Field Day and Jamaica Road

Friday the kids here at the Mercy Ships Academy had a chance to go accross the city to the American International School of Monrovia for a field day with the children there. The kids had a great time! It was very kind of the folks at AISM to invite us and it was quite a treat for the kids on the ship to play there. Besides having lots of other kids to play with, they had a chance to play on monkey bars and play field games like soccer and ultimate frisbee. I went along with my camera to document the event. It was easy enough for me to do since all of my kids were participating and I didn't have to be back to pick them up from school. Usually I am pretty limited in what work I can do off the ship since I have only about 3 1/2 hours in the morning before I have to pick the kids up from school and take them to lunch and then only a couple of hours in the afternoon before they get home and need help with homework, etc. For that matter, my work is limited on the ship too since my schedule with the children allows me little flexibility. I'm doing my best to work through the frustration that comes with the constraints I have. I want to do more photography and more of a variety, but I have to be satisfied with what fits into my schedule. Working within my limitations is not a new thing at all, it just requires rethinking and adjusting to the shape it takes in this environment. Nonetheless, it is a challenge.

Jenny has been content this weekend to hang around on the ship, but I have been dying to get out. Finally, after failing all weekend to find someone to walk with, I ventured out on Sunday afternoon alone on foot. I decided not to go far away from the ship, so I walked down nearby Jamaica Road. There was Jamaican music playing too at one point as I walked. I stopped to speak with a group of men, probably in their 30's, at one of the cell phone charging shops where you can pay to have your cell phone charged via generator power. The man who ran the shop, a stocky fellow in a Mickey Mouse T-shirt, was also named John so we immediately had something to talk about. The guys there inivited me to have a seat with them so I did. We sat under the overhang of the tin roof of the shop as it was beginning to rain a bit. We talked about the gold mining work that a couple of the men do and about their struggles finding buyers who will pay them a fair price and getting the equipment they need to do the work more efficiently. They showed me a sample of the gold dust they had recently found. They told me about how they need people to invest in Liberia and about the frustrations they have about how difficult it is to have something to show for all their labor. "Work, work, work and nothing - no money", they would say. We talked about sports a little and about American politics a lot. All of the 6 or so guys there knew which U.S. presidential candidate they were pulling for and the conversation was just as heated as any you would expect to find in the U.S.! For a moment I felt like I was back home. We talked about the connection that many of the Liberians feel to the United States. They told me that some of them have dreamed about enlisting in the U.S. Armed Forces. And one said he would like to join the Marines, go to Iraq, and let everyone know that "war is no good". I'm sure he knows all about that first hand. If only it were that simple. I had a great time talking (mostly listening) to those guys and I hope to visit them again soon.

John

Rising From The Ashes

(Above: Verses from Proverbs written on a wall and a little girl's shoe in one of Monrovia's many abandoned buildings, a blind panhandler led by a child, and a member of the UN peacekeeping force beneath an anti-war bilboard)

Liberia is slowly recovering from war, but it is clear that it is a long, difficult process. Signs of the war are everywhere and life is still very hard for the people of Liberia. The most disturbing evidence of the war here is its presence in the psyche of the people. They lived it and are trying to pick up what pieces are left. Some bear physical scars from the war. Many lost family members during the conflict. Many were unable to leave there homes for fear of being killed or forced to fight and some died of disease as a result. The war is over, but still there is need here and brokenness to the point of overflowing, and it is impossible to go out and not be confronted with it. But life is going on. People are laughing and living and pushing though the difficulties of living in a city where there is little running water or electricity (except that which is produced by gas-powered generators). Brokenness and suffering are everywhere in Monrovia and I believe that most Liberians would agree, but beauty is just as prevailant in the colors of the fabric, encouraging words written across the bumpers of taxis, and in the faces of its people. God made them and loves them and I'm so glad to have met some of them. May He continue to be merciful to them and lift them up.

John

Reflections on a Flood

While John has been very prolific this weekend as far as blogging goes, I've been pondering the life lessons related to "The Flood of Monday 15 SEP 08". I'm sure none of you reading this post heard about the great flood unless we've already mentioned it to you over the phone!

