Friday, December 30, 2011

Glasers and Farrells

Here is a fun photo of Elizabeth and Marcel, and Tommy and Sarah during the good-bye party in the Academy. Elizabeth has taught 5 years here, and Tommy has taught 2.


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Sad Good-Byes

My dear friends, Tommy Farrell and Elizabeth Glaser, are leaving the ship. Elizabeth was my cabinmate my first year on the ship and did a Gateway training with me in 2008. She taught pre-school for the past 5 years, and created a library for us. She was also head elementary teacher the past 2 years. She is a wonderful young woman, who met her German husband onboard on the rough sail (maiden voyage) of the Africa Mercy from England to Liberia in 2007. They married 2 years later. Tommy came to our 2008 Gateway training in Texas, and he and Sarah and young Tom and Josh joined us in January 2009 so he could run our math department. He was also our High School Head Teacher for the past 2 years.  I will sorely miss these precious people! (Tommy is the fellow with the computers behind his head, and Elizabeth is the one with the quilt.)


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Holland came to Sierra Leone?

Our science teacher, Hennie, worked with other Dutchies to create the Dutch traditions of Christmas for our kids. What fun! She explained the ships that enter the harbor, the parades and “helpers” of Saint Nick, using a slide show and music. She taught us the traditional song, and we all sang it. Saint Nick appeared, with his two helpers, who gave out cookies. Afterwards he gave out presents to all the children. It was marvelous!


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December 3, 2011: Cookie Making!

One of our Christmas traditions on the ship is a cookie making and decorating time. Whoever wants to participate signs up and goes that day to receive dough and set up at a table. Everyone brings cookie cutters, and we all have fun. Here are some of an officer’s wife (Sabine Ventura) and his twin girls (Janice and Elisha) and then Captain Tim’s wife, Sharon, and their son, Nathaniel, hard at it!


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Friday, December 2, 2011

Weddings!

2011 was a year for weddings. First, Larry Rutter (older American man) quietly married Mariatu (Sierra Leone woman). He will wave good-bye to us when we sail next week, and begin a new adventure living here in Sierra Leone. Then, Ghanaian Alfred Apaflo, who has been with Mercy Ships for at least 15 years, married Sierra Leonean Edwina, a first marriage for both! That was a big wedding in a local church with American-style cut-the-cake fun at the team house (on land) afterward. They will stay with the ship. Finally, Becca Taylor, an American nurse, married Liberian Gregory Kullah. They will also stay with the ship. (We had cake at the team house for that one, too!)

 


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Saturday, October 8, 2011

Opening Our Eyes to Another Culture

Sheku is a young man from Sierra Leone. As a young teen, he suddenly developed a tumor on the side of his jaw. His classmates called him names, and abused him, but he continued to go to school. He came on Thursday, October 6, to speak to our 6-11th grade students about his life and culture in Sierra Leone. He spoke of how difficult life is for children, as children in Africa have no rights, and any neighbor or adult can beat them for any reason. They have no voice. If there is not much food, the older children do not let the smaller ones get to the bowl. He said that if he were to stay home, he would never get to be with friends, but would always have to work. He loved going to school, not only to learn, but also to get to play soccer (football) with his classmates, even though his own friends were so cruel to him because of his tumor. Then one day he heard that Mercy Ships was in port, and he went and they told him they could operate on him. He was terrified, but they did the surgery and it was successful. When his village saw him well, they were ashamed of how they had treated him. He came back to the ship some years later when it returned to Freetown, so as to receive plastic surgery on his face to improve the appearance. He is a handsome man today. _______________________________________________________________He came to the ship as a Muslim. His mother had taken Jesus as her Lord, but he did not see any need. Even though he heard about Jesus at the ship, he did not take Jesus as his own Lord. However, over time he could see that Jesus made life different for people, and he liked what he saw. He finally prayed and asked Jesus to be his Lord and take away his sins. _______________________________________________________________He explained to us that in Sierra Leone there are many secret societies that offer sacrifices to idols or to demons. Every tribe has its own secret society, and they will remove the head of any who refuse to join. The police do not interfere, because they believe that it is just the tradition and the right of the people. So Christians often must leave their tribal village if they want to live. _______________________________________________________________This speech really affected our students, who afterward in my classroom asked if we could pray for Sheku and his family, and pray for the protection of the Christians in Sierra Leone who refuse to participate in demon worship.

