A Day In The Engine Room

Last Saturday was a black-out day. This means there was no electricity on the ship from 7am onward, so most people went off ship to explore our new surroundings in town.  My roomie Sandra and I decided we would stay on board and try something new:  help out in the engine room to clean the water coolers.  With our arrival into the port just a few days prior, we didn't yet have local Africans working on the ship to help out downstairs.  The Chief Engineer asked for help from the non-engine room folks onboard, and Sandra and I thought it would be fun to volunteer for something so different. 

During the sail  shells, sand, and other fun things make their way into the water cooling system.  It's necessary to clean the coolers before and after each sail to keep the water freely flowing and the engines cool.  This is a full day task that involves turning off all the generators to clean, hence the blackout.  I-pods and speakers in hand, we headed downstairs to suit up and get cleaning.  Below you can see all the gunk that had accumulated.  

Here are Sandra and I with the other non-engine room helpers Ginger and Alainie after our first cleaning attempt.  Different teams took turns cleaning due to the strenuous nature of the work.

Cleaning involved inserting a long, thin, flexible brush into the holes to clear out all the shells and other sea remnants that restricted the water flow. One of the brushes even had an electronic hose head to help dissipate the sea remains and get through the cooler.  Removing the brush also removed whatever was stuck inside. We only got shells, sand and smelly sea water, but in the past they've had live crabs! 

There are 1500 holes in each water cooler and the brush goes into the cooler for about three meters before it comes back out again.  With two coolers onboard, that math alone means we cleaned miles of water cooler space! 

Here we are taking a break between two of our six engines. They were off the entire time we were downstairs, but it was still pretty hot. The engines themselves were about 125 degrees Fahrenheit.

Despite our multiple battle wounds...

...we are still smiling at the end of the day with some of the regular engine room guys!

To top off our experience, one of our engine room friends Dennis let us re-start the ship  after our day long black out!  Perhaps not a normal day by Mercy Ships standards, but nontheless, fun times were definitely had in the engine room!

Welcome to Togo - Part 1

We made it!  Yesterday right around lunchtime we arrived at the port in Lome, Togo - our home for the next six months.  Here is our dock complete with a welcoming party eagerly awaiting our arrival!

We were greeted by many Africans in song and dance

...and even a sea turtle (a good sign that the water quality can't be that bad!)

Mercy Ships works on an invitation-only ideal in regard to the chosen country of service for any given year. However, when looking at field service potential, many things are taken into consideration.  Amongst these decision factors is the Human Development Index. 

The Human Development Index is a tool established by the United Nations that ranks countries based on three areas:  living a long and healthy life (measured by life expectancy), being educated (measured by adult literacy and gross enrolment in education) and having a decent standard of living (measured by purchasing power parity, PPP, income).  Currently Togo ranks almost at the bottom - 159th out of 182 countries ranked.  Hence, Mercy Ships is here.  

I thought in this blog I'd share a little info in regard to Togo to have a frame of reference. Part II will include what Mercy Ships is doing to help out Togo.  Look for that coming soon.  This info is taken from the trusty CIA World Fact Book and the (sometimes not so trusty) Wikipedia. 

The population of Togo is 6.7 million people and the capital lies in the port city of Lome - our home. Togo stretches 360 miles north from the gulf and is only 100 miles wide at the broadest point.  In comparison, it's slightly smaller than West Virginia.  The coast along the southern end is roughly 30 miles long.  (Stay tuned for a blog on our upcoming walk across Togo.) Interestingly, Togo receives less rainfall than most of the other countries along the Gulf of Guinea.  However, there are two rainy seasons here and the first is from March to early July (practically our entire field service!)

In regard to health statistics, the life expectancy is roughly 51 yrs old for males, and 55 yrs for the ladies.  An average of 4.79 children were born per woman in 2009.  There are roughly 4 physicians per 100,000 people in Togo.   In comparison, there were 256 physicians per 100,000 people in the US as of 2007. 

As far as the literacy rate goes, 61% of Togolese people can read. 75% of males can read, and 47% of females can read.  The average education level of the Togolese people is completion of the 8th grade.  Radio is the most popular medium, particularly in rural areas.  Approximately one half of the population lives below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day.

Natural resources include Phosphates, limestone, marble.  The main agricultural products include yams, cassava, corn, millet, sorghum, cocoa, coffee, rice, and cotton.

