Agriculture Program

I am not the ‘go with the crowd’ charitable person. Not that I am a particularly defiant person but I don’t tend to like to do what I ‘should’ do, so I tend to go kicking and screaming to any of the off ship programs. Of course, I have various good reasons. Making relationships in one day with someone (especially children from orphanages) then only coming sporadically because my schedule doesn’t allow any different, seems almost cruel, and not worth it. Unless I can see a good reason for being somewhere, or feel I make a difference, I don’t see the point. The question comes up if I would do even more evil by going. For example, orphans need constant love, so going to an orphanage, and one of the children get attached (thankfully the orphans seem to have learned and psychologically extract themselves from large groups when they come) then never coming back or only coming back sometimes, only to leave for good in a few months seems cruel. Anyways those are my reasons for not going to our off ships charities often.

The credit for this photo goes to someone other than me.



One of my friends goes to the Agriculture sight almost every week. The Agriculture program is run by Congolese man by the name of Jean-Claude who does an excellent job of teaching about twelve people for three months how to farm and how to teach others to farm. Anyways, my friend wanted me to go with me, and I needed to get off the ship so yesterday I went. At least, I thought, it would be more about the labor than friendship building. Well I was wrong, but it was quite a good experience.
By now the twelve or thirteen people there have been there for two months so they have gotten it down pretty well. They were teaching us (not an incredibly hard thing in my case since I am a city girl I have to admit). Very patiently, a young Sierra-Leonean man and his wife (who had a cute little baby on her back by the name of Anna) showed Penny and I how to plant the seed. They even told us why we did it in that specific way.
Later, after a long lunch break Penny and I went to the other side where a group of men and a woman were fixing plant huts for the saplings (or whatever you call it). They taught us (sometimes patiently and sometimes not so much) how to make very natural rope out of banana palm leaves and tree bark. I am proud to say, I can now do both.
They were very friendly. I felt like I got to know them, which I need to do in another culture. How else can I understand a culture otherwise? Thankfully, they treated me like the friend of Penny and so kept me from feeling as if I have to go back every week, as I don’t think I’d be any use there.
I learned that we have so much to learn from the Africans. They are naturalists by nature. Everything they did at that sight they did without using chemicals and did it with an ease of people who felt that it was how it should be. They understood the need for it better than my American compatriots could. It might be partially because it saves money in Africa, it would not save money in America. Still… I learned. I love learning.
I was probably mostly in the way, I didn’t know what I was doing, and I was a complete foreigner and a complete idiot at times, but I’m glad I went. I like it when for once an African is lording knowledge over me instead of a westerner teaching an African.

Prayer

I don't think Satan likes Mercy Ships by much. I'm not saying every bad thing that goes on is a spiritual attack, but when throughout a field service, bad things seem to happen, one wonders.
Barring a war or something similar, the Africa Mercy is not going to leave Sierra Leone until we have completed our alloted time here. I think Satan knows that, but Christians are a lot less useful when they are discouraged, and that is probably his motive. He knows he's losing in the end, so he's going to throw as much ugly at us as he is allowed.

What I am trying to say is we need those prayer warriors back home to step up to the plate for us. I'm not going to get into details, except to say none of the problems have to do with the ship's safety. I'll also say, that emotionally I find myself wilted a lot easier. I find my self esteem attacked almost to the same extreme as my high school days at times. I also find I have never been so irritable in my life, and that is saying a lot becuase I have a sister and two cousins that I can be completely myself with.
Anyways, please, please pray for us.
sincerely,
Heather

Ah a few nice weekends

Ever since the day I went to Becca's and found that my being on board too long affected my ability to keep from snapping at people, I have made an actual effort to leave the ship.
We went hiking. Well sort of. A few weekends ago, about five of us decided we were going to hike Sugarloaf mountain (not sure why a perfectly normal mountain is called Sugarloaf). Well it would seem that this mountain isn't all that normal. At the beginning of our trip we hopped into a taxi, and told him where we wanted to go. We then spent the next two hours looking for this sweet mountain. Hah! We ended up at a waterfall sight where the hike to it was very small, much to the relief of my legs. Becca is slightly notorious in my mind for lugging me on interesting excursions. This was nice because the waterfall was cool, and I knew all of the girls (it was just woman which added to the charm) fairly well. I ate my sandwich, had water, and talked to Becca. It was lovely. So, am I sorry it took us so long to get there? Not a bit. On another note, we also went to the craftmarket where after getting attacked by a bunch of sellers (not literally it just seems that way when people are being so persistant all around you), I found a really pretty African dress. Yes, I finally bought myself an African dress. Sidenote: another team of hikers the very next weekend found Sugarloaf.
This weekend, we went on a less exciting excursion to a beautiful, seldom used beach. We swam, got sunburned, and generally relaxed.
Yes, I am surrounded by abject poverty, demon worship, old vestiges of war, and yet God has enough love to notice little me and my seemingly little problem: Heather needs off the ship.
love you all,
Heather

Blessings of God.

