Little more about Mercy Ships

Many have asked how Mercy Ships operates through the year and month to month, so we thought we'd try to explain it.

Currently, we are docked in Monrovia, Liberia and the ship has been here since February 2008. They have found that it is much more beneficial to stay in one place to accomplish more and make an impact in one area. This is Mercy Ships' second outreach in a row, they were here in 2007 as well. There is much to do in Liberia as they are still recovering from a 14 year civil war. An "outreach" lasts a year, from Feb to Dec and the next year they will be in Benin.

In February they arrive to their new place of outreach and have several screening days. During these days they see hundreds of people and then gave them appointment cards to come back throughout the year for their surgery. This ship does not treat long term conditions and diseases, they focus on surgical procedures, such as cleft palate, esophageal dilatation (needed for those kids who have drank a caustic solution), tumor removals, eye surgeries, many others and even a few brain surgeries for those with encephaloceles. Its amazing to see what the surgeons are able to do here! There is also a dental and eye team that go out several times a week and see hundreds of people.

The second week in December we will leave from here and sail to Tenerife, Canary Islands. For the month of Janruary they also spend time dry docked in Tenerife. This is the closest port that this is possible to take place in. They used to take a month to go back to Europe and dry dock, re-stock and raise funding from surrounding areas, but it became costly and was not beneficial even with the fundraising. Since the ship is usually dry docked and under repairs, much of the crew leaves. The long term crew members take vacation and go home for holiday and the medical people usually leave since they hospital is closed. Then in February everyone returns and new short term people come and they sail to Benin for their 2009 outreach.

We will be sailing with Mercy ships in December and Kristin will be given a new job on the ship since the hospital will be closed. We will arrive to Tenerife around Dec 19th and fly out from there to Madrid, Spain on December 23rd. We are excited to spend Christmas with our friend Astin in Madrid! We will then be headed home via Amsterdam, Holland and arrive home to Seattle December 30th.

Hope this answers some questions .. So we have yet to sail and we are glad that we get to be a part of the sail this year!

Sadly, since it is the end of the year several surgeries have had to be canceled due to lack of supplies. I had two patients admitted one afternoon, only to have the doctor tell them that they had to cancel their surgery because we were out of prosthetic eyes. They were understanding and we prayed with them and were sent home. Many patients have exstensive wounds and they are remaining on the ship for wounds dressing changes. Please pray for quick healing and recovery for these people. One baby I am thinking of had a candle fall onto his bedding and caught the mosquito net on fire, his face is completely burned. They just did a surgery to repare his eye lids, but this child will need multiple surgeries and we all hope and pray that he does not get any type of infection.

Thank you for your prayers and support. Many of you have been a part of us coming here and hope you feel you have grasped a part of what Mercy Ships has been able to do.

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!

Now with Mercy Ships

Friends and Family,
We made it to Liberia! We are now on the Mercy Ship in Monrovia, Liberia and slowly learning our way around the ship. We arrived Saturday and since then have been getting to know the ship and unpack. Jeremy is currently getting some orientation to the galley (food services) and Kristin has been observing some surgeries and is beginning orientation to the ward.
We were sad to leave Kenya, but are excited to be here as well. In Kenya we did so many fun things and made so many wonderful friends. our last week there. It was hard to say good bye to the other missionaries and Mission Cor volunteers. We really did get to see a lot in Kenya. We went to Masai Mara game reserve, many markets for souvenirs, a glass shop, a beads shop, a Masai weavers shop, a local orphanage, Kabira (the second largest slum in Africa), an elephant orphanage, a safari walk (it is like a zoo in the US) and even visited a giraffe center and got kisses from a giraffe. And we got pictures to prove it! If possible we will be posting more pictures on flicker. (the link is on our blog).
Traveling here was a bit too eventful for us.... first we had to pay for extra luggage and then check those bags we had intended on carrying on. In the hurry and busyness of it all, we forgot to realize that our visa documents for Liberia were in them... We didn't know what to do, we just kept praying that they would find our bag and that we would get the needed papers. Fortunately they were able to retrieve our bag prior to departure and we got the documents we needed. Then we only prayed our fragile things would not break because we had placed them in those same bags... But nothing was broken. We quickly got our visa and passed through customs without searching. Praise the Lord, we made it and all of our bags!
We are so excited to be here! Its an amazing community here!. We didn't realize it, but when we arrived it was the 30th Anniversary of Mercy Ships and there was a day of games, BBQ and service in the evening. It was great to learn more about the history of the Mercy Ships and then to join and be a part of it all.
The ship we are on has about 450 crew members, 30 countries represented, 6 surgical rooms and 7 decks. It used to be a cargo ferry (of some sort) and they completely had to build the inside of it because it just held those large crates you see on trains. (we thought it was a retired military ship.. we lied... i think that was another one of their ships..) It took them 8 years to renovate this ship and turn it into a hospital and its an amazing ship!
Slowly, we are meeting people here and feeling more comfortable here. For the first few days, every time we went to our room we would get lost. Its huge and is taking some time to learn where everything is. Our room is on the second deck, so its near the bottom and its about 10 by 12 feet (that may be generous).. but its enough for us and we get the real sailor experience with bunk beds. :)
We hope to get out a bit and experience a few different things. The ship has a book where you can sign up for different things like the Jesus Film, different church services on Sunday, orphanage visits, trips to the beach and such. So we'll see how full we can pack our schedule :)
Thank you for your prayers and support. We know that God has continued to cover us with his protection and shower us with his favor. Its unbelievable that we haven't lost any luggage along the way or been in some sort of car accident. We know some who have been robbed, in accidents, lost personal things and shoes stolen right from under them.

