The Orphanage and Pizza!

Saturday I was able to venture off the ship again. Saturday morning, a group of 11 crew went to God's Childrens Home which is an orphanage run by a lady named Mama Vera. The orphanage has about 50 awesome kids! I don't have any pictures so I can only describe it. It is a Mercy Ships policy that we cannot take photos at any of the ministry places because we don't want them to feel like they are a tourist attraction.

I guess when I pictured an orphanage, I thought of ones I had read about in China where there are too many kids with too few caregivers and babies in cribs that never receive any attention or love. This place is the opposite of what I expected. While the facility certainly isn't a five-star hotel, it is clean and meets the needs of the kids.

Each bedroom has 15 bunks (three high) with mosquito nets over each bunk and windows to the outside. Then there is one large room where we played with the kids. There is also a place to eat, a school and a playing field but I didn't see that part. We sang, told Bible stories, played games and just hung out. One of our crew members is a clown and he made balloon animals which was a huge hit.

As soon as we walked in, we were each swarmed with tons of children hanging on to us. These kids are well-loved, well-fed and had smiles on their faces. I plan on going back every other Saturday (I have to work the other Saturdays) to really build some relationships with the kids.

After the orphanage, I went with a group to a restaurant called Mona Lisa to celebrate a birthday and my roommate Michelle's going away. It was a really nice restaurant - like something we would eat at in the States. This restaurant serves ice cream, pastries and real food! I actually got to eat pizza and it tasted exactly how I would expect pizza to taste. One of the problems with the food here on the ship is that you expect something to taste a certain way (like spaghetti) but when you bite into it, it has a completely different taste. I'm mostly living on peanut butter.

The taxi rides to and from the restaurant were very eventful (and tiring). They jam as many people as they can possibly get into one taxi and it is sooooo hot. Plus they have the radio blaring. And for some reason, taxi drivers won't pick up white people so we always have to have someone who is just hanging out on the street to get us a taxi and then we have to pay that person. Plus it takes two different taxis to get there.

On the way to the restaurant, my poor roommate Michelle got smashed into the middle of the front seat and the Liberian to her right tried to get her to go out with him the entire time. He just wouldn't take no for an answer. Then he was going to hang out in front of the restaurant to wait for her to finish her meal. I'm not sure what she said to get rid of him but he finally left.

As much as I enjoyed the pizza, the taxi rides almost make it not worth the effort. It will probably be awhile before I head out on an outing that requires a taxi.

My roommate Michelle (from Chicago) left Monday after being here for six months. She was ready to go home. We got another roommate named Joy from Ireland the same day Michelle left. It is now Thursday and I still haven't met her. It just shows how different our schedules are since nurses work shifts that cover 24 hours in a day. My room now has representatives of all of Great Britain (Scotland, Wales, England and Ireland) plus two of us Americans.

I have a few more photos of areas on the ship:

Here's the dining room. Meals are only between certain hours and you don't have much choice on what you eat. It's the same food every day and for every meal except the main dish varies each day. Breakfast is always only cereal or bread. I only make it to breakfast on weekends because they don't serve lunch on the weekends. We have to make our lunch at breakfast time. For me, that means peanut butter sandwiches.

Here's a view of my cabin from the front door. There are three cubbie holes, each with two bunks, a wardrobe, a fold-up desk and a four-shelf bookcase on the wall. The first two cubbies are maybe about 6' x 7'. I live in the penthouse (as my roommate calls it) in the back. It is maybe about 9'x9' and its desk doesn't fold-up because there is actually enough room to have it stay open. In the other two cubbies, if you unfold the desk, then there is zero walking space. You can also see our clothesline on the right where we hang wet clothes. There is also a small bathroom as you walk in the front door.

Here is the internet cafe. There are 21 computers here. We also have wireless abilities in our cabins and in the lounge areas.

Here's another view of the internet cafe. There is a lounge area next to it as well as on the other side (where I'm standing as I took the photo). There is also a lounge area directly below on deck 5.

Here's my roommate Megan at Starbucks cafe. It is the only official Starbucks in West Africa. Each ingredient in a drink is $.25 so my usual latte costs $.75. To the left of Starbucks is the Ship Shoppe. It's not very big but has toiletries, food and gifts.

We like to joke about how we are suffering for Jesus. In all seriousness, there are so many people in the world who are suffering because of their love for Jesus. However, while we might be doing mission work for God, you don't need to feel sorry for us - the extent of our suffering is our two-minute shower limitation and the lamb that they serve 2-3 days a week.

Oh, I gotta go - the fire alarm just went off (it's a drill) so we have to muster on the dock (and it's pouring down rain:(

Peace,

Michele