Togo gained its independence from France in 1960. In 1967, Gnassingbé Eyadéma led a successful military coup, after which he became president. At the time of his death in 2005, Eyadéma was the longest-serving leader in African history, after having been president for 38 years. In 2005, his son Gnassingbé became president, and then the government engineered his formal election two months later amidst much political strife and bloodshed. 40,000 political refugees relocated to neighboring Benin and Ghana.  Many still live there today. 

Democratic gains since then have allowed Togo to hold its first relatively free and fair legislative elections in October 2007. After years of political unrest and fire from international organizations for human rights abuses, Togo is finally being re-welcomed into the international community. 

This month of February will be an interesting month for Togo with the 2010 elections taking place on the 28th.  Please pray for safety and peace for everyone here in Togo.  Please pray that Mercy Ships could still be effective in this time as we set up camp and start our 2010 field service.  Please pray that God will be present every step of the way.

Tenerife Tidbits

After a month long break in blogging, I figured I should update y'all once again!  For the last few weeks we've been in Tenerife while the ship continues with annual maintenance and I continue on in HR.  I thought I'd share a few fun facts about Tenerife as it's a beautiful place and we've all had a great time. 

Fact # 1: Tenerife has the same longitude as Florida, making it an ideal place to enjoy outside activities. Although the hospital is dormant while in Tenerife, HR has been quite busy since we are preparing all the files for those that are volunteering this year in Togo.  Despite the constant pace of HR, in my off time I've had some good adventures exploring the island on the weekends.

Fact #2:  With the volcanic activity of the island, much of the Tenerife sand is black.  However, when Haley, Leah and I biked 14 miles to the beach and back, we found that they import the sand from the Sahara Desert to give the beach a more "tropical" look.   Above is this oh-so-tropical import.  Below are Leah, me and Haley biking back from the beach with one of the many hillside cities in the background.

Fact #3: Much of the northern part of the island is quite rocky and without sand along the shoreline, so the Canarians have made a recreation of swimming in the "natural rock pools."  My HR counterpart Marianne and I went to Garachico one day to see these little pools and just walk around.  You can see the natural pools just over Marianne's shoulder on the right.

Fact# 4: Los Gigantes (the cliffs of the giants) were once very sacred and thought to be the end of the earth.  They rise out of the sea from a height up to 2600 feet. 

  

Last weekend a few of us took a bus up to Masca - a small village of about 150 inhabitants set up in the hills far away from the conveniences of modern life. The villagers grow their own wheat, veggies and fruits along the very rocky and uneven hillsides.  Masca looks like this:  

Here you can see how uneven the roads are. Literally you take a few steps the wrong way and down you fall into the abyss!  Along the north and western ends of the island are many gorges formed by erosion.  We hiked down a massive gorge starting in Masca, scaling large rocks and going through small streams. 

It's hard to describe the enormity of the landscape around us.  Here is Clare at the top before we'd started our four hour descent, but you can still see how vast the surrounding hillsides are. 

Here we are almost all the way down and still happy despite our tired thighs 

Some of the girls coming down

Then we emerged from the rocks to this:

and to this:

Pure beauty where we relaxed after a good hike amidst Los Gigantes.  We jumped into the warm green waters in our hiking clothes to cool down before taking a boat back to the city (at which point we rode past multitudes of dolphins!)  An amazing day and a great way to end our time in Tenerife. 

While it has been a nice break to be out of the sauna-like heat of Africa and see new parts of the world, it's good to be heading back to Africa for Part II.  Once we get to Togo I'll transition to working in the ward as an RD.  We are currently almost done sailing down the western coast with plans to be in Togo tomorrow.  More to come soon! 

Trust Revisited

I live in flip flops in Africa. However, for the sail we are required to have shoes with more support so flip flops don’t cut it. I went to the outlet mall with my sisters this week with the intent to find myself some cute shoes for the sail down to Togo. (On a side note, why in the world they have outdoor malls in MN when it’s -5 degrees outside boggles me.) As I sat in the Gap outlet trying to rationalize the purchase of a pair of ballet flats for $20, I realized somewhere along the way in Africa I'd become frugal. I think what $20 could get in Cotonou and I couldn’t bring myself to spend an entire Andrew Jackson on just one pair of simple ballet flats. Oh, how I’ve changed.

