirty job for which we are grateful.

Olly on a previous dive

A Week of Royal Events! A Resurrection, Birthday, Jubilee Anniversary, and Wedding: Hoorah!

What a week of events we have had!

First, we celebrated Easter in a grand way.  In addition to the girls having a five day weekend from school, we had lots of fun and poignant times of reflecting on the price paid for us by Jesus. 

There was a room transformed into The Garden (of Gethsemane) complete with the 14 stations of the cross to prayerfully consider all that Christ did for us.  On Good Friday morning we had a service together reminding us of the pain and anguish that Jesus willingly took on for our behalf and we had the chance to nail to the cross our own message for the Lord. 

Saturday all the kids (young and old) gathered together for some hard boiled egg dying,

and Sunday brought Sunrise worship on deck eight (out in the open air), and a full church service together indoors complete with children's performances of singing, sign language, ballet, and worship. 

We shared communion together as one family, one body despite our many differences in denomination, age, background, positions, languages, and ethnicity. It was beautiful.  The galley and dining room crew treated us to a gorgeous Easter brunch, and the afternoon concluded with an Easter egg hunt for all children (again, young and old).  It was a privilege to be able to celebrate Easter in this environment.

Tuesday brought another fun time- another birthday for one of our Gateway friends!  Since we have grown to know this group of thirty so well, we have continued to eat together, chill together, and celebrate each other's special days.  Anna had her birthday this week and we had a high tea for her.  We had around 30 people in our living room, ate yummy homemade scones and banana pudding and mini apple pies, and had hot beverages.  Just Dance on the wii became our entertainment after we had thoroughly gorged ourselves on goodies.  It was an evening of many laughs!  So fun!

Savannah having a cuppa

Wednesday it was Sierra Leone's turn to celebrate!  The Golden Jubilee has arrived: 50 years of independence from the British.  This event has been well in the making since long before we arrived, and the town is decorated, cleaned and proud.  Every Saturday for the last month (and once a month before that) there have been mandatory National Cleanup Days where everyone is REQUIRED to get outside and clean up trash - including scooping muck out of the sewers.  All this is piled high in the streets - some of it gets scavanged away by residents, and the rest is removed by Army trucks. 

The rocks, trees, walls, and sidewalks have been spray painted white, royal blue and green in honor of the occasion- many strings of triangular colored flags hang from houses, shops, and other public and private buildings.

The famous "Cotton Tree," where freed & released slaves gathered and prayed to christen this new area "Freetown"

A large group of Mercy Shippers gathered in the dining hall on Wednesday to sing the National Anthem to all our Day Volunteers, who stood and sang along with the group.



National Anthem of Sierra Leone

  There was an invitation extended to the Queen of England to attend the celebration held at the National Stadium (which got quite wild and we were advised to stay away from), but she was previously occupied with big events at home.


the festivities at the National Stadium



Which brings us to Friday - the Royal Wedding!  How fun to be here, in the midst of lots of Brits and caught up in the Wedding of the Century.  Those on shift work or with flexibile schedules made themselves cozy in front of the tv screens in the lounge on Friday morning to watch it live on BBC.  Others of us (who had to work during the day) attended the "Street Party" Friday night where we watched the taped version (thank goodness for a VCR and a VHS tape!).  It was very fun to watch it with "insiders" and get wrapped up in the excitement of seeing the trees in Westminster Abbey and wonder what Beatrice was wearing on her head.

British cupcakes (slightly more buttery and less cake-like - yum!) for the wedding watchers

 

We were also impressed by the quality of the wedding - to have millions of people watching a ceremony that spoke honour (yes, intentional spelling) of Jesus and to glorify Him in all they said was very inspiring.

"Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire,"  quoted from 12th century St. Catherine of Siena, is the best thing I have heard all year.  It challenges me and sharpens me to really focus on what it is that God has prepared beforehand for me, and begs me to walk in this.    "A generous God who so loved the world that He gave himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ," the Bishop of London says, is before whom William and Kate chose to be married.  This is the same generous God that provided a way for us to be in Sierra Leone.  And the same generous God that gave himself so freely so that we might live. 

I am so proud to serve this generous God.