Work Projects

Cleaning, stripping, and waxing floors, what a job! All 3 wards, corridors and then some ! But wow, did they look amazing after the fact :)

One of the wards ready for setup on the shiny floors!

Compiling charts

Ward set up - Liz & Christina

Claire making beds - can you tell we're a bit excited?

Setting up/organizing

All ready for patients!

For the admissions tent outside the ship we needed it to be lifted off the ground for rainy season. We painted many plywood sheets which were placed on pellets where the tents were set up on.


And more cleaning...

Nurses group pic

Hello Togo!!

Arrived in Togo today! Hello to continuous sweating by all...sweat rags, sweat running down your legs/back, wet clothing, and BO. The one comfort is that everyone is in the same situation. Thankfully we have airconditioning on the ship...most of the time :)

We were welcomed African style with a crowd including locals, a band, dancers, and government health officials. What an honor!

Pilot boat coming to meet us.

Pilot stepping on to our ship to guide our ship into port.

Pilot boat leaving, tugboat coming out to meet.

Locals waiting for the ship to arrive, we could hear the band playing from a distance.

Local group of dancers/drummers

A Togolese staff member of the ship carrying the flag down the gangway.Welcome speeches.

Captured a bit of the ceremony, unfortunately the dancers were breaking at the moment.

Togo Tidbits

Population: 6, 031, 808 (CIA website)
Official languages: French & approx 25 different tribal languages.
Economy: cocoa, coffee, cotton, yams, cassava (tapioca), corn, beans, rice, millet, sorghum; livestock; fish.
Industry: phosphate mining, agricultural processing, cement, handicrafts, textiles, beverages
United Nations HDI (Human Development Index): listed as #152 out of 189 countries (2009). Canada is #4

Mercy Ships project plans:

- Hospital - 2400-2600 surgeries (eye - cataract, maxilo-facial, orthopedics, vesico-vaginal fistulas, general), training surgeons from Togo for these specialties in the OR,

- dental clinic onland, dental assistant training,

- 6 construction projects, well drilling, agriculture teams teaching

- mercy ministries (visiting orphanages, prisons, etc), pastors training/conferences, palliative team, mental health team,

- microeconomics projects (outcasts because of health conditions now healed, returning to their community)

- partnering with local organizations - mission organizations, health care, etc, to come alongside in assistance/encouragement/partnership to their work and to provide followup after the ship leaves.

Still sailing...

Today was such a beautiful calm day on the ocean - I'm loving sailing! Although I think the pictures are beautiful, it's so much more amazing seeing it in person! We got to see whales, dolphins, and flying fish - God's creation is beautiful!

We've been practicing fire/evacuation and 'man overboard' drills on the ship. These begin with a horn alarm followed by an overhead announcement "Attention all crew, this is the captain speaking. This is a drill, this is a drill, this is a drill. Please assemble at your muster stations you've been assigned to."

Muster Station 'D' - Tatiana, Hannah, & Becca

The Bridge

A few figures for the technical people. We're traveling at about 12 knots/hr (x1.8 to get miles), about 25 miles from West Africa coast, sea depth - 2700 meters, cost of fuel ~ $250,000 for a sail of 10 days (all $ from donations).

Bow of the ship. During rough seas the waves covered the whole bow.

Sarah & I at the front of the bow

Sailing the Atlantic

The first few days of the sail have been interesting to say the least! Because this ship was previously a ferry ship, it's apparently not one of the smoothest sailing ships. This means alot, yes alot, of rocking with dishes sliding across the table, curtains swaying, chairs being tipped over, and people randomly walking into walls. Oh, and I forgot to include the vomitting (thankfully I've been spared from that), and anything that wasn't secured for sailing, was slidding, falling, or being knocked over. Today has been much smoother sailing, literally, and we got to see whales and quite a few dolphins (although I haven't captured pictures yet, not close enough). It's beautiful!!

Last view of land

Some of the nurses hanging out on the deck at the beginning of the sail.

Waves/swells becoming larger.

Because the waters were more calm today it was the first day were able to be out on the bow. Yesturday the waves were hitting the front windows by the bow (dinning area).

Beautiful sunsets!

This week we are being orientated to the hospital/surgeries/ward policies, charting, etc. If anyone is interested in the exact work I will be doing, check out the website link the ship is using for my orientation...posted on the right.

Evenings are usually free, so tonight was workout night...bring on the abs/core workout videos! Here we are pumped to start!

During our workoutAnd after...

But...we'll be back, tomorrow :)

Setting Sail

We left Tenerife Jan 31st afternoon. All passengers needed to be on ship at 0700hrs so I quickly went for a run before 7am (yes, with the help of some motivation I did drag myself out of bed on a Sat morning at 6:15). We won't be on land for about 10-12 days so this was our last chance to get off the ship.

Gangway being loaded onto the ship

This gentleman played his trumpet for us as we were leaving port...beautiful!

Goodbye Tenerife!