Carol in Africa

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 11:08:00 +0000

This is my second blog to you today…did you get my first one? Okay, I have to be truthful right now – I’m a little more than frustrated! I wrote a blog this morning which I really liked, published it and then 3 hours later deleted it. NO I don’t know how, I just did it!

Apart from being very busy with the amalgamation that I mentioned in my last blog and having very few days off since visiting y’all in the summer because of it, the above mentioned problem is a theme I’ve had since returning to Africa and the ship – computer issues of one kind or another! I have had constant complications in transferring data to my new computer, losing ALL my folders (pictures, music, documents etc.) from my hard drive with no backup (long story), and not having access to my email addresses and the Internet@#&*?!!

To make a long, long story just long (LOL), when I boot up my computer to write you and/or blog I've just had one issue after another, so consequently, I turn it off and don't look at it for awhile only to turn it on to another set of random problems, and on and on it goes…, AND now I am blogging you for the second time today and have to recreate the first blog which we know can’t be done and I am feeling like this won’t say the things as ‘eloquently’ as my first efforts, but I am sticking with it and sending this today if it’s the last thing I do!!!!

So for those of you that know me at all, know that I have a love/hate relationship with the computer in the first place. I have had some real hate feeling and have been in mourning for my beloved pictures, music and information. You laugh, but as I’m writing this I’ve had an epiphany and stopped to pray against the bitter feelings that have taken over when I think COMPUTER because of the series and long lasting negative consequences I’ve been dealing with. (I prayed against oppression that might be an influence and not just me being electronically challenged...)

I digress… @#?&!! (Okay, I still have some praying to do…LOL)

My New Years resolution other than to blog regularly is to email you at least 3 times a year, as I have done in the past, so we can communicate a little more personally and privately. That’s not to say that if you are in need of prayer, or just a simple conversation that you can’t email me or call me. I am as close as an email or phone call away and I love to hear from you also.

Just because I have been electronically challenged by no means does that mean that you are not in my thoughts and on my mind – you are - and in my prayers too! Seriously, not having computer access to you all and being sooooo busy has been a monkey on my back and I feel guilty, lonely and disconnected as I’m sure you have felt somewhat as well @#?!! (Imagine what it must’ve been like for missionaries before the Internet!! I guess we can consider ourselves fortunate that it’s only been 4 months and now should be able to stay connected). Now that all my computer problems seem to be resolved (we’ll see) I promise even if I have to use my work computer (which I have purposely not done) I will not let such a lengthy time exist between communications again! NO pictures for awhile though. :( --- :):):)

I’m excited to be a part of what Mercy Ships will be doing in West Africa in 2012, what God has prepared for us to do and sharing it all with you.

I look forward to our friendship continuing to flourish in 2012; that you and yours are blessed with purpose, love and deep joy; and that the Holy Spirit confirms in your heart for the first time, or yet again, that without a doubt, God lives!

Bonne Année!

Love and hugs,

xx Carol :)

I’m back in Sierra Leone…

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 12:32:00 +0000

Dear friends, family and supporters (of every kind) Thank you! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am so grateful to God for you, for each of you in my life. You are why I can do what I am doing (apart from God of course ). I feel so loved and encouraged and thoroughly enjoy all the amazing encounters we share. I am blessed to know you and to be a part of you lives and have you a part of mine – my cup overfloweth.

I’m back on board now and very busy. 3 months away is long-time and there is lots to catch up on; not to mention the addition of a new job. My job as Office Supplies Manager for the ship has been amalgamated with the Post-office position, so I am very busy learning a new position and trying to catch up with my old one; nothing that wasn’t expected. I’m still not sure if I will be able to keep my minor job (1 afternoon a week) at the Hope Center working with the patients that don’t need nursing care but still need wound care? I hope so…I’ll let you know.

Just for those of you whom I haven’t talked yet about the results of my “suspicious mammogram”… all is well! The second mammogram came back completely clear and there is nothing to be concerned about. Thank you for you concern and also to those of you who prayed.

Please know that this blog is my priority to staying in touch with you and bringing news, stats and stories of what Mercy Ships is doing in West Africa and my part and feelings about those things along with tidbits of my life here. I simply have too much to do for the next couple of weeks to catch-up on for the lengthy time I was away, so I don’t think I will be blogging until the end of the month. The good news is I have a ton of ideas to blog and only hope you think they are good ideas too once you read them. ha, ha, ha :) My goal is to blog once every two weeks. I am always interested in your feedback, so please feel free to leave me comments if you would like to suggest, encourage, give advice (such as, every two weeks is to often,. hehe) , or just to say hello.

The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you!

Love, hugs and prayers,

CT :)

Off-Ship

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 19:30:00 +0000

Hi there,

I will be returning to the ship (from time home in June/July) later than planned and will be taking a bit of time to catch up when I get back, so I don't expect to blog again until mid-Septemberish....

Boy, do I have a bunch of good ideas to blog you. I look forward to sharing my/our future with Mercy Ships with you.

"The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace!”

Talk to you in Septmeber!

Love,

Carol :)

P.S. If you would like to visit past blogs you can keep scrolling down from this one straight down to the bottom and click on "older blogs," or you can go to the end of the side bar on the right and chose a past blog by: year, month and title! Please feel free to pass on your feedback at any time. Enjoy!

My Ministry vs. Mercy Ships Ministry - Are They Different?

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Thu, 26 May 2011 12:46:00 +0000

I don’t think sooooo, as described in 1 Corinthians 12; One Body, Many Parts….

My Missions Pastor Asked Me for a Story He Could Present to the Season’s Ministry (my church’s seniors ministry).… I decided to share with you what I shared with him as it summarizes a lot of what you have been reading about over the last 3 months and how God is being faithful…

The infrastructure in Sierra Leone is fragile to say the least: the port we are docked at in Freetown became privatized shortly after arriving here. With the turnover from government to private our containers which come from Holland and the US have been taking an inordinate amount of time to clear customs. Our containers are filled with hospital supplies, food (frozen and regular), maintenance supplies, IS equipment etc. etc. Being without these supplies affects the entire ship from the galley to the hospital, and thereby, the care of the patients and crew alike. As you know we have been in a South Africa shipyard for 5 months replacing 4 of our generators. We use 2 generators at all times to supply electricity, vacuum system for our plumbing, air conditioning (it sounds like a luxury, but it is not when you have the humidity and heat of Africa onboard a 499 foot ship with around 700 people moving about it on a daily basis). I’m sure you can imagine how much the air conditioning is needed for the doctors providing surgeries and the patients recovering. Not to mention, that an air conditioned environment controls mosquitoes which in Africa are Malaria carriers (yes, this has a personal bent as I was very ill last year with Malaria if you remember?). Air conditioning is not just a luxury! Our divers have to dive daily to try and keep the intake valves from being plugged up from the incredible amount of garbage carried down the river. The intake valves get plugged up with plastics and debris and the generators are being stretched to their maximum capacity running with continuous blocked power that is impossible to keep clear. One of our generators is not working at all leaving us with only one back up at present. The hospital only runs if the generators run! The river is dangerous and has fast monivig currents that pull the divers away from the ship consequently making it so they can only dive at low or high tide. The water is extremely polluted and the divers are all a little unwell. One that I know of has an infection in his calf from diving and is now on anti-biotics and can’t dive for at least 5 days. In addition, there was a major rupture to the entire water system in Freetown today which ‘coincidentally’ occurred on the day we are supposed to be topping our tanks, so as a result, our reserves are low and once again (as this is not the first time since we’ve been here we are on water rations) we are in a water crisis and have closed the laundry room, have converted to paper plates and plastic cups (very expensive), turned off the hot water and are in a situation of severe water rationing to conserve water – all the while, singing the limerick if it’s yellow, let It mellow; if it’s brown flush it down. This is not just affecting us, but everyone in this part of Freetown known as Kissy. I cannot even tell you what that means in terms of the filth in the streets…the pollution in the city and the garbage in the river! To make matters worse rainy season is upon us (I am glad I brought my rubber boots :))Furthermore, once they get the rupture fixed (????), we still will have several days before we can get water and then several more days before we can use it because it has to be treated. This brings me to my final point; there has been an unusually large amount of crew ill on the ship from sinus infections to stomach cramps and stomach infections etc.. Is it because of the water, the fruits and vegetables (often watered with sewage water), or some other by-product of something coming onto the ship??? We don’t know!

In the grand scheme of things this is just a small amount of general information that I am giving you about the difficulties we are facing here in Sierra Leone. To paraphrase what the Captain said to me this morning, the entire process of being here is challenging and difficult on every level. But in spite of all I have mentioned, let me tell you what God is doing here that we have to be thankful for in the midst of so much strife….First and foremost, people are being helped. People that wouldn’t be able to have a hope and a future if Mercy Ships wasn’t here are finding their way to us. And as an additional bonus employment is being created for upwards of 200 people for such a time as this…God provided a building for us to be able to care for up to 100 recovering patients that require only wound care(or to prepare patients for surgery) and their caregivers, so we do not have to use the 70 beds we have onboard for patients that are recovering. (Unfortunately, however, with rainy season upon us the entire building known as the Hope Centre floods.) This building is only a 10 minute walk from the ship. We are able to have a dental clinic in the same building because it is large enough to house 2 different ministries and we had volunteers here that were able to build a series of partitions inside the building. Our dental team just went up north with 3 dentists and saw over 200 patients in one day extracting over 550 teeth between them to people who have never even seen a dentist. They were able to work for 3 days, in addition to one day of travel each way. We had a Mercy Team come and build a module on the same property with toilets and plumbing for decent sanitary conditions. The Lord has also provided an air conditioned module on the dock for the eye team to be able to see an exorbitant amount of patients, again with plumbing that a team from the states was able to come and construct. He has provided a team house within the compound of the Swiss Embassy for our off-ship crew to live in safely and within an hour of the ship (on a good day). He has provided enough volunteers who also have diving licenses so the team leader can rotate the divers, so it’s not only the same 2 or 3 who are diving in addition to their regular jobs. We were also able to raise enough money from an offering to buy them proper diving gear to better protect them. For the first part of this outreach we have had enough surgeons available to perform the projected orthopaedic surgeries (stats to follow) up to this point and now with our with our plastic surgeon on board are able to address other types of reconstructive surgeries as well. He has provided a full-time crew physician during this time of unusually large numbers of crew getting ill. He has provided an amazing engineering and deck department who work tirelessly without complaint to keep everything running while everything and everyone is being stressed to capacity….

I could go on and on, but I would like to end now and just remind you that our God is providing even while we are being stretched and while we are being stretched we are trusting Him, and in my opinion exemplifying what it means to love God and love others whilst having the love of God in our hearts. I am humbled and honoured (most days :)) to work and live with so many brothers and sisters who keep cheerful, caring and goldy attitudes throughout some of the most difficult and challenging of times.

My prayer request is for the patients that are selected for a life changing surgery, the ones who are not, me, the crew, the senior management team and the mission of Mercy Ships to be in the will of God and not our own…

Darcy, as I finish this email with your request I feel that it is enough. I know that I haven’t written a personal story of my own personal ministry, but on the other hand, I have, because what involves the ship on a whole is also my ministry as we are a community and each part works to the good of the whole which is the ministry offered by Mercy Ships to “be love in action;” thereby glorifying God! You, the church, my family and my peer group, are too, a part of this community and that is not merely words because without the encouragement, finances and prayers of you all I could not be here doing my part which happens to be the tactile ‘sent out’ part.

It is midnight now and I’m off to sleep. 9 more sleeps and I am home for a visit. See you soon!

I pray that Darcy (missions pastor) and his assistant Jeri-Leanne are blessed in abundance by every story that is sent to them in response to Darcy’s email. May the Season’s ministry be blessed deeply by the stories they decide to share and may each of the ministries they pray over on Friday feel a renewed presence of the Holy Spirit living and working in their/my life.

In Christ’s Service,

Carol :)

Can you find me?

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Wed, 25 May 2011 19:31:00 +0000

Crew Photo – Togo, August 2010

a lA little help perhaps – mIddle bottom…:)

When I was home last year do you remember me telling you the story about Tani???

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Sun, 22 May 2011 19:18:00 +0000

Tani touched and found a way into my heart; there is no doubt about it, and now she’s coming back…

We have the funds allocated to bring Tani, a caregiver and transportation back to the ship from Togo for Tani. Our plastic surgeon, Dr. Tertius, a plastic surgeon who regularly volunteers his time is back on the ship and Tani can come back for some more reconstructive surgery of her badly burnt face. Praise the Lord!!! However, she has not been able to obtain a passport as yet and Dr. Tertius is only here for 4 weeks and has already been here for 1. He does come back at the end of the outreach though, so if Tani can not be seen this time there will be a next time as long as she can get a passport…please pray to that end for her!