One year ago I didn’t know where or what I’d be doing in the months to come. I had my townhouse, my job, and my life in Phoenix and I was letting go of it all for something unknown. As the Mercy Ships process moved forward I was definitely excited, but at the same time I critically examined the potential reactions of uprooting my life. I questioned leaving a job I loved so much to do something completely different than nutrition. I questioned whether or not I would ever find someone to sublet my townhouse and how that would work from Africa. I questioned the idea of new relationships I would form and felt so sad about leaving those back home.

So as 2009 has now come and gone, the stand-out theme in my life seems to be God’s goodness. I’ve fully experienced the idea that when we give God all we’ve got and earnestly seek Him in every area of our life, He comes through. I’ve seen that when we are still clinging onto things we want to control in our lives, He’ll keep giving us lessons time and time again to show us that we need to let go, as He wants in on our plans. All of them. Take my job for example. Knowing full well that there were no RD positions on the ship, I struggled so much with leaving my dietitian position and wrote about it here. Well starting in February, I’ll be working full time as an RD in a position they just created (and without my doing nonetheless). Or example number two: my townhouse. Trying to sublet from another country and take care of maintenance issues is a daunting task. Thankfully, I have amazing friends who have taken care of all the small or sometimes larger unexpected necessities of home ownership. (As painting wires on a rooftop and cleaning mold out of the cupboard sound like so much fun!) I also think of relationships. While I am excited to return to old friends, I have some really thoughtful and generous friends here. After celebrating my birthday earlier this week, I returned to the ship yesterday and was greeted by a lovely birthday banner and handmade card complete with fun memories and pictures of all the fun things we've done here in Africa thus far. 

This year has shown me that I can’t fully grow in faith until I throw my own expectations out the window and trust that God will give me His best, in whatever form that may be.  More than that, I have to remember that God won't give me good things when I plan on providing for myself 24/7.  We have to be willing to ask for help every day.  It's like providing for a child.  If it costs twenty grand a year to raise a child, a mother wouldn't hand her son $20,000 on January 1st and say, "Here it is.  Go and have a great year."  Instead she would want him to ask everyday for what he needs, and she would give accordingly - even when we don't deserve it.  The goal is relationship.  So when we do ask with a right heart, we get to see how God provides in sometimes really crazy ways.  It says in Malachi 3: Test me in this," says the LORD, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”  So try it out.  Ask God and see what happens.  Heck, who knows, you may even get a pair of really cute and comfy $8 ballet flats too! =)

Bienvenido a Tenerife!

A week ago Saturday and after ten days of sailing we arrived to this - our view from the dock in the Canary Islands. 

Technically a part of Spain, the Canary Islands are located off the coast of Morocco.  This is one of the closest countries to West Africa that is considered first-world.  Here in Tenerife the ship will get its annual inspections and maintenance done while the crew has some time to relax before heading back down the coast at the end of January. 

We had a few days to walk around and take in first world living once again before many left the ship for the Christmas holidays 

While enjoying a snack we got to see dinner preparations in the meat market..yum!

Haley and James were excited to see fresh fruits and veggies once again

and Jamie and I had a moment with our festive friend

Last Sunday we attempted to hike Mount Teide, both the highest elevation in Spain and the highest elevation in the Atlantic Ocean.  Mount Teide sits 12,198 feet high. We arrived at the cable car for a bathroom break (which you can also take to the summit) only to find out the cable car was closed due to 75 mile per hour winds at the top.

  The volcano last erupted in 1909, and you can see in this picture the lava that came down the sides.   

Despite the strong winds we headed up anyway. 

There were times when it was physically hard to walk forward due to the strong winds! 

 Due to a delayed start in the morning with our car rental, we knew we wouldn't make the six hour summit, but attempted at least a portion of the trip. 

Minus the craters and the extreme cold, I almost felt like I was hiking at home in AZ!

With our volcano rocks...pumice stone anyone?

Haley, me and the clouds

While it was cold, drizzly and a hard hike with the elevation, we will re-attempt the hike to the summit in January when we have more time...so stay tuned!

Two days after our hike both Jamie and I left Tenerife.  I'm just headed home for the holidays but Jamie left for good.  I'll miss you friend! 

