meeting Ambrose

First of all I would like to say sorry for my period of silence. I don't have a good excuse for not writing so I won't give one.
I have been well, as you may remember I gave blood not long ago, well I thought I would follow up with the rest of the story.
You may recall that I had struggled a bit with giving blood as I was less than sufficiently hydrated. You also may remember that I was videoed a bit for a documentary, but it seems that I missed out the fact that there was also a photographer there taking pics for the ships communication department (they write stories about the crew and patients on board). Well this photographer came up to me at work about a week later and asked if I would be willing to come down to the ward and have my pic taken with Ambrose who was the one who received my blood. I was one of eight people to had donated blood to Ambrose so he had lost alot in surgery and it was good to see the end result that all the cysts had been removed and he could now use his right arm again. I posed for a photo with him and then sat and talked with him for a while through a translator, it was good to just get to see and meet the person that I had given some of my own blood too.

A Short Sail

Well this Saturday just gone by we packed up the ship and decided to go on a short pleasure sail......

Well not exactly, what really happened was we needed to get some fuel for the ship so we can run the engines and generators and power everything on the ship. The good news is that compared to Liberia there is actually a ship refueling station here in the Cotonou port, but the bad news is that we have to move to get the fuel where as in Liberia a tanker ship would come to us.

So it couldn't really be called a sail because we went such a short distance and most of the way we were been pulled by tug boats. But I would have to say that it defiantly benefited alot of people. We spent the night there and came back the next days so all the technical crew could put it down as sea time for their log books. Then also there are all the short term crew that otherwise would never get to experience sailing on this ship because we sail so rarely, and especially there are some crew such as doctors that come really regularly to the ship and have done for years but may have never gotten to sail with it get to experience it as well.

Giving Blood

It was my first full day of work because I had only done a half day before because of my knee. We had just finished work for the day and one of that ladies I work with just came up from giving blood and she is the same blood type as me so I wondered why they hadn't called me because I was on the list. Then I walked past reception and the receptionist called out to me and said the lab needed to see me straight away and I knew it was for my blood. So I rushed down to the lab as fast as I could, where Sarah one of the lab techs and a fellow Australian saw me and took me straight into the ward to start taking my blood. I walked into the room to find there were some others already in there giving blood, one of whom is a nurse but they were having problems getting the needle in her veins so it took 5 tries but they got it. There was also a photographer and a video camera (not a little hand held one but a bigger portable movie making one) in the room also and I later found out it was because the patient we were giving blood for is been operated on by a surgeon that is having a documentary made about him.

They came to get my blood and the needle went in ok (and what a needle it is its a 14 gauge needle they use for those of you out there that know what that is) and my blood started flowing fine. Then there was a bit of a problem. my blood started coming out slower and slower and then eventually just stopped all together(I later worked out it was because I wasn't hydrated enough because I hadn't really had very much to drink all day). After it stopped I started to feel sick in the stomach and was sweating alot and they said I looked really pale. I had no idea what was wrong at this point because this had never happened to me before when giving blood. So i lay back and just prayed for a few minutes while the nurse tried moving the needle around in my arm to get the blood flowing again. Then all of a sudden just like that it started coming again and they brought me a sprite to help me feel better. I was able to just make it past the minimum amount before it stopped flowing again, which I am so glad and thankful to God for because If I had not made the minimum they would have had to just throw it out and not use it.

