This and That

The most important thing I have to report today is that for the last two and a half weeks we have been livin' a dream! That dream is the realization that we now have a TEENAGER IN THE HOUSE!

It's true. Joey turned 13 on April 7, 2009!! Joey celebrated by hosting a "Lord of the Rings" marathon in the Youth Room for a few of the guys on the ship. They started the first one at 1pm and finished up after 11pm! And at Joey's request, I made pizza for dinner and baked a chocolate cake with chocolate chips and chocolate icing. We even bought ice cream (Fan Ice from a local super market) to top it off. It was a "fun, Lord of the Rings-y" day, according to Joey. And a highlight for the guys was when they pulled the head off the breadman from our previous post. Poor breadman!

On Easter Monday, we played in the rain with our friends, the Albrechts, at Au Jardin Helvetia, a rustic hotel about 45 minutes from the ship. We really enjoyed the rest and refreshment that day provided.

Here you can see the snail round-up by the kids.

Joey and John have been working on scouting merit badges in their spare time. Here, John is having fun testing Joey's knowledge of First Aid.

And below is a phot of Joey navigating an orienteering course that John mapped out for him in Cotonou. It may not be the typical Boy Scout orienteering course, but it's the environment we have to work in.

Joey's hope is to advance to the rank of First Class before he joins with his old troop for Boy Scout Camp at Camp Raven Knob in June. Yes, we have plans to go home for a visit in the summer!!
On another note...I had the opportunity to give blood to one of our patients last Friday. There was one fellow who lost a good deal of blood during his surgery. The blood bank is made up of crew members who are willing to donate on a moment's notice when the need arises. So when you get called, you go to the Ward where you hop onto an empty be and the lab technician pulls a nice unit from you which then goes directly to the patient. It's a pretty cool thing to know you are providing warm, life sustaining blood to someone in need! We were critically low of this patient's blood type, but when people heard of the need, more signed up to give.

Below you can see three crew members who were giving at the same time this past week to meet an urgent need while a patient was in surgery.

Jenny

Been Busy!

Life's like a river current, isn't it? It just keeps on flowing, and we do best to lay back on the water and flow right with it. If we try to stand up and stay in one place, we hit a good deal of resistance, but the current keeps moving...just swirls around us and flows on. And I've learned that you are supposed to float down the river feet first so that you aren't as likely to get your feet caught on things on the bottom of the river that will pull you under. That position also keeps you face-forward. There's no point in looking back at where you came from. You need to keep your eyes on what's ahead, or you'll bump into a rock or get caught in low-lying branches, and cool things will pass by without you even noticing!

So, we've been caught up in the river of life. We are now about to begin the 7th week of surgeries on board the M/V Africa Mercy. Monday through Friday the current is the swiftest for me. As I've been trying to juggle the things and situations that need my attention, I've also been able to spend a little time playing my favorite roll..."scrub nurse". And I've been witness to what may be the fastest surgical time in the world! The other day, I worked with our neighbor and fellow North Carolinian, Dr Bruce Steffes, on "hernia day" (which is every day in the general surgery room. There are SO many!). He was able to repair bilateral hernias on a 5 year old in 10 minutes, with a total OR time of 22 minutes! Amazing!

Dr Bruce working with Dr Mark Shrime on a goiter a few weeks ago

John's been spending a little spare time fishin'. Last week he had some interaction with a fellow on the dock that gave some good insight about asking and receiving. Below are some photos of the strange looking fish he caught. It wasn't big, but it was interesting. Some of the locals called it a "snake fish".Joey got to spend 3 days in the Galley with Eddie the Baker this past week. The Junior High and High School kids got to have some "Work Experience". Joey got up around 4:30 am and learned about baking. He also was able to help make the pizzas for the crew's dinner on Thursday evening. That was one of the highlights of his time in the galley. He's very passionate about pizza! They had a little extra fun making this "bread man" too.

Bethany and David have been trying to get as much "Deck 8" time as possible. Deck 8 is where the pool and climbing frame are. The pool is a refreshing oasis in the hot climate. And David has been challenging himself to cross the monkey bars without falling. So far, he's crossed more than 13 times! (He's counting!)

And so we float on down this river that's life. The nicest days are the ones where the current is slow and we can pay attention to the beauty on the river banks. Those would be the weekends of life, I guess!

