It's Closing Time

Like the lyrics to a very popular Green Day songs reads, It's closing time, every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end. Friday was day 1 of closing time for the dental team at Redemption Hospital. What has been called Mercy Ships Dental Clinic for the past 10 months is now in the midst of destruction. We started tearing down and packing up around 9am on Friday and finished our day of hard work around 3pm. By the end of the day the entire team was tired. It was a hot and dirty job, but all in all the day went rather smoothly and we accomplished a lot.



As we continue to close up shop here on Monday and Tuesday we will continue to Thank God for all the work He has managed to accomplished in that place over the last 10 months. It is only through His strength and power that we have done what we have. It's only through His grace that we have made it through.

As the days go by our team and crew continues to shrink. People are leaving in masses. Just today I said good-bye to our fearless leader and coordinator Vicki, and also to a very close friend and coworker of mine. Hanna and I have been through the past 5 months together, she arrived a month after I. It has been a pleasure getting to know such a women of God. We have laughed, cried, contemplated life and God, sang song after song (she put up with my singing), been in a head on collision, hiked mountains, did teeth, worked out to tae-bo and loads more together. I will miss her but also like the words of the same Green Day songs reads:

Closing time, time for you to go out to the places you will be from
So gather up your jackets, moving to the exits, I hope you have found a friend.

I have most definitely have found a friend, and I am so exited to see what God calls her to next.

Next Monday another dear friend of mine leaves, Ms. Emily. I am so looking forward to spending every waking moment with her this coming week. I have to get so full of her energetic and outlandish spirit in order to be sustain with her contagious spirit until the next time I am able to see her.



Tomorrow Day 2 of Closing Time for the Dental Team.

At the beginning of the day on Friday

At the end of the day on Friday.

That's a Wrap!

Today was our last day of clinic. We are DONE treating patients. We finished this year with just under 12,000 total procedures, not too shabby.

Tomorrow we are having a thank you lunch for our day workers, and Friday we start packing up. We have to tear down the entire dental clinic in 3 days and have everything back to the ship by next Wednesday for loading. Busy Busy time here on the Africa Mercy!

This afternoon the President of Liberia made a visit to the ship, for a Thank You Ceremony. I have it all on video and will try to post it soon. She had very nice things to say about Mercy Ships, and our work. She said the next country is Lucky to have us come.

Have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving and see you all in a 4 weeks!!!!

Get in the time machine........Dec 24, 2008

This time next month I will be sitting at home on my parents new couch with my momma and my Maggie talking about all the Lord has taught me, showed me, and provided me over the past 6 1/2 months.

This time next month I will be giving my dad the Liberian money I will have brought back for him to add to his collection oh and telling him how he is the best dad in the world of course.

This time next month I will be hugging and kissing my brother like there is no tomorrow..... because I missed him soooo much.

This time next month I will be enjoying the Holidays with all my friends and family

This time next month I will be catching up on all the Grey Anatomy that I have missed since September

This time next month I will be eating GOOD food

This time next month I will be HOME!!!! :)

My day with Lucy!

Remember last Wednesday when I introduced you to Lucy, well today I was able to hang out with her and her family. If you read my previous post on her you would be informed of the fact that I helped her get a replacement tooth, and her way of thanking me was asking me to come to her home for the day.

Let me tell you one thing right off. When A Liberian asks you to come to their home they know who to treat you, well at least Lucy does.

The day started at 9am. Emily and I stood on the side of the road waiting with excitement for Ms. Lucy to come pick us up. We waited and waited and waited and an hr and half later we frowned in disappointment and head back the the ship. We were well aware that African time is even later than my time... ahah but we figured after an hr and half with no Lucy probably meant that she is not coming. Wrong! Half way back to the ship we heard this excessive honking of a horn, as we turned around to see what the noise was we saw Lucy hanging out the side of the SUV waving and yelling at us. HAHAHA We both looked at each other and said here we go, let the day begin.

As we were getting in the car Lucy was apologies for being late. We made our way to her house which took 45 mins with no traffic. The entire time we were driving Lucy was explaining to me that she has to take 3 different taxi's just to get to work, and it takes her anywhere from 45mins-2hr depending on the traffic every day! Could you imagine.

Anyway we arrived at her house she changed her clothes and off to church we went. When we arrived at the church Emily and I were escorted to the front row of the preachers section which was located to the right of the stage. After a brief introduction from Lucy we were asked to say a few words. Not being prepared to speak I got up, grabbed my bible and Emily and I stepped to the front of the church. I stared speaking read a verse spoke some more and we sat down. I can not tell you what I said, because I don't remember. Thank God for his promise of giving you words to speak. We listened to the sermon, gave offering and before the end of the service both Emily and I were asked to pray.

