Merry Christmas from South Africa

Happy Christmas everyone!

I hope you all have had a wonderful and restful day, and have had the opportunity to really dwell on the wonder and significance of Christmas, when God humbled himself so that he could come and experience life with us, such that he can completely emphasize with the human condition.  And through his life, and subsequent death and resurrection he has achieved for us something we could never ever achieve for ourselves, something far greater and more spectacular than we could ever imagine.  Through Christ we can have eternal life and relationship with God our creator, and I am so excited.

May your Christmas be blessed.

With love and prayers

Stephanie

Game drive/Cat sanctuary/River tour

I feel that being in South Africa is a real blessing, it is wonderful to be able to see somewhere different and to visit other places.  So the first weekend in December I joined some other Mercy Shippers to go on a game drive in one of South Africa's many game reserves in Hluhluwe.

Afterwards we went to EMDONENI Cat sanctuary where we got to watch the cats being fed and got to stroke a cheetah (unfortunately the pictures are on my friends camera...but below is my friend!)

And then after staying the night in a round house we went on a river boat tour in St Lucia and saw hippos and crocodiles.

Come join me! Short term opportunities

Mercy Ships is in South Africa gearing up for our 2011 Field Service in Sierra Leone, and we need your help!

Our state-of-the-art hospital ship, the Africa Mercy, has sailed out of dry-dock. Teams are now hard at work completing the new generator installation. The long-term crew is eager to move back “home” and sail onto Sierra Leone for a life-changing field service.

We have a very unique opportunity for you—a short-term service in South Africa!  From January 8-28 we are in need of individuals ready for a physically challenging—yet highly rewarding—task. You will help us relocate the crew back on the ship, and prepare the ship for the upcoming Field Service. After two weeks of groundwork, you will get to sail for 1 week on the Africa Mercy around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa!

Can you think of a better way to kick off the new year than a three-week service trip to South Africa—and visiting one of the most beautiful countries in the world?

You would need to supply your own travel arrangements and a $200 Mercy Teams fee. Act now because spots will fill up fast for this once in a lifetime experience! Call or email Mercy Teams at (903) 939.7111 or mercyteams@mercyships.org.

I'm in the press!

Imagine my surprise when an old classmate from my lower school contacts me about Mercy Ships asking to write a piece about me - well here it is straight from my local newspaper!

http://www.thecomet.net/news/stotfold_woman_makes_a_difference_in_africa_1_704005

August - October: Togo - UK - South Africa!

Saturday sees me returning to the Africa Mercy, well nearly, but I will explain that later in the post.  First I will update you on what I have been doing over the last few months.  I went on vacation from Mercy Ships in August followed by a Leave of Absence to allow me to do some engineering training.  Whilst at home I was privileged to be able to witness three weddings, two as chief bridesmaid.  I've also managed to spend time with my parents and sister, including a mini-adventure to Brussels to celebrate her 21st, and then I have been able to spend time feeding back to some of my sponsors and showing them some pictures from my first year with Mercy Ships.  Alongside this I have also done some training with The Royal Academy of Engineering.  All in all it has been a wonderful time to spend with some of the people who have made my time with Mercy Ships possible, and to also have some necessary time to recover from working a little too hard before I left!

Back when I left the ship it was still in Togo, however, soon after they cast off and sailed away... to South Africa.  South Africa is not a normal destination for the Africa Mercy who concentrates on serving the people of West Africa, but then we are not there in our normal capacity.  In fact things are very different to 'normal'.  Like the crew normally don't live on land on the whole, however, when I go back I will start off living at Appelsbosch in the Kwazulu-Natal region (a 90 minute drive from the ship), along with around 150 other crew who are still around.  (I will blog about Appelsbosch once I am there.)  So why are we living in the middle of nowhere away from the ship?  Well the main reason is to do with the big hole the ship currently has in its side at the moment.  You might think that is not a good thing for a ship, and if the ship is in water you are right, it does tend to make them fill with water and sink I mean look at Titanic.  But fear not, all is ok because they took the ship out of the water before cutting this big hole, in fact she is currently sitting on blocks in a dry dock in Durban.  But why do you decide to cut a big hole in the side of a ship when big holes cause them to sink?  Well because broken generators don't provide consistent power, and faulty air-conditioning ducts leak, and neither are conducive to successful operations or calm surgeons!  So we have a big hole in our side to remove the old generators, which not only don't work well but are also really noisy, and to replace them with some nice new quiet ones.  It's all quite exciting really.  It's a major upgrade to the ship that will hopefully enable us to serve many more nations and will relieve some of the ever increasing difficulties we have had in the last few years, and particularly whilst we were in Togo.

