Small miracles

I was at the pool this afternoon, talking with two nurses and a pharmacist about two of our smallest patients.  One was a five year old with pneumonia, and the other was a baby with RSV.  Both of these children ended up on the ship at exactly the right time.

The oxygen and supplies showed up on the ship two days before anyone knew that they would be needed.  Because of the lack of medical care in their communities, neither child would have survived. Both are now doing well!   The baby with RSV will go home for a month to get stronger before she is admitted for her surgery.

We don't always understand God's miracles.There is a baby at the Hope Center who will not have surgery for her large facial tumor, because she would not survive the surgery.  They are treating her by trying to cut off the blood supply to the tumor.  The young mom is reassured that she is a good mother, doing all she can for her child.

Debbie

Limbe part 2

After our tour of the wildlife sanctuary we were eager to get out of the heat and spend the day at the beach.  This is one of the most beautiful beaches with very dark sand due to volcanic activity.  Mount Cameroon is near this region.  We saw a lot of hills around the area, but the clouds prevented a good clear of Mt Cameroon.

We arrived at a private beach visited by a lot of Mercy Ship crew.  The beach is owned by a hotel and restaurant.  While we awaited our lunch orders, we enjoyed some wonderfully refreshing water with good waves at low tide.  This was one of the cleanest beaches I have ever seen.  From the water we had beautiful views of mountains.

 We claimed a nice covered area with tables for lunch.  It was build over the waters and provided a good breeze and good view.



We had some well prepared barracuda along with fresh vegetables, potatoes and rice.

Everyone travels with lots of water,
 but a cold coke was really refreshing.

After lunch the tide came in and we were over the water.

After a little too much sun and a good burn that lasted most of the week, we returned home and made it in time for dinner.

The trip took us past a lot of banana plantations and other interesting sights.  During one traffic jam we did a lot of people watching and enjoyed such unique sites such as a motorcycle with a large (dead) pig strapped on the back.   Most of the motorcycles have at least 3 passengers.  They constantly weave in an out of traffic and get through the traffic jams better than any other vehicle.  We heard there is a helmet law, but I haven't seen anyone with a helmet.  The motorcycles are not licensed or registered, so we see them everywhere.


Chuck

Limbe

Life on the Africa Mercy is not all work.  We can go off ship and explore during our time off.  We took a trip with 12 other crew mates to Limbe.  Limbe is a town about 70 Km from here which takes about 2 hours travel time.
Our first stop was to visit a wildlife sanctuary.  Our tour guide Francis was very informative about the animal life in Cameroon.  The wildlife sanctuary is a place of rescue.  They attempt to return these animals to the natural habit when possible.

Notice the English signs.  This section of Cameroon is in the Anglophone region where English is primary, then French.

We learned a lot about gorillas.  These social creatures cannot survive alone.  Some will never be able to be released.  One of the gorillas had four wives!  Another could only have one wife because he was the most aggressive one there.  His wife was feisty enough to keep him in line.

Because the electric fence was not working properly the animals were not allowed out of their caged areas.  We didn't really mind as we were close enough to see them.

The chimpanzee is considered the smartest of the primates.  I suppose this is why NASA used them at the start of the space program.  At the wildlife centre, the chimps all learn to press a button on the water fountain when they need a drink.

This is Francis, explaining about the gorillas.


Chuck

The Eyes Have it

We went to the inservice this week given by Dr Joe, a pediatric opthalmologist from AZ.  A lot of life changing procedures happen when Mercy Ships arrives in a country, but screening for eye care can have immediate results.  Just think of the difference it makes to be able to see clearly!

Eye screening can be a very simple thing to do, and often a pair of glasses can change everything.  The ship also provides cataract surgery, with dramatic results.

One thing that really stood out to me from Dr Joe's talk was this: Life in Cameroon is hard.  When you look at the demographics, there aren't many old people in Cameroon.  To be able to picture it, imagine a class of 20 elementary students. Every year, there will be 5 less students.  Wow.  Screening, helping eye problems, and training local professionals to do the same can make a huge difference in the quality of life here.

Debbie

It's not French???

It was a wild time at the Hope Center this morning.  We had a lot of people. We even ran out of coloring pages from the story.  Lere had us all up and dancing.

 The song that we always sing, and that I can't understand, is in Zulu.  No wonder I can't understand the words.  I thought it was in French.  I don't know if that makes me feel better or not.

 I met a German couple that had lived in Rochester with their family for two years when he worked for Kodak.  Their son is working on the ship, and they are here visiting him. Here he is dancing in his borrowed dining room pants.  He had been wearing long shorts, but not long enough to cover his knees.  So Moira found him some uniform pants.  They were a little on the large size!

Chuck got to meet them at lunch so we compared Kodak/Rochester history.  When they were in Rochester with their four children, they worshiped at Browncroft.

Debbie

Deaf school

I was able to visit the deaf school with the Mercy ministries team.  The team visits once a week and does the program of a Bible story, a craft, games and dancing.  Yes, dancing with deaf children.  In Africa, everyone dances!

The kids are very physical.  As soon as we arrive, we have at least three kids hanging on each of us.  And they don't hesitate to push each other out of the way to get close to us.

They like to check our name badges and finger spell our names.
There were at least 60-70 kids in this class.  Once the program started, it was surprisingly orderly.  They paid attention, and could answer questions about the story.  And they loved the craft.

My friend Bill, from the UK, has a good connection with these kids, and loves to visit on Friday afternoons.  Bill works in the  galley with me.  We don't often work together because he works in a different area of the galley.  Because of our work schedule, he visits every other week.

Debbie

Going the extra mile

This is our friend Osman, from Sierra Leone.  He is part of the engineering crew, but we first met him when he fixed our shower drain.  Our shower was backing up, and in our small bathroom, that means that the bathroom was flooded.  Plumbing on the ship is complicated.  Some of the drains work with the vacuum system, and others work as a part of a network of drains.  I was picturing never being able to use our shower again, but Osman didn't give up.  He fixed it!  And see that smile?  He always looks like that!

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This is what Osman and others from the crew do on the weekend.  They  buy supplies in town and build wheelchairs for patients, usually children.  I just had to get a picture.  So many blessings!

Debbie