Back on the ship

Canary Islands
I made it back to ship safe and sound and with only two different 7 hour layovers, one in Chicago and one in Madrid. We are currently in port in Tenerife de Santa Cruz, Canary Islands. We are scheduled to leave here to return to Liberia on Wednesday, January 30th.

There isn't much to report right now. I've been working on developing a workshop to teach churches how to take care of the terminally ill. I've also been working some in crew services, helping clean the ship, working in the library, helping unload containers and supplies and I watched a welder for a couple of hours to make sure he didn't catch himself or the ship on fire (called Fire Watch).

Liberia
On a completely separate note, I've been thinking a lot about our return to Liberia and trying to prepare for it. If you follow global news at all, you have seen articles recently on Liberia. The trial of former president Charles Taylor is ongoing in The Hague and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia (http://www.trcofliberia.org/) has been holding hearings and some horrible atrocities are coming to the global light.

When we return, I don't know if the people will be different now that these hearings are going on...do they care? Does it just reopen old wounds? Will it trigger more violence? Will it bring reconciliation? These are just some questions I'm thinking about and areas to pray about.

The following is a link to a recent Yahoo article on one of the hearings...parts of it are very graphic and so unbelievable the suffering humans inflict upon other humans.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080121/ap_on_re_af/liberia_general_returns;_ylt=AmuAkGfoKXfR4vCO.RvurEpI2ocA
I also finally watched Blood Diamond last night. I wouldn't recommend this movie for general entertainment but more as an education about what the people of Sierra Leone and, similarly, Liberia, have inflicted upon themselves as well as what innocent people have endured.

Baby Joanna update
So many of you emailed me about and prayed for baby Joanna last year. She was a six month old baby for whom we performed a cleft lip surgery - she then went into cardiac arrest and was put on a ventilator for 3 days. She survived and was sent home and we visited her a few times at the end of the year. I received an email last week forwarded from my translator that baby Joanna passed away in December. I don't know any details other than that. We knew she had brain stem abnormalities and too low of a heart rate so I'm not completely surprised, just sad.

Peace,
Michele

Coming home

I'm leaving Thursday morning for vacation. I arrive in Des Moines Friday night and will return to the Canary Islands on Jan. 17th. During my vacation, I won't be posting so check back after January 17th.

Merry Christmas!
Michele

Dry dock

Today our ship (along with the crew) went into dry dock. That means we moved from our nice dock across the street from the mall and all the action over to an ugly shipyard where lots of construction is taking place. The ship was lifted up out of the water (with us on board) so that maintenance can be done on the underneath of the ship. It was a very fascinating experience and I have the photos to show what happens.

This opening is where we are starting out. The ship goes in backwards so these photos are all from the back side of the ship.
Once we got lined up these two little tugboats came over and our line handlers tossed out two of the lines. The tugboats attached these lines to their boats and they pulled us in.
I'm not sure how these little boats can pull our huge ship but they did.
Once they got us closer to the little canal, the tugboats took our lines and attached them to the side on some kind of machine and then the boats got out of our way. Then these machines pulled us all the way in.

After we were in properly, some divers hooked up things to the bottom of the ship and then the floor was raised up so we were out of the water. Then these bulldozer machines pulled us into our berth. Sorry for the non-technical description...I have no idea what they did to make all this happen.

These are the three ships we are next to so you can see what it looks like when they are out of the water.
This is the view from the front side of the ship...this is where we came from.

Here are the stairs we use to get off the ship.

We will be in dry dock around one week. During this time, we fortunately have running water (toilets and showers) but minimal power. No a/c so it's really hot in our cabins and no laundry facilities but we have our computers and lights. We are about a 2 mile walk to town which I made tonight for a pizza dinner.

I'll be home in three days!

Peace,

Michele

Las Palmas

We arrived in Las Palmas (the city name) on the island of Gran Canaria on Thursday afternoon. After some problems getting a berth, we ended up at a dock that is directly across from the start of town and a mall. Between work and being on call, I've only been able to get out twice so far.

It feels good to be back in a country that isn't chaotic. Streets are paved and driveable, there isn't any honking, people are walking on sidewalks and cross at the crosswalks, there aren't any animals being shepherded down the street, no one is yelling at us or asking us for money, there are malls and grocery stores and restaurants, and I can go out by myself. In other words, it feels normal again.

The weather is cool here compared to West Africa, seems like it's in the low 70s. It's been mostly overcast but the cooler temps are so great.

Here are some photos of Gran Canaria:

Here's where we are docked until Monday.

This is our dock.

Here's the mall that is directly across the street.

Sailing

We've been sailing now for five days. I spent the first four days in bed sick, as I expected. Today is much better! We should arrive in Gran Canaria tomorrow at 10:00 am (Friday). Here are some photos from the sail:

End of the outreach

I survived my first outreach here in Monrovia. The hospital is shut down and all the patients have returned home. We've said good-bye to all of our palliative care patients and their families. The dock is looking more and more bare as all of the containers are being loaded onto the ship. The dockside medical tents have been packed up and loaded. The entire ship's crew is in the process of cleaning and securing equipment so that it doesn't end up on the floor damaged during the sail.

We will leave sometime this week but I can't give the official date because we have to be careful of stowaways. If people know the date we leave, they will try to board the ship for a free ride to the Canary Islands so we're not allowed to give the date. I guess all of the crew will go through a pretty extensive search of the ship looking for stowaways.

