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Sunset
Our sunset after an amazing day at the mines. Seriously never get tired of looking at the African Sunsets here. Hope you don't mind looking at them too! Well, we have been in "transition" for a week now and I have found myself really missing the patients and working with the translators. It is an odd feeling so far to be here but not working as a nurse. I have volunteered myself and my services to te Operations Director, Graeme Walls, who is in charge of the whole transition. I am his personal assistant! And you guessed it, he's a bit stressed out and all over the place, going to meetings, talking to everyone, constantly answering emails... cause it's not like we have done this before... moved onto another ship.
But I have yet again, volunteered for something I had NO idea what I was getting myself into. So now I work at a desk all day, in front of a computer, compling lists and documents and running errands for my new "boss," Graeme. Good thing I did well in computer classes back in my high school days!! NERD>.. cause it's all coming back to me as I am asked to many things with no direction! just do it!
So it has been a bit frustrating working at something that really challenges me and puts me way
sky
Just a bit of the sky with some leaves. Really like this picture...even though you may find it boring!
out of my comfort zone... sitting at a computer all day, with no window. And I am not with any of my nursing friends... but something I have really been challenged with is to readjust my attitude for serving. I should be willing to serve in whatever capacity that is given to me with the same heart and the same passion. I am still here at Mercy Ships, on the Anastasis and apart of a history in the making during this transition and I have been attempting to really adjust my attitude towards that.
I had this gentle reminder yesterday as we had a "Ward Celebration." Basically, we invited the translators, and all the medical staff and anyone that has adopted a patient or come and prayed with patients... basically anyone having any contact with patients... we came to the empty ward, which has no beds left and no equipment there... all packed up. We came and we did not mourn the fact that we have closed those ward's doors for the last time on the Anastasis, but we celebrated that the ward was even open and all the lives that have been changed because of it. EVERYONE, has
Ward Celebration
Here is just a little caption of the ward ceremony we had for the last time on the Anastasis, we sang many song and Dr. Gary Parker spoke on the many changes over the years... sucesses and losses as well. A very powerful time. a story in those walls... nurses, doctors, patients and crew alike... all have life changing, perspective changing stories of lives that have been transformed - inside and out...
SO, last night, I was again reminded what this is all about. And for this transition to happen, we all have to play our parts to allow this ministry to continue... whether it's sitting behind a computer, packing boxes, labeling items to be donated... it is all part of a grander scheme to pass the torch to the Africa Mercy to continue on from what the Anastasis has been able to accomplish.
The Africa Mercy is now 8 days away and it's neat hearing the stories of their journey. I am glad that I am not on that ship as it has been quite the ride. Storms and choppy water has produced many sick ship-mates and thrown some of the equipment around and left dents in others. They have now had a days rest in the Canary Islands before sailing again towards us, Liberia, it's destination.
The more I think about this transition, the more I realize how sad of a time this is for some of the long term
Cars on Train
This is the picture of the train car with the land rovers loaded on to take the train up to bong mines... crew. Some are losing their home that they have lived on for years. Even one girl came back from the USA to stay for 2 weeks because the Anastasis was her childhood home for 12 years while her parents served on this ship. Odd concept for this little small town farm girl.
But regardless of my whinning about not being a nurse anymore... we still manage to have some fun here on and off this ship! Here's a few stories for you for your entertainment!
Story number 1
We go play volleyball sometimes with the UN base soliders that have their base situated right outside our gates. They are from Nepal... so many times when we are walking down the drive to the dock we see them exercising, or doing drills or just patroling as usual... a normal sight here... men in uniforms with guns!
So, someone at some point saw them play volleyball on a court at their base and joined up with them and played, so now, basically whenever we want, we can go over to the base and walk in past the guards and join in the fun. we play after supper until it
roof top view
Here's a view from the train from over the bridge as we were leaving Movrovia. It's neat to have a bird's eye view of the city and how people live gets dark.
But that's not even the fun part! The best part is playing in an area that is completely surrounded by razor wire! So we have lost a total of 4 volleyballs now from the likes of the razor wire as we shank balls or they go out of bounds without anyone catching them. So much for the game... so they got many of the NCO's (non-commanding officers) to surround the court to catch the balls that went out of bounds. Yesterday, I went to play again... usually about 2 girls go with the rest being guys from the ship and Nepalese soilders. It was a couple weeks since I had been last, so I noticed something was different. Again, remember here that razor wire surrounding buildings and atop of fences is a normal vision here... I don't even look twice anymore... but I noticed that something was different.... they had removed the razor wire from some places and replaced it wa a normal fence and surrounded the razor wire in other places with fencing material!! The games MUST go on!!
I asked about it to a commanding officer watching on the sidelines and he had said it was
Sitting on the Land rovers
You can see it was awesome to sit on top of the land rover's as we were on the train to bong mines. It got very hard on the eyes from the smoke from the engine. But awesome nonetheless! getting too expensive to buy new volleyballs all the time so they built a fence!