At Church with the Preachers.

After church we walked a small small distance to Lucy's aunts house. As we were walking Lucy explained to us that her aunt had suffered from a nervous break down after the war and was very weak. She explained the she goes to visit her every once in a while. We arrived at her aunt's house did introductions and the first thing the lady asked was can Mercy Ships help me with me disease. I informed her that even though I am sorry she is sick, unfortunately we do not have the means to help her. She said thank you, we hugged and were off walking again. As we were walking away Lucy said thank you, I have been trying to tell her for months now that Mercy Ships only does surgeries, but she never believed me. Now that you told her she believes me and knows that I was not lying to her.

We arrived back to Lucy's house she fed us rice and hot dogs and surprised Emily and I each with a dress she had the tailor make us.Oh and she also gave us water in NEW glasses that she bought just for us. She said I know you people wash your cups in the washer with hot water to clean them and since I don't have one of those machines I bought you new cups. No one has ever drank out of them. WOW!!! Talk about treating your guests with the best. We talked for bit and then she called her husband to tell him we were ready for our ride back. This was at 1:00pm. He said ok I will be back small.

Our Dresses

Lucy then walked us down the road to a Catholic Church compound were they were having their Harvest Sunday Celebration. We spent the next 2 hrs talking, dancing, playing with children, sitting, taking tours of the church, meeting the DJ of the party, and visiting the Catholic Church Rehabilitation Center for Children.

Emily and I were sitting talking to children and Lucy walked up to us and asked us to follow her. The word had broke out that two white girls from Mercy Ships were at the celebration. We followed Lucy across the road to the REALLY nice clean building. When we walked inside we were greeted by 21 children who were being treated at this Rehab center funded by the church. It was sad to see these children in their current condition, there were babies with burns, a little girl with a missing leg, a little boy with a cast on his leg, and list goes one; however it was good to see this facility and the care they were providing to these children for free. The head nurse took me on a tour of the building and it was really encouraging. The kids had clean beds, they received baths, and food, and clean clothes, they had toilets, nice rehab equipment. I told the lady I know your job is hard but thank you for all your work you are doing here. It was a sad/happy moment.

The kids at the Rehab Center

After our visit to the rehab center we head back to Lucy's house. her husband was 7 mins away. Mind you It is now 3:00, her husband said at 12:30 he would be there soon. Again African time! haha Once we get back to her house we sat out side and talked and an hr later her husband comes. We take a few photos and get in the car to head home or at least we thought.

The kids and me.... Where in the world is Jess? Oh there I am in the middle of all the African kids!

On the way home we made a stop at the beach for a few more photos, and then made a stop at an ice cream place were Lucy and her husband treated Emily and I to ice cream.

What a day! Lucy is such a blessing, and I am honored to be able to spend the day with her. She gave so much to us when she has so little. I might have forgot to mention 15 people live in her 4 bedroom home.

Anyway Thank God for friendships..... I will miss my Lucy Lou come December 13 when the ship sails away from Liberia, but I am so thankful God has placed her in my life for this time. She has taught me what it means to be generous without expecting anything in return. She has taught me what it means to live life in the moment and she has taught me what it means to give everything.

Who would have thought that 2 white girls could have had such an impacting Sunday with Lucy!

Thank you Lucy and Family!

Stories for Saturday Vol. 2

My last few Saturday's have been jammed packed. This morning at 10am a few of us from the ship made our way downtown to The National Museum of Liberia to take a look at an art exhibition that my journalist friend from the states- Christina Holder organized.

“War Child” was the name of the exhibition, and the art explored Liberia's violent past and hopeful future. There were more than 30 paintings depicting life and war as seen through the eyes of five artists who were children during Liberia's 14-year civil war.

One artist was an ex-combatant, one was a refugee, and others were simply trying to survive in postwar Liberia. They all shared the common bond of living through the war.



I was very impressed by the quality of the paintings. They were beautiful. I browsed around, read their stories, chatted with the artist's, chatted with fellow art show attenders, and bought a lovely painting.

It was really cool to see the the artists use their talents and gift that God has provided them with in such a positive and passionate way. They all have such skills and talents and compose wonderful art, and props to Christina for organizing such an event for Liberia. Just another step in the right direction for this country.

Me with my purchased painting and the artist who painted it!

We arrived back to the ship at 12:30, and I had 10 mins to get myself ready for the after noon of a life time. I have been anticipating this afternoon for an entire week now. My little darling from Frances Gaskin were coming to my area for a visit, and I could hardly wait.

