Testing, Testing

Merry Christmas from Spain! 
Yes...I'm still here in Spain. 

Work goes on here in windy Tenerife to get the hospital ready for our return to Senegal, and the day we plan to sail grows nearer and nearer. Only about a month away now! Excitement is building, and the hospital is slowly but surely getting back to working order. Day crew have been hired by the team in Senegal, and many alumni will be rejoining us. COVID training & new protocols for safe hospital operation are being prepared and put into place. Supplies are being stocked up, and a few snazzy equipment upgrades installed. The past few months have been challenging at times, but I'm grateful for a lot of things. 

Our Emergency Medical Team after a weekly drill - featuring a snazzy new defibrillator.

We have a lot of measures in place to prevent COVID on the ship, including A LOT of regular screening for all crew. The whole world is certainly getting fatigue from restrictions and precautions, but what it means for us is that when a potential exposure or illness is reported, we have a well-oiled plan of action. There's a group of us who can pull together and test all the at risk individuals, set people up in quarantine cabins, people to deliver meals, and a courier to run PCR tests to the hospital if needed; all at a moment's notice. Fortunately, although there have been some scares, we've managed to keep the crew healthy & safe. I'm very grateful for that. 

Ward Manager Tam and I doing some spur-of-the-moment antigen tests.

Speaking of everyone's favourite disease...some of you may know I was planning to make a trip home over Christmas, buuuuut Omicron had other plans. I'll be taking a break still, just a few days to myself here on Tenerife. It was not an easy decision to make, and I was stewing on it for a good many weeks as I watched cases climb and restrictions returning. Ultimately, I think my dad's wisdom and insight helped me swallow the rather difficult pill. "You're there because you have a heart to serve in Senegal. You can't do that if you get stuck here." He was right, and I knew that in my heart, but I needed to hear it from someone else. There wouldn't have been enough buffer time before the sail if I happened to test positive and my return was delayed. I could have spent the whole trip being ultra-cautious, hardly seeing anyone, and probably could have pulled it off, but then it would have felt rather pointless. 

The day after that conversation, just before I started going ahead and cancelling my flights, I read this nugget of wisdom from Oswald Chambers:

"The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance." 

I can't say that I was 'undisturbed,' but did I feel a certain peace about it. I'm not sure now when I'll be able to have time to get home again; it could be quite a while. But this, apparently, was not the right time. When it happens, it will be. 

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My online course on tropical nursing is still ongoing, and a bit intense at times, but I am glad to have a friend here who is also enrolled. It's great to have a study buddy! It has also already come in handy as we are working through updating some of our clinical manuals. We've both had 'aha' moments, where something from the course clicked into place with our protocols & procedures in field service. After Christmas break, we will have a couple more weeks of training and then our exams. 

My study buddy had the whole room decorated on my birthday!

Christmas is always a big deal on the ship, and though it is hard to be away from home, there is certainly plenty to celebrate! 

Such an incredible Christmas spread was prepared by our galley & bakery team! Though our food this year has been incredible, this is not a daily occurrence!! 

I am so grateful that our fearless leader Beth was here to bring the Key of Sea (our acapella group) back to life. We had a huge group and were able to sing in the Christmas season with a number of fun numbers! Church and any kind of singing on the ship has to happen outdoors, and one good thing about the intense wind here is that there ain't much chance of anything floating around for long. 

It took a wide-angle lens to fit us all in the picture!

Here's a little taste of our Christmas Concert...I will say it wasn't our best performance ever (and blame the ripping winds for that one - awfully hard to hear each other over it!), but hopefully it brings a bit of Christmas cheer. 

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I can never say thank you enough to everyone who continues to walk with me through this journey. Mercy Ships is recognizing everyone who volunteers or supports a volunteer (if you're still reading this, you qualify!) through this neat little project called the 'Mercy Manifest.' Click here to add your face to a photo-mosaic of the people who make Mercy Ships' mission happen. This will eventually get printed and displayed on both the Africa Mercy and the new Global Mercy. 

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I hope that my next update will be about sailing! Until then, let me leave you with this verse, and a recap of the work Mercy Ships has done this past year. COVID may have stopped us from being able to carry out surgery on board our ships, but it did not stop our mission of strengthening health systems and improving surgical programs across Africa. 

This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?”

Romans 8:15‭ MSG

Our Impact in 2021 from Mercy Ships on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all. 

À la prochaine,
-D

A Change of Scenery

I am happy to report that the Africa Mercy has sailed out of the ASTICAN shipyard in Las Palmas! Don't get too excited though, we've only moved to the neighbouring island of Tenerife. We are back in almost the exact spot where we spent those 2 joyous months of quarantine/lockdown at the beginning of the pandemic. That does mean that we are now technically - geographically - further away from Senegal. But in the grand scheme of things, we are closer to our return now than we have been since that all started. Real, tangible progress is happening to facilitate 'Senegal 2.0' - the second phase of our field service during which we will complete our planned surgeries, continue to support & train local professionals, and reconnect & follow-up with some of our previous patients. 

Speaking of training, take a minute to watch this update from an Ophthalmic surgeon from Togo. He is a shining example of the ripple effect that these partnerships can have. THIS is the most important outcome of the work that we do. Not the individual lives impacted (although each one is precious), but the exponential impact of equipping someone to serve and train others...who can in turn train even more! Emigration of skilled professionals away from low income countries is part of the reason that doctor-patient ratios there remain such a huge barrier to care. It is so heartwarming and encouraging to see someone who nearly followed that path, where he could have had a very comfortable life, but chose instead to stay and fight to better his own country.

Meanwhile, on the AFM...

I am still helping fill the Assistant Purser role for a little while longer before starting to shift towards Hospital prep. Preparation for the sail was a little stressful. Our sail day, however, was glorious weather and a much needed respite. I asked the Captain if we could just circle around for a few more days, but my request was, sadly, not approved. ;)

...our last sight in Gran Canaria!

Early start meant a beautiful sunrise...

Bye, bye, ASTICAN!

We still did *quite* a few circles to calibrate the compass. I'm sure some stomachs did not appreciate it.

We managed to squeeze in some worship on the bow - a Mercy Ships tradition!

The first (of many) Tenerife sunsets - just as the tug was nudging us in to port.

We have a few hurdles now here on a new island, but fortunately, in part because of high vaccination rates on the island (and within our crew), we have a fair bit of freedom to move around and explore - within a limited radius of the ship. Granadilla is a tiny, brand new port which is just beginning to be developed, so there is not a whole lot within walking distance except for construction sites, rocky desert and rocky shorelines. Which, to be honest, is fine by me. It's a nice change from the crowded streets of Las Palmas.

Lookin' pretty good in her shiny new paint job. As you can see...not much else around her!

Some veritably post-apocalyptic landscapes in the surrounding area.

So, here we will sit. And wait. A little while longer. 

Just a few more months.

Senegal is on the horizon! Next time I'll try to share some stories from our Advance team who are already there, preparing the way for us to return. 

Well, I'd better get back to my online course work for tonight. Learning about nearly every kind of wormy-parasite-type thing that can I could come across in my travels. What fun! Sorry for leaving you with that wonderful thought! ;D

 

À la prochaine. 

        -D