You might remember me saying this young girl has more joy in her one eye than all of our eyes put together – I still stand by that and am thrilled that I will be able to see her again. I will still be able to spend some time with her and I feel blessed to be able to see this girl that inspires the best of me; sometime while we are here in SL!!!! :):):)

TANI NAKABE

By Elaine B. Winn

In one of the northern most villages in Togo, W. Africa, food is cooked over an outdoor wood fire that is kept burning for warmth in cooler weather. When little Tani was a year old, she awoke from her nap and toddled outside to find her mother. Drawn to the fire, she put her foot on a protruding log. It flipped up and hit her in the head, knocking her over. The burning log quickly enflamed her hair, burning her head and face before her screams of pain brought help from family members.

She was taken to a small local hospital, but no burn specialist was available. Not knowing how to properly treat the burns, they applied alcohol, further drying the badly damaged skin. The fire destroyed her right eye, her nose, and all but a trace of her right ear. When the skin above her mouth burned, it pulled up and constricted the right side of her upper lip. She has only her left eye and ear to help her function.

Nevertheless, Tani is a very bright child and is in the second level in school, where her classmates taunt and insult her. Still, she has a joyful spirit. She attends her village church and loves to sing there. Her parents were not moved to bring her to Mercy Ships, but her church family was. The church leadership elected a deacon to escort her to Mercy Ships for surgery without charge. The deacon left his wife and three children for a month to bring her to Lome because he felt it was his duty to afford this opportunity for Tani. After a month, the deacon got word that a wind storm had blown the roof of his house off. He had to return home. So, the pastor’s son, who was just completing exams at a school nearby, came to stay with Tani in the hospital.

I first saw Tani sitting by herself on a bench at the Hospitality Center about 6 weeks ago. Her frail little body and horribly disfigured face I didn’t find repugnant at all. In fact, I was drawn to her partly because she sat so straight on the bench, and partly because she didn’t present herself as a figure to be pitied. My translator and I found her escort and interviewed him about her life. Surely, I would have to write this courageous child’s story.

Tani will need another surgery and maybe a third to rebuild her nose and possibly provide a socket for a glass eye. Funding is being sought to allow her to travel to Sierra Leone where she can receive her surgery in the next field service early next year.

It’s now early next year and she will be here soon whether it be now or later. Please keep her in your prayers and I will keep you posted on her progress.

God go bless you! (Krio) xx

Stats for the 2010 Outreach in Togo and the Republic of South Africa…

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Sun, 15 May 2011 08:24:00 +0000

For consistency purposes, I am basically copying and pasting the report I sent to my church for their the missionary booklet that they update once a year. For those of you that read my blog and the Northview Missionary Booklet, you will find some differences as the page in the booklet doesn’t have room for many pictures, they had to edit some of the information I provided because of space and I edited requests for support because I didn’t feel that for this particular blog it was appropriate… here goes:

New outreach, new cabin, new job, new season…

There is so much to share with you in this yearly update on what was accomplished in 2010. How, then, do I decide what I will include? I guess the obvious is I have prayed about what to write, and I thank God in advance for the wisdom and discernment of what I am going to include in this blog…

So much has happened since I was home last June and July. As our past CEO (even he has changed) said, “We have had volcanoes disrupt our travel and supply lines, political uprisings block our paths, and a little detour to the ship yard make 2010 a very unique year indeed. We had to shorten our Field Service in Togo to allow the Africa Mercy to be retrofitted with new more efficient equipment.

5 Month Dry Dock in South Africa

Me with some Zulu children in the province of Kwa Zulu Natal where some of the the crew stayed in a community called at Appelsbosch.

Jim Paterson, Senior VP of International Operations commented, “As an organization, we have just completed one of our largest undertakings in the generator refit project in the Durban shipyard.” Here are some of the things we accomplished during this time:

Replacement of 6 old, noisy, unreliable and dirty generators with 4 super efficient, more economical and environmentally friendly brand new MAN generators; Replacement of 2 old and unreliable air conditioning SABRO units with 2 shiny new and reliable Carrier units; New engine room piping for cooling salt water, fire mains, heavy fuel, diesel fuel, fresh water, etc; Replacement of engine controls in engine room and bridge; 7km of new cables between engines and bridge; Modification of electrical switchboard; New shelving in Deck 6 and Deck 2 food stores; All lifeboats, life-rafts, and lifeboat davits serviced and all cables renewed; All fire-fighting and SCUBA equipment repaired/serviced (Scuba equipment needs further attention); New Mercy Ships logo on funnel and along side; Pool modified with installation of wave catchers; More sprinklers installed in cargo hold; Damaged windows replaced with new ones; Main engines overhauled; Tons and tons of provisions loaded; All Land Rovers and Nissans repaired and serviced; Elevator converted from manual to electronic, with fancy new controls. The estimated costs to get these repairs done is approx. 8 million USD. It is not exact because they are still working on the final dollar amount.

Whew, there was a lot of work done and as you can read, our time in South Africa was very necessary and very busy! We are still working out some of the glitches and details in making all the new machinery work and in some instances still waiting for parts towards that effort, but as the Captain said, our sail here was without the usual generator problems and the new ones have already proved worthwhile.

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Leaving Durban Dry Dock in the Republic of South Africa

One of the Mercy Ships VP’s announced, “There was discussion that we would not be able to perform many services while in South Above & to the right: Dry Dock Crew. Below: Appelsbosch Crew wearing “ I survived the Bosch t-shirts

Africa, but yet our Crew took the challenge and not only provided services, they have helped us to make 2010 a new record for the number of people impacted with Togo and South Africa combined.”

We have just released our 2010 Field Service numbers and we were able to impact over 480,000 people this year! Praise God!” Again for you statistical minded, we were able to perform over 77,000 procedures with over 59,000 direct beneficiaries. Some further statistics include 30,265 eye consultations, 1,150 reconstructive surgeries, 15,702 dental interventions and 12,215 students trained in village health. These statistics don’t include of course the volunteers trained to do lay work, doctors trained in specialized areas of surgery, relationships made, a multitude of programs and ministries offered, and God being represented and glorified in all we do! I have shared previously some of those stats that were performed in South Africa which you can find under ‘old posts’ on the sidebar. Below are a few pictures of just a few of the people those stats made a difference to in Togo.

Patrick after Maxillo Facial Tumour surgery.

Loveless below is 4 years old. Unfortunately, her tumour is malignant and we could not help her. The truth is the doctors were quite surprised that she had made it thus far….

Aissa - NOMA

Alimou – Maxillo Facial Tumour

Marthlynn – Cleft Palate

Look at the beauty, the peace in her right eye…

How, when carrying this around???

Wow! Isn’t she unbelievably beautiful?

What is it they say, “The eyes are the mirror to our soul.” I’d say with eyes like hers and a such a smile to match that Akuavi is one special treasure …

And how about Kossi (below). As a mother, his situation pulls at my heart, and without a doubt reminds me why I sacrifice being at home with my own son! Abel – Orthopaedics: unbelievable aye?

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VVF (Vesicovaginal fistula) ‘Coming out Celebraton!’ (I hope you remember my stories from last year of what this terrible affliction is about and what all these women in West Africa have to suffer – unnecessarily!)

Although, empowering VVF patients is one of our passions, we won’t be doing these surgeries while we are in Sierra Leone (SL)as they have a VVF Clinic that was established our last time in SL and is still up and running. We will come alongside them, but we don’t usually do surgeries that can already be done in the country we help.

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Of course I can’t share about all of the 480,000 beneficiaries Mercy Ships, you and I have impacted, but I did want to share a few of the above statistics of the incredible life-changing surgeries that are done on board the ship with you.

As of 27 February 2011 we have docked in Freetown, Sierra Leone for a ten month long Field Service bringing hope and healing to a country rebuilding itself after years of civil war, conflict and instability.

I have to admit, it is a little scary to be here where human devastation and poverty is at the bottom of the World’s Human Index Scale. However, I am challenged to serve God in a way that is totally outside of my comfort zone and humbly look forward to how He plans to use me in this new season…This last sentence reminds me of a couple of quotes, “To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.” And, “The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you”

The Anastasis was Mercy Ships predecessor to the M/V Africa Mercy and was retired in 2007 when the M/V Africa Mercy was put to sea.

The picture on the right is painted on the wall outside the port in SL (Thank you Murray for the pic)

Before we started our mass screenings in the Capital of Freetown…,

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…some of our approx. 60 person advance team (including 2 doctors) had gone to 5 rural areas, and had already screened 4948 people from crowds of over 7600;

scheduled 368 surgeries, 139 surgeon screenings, referred 503 people to other departments,

created a waiting list of 708 and were able to perform 26 minor surgeries

This list does not begin to include what the advance team prepared for our arrival including hiring, giving orientation and TB…

Sailing into SL

Some more members of the advance team below:

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Below: Managing Director and his wife (Donovan & Mae Palmer) with Captain Tim Tretheway; the raising of the country flag, and the pilot boarding to bring us in.

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There was a lot of fanfare: Above: Marching Band & Some of the land-based media team – Below: Welcome Banners & Minister of Health with the Head of our Advance Team and the boy (past patient) I speak about on the sidebar; his story yet to come.

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Okay, the below pictures having nothing to do with anything other than coming into port. I just thought you might want to see a few pictures of me now… LOL :) The port coming into view behind me; Penny (my South African friend) and I holding up the sunrise which actually looked more like a sunset, and Alice Maude & I (my Sierra Leoneon friend)

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Above: I am just posing for this momentous occasion. (yes Tracey, I will be printing the above pictures, so you can see them close-up :):):):))

… testing and immunization shots of more than 150 day workers to work with us once our ship arrived and an abundance of other factors I couldn’t begin to list here. I look forward to providing more details to you through my blog and my next visit home in June and July 2011!

Freetown

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Congested City of vehicles, people & vendors all fighting for a spot on the same narrow street….

It can take 2 hours to move 6 Km.

Freetown has national clean up day once a month.

But….

and now with the rainy season it’s couples with mud etc. and is quite a mess! (Thank God I brought my rubber boots!)

Please pray for me about all the things in my opening sentence; each one presents a challenge of it’s own kind and I could not be here doing this work without your faithful prayers, encouragement and financial support.

Okay, okay, this blog ended up being quite a bit different than the original sent to the church for the booklet; a little more embellished should we say…I’m blaming it on prayer…lol

“Around the world today, billions of people live in fear and desperation, with impure water, inadequate food, and little or no access to health care. Behind every statistic is a person waiting for hope and healing. Utilizing hospital ships, Mercy Ships delivers medical excellence with integrity and compassion to the world's forgotten poor by mobilizing people and resources worldwide. Mercy Ships serves all people without regard for race, gender, or religion.” - -Marianne Huurman, HR Manager

I have no medical training, but I have the love of God and love for others that I can share along with some administrative skills and an open heart and mind to learn and participate in whatever I can do, to help make a difference here in West Africa; where living one day at a time is harder than anything I’ve ever had to do – ever… !

Come, let us bow down in worship, ; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; ; For He is our God and we are the people of his pasture, The flock under His care. – Amen!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for whatever your part was in bringing hope and healing in 2010 to the 480,0000 and to the successful implementation of our new generators plus, plus, plus….

Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance!

Love and hugs,

Carol XX

P.S. More to follow on the new job and new cabin

On April 12th I Blogged about the Dangers…

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Fri, 13 May 2011 17:11:00 +0000

of the water crisis. After I did that blog I also listed it on the sidebar as one of my requests for regular prayer for our dive team. The situation has grown worse now that the rainy season has started and our divers are now diving regularly twice a day to keep the intakes clear and scrape the barnacles off the bottom of the ship and out of the valves (refer to the pictures on the Apr. 12 blog). The dangers of the current is still very real and our divers can only dive at high or low tide which doesn’t give them freedom to dive at their own convenience. Each dive takes around 4-5 hours and they still have their regular jobs to do. We have just taken an offering to help pay for the additional equipment they need such as full face masks (approx. $1500 USD ea), so they can stop sucking in the disgusting water, flood flashlights (approx. 350 USD), pressure gauges etc. These dives are very labour intensive and the crew on the ship become more appreciative of them everyday!!! HR is now working out a bed space to hire a fulltime diver to alleviate some of the pressure and because the need is so dire. The divers are all suffering at present from low-level sinus infections as well as just generally feeling unwell.

Do you want an idea of the conditions they are swimming in???

Of course you do…

Here we go…

Can you see Olly and Dan circled in green????Maybe now?

