A Normal Childhood

There are children on the Africa Mercy, from preschool to high school.  Life is pretty normal.  They live on a hospital ship. Actually, it's the largest civilian hospital ship.

They go to school on board.  The class size is pretty small, sometimes two or three per grade level.  This fall, they played soccer on Saturdays.  That sounds normal.  But it was on the beach in the Congo.

Sometimes when we eat dinner, we can hear the ballet class practicing above the dining room.  They run down to get their dinner dressed in tutus.  I think we'll see them perform at Easter.

The preschool class gets to join with some patients on the dock.  Aren't they cute?

Classes sometimes come down to the hospital or visit the hope center to play with the patients.

And I can't forget the kids in the hospital wards.  Being on a hospital ship must be a pretty unusual experience for them.  Below is a picture of what happened to a box that Chuck had in supply.  It looks like a good use for that box!

Last weekend the youth group went camping.  That doesn't sound unusual.  But they were camping on the beach in Congo.

Setting up camp

Part of the fun on the beach was the crocodile.  As one mom told us, "they got the crocodile, they killed the crocodile, they skinned the crocodile, they cooked the crocodile, they ate the crocodile."

Sunset on the beach

Debbie