~Jenny~

Fete de la Gani

On Friday the 6th of March my friend, Eddie Wong (the ship's baker) and I traveled to the small town of Nikki in the north of Benin to attend the annual Fete de la Gani. The Fete de la Gani is a week-long festival where the kings of neighboring Bariba kingdoms, some from northern Nigeria, come to Nikki where the most powerful and esteemed king in the region resides. My interest in this festival was peaked after reading about it in a travel guide on Benin and I thought it would be a great opportunity to get some unusual photos. Trying to pin down the date of the biggest day of the festival was no small task, though. After asking multiple people who knew folks in northeast Benin, I got different answers, but finally got the confirmation that I needed close to the day we had to leave. It was supposed to all kick off at around 7am on Saturday the 7th and we had made arrangements to take the 7 hour public bus ride to Parakou on Friday, leaving at 6am, and stay the night in Parakou on the SIM mission compound. It was all rather remarkable that we had been able to arrange that much. Our plan was to arrange for a before-sunrise (2-3 hour) Saturday morning taxi ride to Nikki once we arrived in Parakou. Well, we arrived in Parakou at around 2pm on Friday. The ride was very nice, actually. The Chinese-made bus was air-conditioned, at least until the a/c broke 3/4 of the way to Parakou and on the bus each person was allotted one seat. On the bus we watched videos of Muslim music from Niger and watched a very bad television soap opera apparently made in an English-speaking African country and dubbed into French. Our single rest stop on the trip was very interesting indeed! We stopped in the town of Bohicon and were greeted by a mob of people with baskets on their heads or carrying trays of snacks and a hundred other things for sale to help you on your journey. Among the items for sale were barbecued hindquarters of some strange opossum-sized animal with a long tail that, if I could hazard a guess, might have been cane rat that I have heard is commonly on the menu here. The restroom was an interesting experience too. It basically amounted to a couple of large trees right in the center of the bustling dirt thoroughfare. The trees had obviously been used well and nobody seemed to mind at all that there was no modesty really possible about using them. So we just took care of our business there in the middle of town and made our way back to the bus.

Once we arrived in Parakou, we needed to get across town to the SIM base, so we took the only available form of transportation and hopped on the back of a couple of zemidjans and took a hair-raising motorcycle trip through the busy market center of town. Safely at our intended place of lodging, we met the very pleasant Swiss couple there and checked in. Later that afternoon we began asking questions about transport to Nikki very early on Saturday morning. It began to become apparent that arranging for a taxi ride that early on the big day of the festival might not be possible. Very fortunately for us there was a missionary who lives in Nikki that had been away for some months that had just arrived back in Parakou and would be staying there for a few days. She very kindly offered for us to sleep at her place in Nikki, not being sure what the condition of the place would be when we arrived or if there would be anything to sleep on. We very enthusiastically accepted her offer and hurried off to the taxi station on yet another pair of zemis in an attempt to get out of town before dark. The approaching darkness was not comforting, especially for me carrying lots of camera gear. We arrived at the taxi station in the center of Parakou with a local man from the mission and were able to secure a taxi ride after about 30 minutes of loud, passionate arguing and moving us and our bags from one very well worn taxi to another and our money from one taxi driver to another. I didn't understand what was being said, but we just waited and hoped that everything would get sorted out eventually. Eventually it did and the two of us were on our way just before sunset in a compact, 80's model, 5 seat Peugeot, with 8 other people and a trunk bulging with baggage and live chickens! We had paid for 3 seats (CFA 7,500 or $15) as the taxi drivers had said they normally put four adults across the front including the driver, so it was just the driver, Eddie and me in the front. We got gas out of a jar at the local fuel stop and headed out. The road half way to N'Dali was paved, but full of potholes, many of which we hit at a higher rate of speed than I would have liked, sitting on the hump between the driver and passenger seat. We stopped in N'Dali for more snacks pushed out of the darkness in through the car windows by street vendors. There and every other time we stopped, Eddie and I took the opportunity to get out and get the blood flowing in our legs again. From N'Dali the road became a dirt track with quite a few concrete humps here and there that our driver would almost always skid into after having locked up the brakes on the washboard dirt road. He usually found the best spot to go over, but would still frequently drag the bottom of the loaded down vehicle on the concrete. It was a bit disconcerting that he frequently hung his head out the window to look at the front wheel and smack his gums as if to say, "Darn, maybe I hit that one a little too hard." Well after about 2 and a half hours of riding in what felt like a sardine can being drug by a horse, we arrived in Nikki amidst a mob of people. We had no idea where the house that we were headed to was, but we found a couple of zemidjan drivers who thought they knew and so we were off on our first after dark zemi ride down the dirt streets of the remote town of Nikki dodging people, goats, and other zemis on our way. Once there, we were very warmly greeted by the girls' school teachers and students. There was no electricity at the house, but there were mattresses on the floor and filtered water. In our minds, nothing could be finer. We were happy as clams! Eddie said we probably could just turn around and go back home at that point and it would have been a good trip. We didn't sleep much that night because of all the noises we weren't used to: the beeping sound of bats, goats running around outside the house and squealing in the night, chickens in the yard, music from the festivities in town, and early morning Muslim call to prayer. Even so, we had plenty of rest and arrived at the Fete de la Gani plenty early in the morning. We watched the traditional dances that took place in field in front of the royal palace. There were lots of horses later in the day with riding displays in front of the palace, the blowing of the kankangui trumpets, passing out of money and cloth to the trumpet bearers, paying homage to the king of Nikki, the arrival of dignitaries and sacrificed goats brought to them, the parade of the king of Nikki through the streets of the town. That's the king of Nikki in the pink robe and white-rimmed sunglasses in the photo above. Equally impressive were the people who came to witness the festival. Many of the women had painted, if not tattooed, faces and beautiful clothing, jewelry, and other adornments. I regret that I had no way to capture any sound as the sounds of the festival were also very interesting. Eddie and I had gotten very used to sweating, as there was hardly ever a time since leaving the ship when we didn't, so sitting in the heat was not unbearable. It was really hot, though, and we were thankful to have some shade for most of the day. We had a wonderful African meal prepared by one of the teachers at the school that evening and returned to the festival for the early part of the day on Sunday. Sunday included groups of rulers walking toward the royal palace and lying prostrate on the ground, some groups only once, others multiple times as they approached the palace. The imam from the region also came to the door of the palace and said a few words there. Later in the afternoon, we said goodbye to the folks at the girls' school and caught a taxi back to Parakou. This time we only paid for our two seats and, sure enough, we had 4 people in the front, along with 4 adults and 3 children in the back, for a total of 11 this time! The guy next to the driver had one foot in our floor and one in the driver's floor, straddling the gear shift. Eddie said he would not want to be that guy because when it came time for the driver to shift into 4th, that was a little too close for comfort! I agreed. We had a great time, despite our physical discomfort, talking about the taxi ride. It was quite an experience! We secured our bus tickets when we arrived back in Parakou. We spent the night Sunday at SIM in Parakou and had a great spaghetti supper there. Monday morning we returned to Cotonou by bus. The festival had been like stepping back in time and the trip there and back was no less incredible. I am very grateful to God for keeping us safe and to all those who helped us along the way especially the folks at SIM.