Is this unbelievable to you?? You should see the streams of this garbage floating down the river; it is unbelievable to my eyes. Wow, we may be strict in Canada about garbage waste and litter, but I am so very thankful for those laws….Anyway, that picture of Olly in the water amidst the garbage in Benin (again 12 April blog) is a ‘day at the beach’ compared to this, and what the Captain, the dive team and the crew would give to have Benin’s polluted waters back.

Can you imagine???

At this point I would also like you to know that there is also a large percentage of crew getting sick: stomach infections (me), diarhea, colds (me also, they call it ‘opportunistic illness’) etc. etc… there is so much sickness and time off on board that the Captain, Operations Manager and Doctor put together a survey sheet to try and determine the cause of where all the sickness is coming from. It has been hard to make that determination however, but as always our leaders do what they can do and all of a sudden there are a lot more hand sanitizing machines around the ship. I personally believe this is from a combination of the water (even though it is treated) and the fruit and vegetables (that are often grown in sewer water), I no longer eat either which we know is not healthy….ohhhhhh, when I get home, I want to eat beautiful salads without dressing and taste the fantastic taste of fresh crisp vegetables – yummmm. Also, a nice cold glass of real milk, skim milk – mmm, mmmm, I can’t wait! :) Anyway, I digress…the situation here is challenging and we and our unsung heroes (diving team) could really use your prayers for safety, health, diving equipment and our machinery onboard that is cooled and run off water.

Thank you for your prayers!

See you all soon!

Be well, be safe and be with God!

xx Moi

P.S. Have you noticed the countdown clock lately?? (My mom certainly has – LOL.)

He Has Risen…He has Risen Indeed!

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 01:56:00 +0000

How can I not blog about what I (Christians) believe to be the single most important event in human history?? I find I must pay tribute to the Lord in this blog, on this day; as He is the reason I am here in the first place, He is the reason Mercy Ships exists and He is the reason the M/V Africa Mercy sails to developing nations to perform life changing operations.

First of all, this was my first Easter on the ship as last year the entire Academy went on a convention in Kenya. Wow, my home church, which I adore, would be hard pressed to have kept Easter week as focused on the happenings of our Saviour and the depth of what He did for us as did the Chaplaincy department with the help of Susan Parker onboard the ship. Thank you Ans, Marty, Catherine, Susan and all the unseen helpers for the wonderful experience you made possible this Holy Week!!!! They called it “An Africa Mercy Easter,” and I have been truly blessed this week and reminded to the core of my being what Jesus did for me!!!!!! I am so very humbled and so very thankful! I hope wherever you are and whatever you are doing that you too have felt the love of what He did for you 2011 years ago!

There were many events on board throughout this week to remember, to pray, to be thankful, to be blessed, to have time alone, to remember God’s faithfulness, to take communions…there were movies, a concert DVD: St. Matthew Passion (Bach Opera – very excellent!), foot washing area, the Garden of Gethsemane (that was open all night with perfect nature sounds playing softly overhead), services (sermons), Easter egg colouring, children’s film, Hot Cross buns, visuals, Easter brunch, Easter Egg Resurrection Story and hunt, sunrise worship on deck 8 and more….

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Communion in the upper room & The Garden of Gethsemane

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Foot washing station

The blood of Christ

He took our sins upon himself

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Decorating Eggs

Easter morning sunrise worship on the top deck (8)

Hot cross buns & coffee Table decorations

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Kids performances

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Dr. Gary Parker (Chief Surgeon and Maxillo Facial Surgeon, Donovan & Mae Palmer (Managing Director), speaking and giving communion

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This family and I are very close. Their children call me nana

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Delicious buffet – thank you to all who worked on it
Chaplains

As per usual its been a busy week…

“May the reality of our redeemer King, Lord Jesus, pour over you afresh knowing that we too will be resurrected to be forever with Him.”

The Lord bless you and keep you
The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you
The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace
-This Hebrew Priestly Blessing is from Numbers 6:23-27

Happy Easter!

Love, hugs and prayers.

In Him,

… Carol XOX

P.S. Thank you everyone who shared their pictures with me! J

Good news for me…good news for you…

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 23:23:00 +0000

Kussa! (Hello in Krio)

For me…We have hot water – praise the Lord and thank you for your prayers!!!!

For you…I have updated my sidebar from top to bottom; I hope you like it – it only took me 21 hours, honestly!!! Have your ever tried to work with ‘html language??’ A little frustrating to say the least. :)

However, did you notice the clock? Did you huh, did you huh? Yes, I am counting down until I can see you all again. I am very happy and excited! Give me a call (if I don’t call you first) between June 14 and July 18th, and I will be sooooooo very happy to have a visit with you.

Looking forward to seeing you really soon; 46 days from today in fact!

This is my new work photo for my door.

God go bless you! (Krio) xx

P.S. Happy Birthday little sister! I love you!

♫ Oh Canada! ♫

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 00:41:00 +0000

"O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North, strong and free!
From far and wide, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee."

Canuck fans are far and wide, young and old…This little guy is my favourite fan I think – sorry Vera (lol).

Foday, got 8-plates put into his legs so the long one will stop growing, allowing for other leg to catch up. The plates will be taken out sometime in November. He is 5.
I will follow up with a picture Novemberish. Remind me okay…

Once in awhile (normally when Bernice from Manitoba is here) we get together and have a Canadian gathering. (I did the powerpoint.)

The guy with the Tim Horton's can on his head is Charles. He generously made the delicious donuts below to go with our Tim Horton’s coffee – mmmmm…they were very, very good!
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Coincidentally both of the Canadians with me in the above picture are friends of mine from home At the time of the picture above was taken there were 38 Canadians onboard.

But that’s not the end to the abundance of Canadian activity…

10 of us Canadians had the honour of being invited to the IMATT (International Military Assistance Training Team (S.L.)) The 115 strong (at the time we were there, there were only 32 Brits and 8 Canadians) International Military Assistance Training Team (IMATT (SL)) was established in 2002 following the end of war and disarmament of rebels by the UN in Sierra Leone.

Its mission is to help develop the Sierra Leone Armed forces into a democratically accountable, effective and sustainable force to fulfil security tasks required by the Government of Sierra Leone.

According to present plans, the size of IMATT(SL) will gradually decrease as the competence of the Sierra Leone Armed forces increases.

These men/soldiers invited us to have brunch with them and were hosts extraordinaire I must say. The purpose of the brunch was to partake in the memory of Vimy Ridge Day this past Saturday, April 9, 2011. The National Flag of Canada flies at half-mast on the Peace Tower in Ottawa, from sunrise to sunset, to mark the national day of remembrance of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

Breakfast was great as was the company, and the 70 foot pool we were able to swim in and have a shower afterwards was fantazmagorical! :)

Hot shower! :) :) :)

3 out of the 8 IMATT Canadians are with us in this photo. It was a fun day. I have to say, the more I travel the more patriotic I become. The line in our Anthem, “God keep our land glorious and free! “ also means a lot more to me these days…

I love you family, friends, supporters and church. Have a beautiful day!God be with you and bless you!

♥ Carol XX

More information on the water crisis...

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:17:00 +0000

All right, we are now allowed to have cold ship showers of 2 minutes or less - the Captain has a 41 second record of which he challenged us. :)

- We are still not allowed to do laundry
- We still do not have hot water
- And it's been asked to keep the following ryhme in mind when flushing:
If it's yellow, let it mellow
If it's brown flush it down

There's more though, our water consumption has been up around 80 tonnes a day compared to the 60ish we normally use???? When the Captain only took away the use of water to do laundry, asked the hospital (sterilizers and such), galley and a few other places to cut back we went down to 65 tonnes a day. However, when the hot water was shut-off, and we were not allowed to shower at all it went all the way down to 18 tonnes. I'd say some people aren't following the 2 minute ship shower rule...:) Furthermore, when we have to use paper products in the dining room it costs Mercy Ships upwards of $2000 USD over a couple of days. Money of course that could be much better spent, not to mention the environment...

Speaking of water, and on a different note; while you are praying about the above information would you pray also for our dive team. Currently, they can only dive during high or low tide as the current here is as strong as 8 knots and actually pulls them out to sea and is very dangerous. There is a lot of plastic that floats around here and our intake valves suck up the debris blocking the valves. We need the water to cool our systems for the engines, air conditioning, fire hoses and sprinklers. It is not a fun job - it is polluted, stinky and here in Sierra Leone - dangerous.

Plastic and garbage that needs to be cleared from the intake valves

This is what the dive teams needs to clean of the bottom of the ship

More bags blocking the intake valves

Olly Peet (team leader of our diving team) in Benin

Tenki (Krio for thank you), for your prayers.

Lots of love,

Carol xx

Water, water, everywhere...

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 23:28:00 +0000

Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion;

As idle as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean.

Water, water, everywhere,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, everywhere,

Nor any drop to drink.

The above is an old mariners rhyme...We have been on water rations for close to a week now. As of today all the hot water has been shut off and we have been told not to take showers at all, or run water for any amount of time.

Please pray that we will get enough water loaded and treated before we stink up the place... :)

Dr. Gary Parkers Comments on the Screening Saturday 26 March

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:40:00 +0000

http://www.mercyships.org/blog/entry/why-is-mercy-ships-in-sierra-leone

P.S. Dr. Gary has been with Mercy Ships for over 24 years and 5 times in Sierra Leone, he told me that this might be one of the best screenings ever in terms of smoothness and efficiency and control. I guess there is always something to be learned through a crisis that will affect the outcome of screening for years to come! Praise the Lord that He always wins over darkness! xoxox

P.P.S. Please let me know if the link does not work. We cannot see video links from the ship as we are blocked from all videos and feeds of any kind.

Take 2 – A Success!

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:21:00 +0000

This screening was about as different from the first one as we would’ve wanted and more. It exceeded our expectations on all fronts: the queue was orderly, we had a cloud covering that kept everyone in line and us cool; and everyone was screened, assessed, processed and prayed for with speed and efficiency. We scheduled just over 300 surgeries and waitlisted another approximately 30, not counting the over 700 we have on an existing waiting list from our up North screenings before the ship arrived. It is in the works to have another screening after the rainy season in August or Septemberish. Thank you for your prayers – they mean a lot! Praise the Lord for Saturday’s efforts; for Mercy Ships and the M/V Africa Mercy to be advancing towards His plan!!!!

A couple of our new patients holding appointment cards.

(Appointment cards are what the people receive after being approved for surgeries at a screening and have a scheduled surgery and date to come to over the next few months)
Paula Kirby is a Alumni Mercy Shipper and when she was on board she wrote quite a few poems. This one is apropos for now:

Mercy Ships is…

Many nations with one heart.
Many cultures with one hope.
Many talents with one goal.

…to honor the One whose

Name we bear.

It’s a wrap!

I will update my sidebar on prayer requests soon…

God bless you!

Love as always,
XX Carol

P.S. I didn’t carry the burdens of the patients and feel confident that I was praying in the Spirit. “There is no one like our God”

This song plays in my mind a lot!

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:46:00 +0000

You're the God of this city
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You Are

You're the light in this darkness
You're the hope to the hopeless
You're the peace to the restless
You are

For there is no one like our God
There is no one like You God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done
In this city
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

You're the Lord of Creation
The Creator of all things
You're the King above all kings
You Are
You're the strength in our weakness
You're the love to the broken
You're the joy in the sadness
You Are

Happy Birthday M/V Africa Mercy!

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 10:08:00 +0000

12 years ago today, Mercy Ships bought the Africa Mercy then known as the Droning Ingrid an old train ferry.

Refurbishing the ship took 9 years to complete and 68 million dollars. It was deployed in 2007, and it’s first outreach was Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa.

The pictures below are the most recent we have and were taken between Durban and Cape Town, South Africa. Some of the aesthetic changes that were done to the ship while we were in the Republic of South Africa are the logo on the funnel and the website painted on the sides of the ship. Above is taken from one of the lifeboat safety checks Above is taken from the air as we were leaving Durban, RSA. Both the above pictures are looking at the port-side (left side facing the bow) of the ship.

Above is when we had 25 hours in Cape Town before sailing to Sierra Leone. My Cabin is the 14th porthole from the back (which is what you are looking at) slightly left and right above the M. This side of the ship is starboard (right side facing the bow), and I am about halfway down on the 4th floor which was added to the ship when it was refurbished.

From inside my cabin looking out when we were docked in Cape Town. Great view!! I even had a Ferris Wheel in my backyard….hehehe

I definitely don’t have that view any longer.

Thank you Carole for the pic of the Wheel of Excellence.

Medical Screening is Rescheduled! Praise God!

