Aboard Ship

Picture a carnival cruise liner fitted with a hospital in one deck of it and that's pretty close to what it feels like to be on the Africa Mercy. It is very nice! It was originally a Dutch carrier for railway cars before it was obtained by Mercy Ships and fitted out for its current service. You can still see the rails for the loading and unloading of the railway cars in the patient waiting area of the ship. Though large, it hasn't been very complicated to find my way around. I do feel it rocking occasionally and at first, had to convince myself that, for once, it was not all in my head! However, it has actually been very calm and the ship relatively still. Being anchored in port, I have spent this afternoon watching the shipping coming and going. There are many long, narrow local fishing boats, pointed at both ends, that motor in and out of the bay. I'm always surprised that they don't tip over when pulling in their heavy nets. Since the ship is tied up to one of the outside arms of the port, from one side of the ship I can watch them drop off their nets then collect them again, often catching only a handful of fish. Then on the other side of the boat, as they come into port. they stop off our starboard (right) side, turn their motors off, strip down and pull out a jug of water to bathe before redressing in clean clothes to go into port and go home. It would be impolite to go into public dirty. One boat of fisherman saw a friend and I standing at the rails and were waving for us to come with them--motioning for us to dive overboard (down about 4 stories!) and swim over to them. We laughed and waved them off! I also see a variety of bed-sheet looking sails on some boats. A few grain cargo ships and a ship full of large metal crates are in port accross the way. I can also see a tug boat and pilot boat, which I'm told are used to guide the large ships into port. However, there were not many people seen around the docks today as it is a national holiday. Benin is celebrating it's Independence Day!

As for what it's like being here, the best description I've been able to come up with is this feeling of being suspended in mid-air. Even though I am in Africa, because I've only been here a few days, I have not yet had much contact with the people or the culture (other than the airport on the way in!). So there is that world, still largely unknown by me. Then there is the world on board ship where there are so many different cultures and people that it is a culture all its own, fascinating and overwhelming all at the same time. And both of these are so different from the world I come from that it intimidates me and yet is familiar in so many ways because humans are really not all that different from one another!

As for my accomodations, there are six berths (beds) in our room--two berths stacked like bunkbeds, two-sided wardrobe, fold out desk with a four-shelf rack mounted on the wall above that. Each berth has a small reading light and a larger, brighter overhead light. The chambers are side by side with a narrow hallway connecting them--the doorway of the last chamber at one end of the hall and room door at the other. Next to our chamber and the room door is a small bathroom--only about 2-3x's the size of an average RV bathroom. Since on all of my other missions trips I've always had cold showers or bucket-baths, I was very pleasantly surprised to realize I could take hot showers! Yay for little things! (Of course these accomodations are much different than the others I've stayed in.)

For the nurses...In the hospital, there are four wards with about 20 beds each, no curtains between patients, and sometimes family members sleeping under the bed. The paperwork is much simplified compared to what I am used to and so are the pre-op/post-op procedures. There are several operating suites, x-ray, CT scanner, lab, and pharmacy. There is also a three bed ICU, not often in use. For MMC ICU nurses... here's what's funny! We have low census here this weekend but we do actually have an ICU patient! Even though I'm hired as an ICU nurse, I'm actually only needed as a ward nurse most of the time. So it feels like home! ;0P

As for me, I've had a relaxing afternoon to explore the ship and just rest and read. I got caught up on most of the papers I was given when I came and read through a fascinating book called "Foreign to Familiar" by Sarah Lenier. She is a woman who travels all of the world and has lived in and studied a variety of cultures and found a few generalizations to make adjustment to a new culture a little easier. It was really interesting, and though I'm still thinking through a lot of what she said, it does make sense with what I've already experienced in other cultures. Very good read! And that's my book report today....

I'm looking forward to a national church service in the morning, so I'll tell you about that adventure tomarrow!