And we're off!

7/27 Monday

sailing across! .. we thought it was pretty neat, to be on a ship like this, and have the opportunity to sail! it was so exciting! .. (Right to left) Erica, Holly, my bunkmate!!! Me, kayla, Lauren, and Val. Everyone on board gathered up on the the top deck as we moved across. kinda fun!

So this past weekend we went for a little sail! The ship has been scheduled to sail across the port to refuel for about 3 weeks now. However, every week, it gets delayed to the next weekend, which has become quite comical. But this week, we were told, was THE week. It would take about 24 hours from the time the gang-way was lifted, to sail, refuel, and return... so the plan was to leave around 8am on saturday, and return early morning on Sunday.

We should have know from previous weeks of failed plans, of our very-African-unorganized port, that this weekend, again would not go as planned. As the weekend approached we were told that we would now be leaving Saturday evening. Then it changed to Sunday morning.

So Sunday morning it was. And it was my duty day.. so this meant I had to be up early to set up coffee, juice, water and cookies on the bridge of the ship for the pilot when he came on board.

And I didn't know this before, but every ship has a captain, and every port has a pilot. When ever a ship comes into a port, the pilot comes on board the ship via his pilot-speed boat out beyond the entry of the port. He then navigates the ship into the port since he knows the depths and what not of his port. Interesting.

So I was up at 7:30 to get everything up to the bridge for the pilot. I was thrilled to be on duty actually, because how often do crew get to go up on the bridge??! .. so as I was up there, hanging out with the captain.. =P .. I was told that I miiight want to bring the coffee back down so it wouldn't get cold. Confused, they pointed out the refueling station, which I could see across the port, with another ship still docked in front of it.. They had learned that the currently docked ship believed it were being charged for more fuel that what it thought it had received blah blah.. It.s Africa. their mentality = We will sit. you will wait. you will change your mind. there is no time issues. this will solve the problem.

6 hours later. They must have worked something out across the way, because we finally sailed at 2 pm on Sunday. I brought up the juice, water coffee and cookies to the bridge multiple times upon false alarms.. became good buddies with all the guys up there. Brought them some coffee and cookies of their own. (since they couldn't touch the pilot's food until he himself had had some) and over all it was a fun experience!

..some pictures!

The tug boats! they guided/pulled and tugged us across the way. and then slamed into us to push up us against the dock. It was veryy interesting.

Our home for the night! Isn't it so pretty! We sailed back early Monday morning. (as I slept soundly through the roar of the engine =) good thing I'm a sound sleeper!)

our dock!

Our dock is a busy place right now. Not only does it provide a berth for the Africa Mercy and parking for 28 Land Rovers and Nissans; also two different pipeline contractors are working simulateously in the same ditch, one making a new pipe for diesel (the red pipe), and one checking and repairing an old pipe for vegetable oil (the grey pipe, below)...




...the dock also provides a berth for a discharging bulk carrier (which are huuge, they dock right behind us, and they're really neat). Fortunately this one isn't unloading dusty cement clinker.. like in the past (or we'd be totally covered in dust by now), but it is discharging some kind of mineral for the cement industry into literally thousands of waiting trucks...and each truck drops just a little bit as it trundles past. The scale of such an operation is quite fascinating - big grabbers capable of carrying 8 cubic meters of mineral are used to unload the ship into big hoppers...

...under which trucks park to be loaded. Vast quantities of the mineral spill onto the dock, so a couple of diggers are constantly on hand to scoop the spills into other trucks.

Amongst the trucks and hoppers and grabbers and dust and noise, a single grain of corn (delivered by the last bulk carrier that discharged on this dock 3 or 4 months ago) has germinated and will one day grow up into a beautiful plant. Kinda cute I think!

.. i miiiiight have just copied this post off another crew's blog. But it was a good one! and it shows the dock, and the environment which surrounds us on a daily basis! It's all very fascinating to see each ship come in, unload it's various cargo, and leave again. Any ship is in the dock for about 1-5 days.

~Lindy

Duty hostess.

Yesterday I was on duty. So I prepared everything that needed to be done for the new arrivals, there were 4 people. 

As the night grew later I waited for the page to come to reception in order to greet the arrivals. Once it rang, I came upstairs and there were only 3 ladies. I proceeded to carry on, instructing them on their forms that needed to be filled out and serving them dinner and cookies =). After I had shown them each to their cabins I came back to reception to inquire about my 4th arrival. Sometimes their luggage has not shown up and their waiting at the airport, or they've missed a connection and will arrive the next night.. 

But this man had a different story. And his story struck me. I was told that he was not going to be arriving tonight because he was sitting out in the ocean beyond the port entrance, on another ship. Odd I thought, why would someone be arriving from a ship?? and not flying? what was going on?

