Hospital Tour, Night shift and more

It has now been 3 weeks in Sierra Leone!
Ruth going shopping with a few ladies in a keke (3 wheeled taxi, often called tuk-tuk in other countries)

Playing cards with new friends from all over the world.  
Representing USA, Nigeria, New Zealand, and Switzerland


Meeting for a coffee break at the Cafe.  Ruth worked night shift this week, so she was on the clock from 10pm to 7am.  


Dave went to the Cheshire house, a school/orphanage for disabled kids.  This was an amazing place where kids of the poorest and neediest are housed and cared for.  It was in a very difficult neighborhood as well.  We worked hard to wash dirt off the walls all morning and another group came in the afternoon and painted. Above is the team I worked with.
Ruth and I were both thinking this week "you couldn't pay me to do this..." She is not a fan of night shift.  I am not a fan of spidery dirty muddy buildings... but we were doing it for these kids and the pay isn't what it was about.  Serving others always ends up being such a blessing to yourself.

Below is the playground at the Cheshire house.  They asked us not to post photos of the kids, but there were bunches of them having fun.  Many had some sort of disability but they could still play and laugh with huge smiles!


This tree is really cool, but the land cruiser is really what I like!  Mercy Ships has a whole fleet of these!

Above, everyone is exiting the ship for our weekly drill.  Each week the emergency drill is different and designed to make the emergency teams more polished.  Ruth got woken up by this one mid day because she was sleeping after night shift... ugh

Walking track up on the 10th floor... this ship is amazing.  It's like a cruise ship without the bling.. and the dueling pianos... and some other things...

beautiful sunset

Hospital tour!  We had an hour off as the hospitality team and got to see the inner workings of the hospital onboard.  It takes up most of decks 3 and 4.  It is amazing!  This ship does about 2000 surgeries in a year!
Here are the surgery types for those that know what this means:
maxillofacial, 
plastic reconstructive, 
orthopedics, 
general (like hernia etc), 
ophthalmic, 
and women’s health procedures

CT machine.  There are two of these machines in Sierra Leone and the Mercy Ships one is currently number 3.  They also have a special x-ray machine that can image the entire leg in one shot.

The hospital beds are custom so the care giver can sleep underneath!  

Thank you so much for your prayers!  We are so blessed to be here on the Global Mercy.  Next Sunday is Dave's last day on board and then Ruth has another month!  Pray that she has an amazing time here without me and that I have a great trip home.



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