I then rested a bit before going and having some food and drink some more. The next day the videographer came up to me and asked if I could answer a few questions for the film so we sat down and she filmed me while asking the usual "how did it feel" questions. So I guess I am going to be in the Documentary then.

changing jobs

Well This has come sooner than I thought it would, but I have just gotten back into the swing of things in the Galley and I am changing jobs already. This has always been the plan except I wasn't supposed to change until later in next month. Although the job I have changed to which is working in the sales department will be understaffed very soon with people leaving and others going on holidays so they wanted to train me up before we were understaffed. What is the sales department you may ask, well basically put we are the department that sells stuff to the crew. We run a shop on board as well as a snack bar and a cafe. The shop is a place of constantly changing stock that we get shipped in from the USA and Holland. We sell things like cooking and baking supplies for the crew that may not like what is served in the dinning room or maybe just love to bake, toiletries such as toilet paper, toothpaste, shampoo etc, mercy ships clothing and many other things. The snack bar and the cafe on the other hand is more of a luxury for the crew so they can get a cold soft drink and a snack or maybe a nice coffee at a decent price and we are open when most of the crew take their break time in the morning and afternoon. More than just running these 3 places working in the sales department also includes a lot of time spent stocking up and working in the store rooms down on deck 2 and also alot of work when new shipping containers come to be unloaded.

So far I am really enjoying it but I am also sad that I am no longer working in the Galley, I enjoy both jobs but it is unfortunately not possible for me to do both at once and working in Sales will hopefully allow me to get more involved with other things on and off the ship.

A little Slip up

On Monday I was at work in the Galley, it was just another normal day at work and we had almost finished getting dinner ready and sent down to the dinning room. I realised that I needed to go and get some aprons I had been washing from the laundry so I went to walk out of the hot prep side of the Galley like I have done hundreds of times before, except this time I hit a bit of water on the ground as I rounded the corner and both my feet went flying out from under me and I landed heavily on my left knee cap. I sprung back to my feet straight away hoping that no one had seen me, but everyone had so I continued on to pick up the laundry. I limped there and limped back and when I got back it was really starting to hurt so I went for my dinner break thinking some rest would do it good before coming back to clean up. I went and sat in the dinning room with my friends 2 of which at the table are nurses. Then when I went to get up after dinner I tried to stand on my left leg and found it was too painful to even put any pressure on my left knee at all. So my great friends sprung into action and in no time my knee was strapped I had ice on it and another friend had gone and gotten me a pair of crutches. So I spent the rest of the evening getting used to using crutches on the ship with all the stairs we have while also answer the same question a thousand times "Tim, what happened to you?". The next day I went to the crew doctor to find out how bad it was and I was happy to hear that it was just bruised and I needed to keep off it for a couple of days. So after 2 days of been on crouches I got the ok to stop using them and since then I have just been taking it a bit easy on my kneed and now the only time I am still noticing it is when I am using the stairs (which is actually fairly often).

Easter weekend

Well as probably most all of you know it was Easter weekend last weekend just past. I really enjoy times like this on the ship because they really make an effort to make it a special time of celebration. We had a 4 day weekend on the ship over Easter to that people could take a break and enjoy the celebration or as alot of the West African crew did as well as some others go home for the weekend.

For those that stay on the ship over the weekend there is a Friday morning service with a showing of The Passion of the Christ in the evening. Then on Sunday there is a sunrise service up on the top deck of the ship followed by a big brunch put on by the Galley and then in the evening there is a service followed by and open house night. They way the open house works is people volunteer to open up their cabins for anyone to come and have a look and they usually have something to eat and drink in there as well and you can go around all the different cabins that are open and meet the people and also see all the different sorts of cabins and how people decorate from family cabins to couples cabins to even single berth cabins.

There were also other small events going on every night of the week leading up to the Easter weekend as well so the Chaplains really do a great job of organising the whole thing.

Abomey

This past weekend I went away for one night with a few friends to a town about 3 hours up country called Abomey. Abomey is a town rich in history and stories and interesting places to see. We left on Friday morning been driven by one of my new friends John, he is a day volunteer worker on the ship and is from Benin and he offered to help show us around and translate a bit for us. Once there we went and met John's sister in law at her house which is where John had organised for us to have our meals while we where away. Her name is Clementine and she has 2 sons Mike and Jeff, but her husband is away the Ivory Coast working. It was really easy to see how deeply rooted into society that women are worth less than men still just by the fact that John who is a Christian didn't even know Clementine's name and just referred to her as "Mama Jeff" (Jeff's mother).

