Second Full Week in Freetown!

 

First week on the Global Mercy!

Ruth: Working as a ward nurse, enjoying patient interaction.  The hospital is a little factory!  This week has been mostly hernia patients.  Patients come in on day one and get prepped.  Day 2 is surgery and day three they are released if all is well.  There is something like 10-20 surgeries per day depending on many things.  My favorite part is the singing and dancing we do when they are discharged… each is a playful party! 

Dave: working in hospitality: Preparing rooms for incoming guests and crew.  I now know this ship like the back of my hand.  One of my favorite things to do is check cabins with outgoing crew at the end of their service.  The hospitality team needs to sign off on the condition of their cabin, but it is fun to ask them what they did on the ship and what they enjoyed about it.  Often doctors will come for 2 weeks to do surgeries 5 days a week… and then they head out.  Many doctors come annually!

Typical day: Breakfast at 6:30 in the dining room on deck 7.  Ruth works at 7, Dave starts at 8.  Often we can meet for lunch or a coffee break at the café on deck 8.  We live on deck 6 with a lovely view of a giant warehouse!  Ruth is done with work at about 3:30 and can sometimes find time to go to the gym for a quick workout.  Dinner is open from 4:30-6:30 so we can amble in whenever it works.  Often there is an event of some kind in the evening… either a worship night or a game night etc. 

We had a special experience this weekend.  On Friday night we went to the Hope Center which is a long term facility on land that is a part of Mercy Ships.  They have many longer term patients there.  We had a singing and worship night with them and we got to enjoy the time with local families and children, many of whom had casts on both legs or other long term healing.  The worship was so amazing and awesome to be a part of.

The official language of Sierra Leone is English, but the most common language is Krio.  It is a form of many languages and you can almost understand it if you listen closely.  To ask a patient “how are you?” you say  “aw di bodi?” which is literally “hows the body?”.  The response is “di bodi fyne” which is “the body is fine”.

Prayer: Please pray for good rest.  Ruth is doing evening shifts this week and then next week she does night shift for 3 nights.  Pray our bodies do well adjusting to a new schedule once again.  

 Here is a shot of Dave playing a game at breaktime with some hospitality crew:

Here is Ruth in the ward.  She has a Netherlands flag on one cheek and a Sierra Leone flag on the other.  The dutch celebrated Kings Day and the Sierra Leonians celebrate Independence Day!

Beautiful sunset off the back of the ship.

Our Mercy Ships land cruisers are awesome

Local language Krio

The Hope Center: I hope to get some photos of children inside the center next week.  They have to be taken by the official photographer for privacy etc.

View of the ship from the dock... it is 11 stories tall.