I learned that, Three months ago a Maersk container ship came into the Port of Cotonou. Their 3rd Officer was a young Irishman named Billy, who wandered over to the Africa Mercy whilst his ship was being unloaded, to see what we do. He was sufficiently impressed, and completed an application form then and there before he sailed away again. This week he left his Maersk ship as soon as it came back into port and joined the Africa Mercy as 3rd Officer, with a two month commitment. How cool!  He saw what we were doing, and wanted to be a part of it. So he applied to stay starting the next time his ship came into port. If only more professional seamen joined us this way!

hospitality reflections..

Recently I've been reflecting on my job as a hospitality hostess.

It's some times difficult working on the Ship and not working a job that's involved with the actual hospital. I think you get stuck in the rut of everyday tasks of your job, and you loose sight of why your here. There's the hospital part of the ship, and then there are the other 2/3rds of the crew that are doing jobs to make the hospital aspect run smoothly. 

But I have come to find that the rest of the crew are a ministry with ourselves. We are to love and encourage and  we are responsible to remind each other exactly why we are here. It is difficult to have a job that might be mundane, and you head up to work day after day doing the same thing. But as the crew, it is our job to love one another and encourage each other in our every day tasks. And not to forget that we are all serving the same purpose. We are constantly reminded on the Africa Mercy of the verse in 1 corinthians 12.. "¹²The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body"... and it goes on to say "¹⁸But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰As it is, there are many parts, but one body." 

All are tasks are crucial to the function of this ministry as a whole. And it's very neat to see the community constantly reminded each other of this, and encouraging them in their tasks

 Just as you go about your daily activity you hear people..

Thank ing the galley staff for cutting up all our vegies everyday, 

Complimenting the housekeepers for their wonderful attitudes and never complaining.

Thanking hospitality for being so welcoming to everyone. 

Thanking the dining room servers for all they do.

And its very neat to live in a community like this. Because just on the days you feel in a rut, someone come along to encourage you. And you naturally become more aware of when you can encourage someone else in their job. I just love it. =)

The Stilt Village

 Sunday I went to the Ganvie Village. Also known as the Stilt Village, it is a village on a very large lake, Lake Nokoue. With it's population at around 30,000 people, it is probably the largest lake-village in Africa, and since we're so close, we had to visit! 

The village history is this: More than three hundred years ago, the Fon people had encroached on the area of these peoples, finally pushing them all the way to the Gulf. To escape their enemies, this group of people built their villages over the lagoons of southern Benin, allowing them to escape the aggression of the Fon (Fon religious belief prevented their warriors from venturing onto water).

We arrived at the village, which is more like a small town, with thousands of bamboo huts, with thatch roofs jutting from the murky water, and a light "traffic" of townsfolk in canoes manuevering through the myriad of canals and waterways in the 'city'. We were told many of the people here do not want to be photographed.. but found they were fairly open to it if you show them your camera before hand with a big smile, almost as if asking permission. Drifting through the calm waters, in our very touristy boa

t, Everyone waves at the white people from the the passing women on their way to the floating market or children shyly peering from behind the bamboo walls of their homes. It was an incredible experience, but one that cannot be done justice through words. Boats are filled with baskets of fruit, clothes, and fish. The villages main industry is fishing and fish farming, as well as tourism. And they are complete with a school, hospital, churches, little "restaurants" and even a small hotel type of tourist stilted house. It was a very different world than that of the city of Cotonou. With cars honking and Zemis buzzing past, people rushing all about. It was very calm and pleasant, and quite an incredible village.

blackout!

Today we had a 13 hour blackout on the ship.

Basically : the ship is "sailing" next weekend to refuel, but only just across the port. (which will take a day and a night, but  kind of exciting, huh?!) However, the ship has, 1600 some pipes that bring cool water to the generators and engines, but since we are docked, and not moving, these pipes get clogged with marine growth. And although these pipes are still bringing some cool water, its not enough, or quite cool enough to crank up that engine, and keep it cool enough to have the engines running as we "sail" across the port next weekend. SOO they turned off all the generators today, in orders to take apart all this piping and clear them all out, so we would be good to go for next weekend. 

However, these generators provide a lot of things for the ship. =) Including..

-electricity

-air conditioning

-our vacuum system

-water drainage

-ie: tiolets flushing

-showers draining, & sinks  

-internet

So everyone was encouraged to spend the day off the ship! and thats mostly what we did. However we are right in the midst of rainy season in Benin, thus, there was a lot of concern about rain (which commonly goes on all day, and fairly heavily down-pouring) . But when we woke up this morning it was only overcast, and probably ended up being the most perfect day. The Lord tells us not to be anxious about AnYtHiNg. .. not even silly rain when we plan to be outside all day. It was cool, with no rain, so the ship didn't heat up without the AC and it all worked out wonderfully.

