Week 1 - Faith foundations

Sorry this is a bit late I've gotten a bit behind with my posts.

The first proper week of Gateway started with a few team building games to get to know each other, with the obligatory dressing up in funny costumes to play the chocolate game.

We then went on to learn about a variety of topics including:

• The God we Serve
• Kingdom principles
• Communicating with God
• Hot and Cold climate cultures

We have class 8-12 and then 1-4:30, and then some sessions at the weekend.

On the Friday evening we all went to one of our leader's houses for a BBQ (chicken, sausages and brisket - beef) which was lovely to spend time socialising outside of class or our dorms, and I saw quite a few hummingbirds although sadly I didn't get any pictures.

On Saturday we had a silent retreat.  We spent 4 hours at Tyler State Park which is a lovely park with lots of trees, tracks and a lake (which has turtles in!).  The idea was to be silent for the whole time, to spend the time listening to God, praying and reading our Bibles.  For me it was a lovely time to slow down and be peaceful after what had been a busy week.

Personal survival training

The final part of my trainings was personal survival specifically water survival.  We looked at the safety features on ships, how you get help, how you would launch a lifeboat or liferaft etc.  As part of our training we had another practical exercise at Tyler Junior College pool.  We donned the life jacket and the immersion (or gumby) suit, jumped into the water, got in and out of the liferaft (both in the life jacket and the immersion suit) and various other tasks.

This was all great fun, however, the immersion suits are not designed for people as short as me, needless to say what would have made a ridiculous picture in the first place (because you look like a teletubbie) looked even more funny when your hands are a foot away from where they should be!  So here are some pictures for your amusement.

The Gateway girls!

Deploying the sea anchor from the liferaft

 

Wearing the immersion suit (I think it's going to be the next big thing!)

 Jumping into the pool in the immersion suit

Swimming in a train in our immersion suits (I'm second from last in the train, the end closest to the camera)

 

 Getting into the liferaft in the immersion suits

In the liferaft

Flipping the liferaft

Fireman Steph!

When you live on a ship, calling the local fire brigade is a lot more difficult, so as part of our BST (Basic Safety Training) we learn fire fighting skills.

This covers:

• Safety and Principles of Survival
• Theory of Fire
• Fire prevention
• Fire detection
• Fixed fire extinguisher systems
• Portable fire extinguishing equipment
• Shipboard fire-fighting organisation
• Fire-fighting methods

I've been learning about the different classes of fire:

• Class A - Combustibles such as wood, paper, plastic, rubber and cloth
• Class B - Flammable and Combustible Liquids and Gases
• Class C - Fires involving energised electrical equipment
• Class D - Combustible Metals (magnesium etc)

And how you fight these fires using the different types of fire extinguishers (dry chemical, water, foam, and dry powder).

After our lectures they let us lose to fight some of our own fires!  For our practical exercises we had to:

• Don the Firefighters Outfit and SCBA (Self contained breathing apparatus)
• Search & rescue in a smoke filled space
• Extinguish small Class C fire (PFE - Personal fire extinguisher)
• Extinguish small Class B liquid fire (PFE)
• Extinguish large Class B gas fire (Hose)
• Extinguish large Class A fire (Hose)

Me in my fire fighter get up!

Fighting a Class B fire with a Dry chemical extinguisher

Fighting a Class B fire using the spray setting of a hose to protect us from the fire

(In the last photo I am meant to be running back from the fire because I am the hose man so I am running back, after turning off the gas, to make sure we don't get and kinks in the hose as we retreat)

And finally a picture of my BST class and our instructors

Basic Safety Training - First aid

This week I am doing my Basic Safety Training. It is a qualification relevant to working on any ship and covers:

• basic ship safety (such as things like muster lists which tell you different peoples jobs in case of an emergency evacuation or fire on ship, and how to read the ship map and cabin numbering etc)
• basic first aid (CPR, AED etc)
• fire fighting (using a fire extinguisher and fire hose)
• water safety (getting into an immersion suit and flipping a life raft)

Today I was doing basic first aid (American Red Cross style). We did CPR and resuscitation, using an AED (automated external defibrillator), treating closed and open wounds, first responder treatment of strokes, allergies, burns, poisoning, bites etc. The following pictures show me giving mouth to mouth to my dummy, CPR and practising using the AED (which you can find in places like airports).

Who are Mercy Ships? What will I be doing?

So I realise that in the first post I didn't explain much about what I am doing, so for those of you who I haven't already told starting in November I will be spending 21 months volunteering with Mercy Ships. Mercy Ships is a global Christian charity that looks to share God’s love by giving hope and healing to the forgotten poor through the mobilisation people and resources worldwide. They serve all people without regard for race, gender, or religion. In 1978, the first hospital ship set sail and since then its fleet has brought free healthcare to people in some of the poorest countries of the world, visiting over 150 ports and treating over 400 000 people. The crew both provide medical care and do developmental and training projects which ensures that the Mercy Ships provides both initial physical healing and also a lasting legacy which should help the country to develop even after the ship has left port. 

(See www.mercyships.com for more information)

I will be volunteering on the Africa Mercy which serves people around the coast of West Africa. I will join the ship in Benin and then will move onto Togo in January/February 2010. 

For my first year on the ship I will be working as a Biomedical Technician. This position oversees the maintenance and management of medical devices, including arranging for scheduled maintenance and calibration of equipment, performing preventative maintenance and repair of medical equipment, and communicating the status of equipment to the end users. 

In my second year on the ship I hope to work as a Biomedical Trainer. This position involves going around the host country’s hospitals refurbishing equipment and training the locals to maintain and use the machines to their full capacity and also to be able to pass on their knowledge to other users of the equipment. 
 

Hopefully this gives you more of an idea of what all my training over the next 8 weeks is for!

It's the start of something new...

So after my 10 hour flight I have safely arrive at the IOC (Mercy Ships International Operations Centre) in Texas. I am really thankful for travelling mercies, I was sat with two very friendly people on the plane who made the whole journey so much more pleasant, although we were all disappointed that the ground was soaking wet when we landed and it proceeded to rain for nearly all of the two hour drive from the airport to the IOC. I had also forgotten how many fast food restaurants they have out here, and am desperately hoping I won't have to eat too much of it! (Oh and Natalie, I saw the sweet shop in the airport! Not so keen on the fact I saw Stephanie's liquor shop on the drive across to the centre).  

I am now unpacked in the room that will be home the next five weeks, and although I woke up around 4am here, I managed to stay in bed until 6 (and I had held off going to bed until 9pm local time last night) so hopefully the jet lag will all be gone by next week. Going to church later on today which will be good and I'll hopefully get to explore the centre a bit more and find out where everything is. I've currently met four people who will be doing the same course as me which is really nice and makes me feel a lot less on my own. Plus at least two of them are going onto the ship the same day as me so will be catching the same flight from Paris to Benin I expect which is great. Anyway I will hopefully keep you posted about my training using the blog over the next five weeks!