Guinea Says Goodbye

The government of Guinea held a farewell event for us, to say "Thank you" for all of the work that Mercy Ships has done here in Guinea. Most of the crew attended and it was so wonderful to see the pride on the faces of the performers that they were the ones chosen to perform for us.

Goodbye Guinea, we love you too!

One Giant Tetris Game

One Giant Tetris Game....

That is what we called packing and securing the entire contents of all five hospital wards into one room. Due to the plan to redo all of the floors on the port side of the hospital in Gran Canaria, all of the wards had to be completely emptied. Slowly as each ward was emptied, every bed, mattress, chair, cart of supplies, file cabinet, and exam table was fitted into place all the way to the doorway and strapped down so tightly that they couldn't move even if they tried. Game Won! High Score! This hospital is ready to sail.

How Do You Say Goodbye?

How do you say goodbye? I have been pondering this as we prepare to leave Guinea. B and C Ward have been emptied, and we have spent this week cleaning, packing, and securing everything from those wards for the sail. Today A Ward will discharge its last patients and we will begin to clean it. The packing and cleaning has solidified in my mind the realization that we really are leaving. Our service here in Guinea is almost complete. I have been so blessed and have witnessed so many patients experience amazing transformations. So many of my patients will be forever in my memories. The young boy whose hand was released from burn contractures and proudly showed me that he could now hold a pen and write his name. The young deaf woman with the goiter, who could not speak, but who was so excited to see me when she returned to the ship for her follow-up appointment with her neck fully healed, with hardly a scar to show where her goiter had been. The beautiful little babies who came in for cleft lip repairs with their beautiful smiles, both before and after surgery. The lovely young woman with severe burn contractures to her neck and chest and arms who danced for joy the day her dressings came off. And, of course, there are my lovely teachers and children at the deaf school and the day workers that I have worked with in the hospital. They are forever in my heart, forever in my prayers. . So how do I say goodbye?
With a few tears, an abundance of love, the hope and prayer that each and everyone of them goes on to a better life, and that through our witness of the love of Jesus, they will come to know Him.

Saying Goodbye to My Patients at the Hope Center

Saying Goodbye to Fara

Posing with the A Ward Nurses and Day Crew at the Day Worker Farewell

Posing for a Last Photo Before Our Day Workers Leave the Ship for the Last Time

Saying Goodbye to Antoino and Koffi

 

Old Friends at the Deaf School

All about the ship the anticipation of the upcoming sail is growing. While I am excited to sail for the first time in my life, I am also sad to know that I must leave the people I have grown close to here in Guinea. I have missed seeing my friends at the deaf school everyday as I did when we were on field service, and I have taken every opportunity to go back to visit and help them with their sign language book project. This week I also had the opportunity to organize a group to go back and begin a new mural in the one classroom that we did not paint before. For this project we are painting a mural of the Microscopic World, complete with atoms, molecules, DNA, bacteria, viruses, and cells. The children and teachers are so excited to see the mural going up, and I love knowing that our murals will stay behind for years to come, even after the Mercy Ships has gone. We leave so very soon now. I will miss these people so much. But I take my memories with me, and perhaps someday when Mercy Ships returns to Guinea, I will see them again.

Aichat and Her Cousin "Helping"

My Wonderful Painting Team

The Completed Mural

The Children Saying Goodbye 

My Special Friends