Piano Concert

While we are sailing, various events are planned for the evenings and weekends to entertain the crew. One such evening talented pianists put on a concert for the crew. Two of our Academy students performed as well!

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Arrival in Madagascar!

At last our ship has arrived! Everyone is very excited, and eager to go ashore!

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Worship on the bow

While the Africa Mercy was delayed outside of Durban, we had a Sunday afternoon worship on the bow. It was delightful, and was the only time the bow was open, as during the rest of the trip we had waves splashing above deck 8!

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Easter Open Cabins

One of our holiday traditions is hospitality. We open our cabins in the evening and serve refreshments. Crew members make the tour of cabins and visit and snack. Our single cabins started a tradition at Christmas of offering a "block party" so that anyone visiting our deck 4 wing would get to visit a number of cabins. It is very popular! These are a few of my visitors.

In the first photo you see most of the Davies' family and our lady crew doctor. In the second photo are three friends, and in the third is our Captain and his wife, and two other dear friends of mine. Sadly, the captain, who has been with us for around 28 years, is leaving Mercy Ships at the end of this outreach, and returning to Wales.

Easter on the Africa Mercy

Easter is a wonderful time on the ship. We have a large room separated out into the stations of the cross, with soft lighting and music, where one can contemplate what Christ has done for us. There is also a communion table there. Then we can go out on the deck (7) to wash a friend's feet, before going to meditate in a "Garden of Gethsemane" in our International Lounge. All that takes place on Thursday, the day of our Lord's last supper and arrest.

On Friday morning we go into the International Lounge again, and the cross is draped with a red cloth, as you see here, and we have a deeply touching service reflecting on Jesus' passion as he went to the cross.

Easter morning we have a sunrise service worshiping the risen Lord on deck 8, followed by pastry snacks, then an Easter service at 8:30 a.m. in the International Lounge, followed by a beautiful brunch, as you see here. It is a time of celebration and fellowship!

Dockside View in Toamasina Port, Madagascar

The lovely photos of fish and canoe are from Catrice. This is an attractive commercial port. I have never had such a view of the fishermen, the beach, and the town from the ship. It is also my first time seeing children herd cattle and geese down the beach!

God bless us, every one!

Here we all are, Christmas 2014, the Academy in Madagascar!

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Kenya safari

Would you believe it? We could only fly out the night after the conference in Kenya ended, and so we were able to take a safari to Lake Crescent. What a wonderful experience! After living in a concrete port for so long, it was such a joy to walkout in nature and even be standing by wonderful wildlife. It was a walking safari that I would recommend to everyone!

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ACSI Kenya Conference

The teachers of our Academy had a wonderful opportunity to fly to Kenya this past week to attend an Association of Christian Schools International conference for teachers. It was wonderful! I attended 5 workshops, met with fellow English teachers, and had a chance to see some friends I had trained with for Africa Inland Mission back in 2004. We had 6 hour and 12 hour waits in the airport in Nairobi, and got to know the outdoor restaurant really well!

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Christmas cookie bake and gingerbread house making aboard the Africa Mercy

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Duets in the Play

Here are our duet singers: Hannah and Zodi, Josie and Deborah, and Elsa and Jessica. I am so proud of them!

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Academy Christmas Pageant 2013

Simply Christmas

 

This play was centered around the story of Jesus, as told by Zachariah (Jordan), the angel Gabriel (Nathaniel) and Matthew (Malachi). Mary (Elsa) and Joseph (Jacob) were star performers as well.

 

There were delightful ballet dances and sheep dances.

 

Everyone loved it! And lots of the students gave solo and duet performances on piano, trumpet, flute, recorder, violin… Amazing! And the hand chimes! I wish you could have heard it!

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New ship contract signed!

The world’s largest civilian hospital ship is contracted! An agreement has been reached with Asian and European shipbuilding firms to purpose-build a new 36,600-GRT hospital ship. Contracts were signed between Mr. Dong Qiang, VP of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) and Donald K. Stephens, President/ Founder of Mercy Ships, together with Jim Paterson, Senior VP of Mercy Ships Marine Operations.

 

MERCY SHIPS TO BUILD WORLD’S LARGEST CIVILIAN HOSPITAL SHIP

Deal Doubles the Capacity to Deliver Free, World-Class Health Care

 

BEIJING, CHINA – December 19, 2013 -- Mercy Ships has announced that it has reached an

agreement with Asian and European shipbuilding firms to purpose-build a new 36,600-GRT hospital

ship for Mercy Ships. Contracts were signed between Mr. Dong Qiang, VP of China Shipbuilding

Industry Corporation (CSIC), and Donald K. Stephens, President/ Founder of Mercy Ships, together

with Jim Paterson, Senior VP of Mercy Ships Marine Operations.

 

The vessel will be built at the group’s Tianjin Xingang Shipyard where the shipyard’s Chairman, Mr.

Gao Xuehu, and President, Mr. Hu Xiang, expressed excitement to be working on this unique project.

“This project will make this vessel the world’s largest civilian hospital ship, and delivery is being

planned for July 2017," stated Mr. Gao Xuehu, Chairman of Tianjin Xingang Shipbuilding Heavy

Industry, Ltd.

 

“We are thrilled to formally secure this important milestone for a project we have worked on quietly

for quite some time,” said Stephens. “Our goal with this second Mercy Ship is to more than double

the hope and healing through life-changing surgeries provided to those with little access to

specialized healthcare and to increase the partnership of training and educational support of health

professionals within the developing nations our ships will continue to serve.”

 

This agreement comes on the heels of the Mercy Ships story, recently highlighted by CBS on “60

Minutes” (http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/africa-mercy-hospital-of-hope-50141230/ )

 

The 174-meter hospital ship will be designed by the Finnish firm Deltamarin. Stena RoRo will

manage the actual project construction under the leadership of Per Westling, Managing Director.

The 157-year-old French ship brokerage company Barry Rogliano Salles (BRS) under the leadership of

its Geneva (Switzerland) office Managing Director, Gilbert Walter, negotiated the successful contract

and sale.

 

CSIC is one of China's largest shipbuilding and ship repair groups and operates directly under the

China state government with authorisation for investment and capital management. The group has a

total asset base of USD 27.54 billion and a workforce of 140,000. The group's 28 R&D institutes

employ more than 30,000 engineers, has eight state-level laboratory centers, seven enterprise

technology centers and 150 large-scale laboratories.

 

The new Mercy Ship will be classed by Lloyd's Register and flagged by Malta.

 

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Sinter Claus visits Mercy Ships!

The children waited in suspense for Sinter Claus to arrive. As you may know, he comes by boat to Holland on 5 December, so he visited us on the sixth! Here you can see him coming up the gangway onto the ship with Black Peter and his helpers…

Sinter Claus gave cookies to children who sang to him and gave him drawings, and then he distributed gifts to all the kids. It was so much fun!

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