Hi there. I have created this site so that you my friends, family and sponsors can keep in the loop during my year on the Anastasis - in Ghana and Liberia. I will update it as often as I am able, and hope that you can get the feel of life on board a volunteer hospital ship!

Saturday, February 17, 2007

End of an Era

Hello there everyone, sorry it has been a while, but we have been having trouble with our satelite, and have been unable to access the internet or use the phones for the last two weeks. Thank goodness we are back on line now so I can tell you about what I have been up to recently.
The Ghana outreach has finshed, and the ward has been closed. We set sail for Liberia on Sunday 25th of Feb! I can hardly believe it has been 8 months already!


We closed the ward one week after our last surgeries had been performed, maxillo facial and VVF (Vesico-Vaginal Fistulas) were the last operations, so we were lucky enough to end the outreach with a dress ceremony for the VVF ladies. It was our second lot of VVF surgeries - but it still impacted us so much - that these ladies sometimes put up with up to 15-20 years of leaking urine.


One woman said in her testimony that she had felt more love in the Anastasis ward from the nurses and crew members- complete strangers, than she had from her own family. It is so wonderful to see these ladies traveling back home with huge smiles and new dresses - and the most important thing - a new lease on life.

It was a sad day, as not only were we saying goodbye to the patients, but to our translators. Ghana has about 6 or 7 languages, although some of the population speaks English, it is not the English that you or I are familiar with! We have employed in health care services around 35 Ghanains from local churches to help us out in this area. The have been priceless, great friends, great workers, and great people to help us adjust to life in Ghana.



We had a neat thank you ceremony to honour the translators, thank them for their work and their time, and their service to Ghana, and of course service to the Lord. We had a great time in our African dress, with great food and of course music and worship. It was such a fun evening - we will really miss these wonderful brothers and sisters!


As the ward is now closed, we are packing it up, cleaning everything to get ready for the sail. All the nurses were given 5 days off this week, so a group of us decided to head to Ho Hoe in the Volta region (close to the Togo border) to visit the famous Wli waterfalls, and to hike up one of the highest mountains in Ghana.



We had a great time, relaxing in the village, looking at the breath taking views from the top of the mountian, and of course swimming in the pool at the base of the waterfall! Even though we were in Africa, the water was still very cold - however after the 5 hour hike up the mountain we were all ready for a dip!

It was also a great time to hang out with some of my great friends from the ship - and we were really honoured to be present when my friend and fellow ward nurse Robyn was proposed to by her boyfriend Dave! It really was a fun week.


Next time I will give you some of the statistics for this outreach and hopefully some photos of the ship leaving the port! Oh I will miss Ghana, my West African home for the last 8 months. Thanks for your interest in this wonderful country and the work we are priviledged to be able to do here! Until then, God bless!