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 02:20:00 +0000

The ‘screening’ is rescheduled for Saturday, 26 March 2011. Many things about screening have been reconsidered. Senior Management along with Security and our Screening Coordinator have set-up a brand new command structure.

This is the recently published news release:

Mercy Ships reschedules medical screening

Freetown, Sierra Leone, Mercy Ships, an international charity, will hold a Morning Medical Screening on Saturday, March 26 in Freetown. The screening will be held at the Pharmacy Board Compound opposite to the UN Special Court from 7am. It is only a screening session; there will be no medical treatment on site.

Mercy Ships do not treat hernia, diabetes, epilepsy, stroke, high blood pressure, arthritis, sickle cell, fibroid, asthma, heart-, back- or stomach problems. Mercy Ships offers free surgeries for qualified patients with cleft lip and palate, goiter, tumor, club feet, bow legs, cataracts and plastic surgeries for fire burnt patients.

The hospital ship, Africa Mercy, is docked in the port of Freetown upon invitation from the President of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma. The ship’s crew will serve the nation of Sierra Leone for a 10-month Field Service. Mercy Ships management team continues to work with the Sierra Leone Minister of Health and Sanitation to assist with their 5 year health care plan.

Mercy Ships started dental and vision screening, and treatment. Vision screening is held at the Kissy Eye Clinic on Monday mornings, the dental screening takes place every Monday and Thursday morning at the Hope Centre below (aka by the locals, Seafarers’ Complex/Bishop’s Court, or Obama Centre).

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Surgeries onboard the hospital ship are underway and more surgeries will be scheduled after the screening on Saturday, March 26.

These are the 1st patients of Sierra Leone arriving last Sunday.

That is a great report and tells a lot (pictures added :)). Here’s a bit more information just for you!

We will have a presence at the new screening site a full 24 hours in advance. There will be pre-screeners in the line on Saturday morning from 4 am telling people who we can’t help right away, so they don’t wait in line all day. We believe this is a much kinder way to handle things. I have heard it said that we are expecting more than 7000 this time, but in actuality it will be hard to collect correct statistics when the line will be kept to a minimum by 15 pre-screeners going through the line asking pertinent medical questions, making assessments and gently telling the people that are obviously not candidates right away that we can’t help them and this way trim down the line. To also help this process, we have implemented an aggressive campaign of advertising with the media and on the radio telling the Sierra Leoneans not only that we are having a screening, but what we don’t do as well; such as heart transplants, headaches etc. These people are desperate and will want to stand for hours for an opportunity to be well. We want to minimize the people coming for help that we can’t help through the media and radio. Our prayer however during the entire process is that we will administer God’s love to all those that come whether we are able to offer them surgery or not!

Overall our communication systems improved greatly as a result of the last screening. Like I said, we have a command structure in place which is broken down into 3 parts: Medical, Security, and Site Logistics and all variables of the screening fall under one of those. We will have 2 generators on site for registration to use laptops and printers. We have 14 walkie talkies and 2 outlook areas that security will be able to see over the entire compound and line outside the gate. We have increased security, prayer locations and OSP police (trained by British forces). We don’t expect any bottlenecks; in fact, our greatest concerns are for theft and crush points.

Inside the gate there will be an intercessory prayer team. There will be tents, tarps and chairs to provide shade.

We will hand out bread and water (they sell small bags of water here which is what people drink from), and water to the line outside.

As mentioned above we will be screening specifically for Maxillo Facial (head & neck tumours), Plastics (cleft lips, burn victims etc.), General goiters (no hernias) and Orthopaedics (club feet, bull legs etc.) We have a capacity limit for all the above surgery specialities of 500 patients of the right mix. Once we have our limit we will send people home telling them we will hold another screening in August and that they should listen to the radio. Even though the line will probably be dismissed my early morning (we start seeing perspective patients at 7 am), we will probably still be assessing, processing, accepting and praying for ineligible patients until around 6 pm. It will be a long, hot day!

Steps have also been taken to convey the information regarding our eye and dental clinics including when and where they are being held. Last week, we had our first eye and dental clinics with lines of approx. 1000 people at each. They were peaceful and successful clinics helping many. We have added extra screening dates to each clinic.

Last Monday we started surgeries. The advance team (a crew of about 10 or so), had scheduled surgeries and created a waiting list of over 700 before we even got here.

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This was in addition to providing 26 non-complicated surgeries. We are very proud of them and all the work they did before and for our arrival!

I’d like to point out that while all these people are waiting around, and being prayed for that we can use this opportunity to interface with the people. We can enjoy conversations, talk to them, ask about their families and culture. It is a rare and special time for us to be able to just spend some time with the people we are here to help. So often, we are, to them, the possibility of business AND everyone here is an entrepreneur. But not, on screening day – it’s not about business, it is about real, tangible hope, and being sisters and brothers in love; interested in who we are as humans and perhaps giving each other value, validity; FRIENDSHIP!

What can you pray for?

Cloud cover (very hot here)
A peaceful line of people
The right people to come to be helped
Wisdom for the pre-screeners and the ability for them to hear God’s voice about what to say to the patients
Safety for the patients and crew
For unusual things to be observed in advance
For the patients to feel accepted, loved and cared for whether they qualify for surgery or not

I again feel led to work at one of the prayer stations praying for those that don’t meet our mix of available medical care. For those of you that read my March 7th blog, you know, I found this to be a very emotional, challenging and difficult job. I also feel that God wants me to seek Him to give these people whatever He wills to give them. It could be peace, love, joy, understanding or a multitude of other adjectives and to be truthful, I am humble and privileged to be in such a position and apart from the difficulty and burden of my personal empathy and sympathy for those I’m praying for I feel a deep sense of joy to be able to serve them and Him in this way!

Please pray for me:

to be filled with the spirit and to speak what God wants each person I pray with to hear!
for my faith and my heart to be strong, but compassionate
to be safe from the mosquitoes (I have to admit I am fearful of getting Malaria again, or worse Dengue)
for a heart that is prepared to serve and be flexible

And lastly,

Please don’t expect many, if any, pictures in regards to the screening. We have been asked NOT to even bring our cameras to the site(avoids temptation; especially for the mamarazzi, as I've been nicknamed :)). We will have a media crew on site wearing orange badges and no one else is allowed to film or photograph. Some of Marketing's pictures will be made available to crew at which time I will share some with you!

Lots of love,

xx Carol

P.S. Happy, happy faces for you! Thank you for all your all your prayers!

Thank you to the Marketing team for the photos :)

Mercy Ships in Times Square, New York City

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 18:49:00 +0000

Mercy Ships will have 30 seconds of airtime each hour on the CBS “Super Screen” in Times Square from March 14 to April 30. What a great opportunity to spread the word about this ministry that I am so grateful to be a part of!

These are the 3 pictures they will be showing on the ‘Super Screen”

A story to remind us…

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 23:35:00 +0000

…it’s not because of our work, but because of who Jesus is! To paraphrase our managing director; our goal is for the people we help to experience a bit of the ‘Kingdom’ on earth, not because of us, but because of what Christ has done for us. “Don’t give up, it’s always been HIs gig and He brings the fruits…”

I don’t normally write such long blogs as I know nobody has the time to read them, but in the case of the story below (which took me 2 days to transfer into this blog by the way :)), I truly didn’t feel like I had editor’s rights, and frankly, I wouldn’t have known where to begin. Let me suggest you get comfortable, don’t scroll to the bottom to see how long it is, and be touched beyond your wildest imaginations.

The events of Monday do not represent the hearts or people of the Sierra Leoneons. Please remember, it was an act born out of desperation and riot mentality and that does not represent anyone! it was just a very tragic event for us all to have to experience; them and us!

Be touched forever by the story below…

by Abbie Reese

ABBIE WAS BORN fatherless into a world reeling from war, disease, poverty and disdain. She spent the first half of her life rigged to her mother’s back. Her mother managed the small bundle in spite of 7.7-pound prosthetics fitted over her legs and a crutch propped under her left arm. She lugged Abbie and herself around to beg, appealing for sympathy or pity or just a few coins.

Four-month old Abbie was born just two years after Sierra Leone’s 11 year civil war ended. Her mother, Salamatu, was a civilian victim of the war.

Abbie spent the second half of her young life in bed in a hospital ship’s ward as her mother recovered from surgeries meant to repair injuries incurred before Abbie was conceived. The girl drew an onslaught of attention and a legion of women vying to fill in as mothers to the quiet baby who never, ever cried.

Abbie’s life can be split in two, just as her mother’s life has a before and an after – before, when destruction reigned, when the innocent were preyed upon and hope was suffocated with each additional death; and after, when hatred faltered, lost its footing and healing began.

Ten-month-old Abbie will first watch and then learn from her productive mother how to put her hands to use, clothing and feeding and providing for a family. She won’t remember her mother’s life as a beggar or her mother’s slow recovery on the hospital ship. She’ll hear the stories and see the photographs and whenever her mother walks by, Abbie will get a glimpse into her mother’s life before and after; she’ll learn about the arbitrariness of evil, but even more about the prevailing power of good, of how love can heal. To her mother, the lessons will take the shape of memories. She won’t have to ponder them as abstractions. She will remember it. She lived it. It’s her story.

Salamatu’s story.

* * *

SALAMATU WAS BORN the eldest of five children in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Her parents planted and sold cassava, rice and potatoes. Salamatu liked school. She liked the music classes and the friends she made. But as more children were born into her family, it became more difficult to pay the school fees and keep up with the uniform requirements, let alone pay for the basics, like feeding the
family. Salamatu was 12 years old when she was told she must quit school to help support her family. She wasn’t happy. She says she will always remember the friends she made in school, some of whom are now university graduates. Sometimes she thinks that if she had stayed in school she, too, would have a degree.

Instead, Salamatu learned to trade. Her hands would never again be idle. She walked from her home in a village outside Makeni to the next village, where she bought palm oil. Then she walked home to sell the goods.

Salamatu met Mohammed in the next village, where he also did business, buying and selling dresses and shoes. The two fell
in love and married during an era of uncertainty, in the midst of their nation’s civil war. She was 15, he was 17. They had one child. For four years, they lived together, content.

But fighting inched toward their city. In 1997, a peacekeeping force stayed in Makeni for several months. The people of Makeni heard the rebels had agreed to peace and then heard the peacekeeping force would be pulling out and moving to Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, and Kono, the diamond-rich rebel stronghold bordering Liberia. The people of Makeni, Salamatu says, didn’t believe the rebels would keep the peace. “Let’s see,” the people said. When the peacekeepers pulled out, the people of Makeni were afraid.

One day, as Salamatu returned home after bathing, she saw thousands of people moving about frantically, attempting to leave Makeni. She had heard the stories of rebels sending messengers ahead of them on their way to an area. The messengers would write letters, stating “the rebels are coming, get ready”, and post them to the doors of homes. They did this to create chaos, to make the people panic. Salamatu heard that messengers had posted these warnings in Makeni.

The area around Makeni, where Salamatu grew up is coloured with forest and covered by mountains.

She ran home and started gathering her belongings. Mohammed was away on business in another city so
the 19-year-old took her child and joined her parentsd her siblings in the mass exodus. The nine family members began walking to
a village 13 miles away, thinking they would soon find refuge. They didn’t realize yet that the rebels had surrounded Makeni
before sending their messenger to alert the people. The rebels hid in the forests, waiting to ambush the civilians as they fled. Salamatu and her family walked straight into the path of the rebels.

The rebels demanded money from Salamatu’s father. He told them he didn’t have any. “What if we find money on you?” they asked. “What will we do?” Salamatu’s father didn’t answer.
The rebels searched him and found bills stuffed into his shoe. They taunted him, asking why he had made them search to find the money. They shot him in the chest. His life was taken for a deception and the equivalent of $125 US. Salamatu’s mother, her younger brothers and sister and her infant son watched. The
rebels turned their attention to the rest of the dead man’s family. If any of you cry,ey said, you’re next. In order to save their own lives, they were forced to act unmoved by the patriarch’s murder. No one cried. They suppressed their horror, their fear, their sadness and anger. Finally, the rebels moved on. The seven family members continued on to the village they hoped might still provide refuge. Salamatu walked ahead of her family. She sobbed, mourning for her father, for what she had witnessed and for her family’s future. Her vision veiled by tears, Salamatu walked into the path of
another group of rebels. She screamed. Her family, trailing by about 50 meters, ran for cover in the bush.