Friday, October 7, 2011

A Small Library in Sierra Leone



The librarian at Mother Esther Primary School is, of course, a volunteer in training. Why do I say that? There are very very few libraries here in Freetown. Here you see him sorting and shelving the books the Academy donated. He is creating a shelving system that will make it easier for the teachers and students to sign out books. As there are few if any books to be had here, the teachers will have to teach the children how to handle them so they last.

Mercy Ships Academy Helps a Local School



People often donate teaching materials and books to our Academy for us to share with local schools in West Africa. In the top photo you can see the kindergarteners at tables the Academy donated, looking at an alphabet chart, also donated. In the bottom photo you see David Cherry standing by as students from Mother Esther Primary School unload such a donation. There are few teaching materials available in Sierra Leone. What a joy that they are English-speaking in their educational system, so we can share books with them!This is our third trip with donations since we arrived in February.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Worship

This retreat weekend ended with worship in the International Lounge and a dance for Yahweh by our high school girls.

Retreat Weekend on the Ship

This has been a lovely weekend onboard our hospital ship. The chaplaincy organized a retreat for us, including on Thursday evening an overview of the significance of the tabernacle, a Sabbath meal (Friday evening), and a walk through interactive displays in various places symbolizing the various aspects of the tabernacle and its significance to Christ. On Saturdy there were workshops for writing and creative arts, and a time for worship in the evening. Then this morning there was a time of meditative worship in our International Lounge, and an evening service. I have been richly blessed.

Ancient Manuscripts Visit Africa Mercy

This Sunday morning a team of university professors and others brought a display of ancient manuscripts to our ship for us to enjoy. The collection features around 44,000 pieces and has been commissioned to take God's word out to the world. After being shown here in Sierra Leone it is traveling to Liberia. I think of Jesus' prophetic words, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:14). Again in Romans 10:17-18: "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. 'Their voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the earth." We were blessed to witness firsthand these ancient manuscripts which testify to the enduring Word of God.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Youth Leading, Another View

Here are the singers! The drummer is hidden.

Youth Leading

Our youth led worship last Thursday. They were excellent. Most of the 400 crew members were present, singing along enthusiastically.

Teacher Night Out

After a hard week's work, the teachers go out for dinner at Momba Point Restaurant. Yum! Amazing to find a restaurant in Sierra Leone that will prepare everything from Lebanese eggplant humus to American Pizza to Japanese sushi to African fish dishes! What a fun team: we all relaxed, laughed and ate a lot.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Woohoo! We have new teachers!




We are delighted to have new teachers join our staff this fall, as we sorrowed over Christina, Amy, Ben, Danae and Estelle leaving us in June. So here you are! In the first photo you can see Hennie (science, Netherlands), Kelly (French, Switzerland) and Kayleigh (first grade, USA). In the second photo is Elizabeth (returning) and to the right, Rebekah (third grade, USA). And in the third photo you see our wonderful volunteer, a friend of Brian Blackburn, who came to teach PE. Emily is sitting with our famed British math teacher, Tommy Farrell.

So you see it--we have another amazing and deligthful team aboard our good ship Africa Mercy!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Mercy Ships Christmas



We have our own traditions on the ship at Christmas, which don't really work here. So we did some new traditions. (Isn't that an oxymoron?) Which is to say, our chef/youth leader imported his traditions from home (Canada). So we strung popcorn on string, made dough ornaments, built gingerbread houses (the youth built castles and had a siege). And of course, we feasted and opened presents!

More Sports Day images


Sports Day in Appelsbosch



We had a wonderful day of interactive games and fun, run by the 6th-12th grade students for the littler ones. Where would you see such sibling affection between older and younger students? I love our school!