In the decontamination room of our OR here on board, where surgical instruments are rinsed and sent through the washer, a sprinkler was bumped and activated during the cleaning of the ceiling. Unless you've experienced this phenomenon, it is hard to imagine how fast water can accumulate! The sprinkler heads pour out water at a rate of 60 gallons per minute. After the first couple minutes of using water stored in the system, the pump kicks in and draws water from the sea which surrounds the ship. Pretty cool idea, unless your ship is sitting in a harbor filled with sewage!!!!! Well, anyway, I suppose it was 3-5 minutes before the water was finally turned off. Every available person jumped in to bail with anything they could get their hands on. The ship was saved! Well, actually, the only threat was to our particular area.



What I've been pondering is the teamwork that took place to keep the flood at bay! And as I was pondering, I thought of the verses in Romans 12:6-8..."We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully."

Now, this doesn't give us the authority to say, "That's not my job," when the flood comes. What I witnessed this past Monday was everyone pitching in - no matter if he was a surgeon, an anesthesiologist, a nurse or the washer of dirty surgical instruments - to get a job done. It was a wonderful sight! I recalled the verse in Colossians 3:23 that says, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord..."



Jenny

Some Challenges of Living Here

I want to share a few of the challenges we are coming to grips with as we have been here long enough now to know what some of them are. What I don't want is for any of this to be misconstrued as complaining. It's just an attempt to let others know what we face on a daily basis and maybe give an idea of how to pray for us.


Probably the biggest challenge is that there is no place here to get away from it all, not even really for more than a minute or two. Anywhere you go on the ship there is bound to be someone there as there are about 400 people who live and work on the ship. Anywhere you go in Monrovia there are people and often lots of them. Even at the beach last weekend it was not possible to sit for long without Liberians coming to sit with you. Don't get me wrong, it's often very nice talking with them, but there is no real possibily of just being alone for very long. I have always found personal interaction to be somewhat stressful in most cases, whereas I think Jenny is more energized by it than I am. In addition, there is no real distinction between work and personal life except the lines you choose to enforce. This makes getting away from work very challenging. There is no driving home in the evening from work. Another challenge is eating in community. We eat in the galley for nearly every meal except breakfast with hundreds of other people. We have found that bringing food back to the cabin is rather work intensive so we don't usually go that route. We are very grateful that our meals are provided and that we don't have to go to all the extra troubles of just living that some land-based missionaries here endure. That enables us to have some energy for work and more of a capacity left for compassion toward those we are here to serve. That said, we do face an extraordinary amount of daily fatigue. I have been trying to understand the reason for this. I think this is very common for those living on the ship for an extended period. I have talked with others who believe that it is almost entirely stress related. Not that any one thing in particular is that stressful, but rather just an accumulation of small stressful things related to living in tight community, living without much in the way of real respite, and living with a few other logistical struggles that come with the territory. Jenny and I find that we are very often at the point of collapse from what would appear to be physical exhaustion. I don't doubt that there is a spiritual element to this as well. Another challenge is that we are used to living in a 1600 square foot house with a yard. Here our cabin is just over 400 square feet including all our storage areas. That is rather generous too as cabins go here, so you won't catch us complaining about it. It is challenging, though, primarily because our bedroom is also the living and dining area that has to be shared with our children. We sleep on a fold-up couch that has to be stowed every day. And none of this is really a problem for us, but not having any real space to ourselves, that we can call our own, that is not shared by the kids requires a bit of extra mental energy. But, so many of the comforts of home are provided for us here through the hard work of others, like clean, running water, electricity, air conditioning, a Starbucks cafe', items for sale in the "ship shop", and the list goes on and on. It really is remarkable! We don't have to go far beyond the gangway to put this all into perspective as the conditions of living for most in Monrovia are far less desirable.




Suffice it to say, energy is what we need most so we are finding that we will just need to allot more hours to sleep than we are used to and continue asking God for quiet time and strength.

John

Oh Baby!

In the early morning of the 17th, a baby was born to the mother of one of the patients on board the Africa Mercy! I was given the priviledge of photographing the baby as this was a newsworthy event. The mother has been here with her son as he is being treated and apparently her time to be delivered arrived! It is not common practice for babies to be born on board as this is a surgical hospital ship, but it just so happened that one of the ward nurses also has had training as a midwife, so she was honored with catching the baby right there in the ward. You just never know what may happen here (Sarah F.)! The little baby girl is doing well as I understand and sleeps in a laundry basket converted into a bassinet. The patient son is having to share his hospital bed with mom and baby sister and adjust to the attention of mom being shifted away from him. We hope he will do well with all of this.

