Cape Town

There are some days where I feel extremely blessed. After a three day journey, the Africa Mercy docked in Cape Town for twenty-four hours. Cape Town is a beautiful city, being enfolded by large, oddly shaped mountains, and the crystal sea, but that is not why I felt so blessed. A good friend of mine is from Cape Town, and is at the moment going to school there. She picked me up from the ship, and we went to her house where her family was having a get together. The family immediately incorporated me into the group, and made me feel at home. Even though my friend had to go to band practice at church, they chatted with me, and hung out, though I was a completely new entity in their environment. I went to church with them, talked with them, and later after church, had junk food with them. Its strange how nice junk food can taste after being on a ship where the meals are made from scratch most of the time. I went to bed at their house, comfortable and welcome.
The next day, I was dropped off at the ship at around nine am, and I got to do more the touristy thing. We road a bus where we put on earplugs to hear the automated tour guide, and heard about the history of the city. Cape Town, for being so young, has a lot of history. A lot of it is racial problems, but it does seem that they are repenting from that scar. It is a beautiful city and faintly reminds one of California. The rest of the day, we went up the mountain in a cable car (I'm not a hiker), ate schwarma, and went to a bookstore. So, maybe I didn't get to wander the streets, but still it was memorable. Its always the little blessings that seem to stay the longest.

Pool and Other Important Matters

Guess what! We now have a pool. Yes that's right, they filled it up with clorinated water and I have swam in it three times! So my griping about it is over.
In other news, we are hoping, praying, and crossing our fingers, that we will leave tomorrow, and get to Cape Town in a few days time. That is even more exciting than the pool as I have friends down there who I hope to see again.
The plan is to only be in Cape Town for one day then to set sail for Sierra Leonne. The next part of our sea voyage will be the interesting part, as I'm sure you can imagine. We are to cross through the cape of storms. That's what the sailers named it. Hah! Well last time God protected us, and I trust he will do so again. Still, pray for us and our journey. Still, I'm excited. The crew happen to be very good at keeping themselves entertained during a voyage. There are numerous games, movies, and other various entertainment to keep oneself busy, not to mention the marine life that occasionally pops up to say hi as we sail the Atlantic.
Yep, I'm excited.

The Sound of Children

Once again, there is the sound of children's laughter. I didn't really know I missed it until I heard it again. Two things are back on the ship: the crew who went to Appelsbosch and air conditioning. The air conditioning I had realized I'd missed. It's hard not to when one wakes up to the puddle of one's own sweat in the morning. The thing about ships is that they are metal, and being so they tend to radiate heat. I tended to go outside just to cool off. But now we have both the crew and the air conditioning and I don't really know which I'm more happy about.
It's nice having my little friends come up to me just to say hi, or be pounced by one of the teenagers on board. The ship has about fifty kids on board, ranging from six months to eighteen. During shipyard faze we did have little Lily, who was too young to trip over wiring, or go where she'd get hurt, so stayed and became our mascot. Still, there were no other children. Yep I'm glad they are back.
Actually things are beginning to regulate once more. The academy is back on board, the ship shop is starting, if not now, than soon, the reception is at full steam ahead, and the hospital is slowly becoming spotless once again. I just ran into a few people hard at work getting black marks off the hospital floor. Home is becoming normal again.
I like that.

Reception again!