I spent the day out and about, a group of us went into the big tourist-y craft market. - It was very calm compared to the markets we have been going to, so it was a nice change. It was a large gated compound with almost free standing house looking shops. The grounds were all sand, with pathways between each shop, and you just sort of casually went from one to the next.  My group took a taxi to the market, we proudly crammed the 7 of us, plus the driver into a 5 person car. 3 girls on 3 girls laps in the back seat, and Chris in the front seat. And then we walked the 40 minutes home. It was a nice day trip. Once we got back on the ship, we all sort of hung around, I took a long and much needed nap, and read a little.. outside in the light.

Also, both Saturdays and Sundays are not permitted for sleeping in. This is due to the fact that lunch is not served on the weekends. So if you don't want to starve during the day, you best be getting yourself out of bed between 7:30 and 9 (no, 9 is still not considered sleeping in =)) in order to make your self a sandwich and grab an apple. =) But since the blackout was today, the power was out earlier.. so we didn't even get our extra hour-weekend-breakfast-times. Instead it was normal week day breakfast from 6:30-8 and then the power went off very shortly after 8. So one less hour of "sleeping in" today =P bummer. but we all survived, and it was an experience. a lot more people were out and about the ship because the cabins were pitch black. The rest of the ship had lighting coming in through windows, and some emergency lights, so people were playing cards and having water gun flights, and playing games up on the top deck. 

So, many filled and smelly toilets later... the power came back on about 13 hours after, at around 9 this evening! What an experience! A day in life.. on a blacked-out ship! =)

~lindy

 

 

days off!

Since I worked the weekend, I had monday and tuesday I off!
I decided not to spend the days sleeping in, and wasting it, even if i'm tired.. because I'm only in Africa once!
Monday I woke up early and went into the market with a friend, Brittni, who wasn't working until 12. We just walked up into the town surrounding our dock and there's sort of a corner where some of the major roads form a crossroad and the egdes of the streets are little huts/shops, and the then if you walk into the middle of the corner, through and behind the surrounding edge/row of shops and stands, it is a hectic and jam packed food market. With baskets and baskets of fruits and produce piled high, and raw meet sitting out everywhere. Men are walking around with larrge raw cow legs, ribs, and any animal parts really (toungue) .. just thrown over their shoulders. It's wild. I wish it was more acceptable to pull out your camera to take a photo so I could capture an environment such as this. But it's often considered offensive. Because this is their way of life, and they don't want to be "on show". Which is understandable. And I've found you often feel just as uncomfortable being the one taking a photo.

Later on in the afternoon, a different group of girls had the afternoon off! So I walked in to town again with them. This time we went to the fabric market. Which is a lot further. Probably about a 25 minute walk. All along fairly major roads. Cotonou, the city I'm in, is very industrialized for what you might think of when you imagine Africa. And with all the traffic and Zemijdans its pretty wild! =) Keeps you on your toes. I bought some more fabric, and I will have to put up some pictures of me with my dress I've had made! I've also bought smaller pieces of fabric and just wrap them around myself like a towel.. just like all the African ladies do! its so fun =)
Then on tuesday morning I woke up early as well and walked into town with two girls. But this time we went to the hospitality center. -- This is the pre and post operation site for Mercy ships. Its a warehouse type building about a 10 min walk from the ship. And when you walk inside, there are benches, and tables but also large long rooms lined with hospital beds along either wall. And this is where patients stay before their surgery on the ship, and then also recover after they are in non-critical condition. This allows for more bed space on the ship, as well. And there are mercy ship crew that work here as their job 'for' the ship, and they care for the patients and spend time, and share the gospel with them. -- However, anyone can walk over there anytime and visit and love on these people and children and its really fun. We hold little babies, and play board games with the older ladies.
  SO on Friday a group of us had gone and brought our camera and taken pictures with, and of some of the ladies and their children. They had asked if we would bring them each their picture. So we simply said "sure sure" as we put our cameras away, like everyone probably does with their cameras. But as we left, Brittni and I were talking and decided that we could easily go back to the ship, print of these pictures, get them laminated, take them back to theses ladies, and make it very special. So, that's what we did on Tuesday morning. Printed, laminated, walked, and shared. And they were all very excited to see us! and then when they saw we had the pictures they were ecstatic and they all grabbed their own and then eagerly looked at each others.. as they spoke frantically in their native language. So it was really cool!

And those were my days off!

But I also had a lot of nice quiet time to myself. Reading and and sitting up in the sun on the top deck. As everyone else hustled and bustled all around me doing their days work, I felt like the very little work I had to do over the weekend didn't equate to the amount of work I was skipping out on as I kicked back on this monday and tuesday. But I suppose that is the reward your receive after having to stay on the ship all weekend. And I feel like I took full advantage of my days off, using them wisely and restfully! =) 

much love! lindy 

*picture*  Me with Annisette, and her mom. She has a cleft lip and is getting surgery mid-July on the ship! She's only 3 months old, and is so precious. Her mom sort of slowly pours formula milk into her mouth because its very difficult for her to suck with her cleft lip. Its so sad, but she's going for surgery and how exciting is that?!  =)