“I was praying,” Salamatu, a Christian, says through a Krio translator, “but whenever you meet with the rebels you think but you don’t know how to pray. You’re not able to pray. If someone is holding a gun or a knife or a machete, what would you say?”
Salamatu was taken into the bush. A woman was among the rebels. They called her Adama Cut Hand. The men began to argue, fighting over what they should do with Salamatu. Some wanted to amputate her hands and feet. Some wanted to cut off her feet and buttocks. They decided to make Salamatu choose her own fate. They held
a “ballot”. On pieces of paper they wrote “hands and feet”, “hands and waist” and “feet and waist”. Salamatu was forced to pick one of the pieces of paper. She picked the one that read “feet and waist”. Salamatu remembers seeing the rebels dance in jubilation.

Salamatu’s brother, Sorie, who had hidden with his family, snuck close to his sister and the rebels and hid in the bush about five meters away. The 11-year-old watched as Adama Cut Hand sliced off his sister’s buttocks with a machete. Then he watched the rebels lug a blockof iron toward Salamatu. They placed the block
under her legs and Adama Cut Hand hacked away at each foot, striking three times on the left foot and three times on the right foot to dismember her. Sorie came forward out of hiding and told the rebels to do the same to him. Take an arm, he said. He wasn’t thinking right, he says now; he wasn’t in his “complete sense”.
The rebels refused to touch Sorie. Salamatu lay bleeding. “She was at least on the point of death,” Sorie says. The rebels left.

The road leading out of Makeni.

Sorie went into the bush and cried. He returned to the place where his family was hiding and told them what he had seen. His mother said they should all go to Salamatu. When they found her, her lifeblood seeping out of her, they wept. Salamatu had fallen into unconsciousness. Her mother wrapped a piece of cloth around Salamatu’s stumps and then covered her buttocks with leaves to slow the bleeding. Sorie helped his mother carry Salamatu to the village they originally hoped would bring them safety. They bought drinking alcohol to pour over Salamatu’s wounds to stop the bleeding. The next day, Salamatu awoke. She stayed in the village a week before her family heard the peacekeeping force had returned to a city near
Makeni. They knew a hospital would be based nearby and so they set off in search of help.

MEANWHILE, WORD WAS sent to Mohammed that his wife’s legs had been sliced off. He rushed to meet her at the hospital. “He cried,” Salamatu says. “He was grieved. ... He had compassion and took good care of me.”

Mohammed spoke with a doctor at the hospital and explained what the rebels had done to his teenaged wife. They were just sorry for me,” Salamatu says.

( Salamatu dries Abbie after giving her a bath.)

Although Salamatu didn’t have any money, the doctors agreed to assist. They stitched up the skin where her feet had been
and performed four operations on Salamatu’s buttocks. Each time they
stitched up the wounds and each time the stitches
loosened and came out. Salamatu stayed at the hospital for a month, recovering in a ward filled
with other victims of mutilations. Their hands, their feet and their toes had been amputated. Some had had their thumbs chopped off but the rest of their fingers left intact. Others had had all their
fingers amputated but their thumbs left intact. They formed a fraction of the victims of the country’s civil war.

None of them understood why the rebels were doing what they were doing. “It’s just wickedness,” Salamatu says. “I don’t think they had a cause. They said they were going to liberate the country.”
When Salamatu was finally discharged from the hospital, the wounds on her buttocks had not healed. Sores developed over what was once padding. In spite of her injuries, in a country where spouses frequently leave one another because of illness or deformity, Mohammed stayed with Salamatu. He loved her. Salamatu enrolled in a batik (tie-dye) school and she and her husband worked together to
make money to provide for their small family, as well as Salamatu’s mother and siblings. As the eldest, and especially because she was married, Salamatu became responsible for everyone in the eternal absence of her father. Her younger siblings stayed in school and were clothed, thanks to Salamatu and her husband. Once the wounds closed over Salamatu’s feet, Sorie bought her a pair of prosthetic
legs. Salamatu says he paid the equivalent of a few American coins for the shoes, which quickly “spoiled”. The family combined their earnings to pay $165 US for a new set of prosthetics, sturdy but unbending legs that weighed almost four pounds each.
Life became normal, Salamatu says, because her husband took good care of her. Salamatu got pregnant and gave birth to a girl.
And then things started improving in Sierra Leone. In 2001, the rebels signed a peace treaty, bringing the 11-year civil war to an end.
A year later, Salamatu got pregnant again. But then, even as the family found more reasons to be hopeful, Mohammed became ill. He had survived the war unscathed, even escaping from the rebels once when they caught him, only to fall prey to malaria. It didn’t last long; he was ill only two days. Salamatu went with her husband to the government hospital in Makeni. He was awake one day and dead the
next. Salamatu was four months pregnant when her husband died. She became a 25-year-old widow.

Her third child, Abigail, was born on May 30, 2003.

The family entered into a state of crisis. In spite of Salamatu’s disadvantages – she was a woman and she was disabled – everyone looked to her to provide for them. Perhaps it didn’t occur to her family that Salamatu might not be up to yet another challenge, in the wake of her husband’s death, with the arrival of her infant, enduring not only the challenge of walking, but the pain of sitting. “We all depend on our elder sister,” says Sorie. “We do survive under her because she used to pay our school fees and used to buy clothes for all of us. And today, look how she is today.” Salamatu deemed herself capable. Unable to tie-dye clothes on her own, she fastened on her prosthetic legs and took Abbie on public transportation to the
capital, Freetown, to beg. She stood on the streets and held out her hands.

Sorie went to work on a farm. The children sometimes sold salt or sugar with Salamatu’s mother, making the equivalent of a dollar a day. Sometimes they went to the neighbors’ homes to ask for food. Sorie says the neighbors treated the children as slaves, making them run errands before feeding them meager portions. Salamatu often returned to Makeni from Freetown with her earnings. She found she
could no longer pay her siblings’ school fees.

Even as Salamatu tried fending for her family, her family was discriminated against because of her. After her husband’s death, property owners became less willing to let a cripple rent from them. “Since our sister is in this type of sorrowful condition,” Sorie says, “people do not accept her any longer to live in the house.
They drove us out of the house. She is our sister. If she leaves, we leave.” Salamatu, her mother, four siblings and three children found themselves homeless, evicted from what they believed to be their final home. They moved into a farm hut.

Salamatu, the bedrock of the family, felt she could tolerate no more. “At one time, because she felt so sorry for our family,” Sorie says, “because all of us cried bitterly, she said our family is so sorrowful she was going to drink soda poison to kill herself.” Her faith kept her from taking her own life.

Salamatu says she sometimes became discouraged when she thought about her condition. “But when I think of God,” she says, “I forget.”

Salamatu joined the Handicap Youth Development Association in Makeni and visited with the other members, either affected by polio or civilian victims of the civil war. Santigie Buya Sesay, chairman of the organization’s headquarters in Freetown, says the members fight to be self-reliant. They attend school to learn a trade. To manage, though, they support each other; they depend on one another.

It was at the association for the handicapped in Makeni that Salamatu heard about Mercy Ships. She heard a hospital ship would be docking in Freetown for the third consecutive year to provide free surgeries. Salamatu thought about attending the medical screening because her right heel had become infected. Rumors spread,
though, that Mercy Ships could only help people with problems from the neck-up, like facial tumors. Then someone told Salamatu the ships also provided orthopaedic surgeries. She decided to travel the 112 miles to Freetown, a three-hour journey by bush taxi.

Salamatu brought Abbie to the capital one week before the Mercy Ships medical screening at Freetown’s National Stadium. They stayed at the Handicap Youth Development Association’s headquarters. Salamatu
arrived at the stadium the first morning of the two-day medical screening and joined thousands of Sierra Leoneans in
line. Some had staked their hopes of
being selected on lining up the earliest. They arrived the evening prior and saved spots in line by sleeping on the sidewalk. Daylight revealed a motley
assortment. Fathers stood with daughters losing their eyesight.
Mothers clutched infants suffering the malnourishment and stigma of cleft lips. Some bore the weight of tumors. A man stood upright next to his younger brother who crouched on the ground, his legs useless from polio; he draped his arms in front of his legs, grabbed his ankles and walked his feet with the strength of his arms.

Salamatu stood in the midst of her countrymen, all of them hoping to be among the 750 people selected for free surgeries onboard the hospital ship. Salamatu stood all day in the 90-degree Fahrenheit heat with Abbie strapped to her back and the cumbersome prosthetics on her feet. She never got near the front of the line.
The next morning, Salamatu went to the stadium again, a crutch under her arm and Abbie on her back. She stood for several hours
before deciding to give up. She turned to leave.
As she walked away from the stadium, Neva
Snyder, an American Mercy Ships volunteer,
walked toward the stadium. Salamatu
determined to try once more to get into the stadium and be seen by a surgeon Salamatu caught Neva’s eye and approached her.
“Ma’am, ma’am,” she said.

Neva stopped.

Salamatu reached into her bag and pulled out a photograph. She held in her hand the evidence that revealed her condition, her need. Neva
studied the photograph, unsure at first what it she was looking at. Then it dawned on her: She was looking at Salamatu’s mutilated buttocks. “Why would anyone do that?” Neva thought. “It didn’t make sense.”

Neva had been told to only let those people with appointment cards, given the previous year when Mercy Ships was in Freetown, into the stadium. She called to Dorothy Logans, a counselor/discipler in the Outreach Department, and gave her the photograph.

“How did this happen?” Dorothy asked Salamatu.

“The rebels,” Salamatu said.

The two led Salamatu past Mercy Ships security and through the stadium gate to be seen by a plastic surgeon and an orthopaedic surgeon. When Sierra Leonean Mickey, a Mercy Ships translator, saw Salamatu, she thought, She is like me, she’s small. So is her daughter. But for them, she thought, it wasn’t stature that made them small, it was lack of food; they looked thin, as if
they hadn’t eaten enough.

ELAINE METZGER, AN American nurse, took Salamatu’s history. Elaine lived in Sierra Leone in the 1980s as a missionary with her husband and son. During Sierra Leone’s civil war in the 1990s, Elaine and her husband, horrified at news in the United States of the rebels’ hallmark of terrorizing the public with random, gave money toward the amputees. When Salamatu walked up to Salamatu enters the stadium to be seen by a Mercy Ships surgeon. Elaine with her crutch, her legs were covered under a long skirt. Elaine didn’t
realize she was talking with a war victim until Salamatu explained her injuries. “How was she possibly managing?” Elaine thought as she looked at Salamatu and her baby. “And yet, she obviously had adjusted to her situation because she wasn’t on the brink of tears, like I was.”

Elaine Metzger takes Salamatu’s history

When Salamatu moved
to another station in the
screening process, Elaine
watched an entourage
follow; one carried
Abbie, another carried a
pillow for Salamatu to a place between herself and the wooden benches. The captain’s 10 year old son saw the commotion and approached. “This is a miracle,” Dorothy told the boy. “She’s strong. She’s come very far. She knows Jesus. She prays. But it’s still hard. It’s amazing she didn’t bleed to death. It’s a miracle. She’s a miracle.”

Salamatu was seen by surgeons, selected for two operations and given an appointment card to return to the ship one month later.

Salamatu waits to be seen by surgeons at the Mercy Ships medical screening.

Dorothy and her translator, Henry, decided to ease Salamatu’s journey across Freetown to her accommodations. They helped her into a Mercy Ships Land Rover and drove on potholed roads, past a woman throwing a rock at a dog, to a store, where they bought provisions for Salamatu and Abbie. Then they drove to the
Handicap Youth Development Association. Salamatu leaned on her crutch as she walked rough the building’s entrance, smiled and
greeted other members sitting in the shaded concrete corridor, escaping from the sun’s rays. “These are all her friends,” Henry translated for Salamatu. “They help her.” Dorothy asked Salamatu to show her where she and Abbie slept. Salamatu dangled her crutch
and pulled herself up a flight of stairs. She walked into an open room and pointed to a corner on the floor.

Dorothy determined to meet Salamatu before she traveled back to Makeni. She wanted to equip Salamatu to provide for her family until she returned to Freetown for the operations. Then Dorothy decided to take Salamatu home to Makeni, herself. Dorothy bought a 120-pound bag of rice, which she told Salamatu to sell in portions, and fish, cassava and tomatoes, so Salamatu could feed her family.

About a week later, when the Mercy Ships Land Rover bearing Salamatu and Abbie drove into her village outside of Makeni, neighbors screamed and jumped up and down. Once they saw a mound of goods tied to the top of the vehicle, they shouted louder. Salamatu’s mother came forward, dancing and thanking Dorothy.
She looked thin and worn. She looked old. Dorothy didn’t ask her age.

Dorothy Logans with Satamatu; her translator, Henry, holds Abbie.