As I sit here, on the first night shift reception has had in months, I had the epiphany that I it has been a while. Do to setbacks in the engine room, we are still in Durban, and most of the crew is still in Appelsbosch, a place about an hour and a half from here. At the moment it is beautiful, with just enough of a breeze to make me slightly sleepy and the lights from the harbor glancing oddly off the water. There is something very beautiful about a harbor at night time.
We have become a bit of a tourist attraction, we and our boxy hospital ship. During the day and certain times in the evening, tour boats chug slowly through the harbor as they tell their human cargo about the different sights around the port. We happen to be one of them. It is fun to wave and see how many participate and wave back. I am sure I am on a few cameras by now. How is that about getting famous?
At the beginning of the field service, before I went home to see my family for two months (Jessica was beautiful in her wedding gown), I left reception to work as a steward. What did this envolve? Well, every morning we had a meeting in the psudo auditorium on sixth deck, the international lounge as we call it, at seven thirty. After a half hour of singing much rowdier tunes than we like in the morning and getting the daily update, I go down to the fifth deck for yet another meeting, and the day starts. For a few hours we cleaned the ship. At normal times at field service there is usually about four or five people (not sure here) who clean the ship top to bottom for eight hours every day. As there was only four of us working for a couple hours on a good day, we only got the most necessary places cleaned. There was an amazing amount of dust build up after such things as sand blasting (using sand to get rid of paint) and needle gunning (using an interesting appliance to get rid of paint or rust or something). Still we had to get onto the next thing, which was dining room. That job pertained to setting up, mopping the floor, cleaning surfaces, and dishes for a hundred crew. It’s larger than you would think. I’ve known two people who have done dining room their whole time in field service and I respect them greatly. Sufficient to say I think I lost weight by all this extra exercise.
Thankfully, I am back in reception. Reception is a lot of work, but it tends to be all at once with quiet moments in between. I have moments of being overworked with the huge desire to go to the bathroom, when I can’t leave the reception desk, to moments of extreme relaxation writing. I like it that way. At the moment I’m on night shift talking to you. We are hoping to be setting sail too. Next stop… Sierra Leone!

Hard Work!

Because of my kicking and screaming tendencies in writing a blog, I did create a blog which was about the Africa Mercy but with a sci-fi twist. I was thinking, maybe that would cut it and I'd get my need to use my imagination more at the same time. Then I realized, some people would rather the real thing with the real updates, so I suppose here I go. :)
We are currently docked in Durban, South Africa. Because of the need for generators - having to do with too much noise being created by the old ones to operate in the operating room - we are in dry dock. This means the ship is currently sitting on blocks of wood and men are moving under it, beside it, and over it, twenty-four hours a day. We now have a huge hole in the side of our ship.

As for me, well there are about ninety people on board of which eighty percent are men. This is new considering its usually the exact opposite with a crew of four-hundred people. The ship, these days is very quiet in the sense of there is no engine sounds to create white noise and less people talking. Then again, it is very loud with the noise of machines everywhere. The other day I had to wear ear plugs in the dining room because they were ripping the stairs apart leading to the galley. Huh.
It is funny how God can and will answer our prayers. I was complaining, as you know from the previous blog, that I was not useful enough. Yah never say that to God. First, God has a sense of humor. It's a wonderful great thing that makes me happy, except when He uses it against me! I am now working as a housekeeper/hospitality/dining room attendant. Every other week I work for seven days straight! This is actually not as terrible as it sounds, because while God gave me a job where I work a lot, he also gave me the strength to deal with it. Plus! I'm getting muscles. Seriously, I can lift heavier things now. He also gave me several friends to fellowship and relax with after hours. Lourens Lessing has been a great friend, and gets me off the ship more than I would otherwise. Annie I can talk to and watch movies with, and Gabriella is great for a laugh and chatting with. How good God is in providing exactly what we need. Its also nice being around so many conveniences like supermarkets again.
anyways, God bless
Heather