At 1:oo they had arrived. I was standing at the gate waiting for them and to my surprise they pulled up and out of a 10 passenger van came 36 people. 30 kids and 6 adults. What a site, there were children stuffed in every square inch of that vehicle. The kids looked so cute!! They all had on their nice clothes, with clean cuts for the boys and braids for the girls, new shoes, and BIG smiles. I am not sure who was more excited the kids, the adults, or us Mercy Shipers.

As we walked down the dock I think the look of amazement was unanimous. One little girl looked at me and said" I have never seen the sea, It is so big." To think that she lives in a country with such beautiful coast line and she has never been able to witness Gods beauty in the seas here. Most of the children would peep over the edge of the dock and look down at the water that flowed below them, but making sure they did not get to close. The small fish really impressed them.

After we took a few group photos on the dock we transferred our party inside. Walking up the gang way was a VERY big deal! Most of the kids did really well until they looked down and saw the water. Then they were scared. They very carefully took one step at a time until they had successfully reach the top of the gang way.

Half of the group in front of Liberia's flag
Once inside we had cookies and juice, games, ship tours, veggie tales movie and popcorn, crafts, visits to my room, dancing, and visits to the bathroom(they had never used a toilet before. Most of them if not all of them visited the bathroom at least 5 times in the 4 hours that they were here, the loved the flushing noise).

Time to go pepe!!! Me taking the girls to the bathroom.

The highlight of my day however was defiantly when 5 of the girls performed a cultural dance for us in honor of their appreciation for all our help. It was amazing. So much history is held in the dances. I was honored to be witnessing them preform such a dance. They may be young, but they can dance.

The Cultural Dance

As we were walking the kids to their van one little girl looked up at me and said. " I am so happy, thank you for letting me come to your house today. It was the best day". Around 4:30pm we waved good bye to all our little kiddies as they drove away waving at us until they could not longer see us anymore. They had a GREAT time and so did we!!!!!!!

Waving Good-Bye

What a blessing today was, My heart is full!!!

Meet Ms. Lucy

Meet Lucy!

About 3 months ago I was assigned to scrubs duty, meaning after work I take the dental scrubs down to the hospital laundry room for them to be laundered, and then before I go to bed I go down pick them up and place them in the dental clinic for people to come and get clean scrubs for work the next day. My first day on the job I was introduced to Lucy a ships day worker; she is the wonderful lady amongst others who launder our scrubs.

She said oh you are the new scrubs girl. I was wondering if it would be possible for me to get an appointment. You see I have this tooth that hurts me and is almost gone and my kids often ask me ma why don’t you have a tooth. My helper flags immediately went up in my mind and I thought not only can I get you an appointment to get your tooth out I can help get you a new tooth. The next thing you know…… she was in the clinic getting the tooth out.

Mercy Ships pays a portion of the fees for patients to get replacement teeth if it is a front tooth, and that is just what we did for Lucy. After the tooth is extracted the patient is given a card that has a date on it. It is normally about 3-4 weeks after the extraction. On that date the patient takes the card to JFK Hospital and they get fitted for a replacement tooth. So for weeks we were anticipating Lucy’s replacement date.

Last Friday night when I went down to visit with Lucy she had a surprise for me. A new front tooth! She was so happy, she had received her replacement tooth and there was no longer a gap in her smile. She said her kids and husband LOVED it. “I can now smile big, all the time” were her exact words. She thanked me over and over again for all my help and I then thanked her for all her hard work she does on the ship. To show her gratitude she invited me to her house and her church on Sunday….so on Sunday at 9am she will come in a taxi to pick me up and I will be spending the day with my friend and her family. I can’t wait.

BEFORE


AFTER

African Cooking Class #1

Today after work Jackie and I headed across the street from Redemption (the hospital where the dental clinic is located) to Mama’s house. Mama is a lady in her early 30’s who runs a little stand on the side of the road in front of the hospital. Her main items for purchase are bananas and oranges. She likes us so much that she also offers to make plantain chips for us on a regular basis. :) Mama is such a lovable person. Almost every day she makes her way over to the clinic to check on the crew. She always leaves us by saying see you tomorrow, God willing.

The other day I was talking with her and sharing my hopes and dreams of one day getting to prepare an African dish for my loved ones at home, and she responded by saying “come I will teach you.”

So last Thursday I mapped out all the details to my first African cooking class. We settled on today to be our first class. Jackie the assistant coordinator also shares the same hopes and dreams as I, so she decided she had better enroll in the cooking class as well. The menu for our first class was as follows: potato greens soup, okra soup, peanut sauce soup, and chili aka pepper spice.