But what are the non-ship crew doing if the ship is in dry dock and there are no operations? (The deckies and engineers who keep the ship running are helping get it all fixed back up.)  Well the school is still running so the teachers are still teaching, and we still need feeding so we still have people cooking and HR still needs to plan for the next outreach just like normal, but the hospital staff aren't in the hospital.  Some are taking the opportunity to do some further training to develop their skills and the others are helping with policies and procedures because we are starting to work towards getting the hospital accredited.  Now I'm not exactly sure what the accreditation will mean - maybe just to prove we reach a certain standard and to encourage continued work towards excellence... but either way I think the time not running as a hospital, but hopefully assessing and developing our infrastructure, will help us to be more efficient and effective in how we deliver our services ultimately meaning we will be able to reach more people.  Now that can't be bad!

So on Saturday I head back to Africa... and the next stage of my journey begins!
Please come back and share the ride with me :-)

Finally some pictures from my time at home - just in case you are interested!

 Neal and Jacqui Kennedy's wedding (7th August - 3 days after I arrived back in the country!)

 Center Parcs with my family

 Brussels with my sister

Jonny and Katrina Lee (28th August)

Disclaimer: There are many more special memories which don't have pictures to document them these just cover a few things in August.  A big thank you to everyone who made my time in the UK wonderful!

Mercy Ministries - CHU Tokein Hospital

Over the course of my time in Togo I have also been visiting the paediatric surgical wards of a local hospital once a fortnight.  CHU Tokein is the university hospital, it is the largest hospital in Togo, and offers care to those who can afford to pay the fees.  (This is normally the case with African healthcare - there is not normally a governmental free healthcare system).  The three wards we visit have around 12 beds each for paediatric patients, who are there for a variety of different treatments from burn victims, to zimi (motorbike taxi) accidents, to falling out of trees, to encephalitis, to tiny new babies.  Some look rather healthy, others looked close to death being severely underweight and obviously very sick. 

For some this is a difficult place to come visit, the level of care here is much lower than in a developing nation.  Some weeks we would not see any hospital personnel on the wards at all, occasionally you would see a nurse, but never more than this.  Admittedly we were visiting in the evening, however, this was over a two hour period, in a place where some of the children were incredibly ill.  The wards were generally just rooms with beds, much like a dormitory.  For those with broken legs they were often splinted and in tension over a pulley at the end of the bed with weights at the end, and I saw maybe three drips in all the times I visited.  There wasn't any monitoring equipment or blankets and food is not provided, you have to go and buy your food and bring it in.  I can understand why people find this distressing, but for me we visited for a reason.  Not to alleviate this obvious suffering and lack of resources, but to bring some distraction from the surroundings, some love and some fun.  We can't fix the worlds problems, in fact we can't fix the problems of the small group of people we met at the hospital, but we could demonstrate love and bring them hope, the rest we leave to God.

At the hospital we would sometimes do a story, getting the mums and siblings to help us act it out, and we would play.  I can remember the joy of Floron and Sabine as I spent nearly an hour jumping around batting balloons about with them.  This was nothing difficult, but in comparison to the mundane day to day life in the hospital it was something special for them, and after being in the hospital for a few months already anything different was nice.  We blew bubbles, coloured, played games, and made them laugh as we attempted to dance African!  And the effect this had on uplifting the children and the families was obvious.  Even our partners, the Assemblies of God church, who were originally somewhat bemused by our antics and concerned that this was not the way to minister to these people, gradually saw how much joy this brought the children.  And eventually we came to an understanding of how we had been blessed with the opportunity to reach out to the children in this way and how they had the gift of the language to speak to the families and minister to them this way, a wonderful combination.

As the weeks went on, I had more and more opportunities to speak to the families, particularly as we built up relationships with them.  Sometimes Emmanuel, our Mercy Ministries translator, would translate for me, sometimes I just made myself understood with my limited French and their limited English.  And ultimately the gift of prayer transcends all languages - to know that I was praying for their child, even if they could not understand everything I said, brought comfort.

And for me it was an incredible blessing to experience the love within some of these families.  In a culture where the disabled are shunned and illness is often believed to be the result of curses, to see parents who look down on their child in their arms with complete and utter love for them, and a child who looks up obviously knowing their loving parents was a joy.  To see such unconditional love in desperate circumstances speaks volumes and always uplifts my spirit.

On the whole we did not take photos at the hospital.  A place where people are ever changing and are sick is not the place to take photos, however, on our final week there we did get a photo outside the hospital and with a patient who had been on the wards for the whole time we had been visiting.  Floron had been on the ward for over a year, but had been moved to an outpatient 'dormitory' on the last week that we visited.  At the start he had been naked on the bed, with huge sores on his legs which were not healing.  The doctors did not know what had caused them, nor how to adequately treat it.  However, over our last few visits he had been up and about (although he did still struggle to walk after so long in bed) and had clothes on and generally looked hugely better.

Goodbye CHU Tokein Hospital and those who we worked with from Assemblies of God church.