On board the ship

When coming to Mercy Ships, I had a lot of ideas. I believed that somehow I would be involved in the patient’s lives. That my adventures would be glorious…
…or something of that sort.
This was not what God had in mind.
So many times our perceptions of what God wants are mangled with our own truths. Truths, which are really lies. The lie that I would do wonderful things is more harmful than I imagined, thankfully not to anyone but to myself. In its own methodical way, it distorted the truth and caused me to think I am not useful.
…I am useless.
God did not create useless beings.
From what I can see, there are two reasons why God brought me to Africa, and neither really have anything to do with the Africans. In truth, it is the first time I have lived in the country and not fallen head over heals for the country. Instead, I have fallen for the African Mercy.
My first reason for being on board, as far as I can see, is for the sake of the people on board. God has shown me his love for the beauty in the hearts inside of the human beings inside this home of ours. Sometimes I see a woman walking down the hall, and the thought comes to my mind, “do they know just how beautiful they are?” Multiple reasons could show their beauty. Some people have an amazing gentle spirit that lights up everything they do, like my friend Lydia who dances in church. The first time I saw her dancing I wondered exactly that: Does she know how beautiful she is. Lydia you are beautiful beyond measure. Other people have a brilliance wherever they go and bring the sun with them. They almost literally light up people’s lives. Becca, my roommate and a pediatric ward nurse, seems almost constantly chirpy and is impossible to stay unhappy around for long periods of time. Becca…wow. Others, see God in everything. It’s almost as if they are dancing in their spirit. What a child like faith and love can do to the whole countenance. Leah, is one of those, she shares her voice, love for God, and joy in the midst of trouble. Leah, my breath is taken away by who you are. There are so many others. I have never met a woman I could not call beautiful, either inwardly or outwardly. Don’t hide it, face it, and show it. I hope these thoughts don’t seem weird or slightly gay to the casual audience. Know that my love for the people on board this ship is genuine.
There is a camaraderie here, found rarely even in families. We see each other every day, yet there is very few cat fights or all out rows. People call even the highest up by their first name. When trouble comes down on someone, there is always a hand waiting to be laid on them, in prayer. Yes, there are faults with this ship, and the people inside, but God has given me a love for it and them.
My second reason for being brought here is most likely the changes being done for me. The shy, quiet, inwardly thoughtful girl, with no self esteem is gone forever. I once had a prophecy given me in YWAM about unfurling my outer layers (the metaphor of a banana was used) to reveal my true self. What joy I have in proclaiming, it is true! God is good. What a powerful God we serve.
Finally, and I know I said only two, God is slowly showing me my purpose. I have always been drawn to a good story. I love movies, books, TV shows, anything with a good plot and characters. In addition, I have loved to tell the stories in my head through writing. I believe God wants to use that. With so much time and space on the ship, I have ample opportunity to write, plus many case studies with the variety of people who come to work on board.
God is amazing
I apologize for not writing sooner, but the thought of having nothing to report froze me, until God gently reminded me, I have a reason for being here.
With much love
Heather

A Busy Time

Finally, I have many things to write about.
The ship is booming with life at the moment. The screening process is still taking place but we also have patients coming in for surgeries. Something marvellous for me is the aft gangway, where the patients normally come on board, is not able to open so all the patients come past reception and me. It is absolutely amazing having people coming on ship with their various problems, such as cataracts, non malignant but still fatal tumours, bow legs, and so on coming through. Then the same people leave bearing eye patches, bandages on changed faces, and casts on legs.
God is certainly keeping us busy for there are a few off ship programs. Pray for my friend Becca who is working her silly, but happy, on so many things. God has placed Burquets, a type of cancer only found in impoverished countries, on the heart of her and Suzanne. She is also teaching, doing internet classes, and her regular job as a nurse. There are some days, though I sleep in the same cubby room as her, where I barely even see her.
I did have the chance, and took it, to go with Becca to visit the Burquet kids in the hospital. They are not on the ship but staying at a local hospital. A hospital in Togo is very different than a hospital back home (USA). Back home people tend to only share a room with one other patient, the patient is provided with food and bed clothes, and the whole place is sterile – to the point there is a hospital smell. The room we entered had four beds with about eight people (the patients’ mothers were staying with them as they were all children) inside. It was a concrete room and the door led directly to the outside, which is good as there was not air-conditioning. Apparently, it became so hot that one of the men in the room, an uncle, bought fans not realising he would need money for food.
It really wasn’t the condition of the room itself which made it a hard visit but the condition of the four patients. There was one who had stomach cancer (not a burquets kid) and was incredibly skinny as if he had gone through the last stages of anorexia. It was much to Becca’s credit that she got him to smile, because he was definitely suffering. Another child, a burquets kid, had a tumour growing behind his eye causing the eye to be on the verge of popping out. What makes this disease sad is it is completely treatable but people don’t have the knowledge or the money to do so, so kids die here in Africa for practically nothing.
As you can probably guess, Satan is not very happy with us at the moment. There have been quite a few attacks on moral, body, and spirit. Multiple times I have heard crew mentioning a weight or a lacklustre when they wake in the morning. Satan has also pounded people’s brain with problems or set up various blocks to what we are doing. God is good and triumphant so nothing has caused Satan to have the victory but we would sincerely love your prayers over here.
As for me, Megan is here, and she has the knack of keeping me busy. We have been to the pool, the busy market place, up a mountain (Coloradans would call it a hill), hung out with friends, slept in a house off ship, and so forth. More than the obvious that I have my sister here who I haven’t seen in almost a year, there has been much good coming from this. As said above, I’ve been out and about more. The other is how good the people are here. Many people, including my very busy friend Becca, have helped me with arrangements for this. They have shown me so much love.
For now, since I can’t think of anything else, that is it.
Thanks for reading my blog
Heather