We started cooking at about 3:30 and finished up around 5:30. It was great. I cleaned and cut potato greens, mashed peppers for the spice, cooked the okra, fried fish eye balls and all, learned the secret of adding spices, mixed up a little peanut sauce, and in the end was able to sample each dish that we had prepared. I was cruising through my first class with flying colors until Mama passed me the fish. I am a custom to buying already cut and cleaned fish at Dierbergs at home but not in West Africa. Here you head to the market and buy fish that have basically have just taken their last breath in some instances or in others have been hanging out in the Hot Humid air for hours and more likely than not are infested with flies.

I have tried to steer away from the fish here that is sold in the markets for a few reasons, #1 I have a fetish with meat on bones…given that be fried chicken, ribs, fish. I just hate eating meat off the bone, #2 I don’t know how to clean a fish. I know that is hard to believe given the facts of where I grew up, and where I went to college at but it is true I haven’t a clue, and the 3rd reason I am not a fan of eating meat that has been sitting out all day. Anyway Mama asked me to clean and prepare the fish…. I said to her hmmm not sure I can do that. She replied it is part of the class, I said well then I guess I fail the class because I am not sure I can descale that fish, especially with it looking me in eye like it is. :) I am a wimp I know but I just am not a fan, I mean I could have done it if I HAD to do it, but I didn’t have to, and Mama seemed to be doing a fine job.

In the end after 2 hours of cooking, several visitors stopping to see what these white women were doing, sampling our dishes by eating with our hands, and a few burns from the HOT coal stoves Jackie and I had successfully completed our first African cooking class. And despite rejecting to skin the fish, I still passed with an A+. Cooking class #2 coming soon: palm oil.

Good news for all my friends and family at home….. I will be having an open house once I get back, and these dishes will be available for each of you to sample minus the fish with the eyes and bones. :)

Stories for Saturday

My alarm went off at 8:00 am this morning and I thought to myself; maybe I will just shut it off and go back to bed. Then it dawned on me why my alarm was making that annoying beep beep beep sound. It's Saturday and I am headed to see my little angles at Frances Gaskin. Once I remembered that, I did not think twice about ignoring the alarm and going back to sleep.

Today I decided I would take a few pictures of my friends and family to show the kids. They LOVED it! After the bible lesson and color time, I whipped out 4 photographs. One of my family, one of my friends, one of my brother and I, and one of Austin Thomas Looker and I. The photos were an immediate hit. After a brief explanation of who was who I was bombarded with questions far beyond what I imagined. They examined and sized up these 4 photos in great detail. I found it so cute. They wanted to know everything. I will restate a few of the comments for you.

Comments on the Family photo: A picture of myself, my brother, and my mom and dad on my dads 50th Birthday in January.

"Oh is that you Pa. He is 50 in age"

"Your Pa has small hair" ---- translation Your dad is BALD :) haha

"Your brother and you resemble"—translation you and your brother look alike

"Is that your sister".... no it’s my MOM!!!! Hahaha "Oh your ma look young"

"You look like your ma and your brother look like your pa"

"Who make that cake" I made the cake "Oh alright did you eat it" "It looks fine"

Comments on the friend’s photo: Picture of Nate and Kristen Brewer, Alaina, Sarah, Tom, and myself at my house before I left.

"Who are these people...they your brothers and your sisters". No they are my friends

"Oh.....they fine"

"He your boyfriend...pointing to Tom".. No that is my friend "Oh he fine"

"Oh she is pretty".. pointing to Sarah "very pretty"

"Is that your house" "Yes Oh it looks very fine"

"you bring them to see us some day"

Picture of Austin and I at a Cardinals game

"Who that, that your child"- that's my friend... they all laughed. "Your friend small"

"Who is that"-pointing to all the people in the background at the game

"Where you at, in America?" -Yes I am at a baseball game do you know what baseball is? NO! It's a game where you use a bat and hit a ball....OHHHH we know that...That's nice"

"Look at all these white people"-- white white white- as they pointed to crowds of people in the background.

And then comments on the picture of my brother and I

"Is that your brother? He FINE!!! Very Fine"

“You two resemble"

After we talked about the photos they asked me can we keep these. I said sure you can keep them. Then one of the kids ran inside and came back outside with a really old looking photo album. They sat down and took out photos that were currently occupying the album and replaced them with my photos.

Soooo Mom, Dad, Nate, Austin, Sarah, Alaina, Kristen, Nate and Thomas your faces will forever be left in Africa at the Frances Gaskin Rescue home for Abandon Children.

Consider yourself LUCKY!!!!!!!!

