TGIF!

When I stepped on board tonight at 5:15 pm I was so glad it was Friday. What a week. We spent Monday- Wednesday working hard setting up and Thursday and Friday working hard seeing our first round of patients. When we arrived on Wednesday morning there were approx. 350 people waiting for us. There was no line no order just a mass of people who had been waiting for only God knows how long. I tried to explain to them that we were only going to be able to see 50 people, and they were not happy about that. I spent the next 2 1/2 hours sorting through patients, lining people up, telling people to come back another day, and telling people no I am sorry we can not see you today please come back. I remember tell this one lady after she had just told me.... but I need my tooth out. Madam, we can not see all the people of Benin today. She laughed and agreed. I spent the rest of the day refusing patients, and assuring them that we will be in operation until December. CRAZY!

Today when we arrived there were our 50 patients that we had given appointments to on Thursday for today plus an additional 80 people plus the 530+ eye patients. (The eye team works at our facility on Fridays) We arrived and thought here we go again. Another crazy day and to top it all off 2 of our dental units stopped working. haah! What can you do. At the end of the day the patients were treated and we were tired and happy to go home.

I with out a doubt have seen Gods hand at work this entire week. I can't believe the strength and wisdom He has given me in just one week. I told the team at the end of today GOOD JOB and next week is a new week! ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND.

Things will get better. It will take a month I am guessing for people to start to understand our system of operation. The team did Fantastic and were real troupers.I know it will be a smooth routine within a couple of weeks. Until then I will continue to be a crazy mad women running around like a chicken with its head cut off. :)

Enjoy your weekend I know I will. At the pool I think.

This picture does not do the mass crowd justice. However this was all I was bale to snap. This would be a picture of the 80 people we did not get to see today.

From nothing to SOMETHING!

Monday the dental team started what felt like the never ending task of setting up the clinic. We were all excited because things were finally starting to move. We loaded up 4 trucks and 2 Landrovers and made our way to the clinic. When we arrived we had approx. 75 patients waiting there for us. After an hr or so of talking with people through a translator of course.... (I need to learn French) I finally got everyone settled down and told them to return on Thursday.

We spent all day Monday, Tuesday, and today getting things in order. We went from having NO power or water, no working generators, nothing set up or unpacked, no day volunteers to having water, power,working generators, 11 day volunteers, and all the instruments autoclaves and supplies accounted for and working.

We are ready to go. Tomorrow will be our first day of seeing patients. We are all so excited that we might not be able to sleep tonight.... Well I take that back, I don't think any of us will have trouble sleeping tonight. I have worked from 7am till 11:30 pm for the past three days. It has been another week of long hot hard days but tomorrow patients will be in our chairs and our clinic will be functioning. WOO HOO!.!

From this on Monday:

To this a Functioning Dental Clinic today:

The Night Before........

It's the night before it all starts. The beds are ready and the crew is rested. Tomorrow our first round of patients will be admitted. Tuesday will be the first day for surgeries.

The dental team is heading to the clinic tomorrow to start getting it set up. We are hoping to start seeing patients by Thursday.

Keep these patient in your prayers, tomorrow is a big day for them and for all of us as well.

Brief briefing on screening. Day 1

WOW! I am tired but so full and content. Today was an amazing day, and we screened a lot of people almost 2,000 to be more precise. I worked in just about every station possible. I started my day off at 6am in security, then moved into my dental role and screened and weeded out dental patients and instructed them to come to our clinic that this was not the screening for them, transported patients from pre-screening to health histories, served water, played with kids, and helped pack things up. It was hot and long but these people saw Jesus through us today and we saw Jesus through these people and that is all that matters.

We do it all again tomorrow. Same time same place. Pray that we can have the strength and compassion to see these people for who they really are and not just another surgery number. As I looked around the lines today I could not help but think of all the peoples lives that are going to be changed in the next 10months through these surgeries. And this is where it all starts, a hot, long, humid , but glorious day in Benin.

Avotrou

Enjoy your first look at Avotrou Medical Center in the area of Akpakpa. This is the location of our dental clinic for the Benin field service. Today Dag and I were able to actually get out there and take a look around. What we found was a facility that is going to be WONDERFUL! It is clean, spacious, new, secure, dependable electricity and water, and in a good location.- It even has a little bit of landscaping. :)

We were both so excited after we left the clinic tonight. We were getting a bit discouraged this week considering we planned to be in the clinic by now and all ready to go. However our plan did not allow for customs, keys, and car registration issues. So as things starting to look in the upward direction we have regained our vision.

The MANY keys to the clinic- each door has a key.

The entrance from the street well actually the dirt road.

The eye team is working with us on Fridays, here is there clinic the dispensaire.

