At Home on the Africa Mercy

I've made it! After years of prayer and dreams, and weeks of training, I am on the Africa Mercy! I can't believe that I am really here. Our first couple of days were a little confusing. Paperwork needed to be signed, orientations needed to be attended, and I had to learn how to go from deck to deck without getting lost. I decorated my bunk the night I arrived, to make it seem more homey, after all this is my home for the next year, and Lord willing I may even stay longer.

Ready for My First Shift

My Cozy Little Bunk

Our first Monday aboard the ship my new life truly began. Hospital orientation on Monday followed by orientation to day shift on Tuesday and orientation to evening shift on Wednesday. From there I was officially a nurse on A Ward. I had evening shift for the next four days. Talk about a learning curve! In my first week I have already cared for patients recovering from surgery to release burn contractures, repair cleft palates and remove tumors. Working on the ship you care for patients of all ages, there is no pediatric ward, and I absolutely love working with these wonderful adults and children and being a part of changing their lives for the better. To God be all the glory!
This Sunday, my second Sunday onboard was also Easter Sunday. It was wonderful to go up to Deck 8 with the rest of the crew for the sunrise service. We worshiped and praised the Lord as we watched the sun rise over Guinea and prayed for His blessing over this land.

Worshiping on Deck 8 as the Sun Begins to Rise

A Beautiful Easter Sunrise

Field Service Complete

I was so excited to learn over the weekend that one of the young men from the deaf school works at the hotel we are staying in. I have been able to practice my sign language with him, and develop a new friendship. It has been exciting for me to come back to the hotel in the evening and go to say "Hello" to him. I wish that my sign language were more fluent, but somehow, we seem to understand each other despite my limited sign language.
We have been eating our dinner outside this week, once at a local park, and now at the local beach.

Waiting for Our Dinner in the Park

Sunset at Chaka Waka Beach

Collecting Seashells

We have completed all five murals at last, and our field service is completed. I have determined that I will go back to the deaf school as often as I can while we are here in Guinea and continue to build and develop the friendships that I have begun with the teachers and children at the school. I have found my place in Guinea. Perhaps the best part of this week was seeing one of the teachers using our mural to teach teachers who had never heard of the solar system before. So encouraging to know that our paintings are going to help to further the education in this school.

The Completed Undersea Mural





Painting the Maps of Africa

The Completed Mural

Painting the Map of the World

Completed Map of the World

Finishing Painting the Sign Language Alphabet

The Team That Finished the Alphabet Mural

The Completed Solar System Mural

One of the Teachers, Teaching the Other Teachers About the Solar System

We have successfully completed our field service, and now it is time for a new assignment. Now I become a nurse aboard the Africa Mercy. I cannot wait to see what the Lord is going to do.

Enjoying Our Last Dinner on the Beach Before Boarding the Ship

Collecting Seashells on the Beach with a Local Girl



 

The Whole Group with Completion Certificates



Welcome to Guinea

  

Our First View of Guinea from the Plane

 We are in Guinea at last. After a total of sixteen hours of flight time from Chicago to Guinea, we arrived. The temperature and humidity hit us the moment we stepped off of the plane, and we were immediately drenched in sweat. After going through customs and collecting our baggage, we were loaded into Mercy Ships vehicles and taken to the hotel where we will be staying for the next two weeks. Our new work assignment is working at the local school for deaf children. We are painting their classrooms and doing general repairs. Our transportation is a VW style minibus with four wooden benches in it. The seventeen of us, plus driver, crowd inside. It is a tight fit, but somehow we manage it.
The children are so excited to see us every morning. I learned some basic sign language when I was younger, which has been of great benefit. Even though the main language here is French, I am able to communicate with the teachers and children in the school with sign language.

First Rule of African Taxies: There is Always Room for One More



The Children Were Facinated by My Long Hair 




With Some of the Schoolchildren

 After the classrooms were cleaned and painted, I and my teammate Gabriela were placed in charge of designing and painting murals for the classroom walls. We have finished two of them already, a mural of the solar system and undersea scene. We also started to paint a map of Africa, and next week we plan to start a map of the world, paint the sign language alphabet on one of the outer walls and finish the map and flags of Africa. The heat makes the work exhausting and we are so grateful that the hotel has a pool that we can cool off in at the end of the day. I have fallen in love with these children, especially the head teacher's daughter Aichat. She hardly speaks. Her father is deaf, and she and her family live at the school. Surrounded as she is by children who do not speak, she converses much more in sign language than she does with speech, but she is such a dear child and always comes running for a hug from me whenever we arrive.


Aichat with Her Cousins

Sketching Out the Undersea Mural

Beginning the Solar System Mural



Painting Uranus
 

Me With Aichat

The Mural Slowly Coming Along

Me With the Ever Serious Aichat

Beginning the Mural of Africa

Almost Done with the Solar System Mural

Aichat and Her Cousin



Working on the Africa Mural



Gabriela and Her Team Working on the Undersea Mural

The Africa Map Nearly Done