She thought it might not be years that had aged the woman. Several weeks later, Salamatu returned to Freetown. She walked up the hospital ship’s gangway, leaning on a crutch, wearing her hair in plaits and weighing about 106 pounds – almost eight of which she lost each night when she slept but hoisted back on during the day in order to move around. Without her prosthetic legs, Salamatu weighed only 98 pounds. With them, and with her baby strapped to her back, Salamatu carried an extra load of 20 pounds.

Salamatu Hoists herself up a flight of stairs

Salamatu was led to the hospital ship’s Admissions Office. Beverly Kohl, an American nurse, talked with one patient while another nurse talked to Salamatu. Salamatu recounted her story. Soon, the
nurse started crying. Beverly started listening. “It was all so overwhelming I could hardly control myself,” Beverly says. “Oh, what this poor woman
has been through.” Almost as startling as the details was Salamatu’s straightforward way of relating them. Salamatu appeared unmoved, almost stoic. She seemed to indicate, “It happened. It’s what happened. .. That’s the way things are in Sierra Leone.”

Those who met Salamatu learned her faith sustained her, breathing life into her patchwork body. God, she believes, has protected her life. “It’s a miracle that up to now I’m alive,” Salamatu says. “It’s God.”

When Salamatu received her bed assignment in the C-Deck ward, she started her stint as the ship’s longest-standing patient during its seven months in Sierra Leone. She occupied one of the ward’s 43 beds for four months. Her family would have to manage without her. Salamatu worried for them. Dorothy visited with Salamatu and learned what she had done with her gifts. She used some of the goods, sold some of the goods and spent the profit on material to tie-dye. Dorothy was impressed by Salamatu’s business sense. Then Salamatu told Dorothy her family was homeless. Dorothy asked what she wanted. “Mama Dorothy,” Salamatu said, “I need a house so I don’t keep getting kicked out.” “Okay,” Dorothy said. She wrote about Salamatu on a poster board and appealed to the ship’s 300-plus volunteer crew. Individuals, impacted by Salamatu’s spirit in spite of what she had endured, donated more than $1,200 US towards a house. (Salamatu plays with her son while her brother, Sorie, looks on. While Salamatu stayed on the ship for four months, her son and daughter stayed with family in Makeni.)

“Salamatu’s story is really poignant, really,” says Dr. Tony Giles, a Maxillo-facial surgeon from England. “She nearly lost her hands. Instead she lost her buttocks, which in the end is better.” Practically every task during her day – from cooking to dressing to changing Abbie’s diaper – would have become impossible if she didn’t have hands. Salamatu picked the right piece of paper, Dr. Giles says, as feet are easier to replace than hands. “What a world,” he says, “to think about what you would lose.”

“Physically,” says Dr. Tertius Venter, a plastic surgeon from South Africa, “it’s amazing she could suffer the amputations of two ankles at the same time when she could have bled to death from one amputation.” Dr. Venter performed Salamatu’s first operation on her buttocks. After the rebels’ initial assault, Salamatu developed
secondary injuries – pressure sores and pressure ulcers where once she had padding. Plastic surgeons commonly treat people for pressure wounds, Dr. Venter says, but Salamatu’s injuries had not developed as most of his paralytic patients’ had; hers grew from “horrific circumstances”. “When we see any of these war injured, it’s just horrific,” he says. “It’s quite disturbing what one human can do to another.”

The major trauma Salamatu underwent the night the rebels caught her would have made her bed-ridden for months, Dr. Venter says, which would have caused the two sores, each about five centimeters in diameter, to form, then become chronic. She had no potential to heal on her own. Sitting, Dr. Venter says, would have been painful and she would have had to care for the wounds daily, keeping them clean because of the risk of infection.

When Dr. Venter
interacted with Salamatu, he was struck by her demeanor. She always
smiles, he says. “She went through all this
and still smiles.” Dr.
Venter explained
before the operation that her movement would be restricted for several weeks while she recovered. If she were to heal properly, she would have to sit and lay and sleep on her side. She couldn’t stand or bend. Ward Supervisor Sorina Fadden says Salamatu was upbeat as Dr. Venter listed her restrictions.

“What else do I have to do?” Salamatu asked.

In an operation onboard the Anastasis, Dr. Venter cut out the ulcers and the scar tissue surrounding them. Then he cut “defect flaps”, using tissue from an adjacent area, to give her buttocks padding.

THE WARD'S NURSING staff dubbed Salamatu’s bed “Party Corner”. Mickey, the Sierra Leonean translator who met Salamatu at the medical screening, visited her almost every day. “Everyone loves Salamatu,” Mickey says. Salamatu swings on Aft Deck while her brother, Sorie, holds baby Abbie. Salamatu would prop Abbie in bed with a book in her lap and tease that her daughter could read. “I want her to teach me,” she laughed.

Teenaged burn patients
recovering from plastic surgeries found their way to Salamatu’s bed,
as did women recovering from Maxillofacial operations. Alimamy, who thinks he’s about 13 years old, suffered
injuries and
was orphaned when the rebels burned down his family’s house five years ago. As he recovered from operations onboard the Anastasis, he found himself drawn to Salamatu. “I can joke with she like brother and sister because I like she and she like me,” Alimamy says. “She can advise me to be to school, to do good at home, to not dwell with the bar friends.”

The patients gravitated toward Salamatu, Sorina
says, because she had lived through so much. “She’s not alone,” Sorina says. “They all could relate to the horror of living through the war.
Everyone, they all are such survivors.” Yet Salamatu had proven resilient and maintained her bubbly spirit.

Doctors and nurses from around the world cared for Salamatu as she recovered. They brought their accents and their cultures to the bed of the
26-year-old who had never ventured beyond her country’s borders. Mona Stusvik, a ward nurse from Norway, once heard Salamatu talking with some other patients about what it was like on ship. “They said they were no longer in Africa,” Mona says. “They were in Europe. Being on the ship was like a trip to Europe.” The ward provided air conditioning, televisions, Western food, at times, and Western medical staff. “I think in one way it was a big adventure for her,” Mona says. “In a way she has been in Europe and the U.S. and all over.”

Salamatu’s story also circled the globe. Crew wrote home to family and friends about the 26-year-old war victim. Fernanda Casulleras, an 18-year-old from Mexico, remembers the first time she told her mother the details of Salamatu’s injuries. Her mother cried. Fernanda told her mother that Salamatu was a strong woman who worked hard and believed in God. For four months, Fernanda visited Salamatu almost every day. The two opened up to each other, communicating in English, which wasn’t either woman’s first language. “For me,” Fernanda says, Salamatu sleeps after undergoing an operation. “she’s the coolest lady I ever met because she really worries for your feelings.” Fernanda e-mailed her mother dozens of photographs of Salamatu and Abbie and constantly updated her mother about Salamatu to the extent that her mother felt she
was living the same experience as Fernanda. When her aunts and uncles visited her parents for a family reunion, her mother took out the photographs of Salamatu and showed them off. “She loves her as much as I do,” Fernanda says of her mother. “She loves her like if she was here.” Her parents sent money for Salamatu to buy food for her family. Her grandmother sent money toward the construction of
Salamatu’s house.

As other crew, hailing from more than 30 nations, wrote e-mails home about Salamatu, more money trickled in. Dorothy’s translator, Henry, drove to Makeni and paid for some land next to Salamatu’s aunt’s home, where Salamatu’s family was staying. Each time Salamatu received a gift, she would call Mickey over. “Write thank you,” Salamatu would tell Mickey. “I’m her secretary,” Mickey
joked.

Salamatu teaches a visitor in the ward how to crochet.

Salamatu busied her hands, knitting and crocheting her own thank you’s. When she didn’t have visitors, which was rare, Salamatu made bags and hats and doilies for crew, and skirts and shirts and dresses for her daughters.

Abbie sat, content, on her mother’s bed, or was toted about the ship, content, on the backs of nurses and crew. She rarely made a sound. Ann Giles, a palliative care nurse and the wife of Dr. Tony Giles, visited the two in the ward one time and found Abbie hot with a fever. Most children would have put up a fuss, says Ann, a mother of six girls. Ann heard Abbie whimper once. “I would say the chances are Abbie is such a good baby because she has had to become one,” Ann says. “Salamatu was in the condition she was in way before she had Abbie.” Abbie’s father died months before her birth and Salamatu could not have physically tended to her infant’s every whim. “She’s just sort of adapted to the situation,” Ann says. “Salamatu couldn’t cope if she was a whiny child.” Or, Ann says, Abbie’s easy-going nature could be her God-given temperament. “God knew what Salamatu could cope with or not cope with.”

A month after Salamatu
boarded the Anastasis, she was taken to the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital east of Freetown to recuperate for several weeks while the ship
sailed to the Canary Islands for a mid-point break. Ann Giles trained Nathaniel, a Sierra Leonean nurse, to care for Salamatu in the absence of the
Mercy Ship. The 22-year-old became responsible for cleaning and dressing Salamatu’s wounds. For Nathaniel, Salamatu marked the first severe war injury patient he had ever cared for. As Nathaniel prepared to dress Salamatu’s wound one day, she started to tell
him how she had been injured. “She wanted to explain about the trouble and tragedy,” Nathaniel says. “I asked her to stop and forget about it.

“If she started explaining that problem,” he says, “she might also start to remember about it. And when she started to remember about it, it would create more problems for her. It was too pathetic.”
When the Anastasis returned to Freetown, Salamatu returned to the hospital ship to continue her recovery and wait for her
second operation. Salamatu walked up the gangway, her crutch propped under her arm, weighing 117 pounds – 11 pounds more than she had two months earlier when she first
boarded the ship. Once in the ward, she was told she had been moved to another bed. She refused. “Thirty-three is my bed,” she insisted. The nurses complied. Salamatu hadn’t liked the bed in the corner at first because it sat directly under a television. Salamatu said she couldn’t see the films the nurses played throughout the day. Then she
discovered she could see the films if she simply turned around and looked up. One day The JESUS Film played overhead. Salamatu watched in intervals. Roman soldiers hammered a nail through Jesus’ hands onto the cross. Jesus screamed. Salamatu said she didn’t like watching the film. “These people are acting like the rebels,” she
said.

But Salamatu wasn’t bitter toward the people who had maimed her. “Everything is God,” she says. “If God has allowed something bad to happen, I don’t have anything to do. I only have to look to God.”

Several days after returning to the Anastasis, Salamatu
underwent an operation for a right stump revision. Dr.
Douglas Sammon, an
orthopaedic surgeon from
Scotland, says a leaking sore, a hole half a
centimeter in diameter, had formed in the heel of her right foot. The rebels had cut through Salamatu’s left shin but had hacked through the joint of Salamatu’s right ankle. It swung about, rubbing against
her prosthetic shoe, creating the sore. Ideally, Dr. Sammon says, he would have amputated her right leg just below the knee to give her more control and ease her mobility with a prosthetic leg. But he let
Salamatu choose how long she wanted her leg to be. She told him to make it the same length as her left leg. She wanted to be made symmetrical in her deformity. “Now,” Dr. Sammon says, “limb fitters can help her choose how tall she will be.”Salamatu undergoes an orthopaedic surgery to shorten her right leg, which had developed
an infection in her heel. Several weeks later, Salamatu was fitted with new prosthetics at Mercy Ships News Steps, a land base that provides free limb rehabilitation to victims of disease and
war. At first, the legs were made too long. Salamatu was too tall. She felt unsteady. Salamatu walked into the ward and promptly pulled her new white gym shoes off the brown plastic feet to show off the new legs. The shoes fit tightly, though, and the nurses struggled to pull the shoes back over the plastic feet. One nurse noticed
Salamatu eyeing someone’s flip-flops and advised her that the flip-flops would be a little too adventurous. “Well I have got toes,” Salamatu retorted. It was as if she had realized for the first time, her nurses said, how crude her other prosthetics had been. Beverly Kohl remembers seeing Salamatu’s old prosthetics when she was first admitted to the ward. “They looked like stumps,” Beverly says.
It looked as if someone had whittled down a log and stuck some clunky black high tops on the end.

Salamatu practices walking with her new prosthetic legs at Mercy Ships New Steps.

Salamatu’s prosthetic legs were shortened during a subsequent
fitting at Mercy Ships New Steps but she was still several inches
taller than she had been before. Two days before her discharge
date, Salamatu returned to Mercy Ships New Steps for her final fitting. She left 10-month-old Abbie in the care of the ward nurses. “She has so many mothers on the ship,” Salamatu said,
smiling. Abbie, Salamatu said, would wonder when they went back to Makeni, “Where are all my mothers?”

Ann Giles drove Salamatu to the appointment. Salamatu sat in the Mercy Ships Land Rover and crocheted until the vehicle pulled out of the port. Then, the white yarn hung limp as her eyes wandered, lingering over the scenes outside. When she walked into the Mercy Ships New Steps office, Ann told Richard, a prosthetic orthopaedic technician from Liberia, “She’s developed a squeak.” Salamatu
demonstrated. Her right leg sounded off.