Here is our building the maternite. It has lots and lots of rooms. BIG!
Outside waiting area.

Hygiene room. Please take notice of the lights and fans. They are in all the rooms. :)

Bathrooms and showers???? for out patients.. no pepe outside. And we have flowers.......................

Hitting the paved sidewalks :)

Saturday I spent my first day out and about. We left around 12pm and wondered back to the ship around 5:30pm. My brief first impression of Cotonou parts of the city are nicer, cleaner, and more developed than Liberia. Other parts are just as poor. I have found that knowing French is important and I need to learn at least the basics so I can meet these people where they are at. For now I will go everywhere with my French Phrase book..... hoping and praying that my French speaking roommate can be of assistants in teaching me a thing or two about this language.

The pictures are compliments of my roommate Carmen and other crew members who were out and about this weekend. I did not take my camera so I am glad they did. :)

The ship docked in Cotonou

The fishing dock located just to the left of ours.

A goat just hanging out on the sidewalk. Totally Normal.
In Liberia this would say no pepe here....... in Benin it says Interdit d'uriner ici.

The streets
Look at all the lovely produce they have here. :)
City Street

Business Transaction.

Thursday Dag( the crew dentist) and I headed out on a little business adventure. We were needing to go discuss a few things with a local man who will be fabricating all of our dentures and replacements for our patients. We had been told that this man was very good and his prices were cheap. Cheap is good, cheap mean more patients will be able to receive replacements, but cheap can also mean poor quality. So for the first time we hit the streets on Cotonou in search of the denture man. Once we found the business we had a conversation through a translator of course... (the man spoke zero English) and we both agreed that Seidou would be our new denture man. :)

Things are moving rather slowly, we have not received clearance or registration yet for our vehicles so we have not been able to get out to see out clinic site yet. Which is sad and a little discouraging, we all kind of thought we would have had at least started setting the clinic up by now. Oh well what can you do, NOTHING! We are all praying the cars are cleared Monday and that things can really get rolling this week. Please keep our big screening days in your prayers. They are this coming Thursday and Friday. Pray God will lead those He has plans for to us and lead those He has other plans for away from us. We are expecting up to 4,000 people to show up.

Oops... did I do that.

I found out today that old celery, lettuce, and black olives are not items that should be flushed down the toilet here on the Africa Mercy. I think I temporally lost my mind for about 2 minutes today. Those 2 minutes of temporary insanity caused an hrs worth of work for the plumber to reverse. I told them I had no excuses I just wasn't thinking. I guess I figured that since the toilets make such loud suction noises every time you flush them that meant that they would also make great garbage disposals. WRONG!

Bodily Waste and Toilet Paper ONLY!
Sorry!

Docked !?!

We are docked! The picture above is of our dock. In order for us to get to shore we have to jump from post to post and hope we don't lose our balance and fall into the water. Port officials told us they would get it fixed by the end of the month which means in African time by the end of the field service. Only in West Africa is this acceptable.......good thing I have been practicing my Tae Bo on the sail and have built up fairly good balancing skills. I tell you what!

HAHAHAH Only Kidding. Well about the picture of the dock that is.

It is true that we are docked in Cotonou, Benin. However I have not stepped foot on ground yet. We were not cleared with immigrations and health inspectors until 8:00 this evening. By that time is was dark and made no sense to wonder out into an unknown country just for the sake of wondering. So on the ship I continue to sit. I hope tomorrow I will get time to get off and explore this intriguing new city. Not much else to report at this time.

So close...yet so far.

Those lights you see in the horizon, that would be Benin. Due to engine problems that have not been fixed yet we are currently at anchor just off the coast of Cotonou. The faults were discovered right before we set in for our approach to the port. Although we will spend another night at sea..... I am thankful the problems were discovered before we attempted to dock. Maybe tomorrow I will set my feet on solid ground and then again maybe not. At least we are safe.... and we can see our new city in the distance.

The Calm before the Storm. Arrival Day 9am

As I sit here in my office trying to do work I find my mind other places. Places that are unknown, unfamiliar, unaware, new, different, challenging, exciting, scary, and so much more. I can't help but feel like this very moment is the calm before the storm. In just an hour or so we will begin our approach into Cotonou, Benin. Once there we will dock and an hour and a half later we will find ourselves in the middle of a welcoming ceremony that is suggested to last up to 4 hours. After that the crazy storm will begin. The next few weeks will be filled with unpacking, setting up, and settling in.

This morning I was sitting on my bed reading my Bible and drinking a cup of coffee trying to gather and sort through my thoughts, emotions, nerves, and excitement for this upcoming day.

In the next room my roommate Carmen was doing the same. I heard her call my name and as I went in to see what she wanted she smiled and said read this, it is my devotional reading for the day Mark 6:53-56:

53When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. 54As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. 55They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.

