Togo Screening Day!

Thousands of people lined up quietly to be screened for possible surgeries on Thursday, February 2, 2012 at the stadium in Lome. People from all departments on the ship came to help, escorting patients, serving bread and water, entertaining children, praying with those whom we cannot help, offering palliative care to those who are terminal. It was an amazing day, and amidst the thousands who came we found the patients whom our ship could serve, and filled our operation roster.

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Sewing Frenzy

It’s Christmas

and I’m having fun;

it’s Christmas

and I’ve just begun:

a tangle of zippers

up ahead

by plastic drawers

of colored thread,

Formica tables

shoved to the wall

and piles of fabrics

about me are sprawled.

There are denims and satins

In green, red, and gold,

and African cottons

with patterns so bold.

The clinking whir

of my sewing machine

joins jolly carols

in a cheery stream

of sound and action

as projects unfold

and cinnamon-apple tea

steams in a bowl.

It’s Christmas

and I’m having fun

crafting gifts for everyone!

 

 

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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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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!)

 

This message and any attachments may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure - Mercy Ships.

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