It's funny how, as humans, we tend to pile up on things. If things are going bad, we see all the bad and never the good so the bad seems to pile. In the same way, when things are going well, we don't see the bad quite as much. I like the last bit best.
I was having a bad time. One of the reasons was simply that I had not been able to get off the ship in about a month, so cabin fever had set in and I was grouchy which makes me even more grouchy because I don't like being grouchy and people don't like grouchy me. You can see the cycle right there.
Thankfully I have a great friend, Becca, who let me stay at her house (team house), over the night so I could take a much needed vacation. The ship also had a dance party on Saturday night which was a load of fun, though I'll be the first to admit that I make ordinary white people look like good dancers. The next day was church where the sermon was good and wasn't on the ship (I like Africa Mercy services, but sometimes one needs to have a break from that crowd), and then we had a pool party of five people. I showed off how unsportsy I am, but again who cares; I was with friends and I was having fun.
God and I later went to the eighth deck (usually reserved for couples, but there were none last night) and had a good chat. He didn't tell me anything, but he did give me a sense of peace over a few things and I felt his presence.
See the rains don't always last (I like real rain but that isn't the point).
God bless,
Heather

Lightning

Yesterday I woke up in a bad mood. Just a depression resting on my soul. Thankfully God is good. I was able to be around several friends, and there was a lightning storm. I use this storm in this blog, because I give a good bet you have never seen a storm like this in your life and I may not even know you! Lightning was everywhere and continuous. Every minute there was a streak of lighting brightening up the sky, but even between those there were flashes surrounding us the whole time. I stood on the eigth deck, the rain having stopped at that point and watched the wonder of God before me for an hour. It was amazing.
God's like that. Just when your getting down, he does something amazing to remind you that he is there. He never leaves and he's all powerful.
God bless you all,
Heather

The picture was taken by Lourens Lessing

Routine

It is funny how though one is on a grand adventure they can still be in the routine of things. People are embarked, others disembarked. Emails go in and out, and we receptionist do our shifts.
Actually, I'm not complaining, just pointing out irony. Life is ironic that way. One can go across the globe and find that they are in a routine. Even bushmen have routines I'm guessing.
Its also a good thing because that means things are working smoothly. We have patients, our screenings are going well, people are still volunteering, and life goes on.
There are a few non routine things to mention. Somewhere close to the dock is a river where people tend to throw their trash. That trash comes to us and blocks our in-tack valves. Though not dangerous, as far as I know, it is annoying because it means divers have to go down every day to unblock them. Apparently its only going to get worse. Without the intake valves, the engines aren't cooled and air-conditioning is limited. Its not bad at the moment. I still have air-conditioning in my room, but sometimes the main parts of the ship is turned off. The most important thing is keeping the hospitals cool. There are a lot of expensive equipment down their that need to stay below a certain temperature to work properly.
So, anyone out there who has a license in diving, come on board!
God bless all,
Heather

Easter break

Happy Easter,
It truly has been a good holiday. No, I was unable to be with my family, but friends are able to become family in times like these.
To the credit of my boss, I had three days off for the Easter weekend. Friday was spent doing things with my friends. Becca wanted to cook for her boyfriend, so she, another girl, and I went to the food market where an assortment of fruits, vegetables, meats, fish (yes that is a type of meat too!), and herbs, lay on the ground (that is the road), on little rickety structures, and in bowls. When one goes to the market around here, there are a few tricks one has to learn:
1st: Don’t get claustrophobic – the crowd likes to surge around you and muffle you.
2nd: Watch out for cars – it’s still a street and when a mini-bus comes through everybody squeezes into the sides of the street including vendors with large bowls of whatever food they are selling in the middle of said street. No, my toes were not squished and yes, I am fine.
3rd: Bartering! Never, ever, buy something in an African market at the price set. The vendor knocks the price up real high so one can barter. When selling things like cloth or little wooden paraphernalia, vendors tend to say things like. “My friend. My friend. I give you special price. Just for you.” In the food market, this did not happen. I don’t think they knew what to do with a bunch of white girls buying African items.
So, that was the first half of my Friday. The second, I went out with Alice, a friend of mine from Sierra Leone who took several of us out to a place called the China house. It is not Chinese at all so I shrug my shoulders at the name. Its basically a bar ( I had three very non-alcoholic cokes, so bar or no, don’t get angry at me), a dance floor, and a band stand. The live music didn’t start until after we left, and their was no dancing until then, but it was still nice to sit down with my cokes and chat with friends. We had street goat-meat (it came and talked to me later but not too badly so I won’t complain), wrapped up in newspaper, which tasted really good. After, we wandered the streets and looked into the shops, including a shop with copyrighted movies and music (most copywriting seems to happen in the third world, being cheeper and all), and other interesting items like headphones and phone cards.
That was Friday.
Saturday I did nothing, so we shall skip that day to Sunday, Easter.
Easter was not a crazy busy day, but relaxing, and good to just be. There was a sunrise service (I didn’t go so don’t ask), and then the Easter service where I was in the choir. We only sang two songs (there were lots of other songs sung, but not by the choir), but it was good being a part of it. There was interpretive dance, a sermon, worship, and sign dancing. Really, it was very good. Of course my favorite part about Easter on board came next (I’m not very righteous when it comes to matters of the stomach).
We had an Easter brunch. The galley did a very good job preparing breads, quiche, fruits, and chicken salad. Yum.
I took a nap after.
When I got up and went into midships, a pleasant surprise awaited me. A small group had formed an impromptu (I think it was impromptu) band. There was jimbes, guitars, vocals, and piano, all while the café was up and running. It was wonderful. I sat in midships for three or four hours rotating between reading, chatting, and listening. Yay. It was a good day.

Anyways thank you all for your prayers and support. Love you
Heather