Next Saturday the kids are making the journey to visit us on the ship. They are excited, and, I am very excited! A few of the kids asked me if they could see where I rest…aka sleep, I told them sure I will have to make sure and clean my room and make my bed. :)


Oh and one last thing. On our ride home we can upon and accident. An elderly man had been hit. We saw the man lying on the pavement with blood gushing out of his head. Praise God, we had 3 nurses in our car. The 3 nurses, a male crew member, and myself jumped out of the car and ran over to the man. The nurses did nurse things,and myself and the Stephen did crowd control.

The scene was complete chaos, people running and screaming and crying. Bystanders gathering around to look and SNAP PHOTOS! Can you believe that…? I saw one lady who had a camera and was down in the victims face taking photos.... I told her to back up. People asking is he alive, does he have a pulse. The nurses used a lapa (material they use to make clothes here) to control the bleeding and a truck passing by offered to take the man to the hospital. So we loaded the man into the back of the truck and off the truck went…. Speeding to the hospital.

We got back in our Land Rover, said a prayer and headed back to the ship. Pray for this man and his family, we have no idea what happened and we have no idea how he is doing, but we do know God provided this man with a few nurses who knew how to take charge and how to react in a crisis. Thank God!

Just another Saturday of stories of my time here in Africa.

The Faces of Frances Gaskin

Above you will find a few of the faces that make up the children who live at the Frances Gaskin Rescue Home, an orphanage that I visit on Saturday mornings. I first started going about 2 months ago and I have been making it a regular part of my Saturday mornings ever since. I remember the first time I went I was a little disappointed in myself when I realized that it took me 3 months to get there in the first place. The kids are so lovely. I adore all of them. It is hard to describe the feelings of joy and excitement that I experience when we pull up in the Land Rovers and outside on the front porch stands about 30 kids all jumping up and down because they are so excited to see us coming. I have about 10 kids that are really close to my heart and every time I go they are waiting for me. Once they spot me in the Land Rover they all say Jessica is here. I think the kids are doing more for me than I am doing for them.

Here is a little more background info on the home. Frances Gaskin is operated by a Christian Liberian couple Evelyn and Emmanuel. There are 33 kids total at the home 3 of which are the couples birth children. Emmanuel’s grandmother started this home during the war. She noticed a bunch of wondering kids in the neighborhood so she decided to start taking care of them. After her death Evelyn and Emmanuel took over responsibilities of the home and named it Frances Gaskin Rescue Home after Emmanuel’s grandmother. Within the last few years they have built a 4 room house. One bedroom for the boys, one bedroom for the girls, a bedroom for Evelyn and Emmanuel, and a kitchen/ dinning room/ all purpose room; each of the kids rooms have 2 double bed mattresses that sit on the floor. All the children sleep on these beds. You can do the math. That makes for one cozy nights sleep.

The couple receives 5$ a month per kids from the government and they also receive 2 meals of rice a day for the kids through an orphanage relief organization. Could you imagine taking care of your children on 2 meals a day and 5$ a month, WOW what a task they have before them. There is also a 4 room school house on the premises where the children and other neighborhood kids attend classes.

Emmanuel and Evelyn are amazing. They have such hearts for God and these children. I had to ask Evelyn one day which three were her birth children. She said to me “you could not tell could you?” I said “No” she then replied “That is the way we want it, we want each of the kids to know they are equally important to us.”

I Thank God for people like Evelyn and Emmanuel, who are willing to give up everything for these children. They are currently trying to build latrines and they are also trying to dig a well so they have clean drinking water. Both of these projects take lots of money, something that they don’t have. Pray that I can seek God’s guidance on how I can help this home and these children. Evelyn told me once “This life is not easy, but God is faithful, and I would not have it any other way.”

For more pictures from Frances Gaskin click on the link to the right titled Frances Gaskin Home.

Halloween in Africa!

Last Friday was Halloween and Emily and I were invited to attend a dress up Halloween Party at the US Embassy hosted by the US UN. We have made friends with a few of the American UN soldiers and they were our tickets into the events for the evening. We both dressed up as pirates, we figured it was appropriate considering were we are currently living.

It was great fun hanging around fellow Americans. There was a time when I stopped and thought how crazy is this... we are at a Halloween Party with a bunch of American in Liberia, West Africa. HAHA

Last Saturday and Sunday Hanna, Karen, Jane, Nina, and I decided to get off the ship for a few days. It does a body good. We head by taxi to Thinkers Village about 45 minutes away from the ship. There we beached it and relaxed all day Saturday and all day Sunday. We stayed the night in a guest house that had a BATH TUB....which we were unable to use because the water pressure was so weak...but we were excited none the less to see a bath tub. :)

Below are pictures of the weekend....at the request of Alaina :)-love you friend!