John

What's Normal?

So, here's a question....How much time must elapse before you can say "That's normal"? I was thinking about that yesterday. I've heard that if you do something for two weeks straight, you've established a habit. But, is that the same as saying that what you are doing is normal?

The past two weeks for me have been "back to business as usual" in that we have begun surgeries and a work day is from 07:30 to 17:00. Our surgery schedule hasn't necessarily filled those hours, but there are other chores that must be done as well to make sure the surgeries can take place. This means that during the week I can only manage to work, eat dinner with the family (lately in the cabin for a little quietude and communication) and then John and I begin to move the kids in the direction of bed. I think our friends feel a little neglected, but I hope they understand that we are trying to sort out "normal".

Saturday I realized that I had not been outside of the ship's walls (or bulkheads?) for 10 days! Not even to go out onto the outer decks! So, the kids and I took ourselves up to deck 8 twice yesterday to play and get fresh air. Mind you, it's very warm air, but there was a great breeze!

I'll let you know when we figure out normal. Who knows? Maybe there's no such thing! It could be just a figment of our imagination.

Jenny

Screening

waiting in the lines

Almost two weeks ago now we helped with the big surgical screening that Mercy Ships holds at the beginning of the field service. This screening spanned two long days and saw 2,550 potential surgical patients line up for evaluation. Of those, 443 were scheduled for surgery, many were given referrals to follow-up specialty screenings, but lots were turned away because they were not suitable for surgery for one reason or another. These people were given the opportunity to be ministered to by prayer teams. A couple of screenings were also held in the north part of Benin, but the one we were involved in was the major screening held at the Hall des Arts in Cotonou not too far from the port here. I just recently got my photos cleared so I am now able to write about it. line stretching from stadium - in upper right

The line of patients stretched several blocks down the street from the stadium where stations were set up for medical evaluations, blood draws, scheduling, etc.

