Life on the Africa Mercy Ship

31 October 2008

Today we have the day off and are enjoying a relaxing day. After working three days it’s been nice to sleep in a little and rest. We have the weekend off together and will now be able to get off the ship and see some of Liberia.
Tonight we will be joining a group of people from the ship going out to show the Jesus film. Then tomorrow we will be seeing some old gold mines… don’t know much details, but we signed up to join a group going. We’re just excited to get out with some people to see the country. It’s so different from Kenya but we are stilling learning all that is so different. Then on Sunday we will be attending a local church.
We had some encouraging news this week-- we received a note that said we have a new room! So we’re moving from deck 2 (below the water, where all the engines are, many alarms going off, community bathrooms and bunk rooms) to deck 4 (where we’ll be in the same hallway as other couples, no alarms, our own bathroom and window) so we are excited and packing up to move up a few decks this weekend. This really has been an answer to our prayers, so we thank God for showing his FAVOR again!
I (Kristin) have been enjoying working in the hospital as a ward nurse. It’s challenging at times due to lack of supplies or no supplies. For example, there are no washcloths right now or baby bottles. Or it can be challenging because of lack of supplies or different equipment than I am used to. There are no IV pumps, no feeding pumps, very different IV equipment, new techniques to learn and many dressing changes to be done. The hospital has no blood bank so the crew becomes the walking blood bank. I signed up to give blood if necessary, not expecting to be called and today they called, saying, that they may need to have ½ pint of blood for a baby and to be “on call”. So I am hanging out on the ship, drinking my water and waiting for them to call. We’ll see what happens.
Jeremy has adjusted quickly to his work. He starts out at 6am for breakfast, gets a few breaks between meals and then works until 8pm. It is nice to have breaks during the middle of the day, but it also makes for quite long days. During each meal the team takes the food prepared by the chefs and puts it out in lines for the crew to dish up their own food. Each meal lasts 1.5 hours in which we clean the entire dining room after the meals close. It is fun to see a lot of people and talk with some, but the cleaning can be hard to do.
On Tuesday Jeremy got to go with an agricultural team out in the bush and see some villages. It was a great experience for him since he is already interested in agriculture. The people who live in these villages don’t have much. Most children either didn’t wear clothes or just underwear. Their homes were mud huts and their food supply is from what ever they can find in the jungle. The purpose of the agricultural team was to start a program to teach the locals to grow their own crops and support their own people. They began by clearing some land. Trees would have to be cut down, bushes removed, and the soil cultivated--this process alone would take months. They would then plant their crops such as cabbage, pineapple, eggplant, and peppers. This program is also beneficial for surrounding villages. People from every village come to work the land. They work together to produce food and they all get to share the profit. Before Mercy Ships had come, each village used to be an enemy to another. The war had made the people fearful of each other. It was amazing to see how the agricultural team had gained the trust of the people and then brought an entire region together to work as one for a good cause. It was encouraging to see that something could be accomplished here in Africa—everything takes so much effort!
We feel like we should have all these spiritual or at least reflective things to say in our emails, but we don’t seem to have any. It’s been hard to process all that we have seen and done and pick out what we have learned and gained from our experiences. Something that is amazing about this place is that there are people from all nations—Australia, Holland, Canada, Spain, Norway, Kenya, Liberia, South Africa, Great Britain, United States, Germany and more. And they are all here for one purpose—to serve the people and bring the healing of Jesus Christ. Even with all the language barriers, cultural differences, differences in healthcare practice, it seems to work! God seems to crash any human barriers and only HE could create a place and a people to make this place work!
The Mercy ship ends its outreach here in Liberia in December, so there are only about 4 more weeks of surgeries. Please pray with us for the following as the Africa Mercy outreach in Liberia comes to a close:
· Quick recovery and healing of patients (there are many extensive burns and wounds that will only heal in the next few weeks with by a miracle)
· Endurance and strength for those crew members who have been here all year and are tired and that we could be an encouragement to them.
· For health—many crew are sick since they are tired and the hospital is short staffed at times.
· For the country of Liberia—the UN is present and the country is still recovering from a 14 year civil war, thus it is still very unstable.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. We honestly believe we would not be here if it weren’t for our friends and family. We love you and can’t wait to see you again!