Monday, August 31, 2009

Experiencing Africa Venice Style


This weekend twelve of us headed by boat to a village called Ganvie. What makes this village so interesting is that it sits about six feet above Lake Nokoue – entirely on stilts. Ganvie is home to roughly 25,000 Africans of the Tofinu tribe. The stilt village was built to escape enslavement from a neighboring tribe called the Fon. The Fon people believed the water was cursed so they wouldn’t fight over it. Therefore, the Tofinu people lived safely thanks to the water below them. In Tofinu, Ganvie translates to “those who finally found peace.”
Given the large prevalence of water-borne disease here in Africa, I find this whole “safety by water” history slightly ironic. Example in point: this highly technological toilet where you relieve yourself into your own personal water plot. Good thing no one fell in.

In Ganvie, everyone travels by handmade canoe to the various homes, school, medical clinic, hotels, bars, beauty shops, and even the local post office. Each family has its own plot of water on which to fish. At one point the government tried to tax the Ganvie citizens for the water plots, but the people refused, claiming that their ancestors had the rights to the water and so should they. Eventually the government gave up.

Fishing drives the economy as evidenced by the many fishermen casting their nets on the hour long boat ride north out of Cotonou. The people of Ganvie plant branches on the lagoon bottom. As the branch leaves decompose, the fish come and the fisherman cast their nets.

Tourism also thrives. The African children here understand economics all too well as they readily beg to exchange anything - a photo op or a pretty African flower for a shiny new coin. Tours to this small retreat of African life are a daily occurrence, so the citizens of Ganvie were less than thrilled to have their picture taken (unless of course some form of payment was involved.) Most of my pictures are still shots, as I didn’t want to exacerbate the tourism tendencies. Click here to check out my photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33470&id=1038415965&l=3e90c4f7c0

Other highlights: The Challenge of Driving

Being that Cotonou is a major port access for the rest of the country, many cargo trucks sit for hours on end waiting to get onto the dock. Since we didn’t want to wait endlessly with these trucks that were blocking the entire road, we just went over the median and drove on the wrong side of the street. Conclusion: land rovers are a most definite necessity here in Africa.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Week One Highlights

The days fly by too quickly living on this huge ship. So many told me I would have all this down time without grocery shopping and bills to pay and errands to run, but thus far, no such luck. Life here on the Africa Mercy is proceeding at an alarming rate, and I’m learning that I need to be more intentional with my time. So for now, just a quick re-cap via photos.

The Gates family has arrived! The “Gates family” is my Gateway fam - all the people with whom I spent the last month in TX, learning and growing in numerous ways. As of this week, the majority of us are here, with a few stragglers making their way in the coming months. It's so nice to have these folks around as we share the newness of ship life together. Ahhh community living - only gets better from here!

I visited the hospitality center this weekend. This is the equivalent of an out-patient clinic just down the way from the Africa Mercy dock. It houses the pre and post-op patients as the Africa Mercy hospital beds are at a premium. A mattress sits underneath each patient bed so a care giver can sleep next to the patient, and the mosquito nets are above.
Mercy Ships had a local group come in and paint fun themes above each bed space - usually fruits, animals, and such....except for this very kid-friendly hatchet! Supposedly, it was painted to chop away the sickness.

Eating ice cream. While this may not seem like quite the momentous occasion, I share this point only because as Jesse and Jamie and I are enjoying our milky desserts this past weekend the power goes out. All the employees just get up in the dark and walk downstairs, leaving us to sit and eat our ice cream in the pitch black stillness of the African ice cream shop.
As I continue on into my pistachio milkshake, the power returns. But no, just a few sweet seconds later it goes out again. Pure third world electrical goodness.

Hotel Du Lac - where many Mercy Shippers relax on their off days, was our Saturday excursion. As you can see, I unfortunately was a bit early in the group flip effort. We had a group diving board effort as well.

That's a recap of some fun tidbits from the past week.* Now, off to French class. While many of the Africans speak the local dialect (42-plus dialects in Benin alone) French is the official language of both Benin and Togo (the 2010 Mercy Ships location)…and just in - the ship will be spending the second half of 2010 in South Africa. Now, I’m really late for class. Au revoir!

*Of note, I actually am working here in Africa despite what my current blog updates may depict. More on that soon.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Just A Day At The Beach


Thus far I've been settling in quite nicely and relaxing. It was a three day weekend here on the ship which means a good majority of the people went out of town. I couldn't find anyone who actually knew what the holiday was that we were celebrating on Friday, but according to Wikipedia, we were celebrating Assumption Day, which honors the virgin Mary’s ascent to heaven. In addition to unpacking, trying to sleep and getting things settled, a bunch of us went to the beach, or rather the "beach club." Yes that's right, this beach club is complete with ocean, pool and tennis court. Brings me back to my Malibu days! (Other than the constant slight stench of African body odor and the smelly water) ..... =)


Picturesque!


Haley, me and Jamie soaking up some African sun

Work starts tomorrow so I’m off to bed. In the meantime, here are some fun facts I’ve acquired from various sources – the CIA World Factbook, WHO and Wikipedia (so I don't think I can validate the authenticity of this last resource), but interesting nonetheless!

Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in Western Africa with a population of almost 8,500,000. Its capital is Porto Novo, but the seat of government is Cotonou (where we are docked). Benin is slightly smaller than Pennsylvania and the coastline measures 75 miles. In the north and the northwest of Benin the Reserve du W du Niger and Pendjari National Park attract tourists eager to see elephants, lions, antelopes, hippos, and monkeys.
About a third of the population lives below the international poverty line of US $1.25 per day. Natural resources include small offshore oil deposits, unexploited deposits of high quality marble limestone, and timber. Agricultural products include corn, sorghum, cassava, tapioca, yams, beans, rice, cotton, palm oil, cocoa, peanuts, poultry, and livestock.

Although trade unions in Benin represent up to 75% of the formal workforce, the large informal economy has been noted by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITCU) to contain ongoing problems, including a lack of women's wage equality, the use of child labour and the continuing issue of forced labour.

The population is young, with a life expectancy of 59 years. The average number of children born is 5.49 children born/woman (2009 est.) 148 children out of 1000 will die before the age of five. 31% of the children who don't die by the age of five are stunted in their growth due to lack of proper food supply.
Local languages are used as the languages of instruction in elementary schools, with French only introduced after several years. Education (2007): 48% of men are literate, and 23% of women are as well. The school life expectancy (primary to tertiary): Male: 9 years, Female: 6 years.

Several religions are practiced in Benin. Animism is widespread (50%), and its practices vary from one ethnic group to the other. Muslims account for 20% of the population and Christians for 30%. Many nominal Muslims and Christians continue to practice animistic traditions. Voodoo originated in Benin and was introduced to Brazil and the Caribbean Islands by African slaves taken from this particular area of the Slave Coast.

Benin's politics take place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, where the President of Benin is both head of state and head of government, within a multi-party system. The political system transitioned to democracy in 1991 after many previous years of political unrest.

Pretty interesting stuff!

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Finally Here

So I thought I had this time difference thing all worked out, but at four a.m. and two Benadryl later, I am still wide awake. Time for a blog update!

Jamie and I made it in late Wednesday night. We were two hours late, thanks to our fellow passengers that were meandering around the Paris airport somewhere, holding up the departure of the plane. No need to just leave without them (perhaps the more logical choice by American standards), as that would require finding their luggage underneath the plane. So we waited….and waited some more. This concept of “African time” has begun! Joy =)

Since my arrival a mere two days ago it still feels somewhat surreal that I am actually here. I first heard about Mercy Ships over two years ago and got really excited about going at that time. But the more I prayed about it then, the more God changed my heart and made me sad about leaving my job at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. So I stayed. Now, two and a half years later, after much more prayer and confirmation, I know this is where I’m supposed to be, and I love it. I love meeting all these people here and I love learning their stories. I love that I constantly have to steady myself as the ship sways back and forth all day long (which, by the way, makes for a very interesting attempt at an early morning Tae Bo session.) I love that if I want, I can catch up with old friends over ice cream on deck seven as the smell of the ocean air envelops us. I really just love soaking in the newness of it all. I am finally here.

If you know me well, I’ve probably whipped out one of my quote books in discussion. Perhaps a tad bit corny, but I think they are great. I thought I'd share this one I came across recently, as I think it really exemplifies the mindset of those here. It's called "A Benediction":

"May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace. May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy. And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done." ~ Unknown

I've barely gotten my feet wet here on the Africa Mercy, but I've seen what a cool group of people these folks are. They do really amazing things. Call me foolish, but I’m so happy to be here amongst them.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Leaving On A Jet Plane


Well here I am, sitting at Phoenix Sky Harbor waiting to board my plane via Atlanta, Paris and then on to Cotonou, Benin - my home for the many months ahead! A quick recap of my summer since my last post:
I finished up my four weeks of Mercy Ships training in Lindale TX. The last week was basic safety training which involved fighting fires (literally) and water safety principles. My appreciation for fire fighters has grown exponentially since wearing the ridiculously hot and heavy fire gear all day in the humid TX heat!

Here is where all the magic happened- we fought fires inside this container and even managed to drag out a 165 pound dummy (sort of drag - more like step on him in the thick smoke and fall over and kill him first. My bad).


Trying on the self contained breathing apparatus equipment



and happy to be done!


I then headed home to MN (via Oklahoma to visit Jamie) to visit with the fam, get a little cabin sun time in and say goodbye. My motivation to take photos is diminishing so no MN pics unfortunately.

Jamie and I in downtown Oklahoma City

Next stop Phoenix - to say goodbye to friends and and take care of last minute Africa plans. Highlight: my fabulous goodybe soiree/clothing swap with work friends (Thanks Kyr!!) So fun!
I then headed up to Camp Rainbow in Prescott for a week of fun with the kiddos from the Cancer Center. Here, many of the PCH staff on our messy night. Nice and clean beforehand....


...and after


So after a commissioning at church last night and a final dinner at Oreganos

(some of the folks from dinner here)


I am finally, after two years of wanting to do this, off to Africa. It's a strage mix of emotions: pure joy and excitement, fear and sadness all wrapped up into the pit of my stomach! Ahhh! But I really believe that this is where I am supposed to be and I am excited to see how this all unfolds. More to come soon!