young orthopedic patients

I floated around most of the day on Thursday, Feb 19, and a few hours on Friday as well making photos of the lines and whatever I could record of the event. I consumed more than a gallon and a half of fluids on Thursday due to the heat and my constant movement. I'm sure it was not easy for some of the sick who came to wait in the lines in the sun. People from the ship passed out water and, to my knowledge, we didn't have any heat casualties. I also really felt for the guys working security who spent the entire day in the sun with no shade. Jenny worked all day both days in the, also very hot, stadium doing surgical scheduling, scheduling the patients who would receive surgery through much of 2009. Joey also participated, along with the other junior high kids from the Academy, working with the children who came to the screening, some with medical needs and others who had come with their parents or caregivers. The screening was a really incredible event. The orchestration required to do something like this was impressive, but also the kinds of scenes that presented themselves throughout the day were often just amazing. We felt quite blessed to have been able to participate.
"And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love." 2 John :6

John

Venice in Africa?

Sunday Joey and I went with a number of other people from the ship on a boat ride into Ganvie. Ganvie is a village of around 22,000 people that is built mostly over the water. Many of the homes are built on stilts. There are a few things that Ganvie has in common with Venice, but not that many. The streets in both are waterways. In Ganvie the market appears to take place actually on the water with the sellers loading their canoes with produce, etc. and selling things out of their canoes. Our trip there was interesting, but the agenda of the tour boat driver for us seemed to be for us to visit three craft shops in the village. I don't think many of us were particularly interested - we just wanted to see the village and visit with some of the people. Also, it was a bit difficult to know how to feel about our presence there, how welcome we were. It was certainly not as relaxed as a trip to Venice would be. It was nice to go and see Ganvie, but I'm not sure I really want to go back in the same way. Although, I probably will so Jenny, Bethany, and David can see it. I think a much better way to go would involve spending a lot more time and trying to develop some relationships there. That may shed some light on the real situation there and some of the true feelings about yovos visiting their village (yovo is a local word for white person - I'm not sure how much I like being referred to as such everywhere we go, but that's the norm.) Knowing the language too would be such a help. That's one thing I know that I and many others here miss about being in Liberia. Hopefully that aspect of our experience here will improve in the months to come.

John

Ouidah

This past Saturday I, along with some good friends from gateway in Texas, went to Ouidah to see what we could see in the 4 hours we had use of a vehicle. It took a bit more than an hour to get there, sharing the road with thousands of zemedjans, so we didn't have nearly enough time to really see Ouidah, but we were able to get oriented and get a feel for the place. Ouidah is known in Benin for being the capital of Voodoo and for its history as a major port for the slave trade. There is a Slave Route in Ouidah now marked by monuments at several points that the slaves passed through on their way to the sea to board ships bound for the New World. We passed by the slave market where the route begins and by the other points on the 3km dirt road to the sea and to the final point on the route, the Gate of No Return (pictured above). Below is a photo of another memorial monument on the beach nearby. In between the slave market area and the Gate of No Return are the Tree of Forgetfulness (photo below - with not just some random Englishman, that's Sam!), the actual tree of which is no longer there, or if it is it doesn't amount to much. It is said that this tree had magical powers and as the slaves circled it, they would have forgotten their identity. Later down the road is the place where slaves were placed in a dark room called the "Zomai" for months so that when they emerged they would be broken and not be able to struggle. The people who did not survive the Zomai ended up in the mass grave which is now marked by a memorial. Further down the road there is the Tree of Return which, upon circling, would guarantee that the souls of the slaves would find their way back to their homeland. (Some of the above info came from "Benin - The Bradt Travel Guide" by Stuart Butler.) In our limited time we didn't find the Zomai or the Tree of Return, but the other points were clear. On the road to the beach we also passed by many not so attractive voodoo statues and a beautiful lagoon where there were men fishing. We didn't go to the python temple in Ouidah, but we did glimpse a voodoo ceremony in progress on the way out of town as could be recognized from the brightly colored garb and covered faces of the entranced participants. We didn't linger there.

Voodoo is an animistic religion. There apparently is a belief in a Supreme Being who is helped by lesser gods. People pray to these lesser gods and also engage in sacrifices and rituals to them in hopes that they will pass the messages on to the Supreme Being in their behalf. As this is basically a polytheistic religion, then, in which there is no direct contact with the creator, nothing could be much farther away from Christianity where Jesus is the supreme sacrifice and opened the doors to direct relationship with God. Nevertheless, it is said here that Benin is x% Muslim and x% Christian, but is 100% Voodoo. The spiritual darkness is palpable here, but we know that we walk in the light and need not fear it. It is our prayer that the light of Christ will continue to shine in the darkness here.

John

"For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." Colossians 1:13-14