John

Our North Korean Neighbors and Imports

Last week we had a North Korean ship visit the port here. Above are some photos of it. It was moored at the dock next door to ours for several days and off-loaded a good bit of cargo before sailing away. In the U.S. we don't usually have an opportunity to see much of anything North Korean, so this was pretty interesting to me.

We went into town today and did a little shopping at a supermarket and then went out to eat at one of Monrovia's many Lebanese-run restaurants. It is very interesting to walk down the isles in the supermarket because the packaged goods seem to come from just about everywhere except Liberia. We seem to be living right in the middle of this activity as I guess most of it comes in on the ships that enter the port here. At the supermarket we bought several items, some for us and some for others on the ship. We bought pasta from Tunisia, butter from Denmark, bouillon cubes from Turkey, coconut cookies from Jordan, cake mix and canned peaches from the United States, coconut packaged in the United Kingdom, and some butter cookies from I'm not sure where. For these several items the bill came to $29 U.S. which is quite expensive, but I guess its not unreasonable considering the expense involved in shipping all of this stuff to Liberia. Thankfully most all of our food is provided on the ship so this was our first grocery shopping trip in Monrovia since we arrived. At the restaurant, I had a falafel, the boys had a cheese pizza, and Bethany and Jenny had a Taouk (chicken, french fries, and pickled cucumbers wrapped in Lebanese, pita-type bread with some nice garlic, mayonnaise-based sauce).

Kelly Grizzard, my boss (pictured above in a rather dignified pose at the restaurant), who drove us there had a Philly cheese steak type sandwich on Lebanese bread. So our dinner was more Middle Eastern/European/American than African. Maybe at some point, we can experience some real Liberian food although I hear that if you don't like spicy food, you're in trouble. I think we're willing and ready.

John

Special Report

Bethany with Iona(left) and Grace(right)

Although I am a week past due, I must report that Bethany turned 10 last Tuesday! She did have to go to school as usual, but we got to bake a cake for the important event. A special birthday hat found it's way to her, but she insisted she was too embarrassed to wear it. So, instead, we used it as a substitute for real candles and she pretended to blow them out. (Candles aren't generally permitted since they are a fire hazard in the cabins!)

Happy Birthday, Bethany!

Team VVF

This past week I was honored to be on "Team VVF". This was the last week of this outreach in Liberia for surgery on the ladies who suffer from vesicovaginal fistulas (VVF). The fistula is a hole that forms between the birth canal and the bladder when women are in prolonged labor during childbirth. In most, if not all cases, the mother also loses her baby as well.

Our surgeons were Dr. Steve Arrowsmith and Dr. Chris Payne, both from the US. Below is a note from Dr. Steve. (But that is Jenny A. who hopped into the photo and gave a plug for Mercy Ships' merchandise!) During the VVF phase of our surgeries here in Liberia, they were able to make 66 ladies dry! Thanks to all who partner with the volunteers and make this possible!

Also, during this past week of being on Team VVF, I witnessed a remarkable thing after each operation: Dr Steve mopping the floor between cases! Talk about TEAMWORK!


















Jenny

On the far side of the Atlantic

So...the beach! Bethany, David and I set out for White Sands beach with Roseann (our driver who is from New York and makes a great Liberian driver!), Judy, Frankie, Marylou, and Joan. I don't have pictures since my camera was around John's neck on his hike through town, so I'll try to describe what it was like on the far side of the Atlantic Ocean.

The drive to White Sands was just as worrisome as the other drives through town have been. The kids and I were sitting in the back of the vehicle which I think is an old Land Rover or something. We had the advantage of being able to look back behind us as we rode. There are so many people in and around the streets that it amazes me that there aren't casualties around every turn. Although the roads are supposedly two-lane, there are sometimes two cars in each lane, passing at will with plenty of horn taps to alert the driver being passed.

Anyway, we made it safely to the beach where we discovered the sand is not white but a burnt orange and the water is the color of tea. There was a pretty strong under current, so we ventured out only thigh deep into the sea. There were palm trees with some green coconuts visible above umbrellas made of palm branches. This made for great shade over plastic chairs and lounges. The kids and I spent most of our time down at the edge of the water, though, and had a wonderful time!

