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!

Thursday, April 26, 2007

A Beautiful Smile

Monrovia Liberia March 28, 2007. A beautiful smile lights up Esther's face. Waving excitedly one last time, sher boards the tiny plane. In just over a week her life has changed dramatically. Memories of a plane flight, a hospital ship, new friends and a brand new smile will stay with her forever.

Born with a cleft lip, 13 year old Esther describes how she grew up being teased and ridiculed by her family and friends. "Everyone used to call me 'tear mouth' Esther explains days earlier as she recovers from surgery on the Mercy Ships hospital ward. Holding a little mirror up to her mouth she then smiles, 'when I saw myself in the mirror for the first time after the operation I was amazed and so happy'.


Twleve year old Carys Parker - daughter of the ships Cheif Medical Officer and Maxillo-Facial Surgeon Dr Gary Parker - sits beside Esther on her hospital bed. Over the past week a friendship has developed between Carys and Esther. Shy at first Esther has gradually grown in confidence.

"I've spent every evening together with Esther" explains Carys, " we've made bracelets together, played games and coloured pictures. I've really enjoyed the time we have spent together."


As Esthers day of departure arrives, the two girls leave behind the coolness of the air-conditioned Mercy Ship and stand together on the dockside. At 8am the temperature is already sweltering. Wearing a new dress and carrying gifts from Carys the two girls say goodbye.

Through a partnership with the Red Cross, Mercy Ships has been able to screen patients all over Liberia. With the use of a small plane patients are being flown to the ship and back again to their home towns.


Having already enjoyed one flight, Esther describes how much she is looking forward to flying again. "We can see everything out of the window of the plane. Trees, bushes, rivers - my country!"

A small bus arrives on the dock to collect the very first group of Mercy Ship patients, and return them to the airport. Sarah, a nurse and a Red Cross Worker jumps out exclaiming "Wow you guys look incredible!"


"I flew down with these guys" Sarah explains, "they were so nervous and quiet. Now it's just wonderful to see them totally transformed. Their smiles look incredible. Praise be to our God!"

At only 13 years of age Esther has lived through years of fighting and civil war. She's witnessed the death of family members. She's suffered ridiculing and teasing because of her cleft lip, yet fresh hope lies ahead.


Initially so solemn and shy, Esther's whole expression is alive and animated as she explains that her remaining family will be so excited to see her. As she waits to board the flight home, her big brown eyes sparkle brightly in the morning sun, and her face breaks into a beautiful smile.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

It's Well Time

Hi there again!

Today I had a lot of fun. Despite the overwhelming heat, I managed to survive yet another day off ship, accompaning the Water and Santitation team to Cheesemansburg, a collection of villages west of Monrovia.


This is where many of our off ship teams work, including our well drillers, our agriculturalists, and our health care educators. I spent the day watching the men of one village, under the supervision and teaching of our water guys finish and complete their own well!


It was great to see all the villagers taking ownership of the project. They had previously been getting their drinking water from a small river/stream near the village. They had separated the water they drink from the water they washed in, however the washing water was upstream from the drinking water site - as you can imagine we were happy to help them with a clean water supply.


The process starts with the villagers digging a very deep pit, about 30ft deep by hand (amazing I know) until they reach the water table. This is a little different to in Ghana, where they used a drill rig.


They continue digging. Once they have hit water, a large collection of concrete rings are lowered in to the well, cemented together. They then backfill behind the rings and create a concrete slab at the surface.


Once the concrete has set, piping, rods that controll the pumping action and the pump itself are installed. It is a very interesting process to watch - as the Mercy Shippers and the villagers work together to figure it out. The whole time our team are teaching them how to maintain the wells and fix them if they break. (Health and sanitation teaching teams go into the village after well completion).


Once all the preparation is done and the pump and handle are fully installed and screwed in, it is time to test it! It was so much fun seeing all the men, women and children getting excited about the fact that they now have a well that provides fresh, clean and cool water right in the center of their village. I felt very priviledged, thats for sure!


Even I had a go at pumping - but lets just say I certainly will not take it for granted that I can just turn on a tap or a hose and get fresh safe water anymore!! Good arm exercise though!



The team hopes to finish around 5 new wells, and re-establish some others that have for one reason or another broken, or become spoiled. I still admire that they can work out in the heat of the day - and am grateful for my on ship job! It is a great opportunity that we are able to go out and see what other Mercy Ships departments are up to. Its not all surgery you know!

Monday, April 09, 2007

Mercy Ministries Begin

Hey there everyone. I am sorry it has been so long since I last posted, lots has been happening both on board the ship and off too. We have been in Liberia a little over a month, and already so much has happened.


The ward opened its doors on March 17, the first lot of patients being flown in by the Red Cross from the interior of the country. One of the ships Maxillo-Facial Surgeons Dr Tony Giles, and his wife Ann (who is a nurse) had arrived well before us in January and travelled to all the major counties and regions in Liberia, searching out and screening patients in need of surgery.


For this reason we have not needed a mass screening like we had in Ghana. The ward will be open for 7 weeks, and we have filled all the surgery slots for this time with the patients from the interior. In Mid May the new ship The Africa Mercy arrives into port, so we need to close the ward down to transfer personell and equipment over to the AFM. The ward will open up again in late June, unfortunately this will be after I have finished my year or service.


To fill up the many more surgery slots that are available on the AFM, we will be having a mass screening on the 3rd of May. I will of course post about that when it occurs. In the meantime the rest of the ward nurses and my self are happy that the ward is open again after the long break as we travelled from Ghana and set up. Here we all are, 30 of us from over 15 nations.


On one weekend we were also lucky enough to be invited to take a group of Mercy Shippers by train to an old delapidated mine 2.5 hours north of Monrovia. The Bong mines were at their height in the 70s, but continued to produce iron ore until the civil war began - ending chances of its survival. We loaded the land rovers onto the train, and were able to sit on top of them for the 70km journey (don't tell OSH)! It was a great view and a great opportunity to see the countryside out of the capital. Liberia is so green and lush.


We felt like celebrities as every village we passed on the train hooting our horn, all the children would come running out and wave to us with so much excitement! We had a great time waving to about 30 villages on our way there. At the mines there is a man made lake where we could all go swimming and cool off, as well as washing some of the diesel dust from our faces. We had a great picnic lake side, and again enjoyed the view from the roof of the Rovers on our way home!



The other cool thing that happened recently was my 25th birthday. It is not every birthday that you spend in Liberia, so I had a great day. I worked on the ward in the morning, and went out for dinner that evening, to a nice restaurant on the beach. We parked our Mercy Ships Land Rover between a UN Rover and a Red Cross Rover, and opposite a Doctors Without Borders Rover. The NGO presence in Liberia is massive. My door was decorated by fellow crew members and JP made me a wonderful cake. I was quite spoiled!


Looking forward to screening and telling you more about some of our wonderful patients. Until then Happy Easter, and may this be a time for us all to reflect on the death and ressurection of Jesus Christ, and what that amazing act on the cross means for each of us today.