We've already had our first abandon ship drill and we'll have at least two more before we leave, I think. I'm responsible for handing out lifejackets so at least I'll be one of the first to get one!! But I'll be one of the last to actually get on a lifeboat if we really had to abandon ship. Obviously I don't expect to have any problems but you never know, considering that ship in Antarctica just sank and all the passengers had to abandon ship. Anyways, the leadership on the ship takes this very seriously and we will be prepared in case of emergency.

The sail to Las Palmas, Canary Islands will take about 6 days and I'm not sure if I'll have internet access or not so I may be out of touch during the sail. Once we're in Las Palmas, we'll be in dry dock for approximately four days. That means the ship will actually be lifted out of the water so that it can be inspected and any repairs made. During this time, we're told it will be like camping. We won't have running water so no toilets or showers. There will be portable toilets/showers available somewhere (out on the dock possibly). Once any repairs to the lower half of the ship are made, the ship will go back into the water and other inspections/repairs will occur. We then will sail to Tenerife, Canary Islands around December 23 where we will stay until the end of January. We'll then sail to Sierra Leone and stay for just a few days, then back to Monrovia.

On another high note, I'm cabinsitting for someone who is on vacation for two months so I am in a three-berth cabin with my own space and a porthole! I actually got to wake up this morning to natural light. In my usual cabin, there are no windows so every morning when I wake up, it's pitch black and feels like three in the morning. I've discovered I really don't need much space but it's nice to have your own little area that is only yours (even if it is only about a 7x8 space).

I looked up the weather in the Canary Islands and it is in the 70s year round. I can hardly wait for the cooler temps. Plus I'm looking forward to the snow when I get home for Christmas!

Peace,
Michele

Goodbyes

We've been saying goodbye all week to our patients so it's been a long week - just one more day to go. Here are the people I've said goodbye to over the last two weeks:

Sah: he's 54 with cancer. We brought a local pastor with us on our final visit in the hopes that he will continue to visit with Sah. Sah said this week he is tired of suffering and wants to die. There were lots of tears. I expect by the time we return in February that he will have passed away.

Martha: she's 50ish with cancer. We also brought a local pastor with us on our final visit so that someone will visit while we are gone. It may have been a mistake but nothing we can do now. The pastor (a woman) and a couple friends prayed for Martha fervently at the very top of their lungs. I hate to be skeptical of someone else's faith but I don't think God is deaf and I don't think He listens more when you are literally screaming. Again, there were lots of tears.

Mark: 26 years with cancer. He's a sweet guy and my heart really hurts for him. In our final visit as we talked about preparing for death (including the need for forgiveness), he told us how his mother and siblings rejected him because of his skin color (he is albino). His mother knows he is sick but she won't see him even though they live close. Some of his siblings don't even know he has a terminal illness. Heartbreaking. I don't have any photos of Mark but here is his adorable little girl Angelina.



















Candy: 11 years old with cancer. This is the worst goodbye. We see her everyday to do her wound care and all week she has just sobbed. Today was really hard for us and for her. She and her dad will return to Cote D'Ivoire next week for the first time in almost two years. She said she is happy that she will get to see her mom. We've taught her dad how to clean her wound and we've found a medication that works for the pain during the wound care.

Survivor: 5 years old with cancer. His dad died just two weeks ago. His mom is having a hard time as you would expect - she's left with six kids and no income. She just started to learn how to basket weave so I bought her first two baskets for $20.00 which should provide food for them for several months. Survivor is getting chemo and has one more treatment. In the photo, Survivor is in the gray/yellow tshirt in between his mom and dad.

Levi: 10 years old with cancer. He was supposed to start his second chemo treatment on Tuesday but it got delayed because he has chicken pox. We don't have an official diagnosis yet so the chemo may not work.

Winifred: 40ish with breast cancer. She's very weak and has had a respiratory infection that won't heal. This could be very dangerous for her. I don't have any photos of her.

Armstrong: 2 year old mentally and physically disabled. There were lots of tears since we were his mom's only support system. I am worried for their future. Here's Dr. Tom and Armstrong's mom adjusting his wheelchair.

Joanna: 7 months old with cardiac/brain abnormalities. Baby Joanna is doing well and her mom is happy. Joanna is sitting up which is a positive sign since we don't know how well her motor skills will work. She can't roll over yet.

Grace: 13 years with TB. Her growths continue to shrink and I expect her to fully recover. There were lots of tears but I think mainly because they can't come to the ship anymore to eat lunch and watch movies.

Nelson: 29 years old with a benign fibroma. He will have surgery to remove the remaining tumor when we return in February. His father passed away two weeks ago.

We also said goodbye to lots of families of patients who have already died:
Family of Nush (8 years old)
Family of Josephs (12 years old)
Family of Korto (3 years old)
Family of Liaa (20-something)
Family of Rose (26 years old)
Family of Yatta (50s)

It's been a very emotional two weeks and I'm looking forward to our break. The crew is in the process of cleaning the hospital wards, the OR and also starting to load things onto the ship. I think they will start loading cars this weekend. Next week, I'll be working on paperwork - we have to write an end of outreach report and then we'll sail sometime next week or so.

Peace,
Michele