After arriving in Lome, Togo in mid-February everything kind of went nuts for a while. With the start of the new field service there was lots to do to get everything up and running. There were new crew, patient screenings, patients coming and going, surgeries and all that other medical-type stuff that I have very little to do with, a new country for most of us, the heat, the craft markets (one in particular has been dubbed “Rip-off Road”), the food, and new experiences all round. Was, and still is, amazing getting to experience some of what this part of the world has to offer.
Life on the ship has been interesting with a constantly changing crew and always something happening. I am now working mostly normal hours in my job so I have been able to get out and about a little bit more and also see some of what Mercy Ships is doing in Togo.
I went on a tour of our off-ship sites a couple of weeks ago. This involved visiting the Hospitality Centre where some of our pre- and post-op patients stay and where some of the little ones stay to get up to weight so that they can then have surgery. Our Eye Clinic is situated there also. Next, got to visit the Dental Clinic and one of the eye-screening venues. Was quite an experience.
I think it was the next week that I got to experience how the donating blood thing works around here. Someone turns up in your office and you get asked if you are able to give blood a bit later in the day (your blood has already been tested previously), you then get asked to start drinking heaps of water, somebody then comes and collects you, takes you down a couple of decks to the hospital, takes your blood then heads off to the OR or somewhere with it to give it straight to the patient. Talk about reality hitting you in the face :D
A week later (time goes so fast here it’s hard to remember what happened when) I booked in to observe a surgery – after all, this is a hospital ship. Even after reading the guidelines and talking to one or two people about it I didn’t really know what to expect or how I would react. The site of blood doesn’t really bother me, however, if I ended up observing eye surgery, well, it’s just as well I didn’t. I had the privilege of observing a South African plastic surgeon in action. A little one had had her hand burnt and was in for contracture release surgery i.e. when a burn is healing, without proper treatment, the skin will contract and cause the limb to curl up. Her tiny hand was bent over so surgery was performed to release the contracture (yes, there was some blood) and then a skin graft was taken from her tummy (even more blood this time), the donour site stitched up then the skin grafted onto the base of her fingers, the webbing between her thumb and forefinger etc. This was after wires had been drilled into her fingers to keep them straight. Now that was a bit t
oo much like the dentist for me but I managed to hang in there. I got a pretty good view of the surgery while trying to keep out of everyone’s way. The scrub nurse was an Aussie so she kept me on my toes ;DSo, what do I do when I’m not working? Well, I have been involved in worship teams and the choir, mostly playing guitar and trying to sing. You gotta start somewhere. This has been a wonderful experience - there are some very talented people aboard.
Over Easter we had a sunrise (5.30 a.m. Easter Sunday) service up on deck 8 (the top deck) which was pretty cool. The sun rose behind us (i.e. me and Juan on guitars and some of the choir around us and about a hundred or so other crew in front). This was followed by an 8.30 a.m. service and then a very scrumptious brunch. The galley outdid themselves.
There are film crews and photographers that are doing stuff off and on. You never know when you are going to be asked to do an interview or get your photo taken. I seem to have escaped that for the most part quite well. This is the latest Connections video which gives you some idea of what’s been going on in the last few months http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijwcziAzcPs The crew also get to take photos and videos and we actually had our annual Film Festival last Saturday night. What a hoot. There are some very creative people on board and there were some very polished/creative/original/hilarious movies shown. I had the privilege of being one of the judges. It was a black tie event and everyone got into the spirit of the thing. The movie that won Best Film was about living in community on the ship - it was hilarious. It may or may not end up on YouTube - we don’t have access to that site on the ship, unfortunately.
Well, that’s about it for now. We are about half-way through this field service already and will start winding some things down in the next month or so. We will then get ready for the sail down to probably Durban, South Africa in August. It has been confirmed that the 2011 field service will be in Sierra Leone.
That’s about it for now. Thank you for your continuing prayers and support. I wouldn’t be here without all of you back home and, yes, I do get homesick sometimes but I know where I’m meant to be.
Blessings
Janine