I want to tell you, also, about the church service we attended this morning. Each Sunday there is a service in the ward for the patients and anyone else who is early enough to get a seat in Ward A. (I hope to add a picture for you to see when we clear it with the right people.) There was a mix of folks that included several patients in their beds, ambulatory patients from other wards, nurses on duty, and all of us!

This morning's service include a Dress Ceremony for four ladies who had had the VVF (vesicovaginal fistula) repair and were ready to go home. Recovery from this procedure is about two weeks and when the surgeon clears them for release, they are celebrated, given new dresses, head wraps, a bar of soap to symbolize that the blood of Jesus cleanses them from their sin, a mirror to remind them that they are fearfully and wonderfully made by God, a Bible and a witness bracelet that makes it easy for them to tell the salvation message to others.

What a blessing to have been a part of this service this morning! We were able to witness the abandon with which the African people worship the Lord. It brought tears to my eyes and blessed me so! I hope to learn some of the songs that we heard this morning, too. And there is a special handshake that I want to perfect. There's time....

There is so much more to tell about this past week, but my time is up for now. Until next post...

Jenny

Saturday's Walk to Market

Yesterday Joey and I walked with a group of others across the one bridge to Monrovia proper and into the market area in the center of town. The UN guards also let us go to the top of the Ducor Hotel which used to be a very nice hotel as I understand it, but is now a bombed-out shell that up until recently was occupied by "squatters", homeless folks looking for shelter. The view from the top was spectacular but it was a little dangerous as the handrails are missing in quite a few places. We later walked to the craft market across from the U.S. Embassy. Every vendor there insists that you visit their stand, so you have to be very direct if you don't want to spend the whole day there. We bought a couple of little things for Bethany's birthday on Sept. 9th and some cloth. It was fun learning the process. We were on the move for 6 hours yesterday and were completely exhausted and a little sun-baked when we got back.

The safe drinking water in town comes in sealed bags and the only good way to drink it is to chew the corner of the bag off and suck the water out. There are some huge, deep holes in the sidewalks and the sidewalks are often very narrow and very crowded so you have to really pay attention to everything to make sure you don't get run over by a car or wheel barrow or end up at the bottom of a garbage-filled hole somewhere. Our skin is far too light for us not to draw attention so we often will hear extended kissing noises as people frequently try to get our attention for one reason or another. Most often it's okay to stop and talk for a minute, but you can't cover any ground if you don't ignore some of it. I think I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable with these walks, though. I decided to carry our compact camera around my neck part of the time and attracted a lot of attention from one group of kids who wanted me to take their picture. They were very happy to succeed and ran off as quickly as they had come. The rest of the street photos above were just snapped as we walked without looking through the view finder. They may help give a little of a sense for what town is like. The last photo shows Joey with a couple of our friends. In that photo you can see Mike and Patrick working on getting a drink of water.

Jenny, Bethany and David went to the beach yesterday and had a great time. Jenny will fill everyone in on that soon.

John

Week 2 in Liberia

Well, the past week has been packed!! We have been struggling to get used to our new surroundings and make the needed adjustments to life on a ship and to life in west Africa. It has not been an easy week by any stretch of the imagination. It's hard not to just dive into work, but I'm finding that there are so many difficult adjustments to make for our whole family that just doing that takes most of my available mental energy. Jenny is already working regular days for the most part. I am spending most of my time with the kids and that is a lot of work as we have not really been truely together as a family much over the past three months as we were preparing to come here. We are re-learning how to be together and also how to function in this very different and unusual environment. I have been working on learning the ropes with my job as a part-time photographer for the ship and have covered a couple of public relations events so far. I don't expect to really be able to do much more than offer a little relief to the other photographers on the ship as they are constantly in motion. Perhaps as we get more comfortable here I can take on a little more work. I have to remember, though, that there is always far more to do here than can be done, so everyone just has to do the best they can not to push beyond what they can handle. As soon as I get over the shock of all of these changes, I will be on a quest for balance. I guess I feel rather like a juggler on a tight rope right now who is brand new to the whole thing. I know it can be done and it will be pretty cool when I'm practiced enough to shine.

Below are some photos I have made this week of the ship in the evening, the neighboring dock, ladies dancing in celebration in the hallway outside the VVF ward on the ship as a group of VVF patients were preparing to go home after surgery, and a boy on the ward with stickers on his face.

Love to All,

John