In Him,
Jeremy and Kristin

Our Mailing Address

The mailing address for us while on the Mercy Ship is

Jeremy and Kristin Chatelain
Africa Mercy Ship
PO Box 2020,
Lindale, TX 75771

From Texas they forward the mail onto the location of the ship.
When we recieve the mail we pay for the postage. Packages over an ounce are $5.50 per pound,... so be nice and just send us light things.... :)
Things will take several weeks to arrive, so feel free to send things for now until the MIDDLE of NOVEMBER. And if you're craving a postcard or collect them from places, let us know!

Our mailing address while we are on the Mercy Ship will be :

Jeremy and Kristin Chatelain
Mercy Ships
PO Box 2020, Lindale, TX 75771 -

From Texas they forward it onto the location of the ship.

We can receive letters and packages. HOWEVER, we will be charged for the packages and such upon arrival according to weight.

Approaching our last week at ANU

Hello family and friends,

Today's forecast near Rongai and ANC campus is hot, cloudy in the afternoon and possible showers. Kristin and Jessica walked down the road to a local weaver's shop and it got hot and dusty real fast. Jeremy and Jonathan are running a basketball tournament on campus for high schools in the area. Its a promotional thing for ANU with the marketing department. They guy that organized it, is not even here this weekend and so the guys have had to do a lot of work and it is turning out very well. We are learning to go with the flow and improvise... slowly learning. :)

We have had computer and internet troubles these last few weeks and feel like there is much to tell, yet not enough room in an email. We have visited several markets and always walk away with stories about our treasures! We have experienced the beginnings of the rainy season here. We have taken long walks on dirt roads and crossed suspension bridges that would make Indian Jones nervous. We have played with children at a local orphanage and are still trying to figure out how to pack several of them up with us...

Tuesday I was able to have the first session for the first aid class. It went well and 30 students came, which really surprised me! It was good and i think they enjoyed it. We will meet one more time next week on Tuesday again.
Jeremy taught biology lab today again. Around here you seem to get signed up to do things you didn't volunteer for.

Today is a holiday and there is no school so we are relaxing and helping with the tournament.
We have a busy week ahead of us--getting ready to move on, wrapping up things here, and saying some goodbyes. It has been nice to have a little apartment and be on a campus again. Yet I think we are ready to move on to the next thing. We have enjoyed it here, but there are also some things we are tired of, so its time to move on.
God knew what we would need, so good thing he planned this trip and not us..

Some have asked what we like here and what we don't like, so we compiled a list.
Likes: the FRUIT... pineapple, mango, oranges, sweet bananas (finger size)
Chapatti (comparable to a greasy tortilla), fish, juice, and 10:00 tea
Its warm here and when it rains it smells good
The flowers here are beautiful! Roses, tropical flowers of all colors, large green foliage and of course the African trees
Soda is cheaper than water, so we have enjoyed more soda than ever before. We are a fan of fanta and stoney (its a strong ginger ale)
We have also been learning to savor the little things in life. Ice cream is precious, ANU transportation is such a gift, ice cubes in your glass is a rare treasure here and electricity and hot water should never be taken for granted!

Dislikes: Maasi Lodge Rd (road to campus is dirt and rock--worse condition lodging road at home) yet students and staff travel it every day!
Ugali -- is made from cornmeal and is also known as tasteless cake, yet they love it.
Boiled mutton and goat-- not so tasty either, and they just chop up the meat, bones and all. By all i mean ALL.
There is no concept of time, commitment or your word here. People say something will a certain time and sadly we have learned not to believe them. For example, the new bball hoops were to be installed several months ago, yet they put them up the night before the bball tournament. "Hakuna Matata" it means no worries, and they really live by it and don't worry about things much of the time.

In all though, we have enjoyed it here. We don't always see what we are accomplishing here, but perhaps we will look back and see how we were able to leave an impression, as well as see how ANU and Kenya has made an impression on us. God has a purpose for all things. We are so grateful for the friendships we have made here with the other volunteers and with the missionaries--it has been a joy to experience it together. We will miss them!

We have appreciated your prayers so much and know that God has answered! We have had good health considering the circumstances, been kept safe through crazy traffic and have been encouraged by God and those around us. Kristin had a difficult time at first at the clinic with several people, but now they are sad to see her go. Jeremy had been put to multiple challenges here with new experiences--coaching and teaching--and he has done well. Not to mention he has built up his resume quite a bit in a very short period of time! Please pray for us as we travel this next week. We fly out of Nairobi, Kenya to Monrovia, Liberia (with a stop along the way) on Oct 18th to meet up with the Mercy Ship. And perhaps the next email you get from us will be from the Ship!

We have PICTURES!!

Hi Family and Friends!

We have some exciting news about some pictures. We were finally able to download 5 pictures to the website below!! I hope you enjoy them. We are trying almost every day to download pictures, but the internet is so slow it very rarly works. We are glad the we even got 5 pictures to download.
If you copy and past the website below into the internet browser, you should be able to see the pics. I hope this gives a little idea of what we are experiencing here.

Love Jeremy and Kristin


http://www.flickr.com/photos/30957746@N04/