They also offered tea to the people who were sitting on the sidelines... so the commanding officer yelled at one of the other guys and a few minutes later here he comes back with a tray and tea in tea cups and saucers! Picture this.... sitting on the sidelines with a bunch of Nepal Soilders, in West Africa, sweating like crazy and very dirty (cause if any of you know me at all, you know that I cannot play half-heartedly... I was diving for balls and playing hard to keep up with the boys) sitting on the sidelines sipping tea from a tea cup and saucer, with an officer complementing me on my "lifting" of the ball (setting)!!! ONLY IN AFRICA - is the only response that I have found so far for that odd sight... maybe it's funnier to me than you all will find this... but hey- it keeps me entertained!!!
Story number 2
Ususally weekends are our only time to get off the ship and explore around Monrovia so we find ourselves going to the beach or out for dinner
The back of the train
Looking out at theback of the train as we were travelling out to the bong mines! it was amazing. etc.... but saterday we went to the Bong Mines... basically a 2 1/2 hour train ride up the country to an old mining area for IRON ORE. The mining camp and area has been abandoned since 1990 during the war, and now it is unuseable, rusted and stripped of anything of value from theives. But there is still the remenants of the structures and a very larg quary that has filled with clean fresh water... it is breathtaking.
But to get there, as I mentioned, a train takes us. But there is not normal train cars, there is a flat deck car that we drive the Mercy Ships landrovers on to and then we sit ontop of the landrover's or whereever we want to... the Liberian people have graciously allowed us to go along with them on their saterday runs up the country for free because they appreciate all we do for the Liberian people. Again... just another priveledge of being a Mercy Shiper!!
It's like a big parade as we sit ontop of the land rover's... all the kids hear the train horn and come running and wave excitedly with both hands extended yelling and laughing... it's quite the
Walking on the water
Okay, here I am just hanging out on the water.. enough said! time!! Never felt so popular.
But at the mines and the lake, it's breathtaking and lovely water to swim in. We had a picnic lunch and swam out to the middle of the lake to the rocks and did some cliff jumping etc... of course I have to do that too!!! (I can just see my mother shaking her head at that one!!)
A wonderful day! It's so hard being a missionary... poor me eh??? haha
But then in the evening, we were having a little dance lesson on the aft deck of the ship to learn some traditional celtic dances... when we kept hearing these pages on the overhead for all the deck hands and the plummer to go to C1 (an area 3 floors down on the ship at the front of the ship).... all the good dancing men were being taken away from us!!! we were getting disappointed... but then the next overhead page was "Anyone having a spare bucket, please come to C1 immediately, if you don't have a bucket, don't come!!!" That could only mean one thing ---- flood...!!!!
So we all rushed there... I lingered cause I didn't have a bucket, but then
The quary
Here is a view from where I was eating my lunch. This is the lake that we swam in. and the rocks on the left side we climbed up a bit and would jump off into the deep water. It is estimated that the lake is about 2oo feet deep! soon jonied the line-up of people up 3 flights of stairs up to the outside of the ship to pass buckets of full water to dump off the deck of the ship and pass the buckets back down. It worked beautifully and soon enough we had the water under control. Luckily the pipe that burst was caught early enough that all the belongings were taken from the floor without getting too wet. A pipe burst in C1 which is girl's dorm rooms!! So that was the excitement for the evening... sadly our dance was cut short, but hyey- we all had something exciting to talk about for awhile.
Story number 3
And sunday, was a friend's birthday, and since it's hard to do anything, we decided to go out for dinner to the Golden Beach Restaurant.... basically... it's a restaurant that sits right on the beach... so as we ate on the beach we watched the sunset, the colors of the clouds and water ever changing from hues of red and orange to a deep blue as night was taking over.... we were also looking and listening to the waves crashing right in front of us. It's enough
The beach
Here's a different view of the beach that we go to on the weekends. to really just realize just how beautiful Africa is. Glad people have birthdays!! It's a great way to spend an evening... good conversation with new friends from all over the world with that kind of scenery! WOW... again... it's so hard to be a missionary eh!!!?? hahah... I don't take any of those moments for granted... but I am trying to soak in all the sights, sounds, smells (well not all the smells), and the feelings of being with friends that accept you for who you are as a person... all a part of the same mission... really special!
so yes, there are frustrations, but there are also memories being made that put things back into perspective and memories that will stay in my head forever. I only have aweek and a half left here on the Anastasis and in Liberia... and there are more memories to be made.
Thanks for reading and thanks to all the thoughts and prayers and emails that have been sent my way. I feel them every day and appreciate them every day.
There are more stories to come... as I am doing a bit of investigating into some orphanages and have a
Birthday Celebration
Picture of Ladonna, Moira, Dara and I on the beach at sunset as we were celebrating Ladonna's birthday! beautiful!! really cool story to tell you of a patient that came to Mercy Ship and how we are helping him!
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Louise
non-member comment
What an incredible life-changing (not just for you) experience. You look awesome, by the way.