Richard repaired the leg, altering the screws then tightening them “so when she goes,” Richard said, “she will be in the hands of God and there will be no loosening.” The squeak stopped in the right leg but a snapping sound started in the left one. For two hours Richard worked on the prosthetics, fitting them just right and then asking Salamatu to walk around.

The prosthetic legs weighed less than a pound and would have cost about $125 US if she had to purchase them. “It’s better,” Salamatu said as she held up the ends of her skirt and looked at herself walk, without a crutch, in a full-length mirror. “Now God will heal everything for me,” Salamatu said. “And I thank God.” Salamatu practices walking with her new prosthetic legs at Mercy Ships New Steps.

As Richard fixed Salamatu’s legs, Salamatu said she was eager to return to Makeni in two days, on Sunday. She had received news from her mother the previous day, when someone from Makeni visited the ship, that her brother had been ill with a stomachache.. “Everything is hard for them,” the messenger relayed. Salamatu missed her family and friends and was only eager to go home. She didn’t say she would miss the ship. She simply said of the crew, “I’m thinking good things. ... They encourage me. Everything I want they give me.”

The next day, Saturday, Salamatu finished packing the belongings she had accumulated during her time on the ship. Friends on the ship had given her clothes, material and tools for tie-dying and an additional $830 US toward the building of her house. Salamatu would once again return to Makeni – as she had after begging and as she did when Dorothy drove her home – with more than she had taken to
Freetown. Salamatu asked Fernanda to drive with her the three hours home to Makeni and speak with her mother. “She always cries,” Salamatu said of her mother. She cried, Salamatu said, because of Salamatu’s condition. This, in turn, saddened Salamatu.
“Tell her, ‘Don’t cry,’” Salamatu told Fernanda. “She has to be positive.” At 6 a.m. on Sunday, Jitske Timpers (pic. below), a Mercy Ships volunteer from the Netherlands, sat on bed 32, next to Salamatu. Jitske had provided Salamatu with a
steady stream of her staple: yarn. She held Abbie in her lap, reached over and touched Salamatu’s right wrist, where the patient identification was clasped.

“You can take this off now,” Jitske said.

“It’s my watch,” Salamatu joked.

“It’s about time to go home, it says,” Jitske said.

“A day like today is great,” Salamatu said, “because I am able to sit by myself. I tell God tenki (thank you) for that.”

Salamatu said her faith had increased while staying in the hospital ship’s ward. “The time I had this problem I was crying at that time and seeking for a way God could help me. While I was thinking about that, I came to the ship and received healing. I just believe my faith in God caused the people to touch me.

“Now it’s really good. God will work for me. God will work everything for me. I know God will continue to do it for me.” She will marry again, she said, if God brought the right man to her.

Richard, a Mercy Ships New Steps prosthetic orthopaedic technician, hands Salamatu her new right leg. Salamatu walked up two flights of stairs and was greeted by Mickey, the ward translator she had befriended. Mickey woke up at 5:30 a.m. so she could travel across town to the port and say good-bye to “Sali”. “She is now my sister,” Mickey said of Salamatu. She promised to visit Makeni soon. “I pray that God will give her strength because this is the starting of a life,” Mickey said.

Nurses lingered in the ship’s reception area as Salamatu and Abbie prepared to leave. They said the ward would seem empty without them – without Salamatu, who was dubbed the queen of the ward, and her little girl, fittingly called the princess of the ward. Donna Shippie, an eye nurse, walked by and said she would miss baby Abbie. “I call her Miss Anastasis,” she said, “because she’s been here so long she thinks she owns the place.”

SALAMATU WALKED DOWN the gangway without her crutch. She wore a Western-style wig with black and red braids, a jean skirt and Adidas running shoes.Her legs were lighter and longer than when she arrived four months earlier. “I think she’s been given a really good start,” one of her nurses said.

“Or a new start,” Mona added.

Salamatu returns to her home after four months on the Anastasis.(The
Anastasis was the ship prior to the Africa Mercy which is the ship we use now.)

The nurses were concerned for their rge when she left the ward. On the ship, Salamatu’s meals were provided, her clothes were washed and she had ample help with Abbie. Salamatu never demanded anything,
the nurses said, but over time she became familiar with the care.
Abbie had become institutionalized during her four months onboard, but she was a baby and would readjust. Sorina thought it had almost reached the stage where Salamatu, too, was institutionalized. “She had to go back to her own life,” Sorina said of Salamatu, “because here it was a vacation for four months, which is a long vacation.”

Some feared how Salamatu would respond once she moved out of the ship’s limelight. “I think she liked being special,” Mona said.

“She’s still going to be special,” Sorina said, “because we’re building her a house. She will have a step-up on life.” But, Sorina added, Salamatu’s neighbors would see her return after four months on the hospital ship with her new legs and a new house and they might find it hard to relate to Salamatu. Or they might grow jealous.
“A lot is going to be expected of her because she’s been given a lot,” Sorina said.

Salamatu joked as she and Abbie got into the Land Rover with Fernanda, Alimamy and several other Mercy Ships volunteers. As they drove toward Makeni, Salamatu sang. As they got closer to Salamatu’s aunt’s house, where Salamatu’s mother and siblings and children were staying, Fernanda thought she could see her friend
Salamatu returns to her home after four months on the Anastasis.
growing anxious.

When Salamatu stepped out of the Land Rover outside her aunt’s house, her mother danced in joy, happy to see her daughter “normal”. Abbie was passed to Salamatu’s aunts but she cried for Fernanda and cried because a heat rash had developed on her neck. Salamatu, who had thought the temperature too cold when she first boarded the air-conditioned ship, felt too hot in her home environment. She stripped off her shit to cool off.

After several hours, Fernanda and the others
prepared to leave Salamatu for the evening and
stay the night in a nearby village. Salamatu
said she wanted to go along. She feared they
wouldn’t return the next day to visit her. They
promised they would. Salamatu told Fernanda she was afraid to be left alone without any
means of communication. The next day, Salamatu’s friends returned. When they again said good-bye, tears welled in Salamatu’s eyes. She didn’t cry. Abbie did. She flung herself into the Land Rover. Fernanada said she hoped to return once more before the ship sailed from West Africa to Europe. Back on the ship, the nurses talked about how Salamatu might fare.

“It would be interesting to know six months from now what happens to her,” Sorina said, “but we won’t.”

“Still, she will find a way,” Mona said.

“Oh yeah,” Sorina said, “she will.”

Salamatu’s caregivers were convinced that even if Salamatu’s hands had been amputated in place of her feet or buttocks, she would have prevailed over her circumstances. “Without her hands,” Beverly said, “she would have adjusted just like she has without her legs.”

“She’s a survivor,” Sorina said.
Two weeks after depositing Salamatu back
into her village, Fernanda
returned to Makeni for one final goodbye. She went, bearing gifts. The Mercy Ships Land Rover pulled down a dusty road and the Land Rover’s headlights shone through a veil of rain onto Salamatu, sitting
on the porch of her aunt’s home, and her children being bathed. Nearby, Salamatu’s Above, Fernanda, right, watches Salamatu greet
her mother after four months apart. Below, Salamatu's mother dances in joy to have her daughter home and "normal". Salamatu, home in Makeni, smiles. a plot of land sat empty of a structure; the dirt was covered with a layer of mud bricks. Her Mercy Ships friends gave Salamatu a bank account card and a cell phone to stay in contact once they returned to their homelands. Salamatu immediately put her hands to work crocheting a cell phone holder to wear around her neck. She told them she had tie-dyed almost 60 yards of fabric they had given her. Neighbors in the village helped. The only reason she had refrained from dying all of it was so she
could show them how it’s done.

Salamatu recounted her family’s struggles since returning. A sty had grown on her eyelid. Her sister had contracted malaria. Her daughter, Abbie, had gotten ill and Salamatu sold a bag of rice to have the 11-month-old seen at a local hospital. Her family again faced the possibility of eviction, she said, if they didn’t pay the equivalent of about $2 US for the next month’s rent. She pointed to the area where her home would be built. She had hoped construction would be further along, as the rainy season had just started.
Salamatu's aunt's home is lit up by the headlights
of a Mercy Ships Land Rover when Salamatu's
friends return for one final goodbye.

Once Salamatu tie-dyed her few remaining yards of material, with the assistance of some neighbors, her Mercy Ships friends loaded up the fabric to take to Freetown and sell; they would deposit the profits in her bank account. Salamatu’s family and her friends waved them off. Salamatu sat on the porch. She lifted her hand to wipe away the tears that spilled onto her cheeks.

* * *

SALAMATU'S STORY ENDS even as a new chapter begins.

At 26, Salamatu begins the
process of assimilating life in Sierra Leone “before“ – her father’s murder, her own victimization and her husband’s death – with life “after” – her months onboard a hospital ship
of foreigners and her return to the village she grew up in. Salamatu and her children face poor chances of survival in a nation where the average life expectancy is 43 years old and more than 30 percent of the population dies before the age of five. She continues to confront the challenges of discrimination even as she assumes responsibility for her mother, four siblings and three children.

But already Salamatu had survived – and thrived – when the odds indicated she should have died. Although disabled, Salamatu had triumphed, in the spirit of so many of her countrymen, over her circumstances. Her unrelenting spirit had buffered her from trauma and her faith had preserved her. She had embodied joy when bitterness could have ensnared her.

Now, Salamatu’s body has been altered, relieved of pain. Now, she has been given a financial footing with the promise of a home and the beginning, once again, of her business. And once again, she occupies her hands, which so narrowly escaped destruction, to care for her dependants.

Salamatu hasn’t changed, really. She’s only been strengthened.

Please pray that we will be able to organize another screening – soon! Rumour is there are many people who used months worth of food money, or non-existent monies to come to Monday’s screening and they are not leaving for fear that if we hold another screening they will miss their chance with us as there is no way they could afford to return. Yet, there is also a great fear that we just won’t do another screening. The chances these people have food or shelter money to hang out is slim to none…

And lastly, I know I already said thank you, but please let me thank you again. I truly thank you all for the amazing support you gave me through this time. I have received a record amount of emails, comments and prayers about the tragedy that took place and my well being; even a delivery in the container from a stranger who sent me a encouragement package with a note, a few gifts and a scripture from 1KIng about when Ahab was Killed at Ramoth Gilead and Jehosphaphat became King of Judah. She felt was led by the Lord to send me this scripture since the 19 Oct., and knew I wouldn’t get it right away as she sent it on the container, but was convinced I would get in “God’s perfect timing.” I got it today and already I am touched and am looking forward to meditating on the scripture. (Isn’t God good at planning? :)) I was having a difficult time and “…don’t have good theology for the brokenness in this world,” (again quoting the managing director), with just the little I had seen, heard and experienced in the short 9 days we have been here, up to and including, the event at the National Stadium. Why, when we have the power of Jesus???? It’s not up to me to question, but to trust and live out my faith!

I am better now and feel much more prepared to face the 10 months ahead because of all of you. I know that I am God’s and your ambassador and we are partners and I am deeply humbled! I feel privileged and honoured to be called here to serve; give and show love – God’s, yours and mine!

NO MORE LONG BLOGS – I PROMISE :) xxx

May God be with you and keep you…

Screening was cancelled today – 8 March 2011…

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 23:18:00 +0000

Thank you all for your heartfelt responses to my blog yesterday! I don’t think in almost 2 years I have had such an overwhelming response. I guess when you need it most…:)

After pouring out my emotions yesterday, I thought I should keep you all abreast of what continued on from yesterday.

First of all, let me assure each of you that I AM perfectly safe and in no way am I in danger of any kind! Mercy Ships takes extreme measures to make sure the crew is always looked after in any circumstance and has contingency plans in place for things we would never even think off. Please DO NOT WORRY ABOUT ME! If you want to worry about someone – pick a name out of a hat for a Sierra Leoneon. Honestly, I have been in a lot of dire places between working with the Government in Mexico for the underprivileged, as a home country volunteer on skid road in Vancouver, and as a missionary of various 3rd world countries and I have never seen or heard a place like this, not even on tv!

The oppression is obvious, the enemy is working; rarely does one come face to face with the dark side of the spiritual world, but one would have to be in total denial not to sense it’s presence here.