Amazed, I returned to my room and finished reading my devotion for the day Isaiah 40, which I have read many times before, but today it comforted me in a way I had never experienced before:

28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

I find God so complex yet so simple at times and I love to be surprised each new day with how it is He chooses to reveal himself to us.

Pray that the people of Benin see Jesus through us and pray that our strength will not be dependant on our own strength but on the strength of the only one who is everlasting. The only one who NEVER grow tired or weary.

First Glimpse

We are arriving tomorrow in BENIN...Praise Jesus! 9 days at sea is too much for me.

I thought I would let you all get a first glimpse at our new dental clinic. These pictures were emailed to me from the advanced team who has been stationed in Benin since November working all the details for the field service out. Wednesday the dental team hopes to drive out to our clinic so we can visually see how things are going to work. Thursday and Friday we hope to start set up. :)

More to come after we ARRIVE tomorrow!

Sailing Update:

We are getting closer. We are now in Ghanaian Territory.

If you look at the map you will notice we have Ghana-Togo- then BENIN....... Monday is coming.

Top left corner...Canary Islands is where we started over a week ago and Benin is were we are ending Monday.

Killer Whales

This morning we were cruising along the waters of Ivory Coast and Shamu was spotted really close to the ship.

TGIF.....

Thank God it's FRIDAY.... not that we get to walk on ground at all this weekend, but it will be nice to be able to sleep in, lay out and regain my bronzed African skin tones, watch endless hours of The Office and Scrubs again....and just simple let it soak in that on Monday we will be in Benin and on Monday it all starts again.

I am excited lets get this show on the road!


Sailing update:



Location: We sailed on past Liberia today and into the waters of the Ivory Coast
Weather Today Rain
Weather Tomorrow: Sunny I hope--
Plans for the weekend........................ GOOD Question.
Days at sea: 6

Our old stomping grounds......

Today we passed by our old stomping grounds..... Monrovia, Liberia. I took a little photo and emailed it to my friend Lucy. You might remember me talking about her in previous posts. She is so special to me and I am so happy that we have kept in contact with each other. Thank God for the Internet. I emailed this picture to her in hopes that it will bring a smile to her face today!

Dolphin Spotting!

Sailing Update:Still Sailing!

Sailing update as of 4:45 my time....

Location: just entering the coast of Sierra Leone

Weather: Not sure of the weather conditions outside....I have been inside working on the computer all day:( weather conditions on board...stuffy

Activities planned for the evening: Working out to Billy Blanks & Watching a little Scrubs season 6 and Office Season 4 :)

Sailing Update: Senegal

Updated as of 8:15 my time 1:15 CST

Day 4

Location: Just off the coast of Senegal

Weather: clear skies, warmer weather, open seas, & a beautiful sunset tonight

ETA: Tuesday February 10 mid morning

We are currently sailing along in the area where the red marker is below.

Sailing Update: Mauritania

Sailing Update

Day: 3

Location: We are somewhere off the coast of Mauritania.

Weather: Clear skies, warm weather, blues sea, smooth sailing

Duration: 7 days tomorrow

I am alive!

It is true I am alive. I know most of you might have thought my flight from St.Louis to Tenerife might have disappeared off the side of they earth however........ I made it.

Yesterday was my first day were I actually felt alive. Jet lag did a number on me this time around. I arrived Wednesday evening after a long adventurless journey- which i guess is good but makes for boring blogs. :)

Thursday I hit the ground running. With only 2 days left in Tenerife I wanted to get my share of land, shopping, hanging out, blending in, and enjoyment. I found myself leaving little time for sleep and Saturday it hit me. I think 20 out of he 24 hours on Saturday were spent sleeping. But I am happy to report that yesterday was my first day of no naps since I have arrived. I guess that is a good qualifier for being over the jet lag.

Saturday the ship set sail with its final destination being Cotonou, Benin, West Africa. The sail back has been much different that the sail in December. Which is good because I was really dreading it. This time around it has been rather relaxing, smooth, and the weather is absolutely beautiful. Clear skies, Blue water, and the temperature continues to rise.

I am settling into my new job with ease so far, this morning we had a Benin briefing and this afternoon I worked on getting things ready for the 6 new dental team members that will be arriving a few days after we arrive in Cotonou. I hope they are as excited to arrive as I am excited to meet them.

Well that is it for now below are a few pictures from my travels, my few days in Ternerife, and the sailing away.

Welcome back to my blog people!

At the airport in stl.
The view from the plane of the Mt. I hiked in December before I came home.

Tenerife from the plane

driving practice....Nate you will be glad to know I did good!

The first complete rainbow I have ever experienced. It was beautiful!

Playing at the park! Tenerife as we sailed away.