After our quick visit we set off to see what we thought would be one of the main attractions of town, the old palace. Well I don't know how many places would class this place as a palace, it is an old mud building with a large courtyard and a big mud wall around it, but none the less it is the palace of the king of Benin. The king these days is more of just a figure head and hasn't really had any power in the country since the French invaded and took over. Even so we felt very honoured to get to met the king and have an audience with him that resulted in about a 45min conversation on the different countries the 4 of us were from as well as several other interesting topics. And was followed by a photo session with the King (which is apparently usually not allowed at all, but he liked us) followed by the exchanging of email addresses (so he can invite us the next time he has a big celebration). We said goodbye to the king and headed on our way and went off to see a big statue in the center of town, the statue is of one of the former kings named Behanzin and he was ruling the country at the time of the French invation. The way the story that we were told goes, the king stood up to the French as they tried to enter Abomey and he held up his hand and because he was so powerful everyone stopped, even the French. But he was eventually captured and the French took over. After that we went to see one of the few world heritage listed sights in West Africa, it is a very old large wall that used to surround the residence of a king and is made from mud and human blood. It wasn't that much to look at but after hearing the story behind it I was in awe and a bit shocked by it.

We then headed back to Clementine's house to find a ready made meal of delicious local style food. We ate and hung out for a bit and after working out which local hotel would give us the best deal we went and called it a night.

The next day we headed out with the aim to take it a bit easy and see an underground village in the area. Now this was a place that John didn't know so we went to see one of his Brothers who has a friend who is an English teacher in a local school and they came with us to help translate and show us around. The underground village was really cool to go and see although there was a definite Voodoo presence there. The way the village was set up is there are a whole lot of underground rooms with several other rooms connected on, but none of the main sections were connected so it was about 4 rooms together all on their own. They say that the underground village was only recently discovered when they were building a road along side where the village is and they think there are about 1600 small rooms but they haven't yet found them all.

So all in all it was a good weekend where I learned alot about Benin's history and a bit about its culture. And also it was great to just get away from the hussle and bussle of Cotonou and see a bit of the beautiful country side.

Back on the Ship

Upon arrival in the Cotonou international airport I was met with one of the new biggest challenges for me, the language barrier. I was however able to get through passport control and customs with no problems after finding workers who spoke some English as well as some made up sign language. I made it to the luggage pick up point and stood and watched the conveyor belt go round and round with luggage on it until eventually i was one of only a few people left in the room and they stopped the belt moving, my luggage had obviously not made it. I was then approached by a French man who's luggage had not made it either and he spoke some English and asked me about mine and then we proceeded to go and find someone to tell about our problem. After we found the right person he was busy with something else so we sat and waited for a while until he was ready then he took our detail we put in a luggage claim with the airline and he said it should be here on Sunday. After that because I had decided to come in on a flight arriving at 5.30am which is outside the Mercy Ships recommended travel time I had to sit and wait until 8am for someone to come and pick me up.

When I got to the ship it was great to see some familiar faces, although there are a whole lot of new people on board there seemed to be a never ending amount of people I would run into and have all kinds of different reactions of shock, surprise and happiness to see that I was back on board. I went to my new cabin which is actually next door to the one I used to live in which is great because some of my old cabin mates are still there. I am in a 4 birth cabin (a cabin for 4 people) and I have 2 American roommates and one Ghanaian roommate. The rest of my morning on the ship I spent walking around stopping in on peoples offices and saying hi and getting my legal embarkation papers signed by all the necessary departments. Then it came time for lunch time and well I must say meal times were always one of my favourite times on the ship. I mean sure I like food and all but that isn't the only reason, its because I always had some of the best conversations and catch up times at meals and some of my most memorable moments happened around the table. And at that point sitting back in the dinning room I am sorry to say to my family but I felt It's good to be home (which is a good thing because it is my home for at lest the next 2 years).