The war has only been over a short time – a decade…what’s that??? Probably just enough time for them to figure out the direness of there lives. 200,000 people lived in the city of Freetown before the war, there is now over 2,000.000. The amputees are mostly ones that were tortured horrifically and given choices like “do you want a short sleeve, or a long sleeve?, or something an d a buttock? Or the freedom fighters losing their hands and then mocked with ‘the hand of freedom,’ and then left to bleed out. And then as if that’s not bad enough, there are the mines……You know what; I could go on and on with what I’m seeing, hearing and learning about the devastation here, but the truth is we’re here to expose the darkness to light. To bring hope and healing and love in action. So my next blog will start telling you about some of that…for now let me close with a few words from our Founder and President, Don Stephens:

The following is the statement being released regarding the event:

Mercy Ships is deeply saddened by the tragic events that occurred today during medical screening at the Freetown National Stadium when a crowd stormed the gate resulting in several injuries and one life lost.

Mercy Ships personnel working at the site attended the injured and accompanied them to local hospitals.

"Our hearts and prayers are with the individuals and families of those affected by today's events. The occurrence of this incident in the course of activities intended to restore lives is tragic. We move forward with tremendous sadness, but great determination, to assist as many people as possible in the next ten months," stated Mercy Ships Founder, Don Stephens.

Mercy Ships exists to serve the forgotten poor and has served Sierra Leone five times over the past two decades, also helping establish two land based health care facilities. For the next ten months, Mercy Ships will be providing surgeries for qualified patients while working alongside the Sierra Leonean Government to support its five-year healthcare plan and strengthen the functions of the national health system.

He also reminds us, “This is certainly a time to pray and believe that God will work all things together for good in this tragic situation.” I agree because like I told Kadiatu, “what is it all for if we don’t have hope?” Really!

Some words from our Managing Director, Donovan Palmer who has worked for Mercy Ships many, many years, from our Chief Surgeon, Gary Parker who has been with Mercy Ships around 24 years and our Chaplain, Ans Rozema who held a briefing, or a debriefing (I’m not sure) last night to go over with the community what happened:

…have been to many screening with Mercy Ships and 5 to Sierra Leone and nothing like this has ever happened before…
…apologies to the crew and then this explanation for the apology, ‘people with real needs didn’t get help today…many spent all there money to get here and are sleeping who knows where and now; well, we are doing what we can to find out who those people are and how we can get to them and them to us…
…tragically 13 were injured, including one fatality and two life threatening situations. Mercy Ships personnel on site cared for the victims and accompanied them to hospitals. No Mercy Ships personnel was injured. We are paying the hospital bills for the victims so that everyone could have medical help. we will also be arranging a special screening, so they do not have to be subject to another wait or line…
…we are very sorry for the family and friends of the man who died today and are trying to find out who they are as we do not have any information at this time…(someone in our community recommended that we give him a burial if we can’t find any relatives)
…there were a small group of people purposely inciting the crowd, we don’t why, we are still going over all the written observations from the crew that were close by and processing the information…
…2 arrests have been made…
…screenings are postponed for the safety of the crew until the senior management can figure out their options and safely organize a second screening…
…this doesn’t lessen the fact that we are good for the poor as we seek to serve…
…everyone processes differently and there will be a grieving process..
…don’t get fearful – the devil will try to use this to divide us…
…pray for strategies…
…where there are great needs, you will encounter challenges…
…Sierra Leone Minister of Health is very keen for us to continue our screening and help their people…
…Thursday nights offering (our first on this outreach) will go to the help the victims and needy of the screenings…
…there are number of issues that caused today’s event – there have been at least 12 elements identified already…

from my friend John, “I was on the security team during screening, and that was the most intense days since my time in Vietnam.”

my friend Toni, “all I can say is that I have to recall scriptures about heaven where there will be no more suffering and pain.”

Dr. Gary is reminded of the verse from Luke 22:31, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat.”

Please remember to pray for us as we live and work and minister and serve and love the people of Sierra Leone for the next 10 months!

Thank you! I am blessed to have you in my life and I love you!

May God be with you, protect you and keep you safe!

xx Carol :)

Freetown, Sierra Leone – 7 March 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 20:51:00 +0000

It’s 4 am, I don’t know what to expect today. It’s the first time since I’ve been with Mercy Ships and 4 countries later that I am part of a ‘mass screening.’ The country has been advertising our arrival for months, our medical staff have been preparing for these next two days for weeks – we have security teams, registration staff, prayer groups, doctors, nurses, translators, drivers, pre-screening areas, escorts, lab techs, water and bread servers; there are a few hundred of us and we are all prepared to put in long hard days, we’re all convinced we’re doing God work, He goes before us and is with us, so we’re ready for what ever comes our way, or are we? Better yet…am I?

I get up, I’m going to start my day off right so I pull out my now favourite devotional, Face to Face. I let the book fall open on it’s own to where I should read and what I should meditate on today and it goes right to the first day and I think, “interesting!” I pray over the renewal part quite a few times, “`O Lord my God, may I fear You, walk in all Your ways, love You, and serve You with all my heart and with all my soul,’” (Deuteronomy 10:13) and then I go on to pray that the Holy Spirit be my voice today, that He is ever-present in every Mercy Shipper in Freetown’s National Stadium today as we go about choosing the patients who will qualify for surgery over the next 10 months. I praise Him and confirm with Him that my sole purpose for today is to bring Glory to HIm and I give Him this day to do with as He wills. I also pray for strength, compassion and understanding and frankly right now I’m just confused…

Anyway, back to preparing for the BIG DAY. I spray my clothes with Premithin, put on a Mercy Ships shirt and skirt (country appropriate)and spray my exposed skin with a deet that has more than 40% (malaria once, was enough for me). I get myself two litres of water and ice because we know it’s going to be a scorcher and I’m down at the mini van by 5.30 am sharp. We weave and manoeuvre our way through an already rising city and manage to get to the stadium in under an hour. As a well functioning team with great team leaders we start setting up stations and putting security at the entrances, exits and around the crew. We start pulling out chairs for people to sit and wait in and place them strategically around the different stations that have been constructed to accommodate our would be patients. Before 8 am the people are starting to be let in: I’m with the prayer group. We set up 2 areas to pray. The first area has 8 stations with 5 chairs in each station and are for those that don’t qualify for surgery and are asked if they would like to be prayed for to which they’ve replied they would. The second area has 2 stations of 5 chairs and they are for those that have been escorted through different medical areas to determine if they are candidates for maxillofacial, orthopaedic, plastics or general and then told we can’t help them. (There are many reasons why someone might not qualify for our help. It is a very tough job for the pre-screeners as they are the ones that know the criteria and are the first place a patient is seen and given the initial yay or nay.) Dental and eyes will be done on other days, and those patients will be given the addresses and dates for those upcoming and ongoing screenings. We’re ready, I’m ready, I’m with my partner Joyce and translator John…bring it on, we have the power of prayer and hope on our side; we are so fortunate and blessed to be able to at least pray with these people before sending them out the gate ….

Ha!

They come in two’s, they come with their children, they come alone, they come with hope, they come to me, Joyce and John with their one last chance to plead their case – please can we help them, they have no money, they can’t go for help from the local hospital, they’ve been waiting for us…the woman whose hip is dislocated, the boy who has come on behalf of his father who has had hernias for 24 years, the goitre that is too small, the mother whose child cannot see, the child who has a small bump growing in her neck and the father wants to do something before it starts to suffocate her…we pray, I walk them to the gate and they tell me how long it took for them to get here from the rural area in which they live and that they slept outside the stadium waiting…I tell them to keep their eyes fixed on Jesus because without that what is our hope in this world and I tell them to go with God, maybe give them a squeeze, a smile or a hug. They look at me and say yes ma’am, or yes auntie, or mammy (as is their way to address an older woman) because first and foremost they will be respectful and then they leave through the gate – not with a joyful look, but one of desolation, anguish and sadness as the gate closes behind them. I turn away and start walking back knowing there are more, there are a lot more, I hear there are over 5000 people waiting outside the entrance gate; that you can walk the line for an hour and not reach it’s end… It is now around 10 am and runners are going around to the different stations asking us to pray because there is unrest at the gates… we pray, more people come and see Joyce, John and I: a man who had an engine drop on him, a girl who fell into a welding pot and burned her arm and back so badly the scarring is dense and bumpy all over and she can’t stretch out her arm, a VVF patient who had surgery, but didn’t heal … we pray, we share stories, I share ‘war wounds,’ they leave …nothing’s changed, my heart is beginning to carry their burdens and my prayers feel like empty words even though I know they’re not because nothing from God comes back void…there is rioting outside the gate…more than 5000 - the numbers aren’t clear yet. We keep praying for what is going on outside the gate…More people, more hope destroyed, more weeping, more prayers and then I max out… a little girl of 9 comes with her mother and her foot has a huge bump that has been growing on the top of her foot since she was quite young. It is now cracking from being dry and infected and her skin has split open in the middle of her foot because the skin is so stretched; I can smell it, and the flies are just sitting on the wound not bothered by movement. I start to cry as I ask her and her mother questions – the girls name is Kadiatu. They tell me they have seen many doctors and no one including us say they can do anything – I am so confused, to me, someone who is totally ignorant of the medical field thinks to herself, why can’t they just cut it?, or drain it?, or anything?, something?, it doesn’t look particularly difficult???? I pick up her foot, (honestly, I’m a bit afraid), but she’s just a little girl…. I gently put her foot on my lap and I touch it and through my tears and barely understood words because of the lump in my throat I weepingly pray for God to intervene….I tell him, I’m confused, I claim every promise I can think of in this moment , and I request that He intervene where doctors don’t seem to be able to and I ask Him, the greatest physician of all time to heal her immediately, she’s crying, bawling in fact; her mothers exclaiming an Amen after every prayer I cry out and I just want to open my eyes and see her healed – I open them, she’s not healed! I walk her to the gate, I tell her that she must keep hope alive in her life, I hug her, she thanks me and the gate closes behind her and her mother. I didn’t think it was going to be like this…I wasn’t ready! God why? Please help me to understand, please Father make miracles happen outside the gate!

And then we all get called back. All crew are to find a vehicle and return to the ship other than medical personnel!

There is complete and total desperation…

The rioting outside has gotten out of control – a man has been trampled to death – it’s not even noon yet…

Please pray!!!! We go back tomorrow….

Shipyard Update!

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 19:47:00 +0000

Hey everyone, we could use some fresh prayers… our departure date from Durban to Cape Town has been moved up from 19 January to 30 January. One of the reasons for this is because we are having trouble getting our pipes back to their previous destinations…Ahem, a slight oversight when taking the pipes out and not labelling them to return them to their previous homes…However, our on ship crew and Durban shipyard workers have laid approx. 7 km of wire...it has been a complex project! Here is some additional information sent to us recently from our CEO:
"Currently the shipyard are in the final phases of completing the piping systems on board, some, including the sea water systems for the air-conditioning systems are complete and tested. The fuel system will be flushed through beginning Tuesday 28th. All other systems are supposed to be complete and tested by January 9th. The plan is to start the first generator January 10th. After that there will be a series of tests and commissioning trials of the gensets themselves. We are allowing almost three weeks for that process to take place. This means our revised completion date here in the shipyard is now January 28th 2011.
Our plan is to depart Durban on January 30th 2011.
If we don’t manage to get away January 30th and prior to the 8th Feb then we have allowed for a minimum of 24 hours in Cape Town and still arrive in Freetown between February 20-25th.”

Where do the pipes go???

Our crew is anxious to be back together as one community and to get to Sierra Leone and start doing what we are called here to do once again…help the vulnerable whom need our specialized help and care to bring healing to West Africa! Please pray with us…

Love, Carol

P.S. Photos supplies by Murray Crawford (crew member)

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 06:07:00 +0000

I wish each and every one of you every good blessing throughout 2011!!!!!! Today is 1/1/11 may every one of your days be a A1!!!!

Top 10 Predictions for 2011:
1.   The Bible will STILL have ALL the answers.
2.   Prayer will STILL be the most powerful thing on Earth.
3.   The Holy Spirit will STILL move.
4.   God will STILL honor the praises of His people.
5.   There will STILL be God-anointed preaching.
6.   There will STILL be singing of praises to God.
7.   God will STILL pour out blessings upon His people.
8.   There will STILL be room at the Cross.
9 . Jesus will STILL love you.
10. Jesus will STILL save the lost when they come to Him.

Isn't it great to remember who is really in control and that; "The Word of the Lord endures forever." (1 Peter 1:25) Sometimes we need to be reminded of "WHO" is REALLY in control…

I love you and look forward to seeing you all sometime in the summer of 2011!
♥ Carol xoxox
Table Mountain (below) is 1086m (3560ft) May you all climb a mountain in 2011 (metaphorically)… J

Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday’s, Seasons Greetings…

noreply@blogger.com (Carol in Africa) — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 09:33:00 +0000