The quarter mile mark
When I was a young boy
I wanted to sail around the world
That's the life for me
Living on the sea
Spirit of a sailor
Circumnavigates the globe
The lust of a pioneer
Will acknowledge no frontier
…
I just spent six months in a leaky boat
Lucky just to keep afloat
Now, it has been 6 months, and although I wouldn’t say the boat is leaky per se, there are often buckets down the hospital corridor catching the drips of condensation when the humidity from outside gets into our nice cool air-conditioned hospital ship.
Please tell me you all recognise these lyrics? Because it turns out Split Enz is not internationally recognised and no one here knew the song! Also, the 6000 piece puzzle we’re doing is of the same map in the start of the music video! Would you believe it?
How is it that I have been living on a ship, in Sierra Leone, for 6 months already? Things that seem so far away from you all back home have become normal everyday life for me. I’ve often found it hard to capture these things in words for you, but let me continue to try.
A port gate is my driveway.
A ship is my home.
My commute to work is through seven doorways and down one set of stairs, a grand total of about one minute from my cabin (depending if I have to stop to balance my tea to open each door).
I still jump every Thursday at a little after 3:30pm when the weekly emergency drill alarms go off.
The cafe barista could be a teacher, a housekeeper, the managing director or the captain.
I finish work and say goodbye to my colleagues and then see them a half hour later at dinner, down the hallway or on the stairs.
I can still go op shopping, but it’s in the 'boutique' and is the donated clothing of shipmates.
Checking the mailbox consists of being added to the ‘You’ve Got Mail’ teams group (which usually results in me running up 5 flights of stairs from work with the silliest grin on my face the whole way).
‘Ship traffic’ is an onboard phenomenon that has nothing to do with the comings and goings of ships in the port and much more to do with getting caught in conversations in the hallway, stairs, dining room, sometimes all of the above, on your way anywhere - and ending up late!
Translation is often required between crew even while speaking English - Kiwi ‘togs’ and British ‘pants’ often end up with a ‘togs, togs, togs, undies’ type conversation (for those of you who remember the Tip Top ad!).
I’ve never printed so many pictures of friends - birthdays are celebrated by decorating doors with pictures, birthday banners, and little treats from the ‘ship shop’.
The landscape of Freetown reminds me a bit of Wellington. Houses are perched on hillsides with tight narrow roads to reach them. There’s the big road that weaves through between the hills like the Wellington motorway, and gets traffic jams too. Some roads feel like they’re only wide enough for one but you somehow always make it past each other.
I’ve seen the very end of rainy season, with endless humidity, lightning storms at sea and rubbish sliding down the hills to the beaches. And now dry season is coming to an end. The Harmattan haze, from its passage over the Sahara picking up fine dust and sand particles, that’s been surrounding us is lifting.
Being able to see across to the peninsula on the other side is refreshing, and more frequently we’re able to see as far as the horizon. I knew I was missing being able to see out into the great distance, but I didn’t realise it would bring me as much joy as it has with this one simple thing.
Easter
Let me tell you a little about some of our easter celebrations..
Going into the Easter weekend started with a long Thursday.. Our whole Preop team pulled together for an acutely unwell patient on Maundy Thursday. Usually, our patients are medically well for elective surgeries, but sometimes they arrive to their appointments unwell and we do our best to care for them. We continued working well into the evening and we weren’t able to attend the celebrations ourselves, so I’ll share the Maundy Thursday experience through the words of one of my friends..
Maundy Thursday aboard the GLM (Global Mercy) in Sierra Leone.
A journey from Deck 11 where we listened to a story of the Passover... to outside where I was humbled as the Captain of the ship washed my feet with such gentleness. Continued down to Deck 8 to the "Upper Room" where we sat and prayed and talked together about God's love ♡ moving to the Chapel next door where we could take Holy Communion and reflect on the sacrifice He took. Finally ending on Deck 7 where the International Lounge was transformed into the Garden of Gethsemane.
I was moved to tears as I found myself standing in the Garden. The stillness, the soft noises of a garden, plants all around and eyes all drawn to one place...the Cross on the stage.
The story of the Betrayal of Jesus being read to us overhead. Being immersed into the story almost as if for the 1st time.
Tomorrow is Friday... BUT SUNDAY IS COMING!!!
And God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
Revelation 21:4
Mercy Ships Film Festival
The Mercy Ships film festival ‘The Nalgenies’ - fondly named after the Nalgene water bottles we all have on the ship - was a highlight. Oh, how I wish you could see all of the creations put together by the crew!
From stop-motion pictures to comedy acts to stunning scenery of local hiking to local ministry projects. The youth group made a hilarious video of the ins and outs of new crew arriving and all the silly things we do which won the Comedy award and a Mercy Ships rendition of “Belle” which won the peoples choice award.
We all dressed up for the film premiere and had such a fun night celebrating life on the ship and the creativity and skills of our fellow crewmates who put hours and hours of work into these short films.
Madagascar
With the Africa Mercy - also known as the ‘AFM’, back in action after significant maintenance we’ve had crew transfer from this ship back to the other to help prepare things for their field service and to ensure there are some experienced crew on both ships. The ‘long termers’ are familiarity among the sea of frequently changing faces and feel a little like the stability on a ship that rocks.
Three incredible nurses from our Preop team here will be making their way to the AFM in Madagascar and we will miss each of them so dearly. But that is the nature of ship life.
My trip to Madagascar was not for as long and not quite to the ship, but travelling around the country with a small team to assess patients for surgery on the Africa Mercy. These patients will be well cared for by my colleagues while I return ‘home’ to the Global Mercy in Sierra Leone.
It’s once again been too long between these updates. I wrote a fair portion of this around Easter but have only just come back to finish it off now that I’m having some time off. Work has been busy, busy, busy, especially while learning the ropes of a new role and trying to capture the vast knowledge of my predecessor Libby.
And so just like that, I’m a (little over) quarter of the way through my two years serving with Mercy Ships. There will be so much more to tell you about my Malagasy adventures in my next update, which will also be coming soon!!
Thank you wonderful friends for your care and support, it’s such a joy to share this journey with you.
P.S. - check out this video that won the ‘Nalgenies Peoples Choice award’ in the film festival - it will give you a comedic peek into what life is like for me living on a hospital ship.