After some crazy flying from Tenerife to Madrid to Paris to Detroit to Minneapolis, I am now enjoying my white Christmas in the frigid tundra of Minnesota.  Happy Holidays!

Sailing up the African Coast in Pictures

For twelve days we sailed north up the coast of West Africa and arrived this past weekend in the Canary Islands.  Many Mercy Shippers had already left the ship to return home or help with advance team preparations for our 2010 field service in Togo.  The rest of us enjoyed the sail north with a number of ship wide events all week long.   

Every night people fell asleep to the sound of the waves and the rocking of the ship up on Deck 8.   Here are Jamie, Becca and I out underneath a meteor shower with our rafts (the best $2 investment for Mercy Ships) singing Christmas carols before sleep time.  

Each night consisted of a different Christmas event on the ship.  There was a story telling night, Christmas craft night, Santa Lucia event and a Christmas sale.  At one of the Christmas events Danae, Jamie, Christina and I got a branded Christmas photo with the Mercy Ships mug! 

Christina and Becca acted out our Legend of the Candy Cane story for the Mercy Ships families on the Christmas story telling night.  They did a great job!

I also teach piano lessons on the ship.  Me with my two star students Caleb and Ken after our Christmas recital.  They are so precious and just the cutest guys ever!

We've seen quite a few beauties here on the sail - dolphins, whales, meteor showers and even a water spout pictured above. 

My HR office after a rocky night 

The sail was relatively painless the first eight days, however the last two days were quite a bit rockier due to the swells in the water.  I would sit in my rolling chair in the office and every few minutes I'd roll to the other side of the room!  This made for an interesting experience to say the least. I've never been on a cruise, but I can imagine that sailing on the Africa Mercy is a little more authentic with the constant rocking back and forth!

The view at sunset - absolutely breathtaking.  All in all, very memorable times sailing up the coast of Africa.  Next up, Tenerife, Spain!

Packing Up and Saying Goodbyes

As the 2009 field service in Benin comes to a close, we've had many goodbyes over the past few weeks.   The first was a very generous thank you dinner with the President of Benin Yayi Boni at his palace in Cotonou.  Five Mercy Ships folks were knighted into the National Order of Benin on behalf of all the good works Mercy Ships has done for Benin.  No small feat!

Here we are in our finest African attire getting ready to celebrate

The venue - the Presidential Palace

and the fabulous African entertainment: tribal dances with beautiful costumes

Who would have thought when in Africa we would dine with the President?

We also said goodbye to our 200+ day volunteers that live in the local community and came to work on the ship every day.  Sadly I didn't bring my camera so the pictures are minimal.  We ate, celebrated them, and appreciated all their hard work this year.  One of my favorites is Rebecca.  She and I spent every morning together as I dried my hair in the locker room while she folded the scrubs working in the laundry department.  Every day she would just stare at me awkwardly.  I couldn't figure out what her deal was.  After a while I realized it was because the sight of my hair dryer amazed her!  She had never used one before and turning it on every morning caused her to stop folding her scrubs and just watch me dry away in awe and wonder...every single day.  Sometimes it's the little things here that still surprise me most.  Only in Africa!  =)    

I constantly tease my friend Jesse about getting an African outfit made for him because he always says he'll never wear one.  However, at our day volunteer event he was presented by his day volunteers in the galley with a nice African outfit which he wore proudly!

Me and Jamie with Jesse in his true African attire 

In other thoughts on packing up, we prepared for the sail with a swimmers and pirate watch.  Just a few weeks ago there were pirates of the coast of Benin that attacked a ship about 20 miles away from where we were docked.  Watching for any unwanted visitors in the days before and after leaving was critical.  This involved wearing some rather snazzy reflective gear up on deck eight between two and four a.m. and shining our huge flashlight (more like spotlight) into the water every 20 minutes to look for potential swimmers that might make their way up the side of the ship.  Yes, that is a real possibility.  We had some fun moments hanging out on deck eight amusing ourselves in the wee hours of the morning this past week. 

A glowing Haley and I with our fun gear

Kelly: Is that a swimmer I see?  Haley: No Kel, just a fish.

At one point my friends even took me hostage! Fun times on deck eight.  So far we haven't had any unwanted guests, so I guess we are doing our job!  Next up...the sail!