Final Avenir Enface - Mercy Ministries

On Saturday 17th July I went to Avenir Enface for the final time.  Throughout my time in Togo I have been visiting Avenir as part of my Mercy Ministries responsibilities.  Avenir Enface is a day centre for orphans and half orphans.  Benjamin set up the centre after he was seriously injured in a vicious attack.  Fighting for his life, and spending around 8 months in hospital he started to re-evaluate the direction his life was going.  In all fairness prior to the attack his life wasn't that bad, he had a good job and was married to a lovely lady, but with all the months in hospital he contemplated what the purpose of his life was.  Over the course of that time he became a Christian, and decided that he wanted to do something different.  He saw so much need around him and wanted to reach out and serve his country.

A specific need he saw was the orphans and half orphans near where he lived.  These children have lost one or both of their parents and now live with their extended family or family friends.  These people caring for these children are not necessarily Christian, in fact far more are not than are, and some of the children are not treated very well.  Benjamin has them to his centre at the weekend to provide respite for the careers and for the children by giving them some space from each other.  He does some teaching and fun activities and games with them.  In September he will take on 16 of the children as he has recently got a new dormitory wing finished at the centre to allow it to become a functioning orphanage.

We have been supporting Benjamin and running sessions on a Saturday morning.  We would go and do a mixture of singing and dancing, a story and craft, and some free play with Jenga, memory (pairs), nail painting and friendship bracelet making, balls and skipping ropes, among other things.  Some of the big challenges of going to Avenir was the apathy of many of the children.  Coming from difficult homes, some having not eaten they found it very difficult to switch off and enjoy the time spent at Avenir.  This made it really challenging to get them involved and engaged without forcing them, and took a lot of tender love.  Another challenge was the fact that the group of children we saw was not consistent making it difficult to build good relationships.  Despite these challenges it was good to spend time there, and I believe it was beneficial to the children we shared with.

For our final session at Avenir we went through the story in John 2:1-12 where Jesus performs his first recorded miracle, as we did at the Youth Detention Centre previously.  This is a lovely story to end on because it is a big celebration.  We got dressed up with flower garlands, and decorated the room, we danced and celebrated and went through the story.  Admittedly things did not run completely to plan, as is often the case in Africa!  Half way through we were quietening the children down ready to do the story, when in walks a local camera crew who wish to film the children singing and dancing etc.  So they get them all riled up again and spend half and hour taking video footage of the children until they are satisfied that they have captured what they need and we are allowed to continue the story!  Thankfully it wasn't too disruptive (it wasn't in the middle of the story), however, it did make it a bit of a rush to get everything finished so that we got back to the ship on time, but all worked ok.

Good bye Avenir Enface!

Just another day

I wish I was allowed a camera in the hospital today, there was a picture I would have loved to have captured.  It wasn't anything special or incredible, but it was something that just showed some of what I see every day in a way that captured it well.  I was walking along the port side corridor in the hospital (this is the side where all the wards are rather than the starboard side where the operating rooms are).  In the background I could hear songs and music, African songs full of praise and energy.  As I looked down the corridor I could see the electricians, a Texan and a Geordie chatting next to an entrance down into engineering in the middle of the ship, and past them I could see George, one of my translator friends and the recovery room staff wheeling a blue trolley with a patient coming out of surgery.  I guess for many that image doesn't have much significance, but for me it symbolised the mix of what I see and do in the hospital.  I pass the patients in the corridor, and will say hello, but I don't work with them.  I don't have have the contact that the nurses do, or the insight into their problems that the surgeons do.  I work with the equipment, generally away from the patients, just like the majority of the other people on the ship.  But I do get to see the patients every day, just a little and catch a tiny glimpse into why we are here.

Ghana

*DISCLAIMER* this is a really long post, I sort of apologise, but really if you don't want to read it all, just scroll down and have a look at the photos!

The first weekend in May I took the opportunity to go to Ghana.  The Ghanian border is only about a 20 minute drive from the ship, and many of the crew have been to visit at weekends and ship holidays.  So at 17:30 on Friday 30th March we disembarked the ship and headed to Ghana.  We got across the border smoothly and found our taxi driver (who we had phoned to book during the week) easily.  The taxi had been used by another Mercy Ships group over Easter, and was very nice by African standards, we all had our own seats and there was space for our bags!  So at 19:00 we started our journey up north along the border to Wli Waterfalls.  Shall we say the journey took a little longer than expected, or more accurately 2 hours longer than the 3 we were expecting (although in hindsight I think three was over ambitious anyway).  We travelled along the roads stopping at many customs checkpoints where men in military style uniforms shone torchlight on the windscreen and looked in the footwells and the boot and then proceeded to wave us on our way.  We picked up a couple of men, and dropped them off and then picked up another three men, who piled on top of each other in the front two passenger seats.  We dropped them off and then eventually arrived at our hotel at midnight, pulling ourselves out of the car to the sounds of loud singing and drumming as a funeral celebration progressed in the village.  We grabbed our bags, paid the driver and got ourselves into the rooms and into bed, and attempted to sleep despite the noise and heat.

Very early the next morning we were awoken by cockerels!  After trying to sleep for a few more hours, we emerged from our beds and made our way out for breakfast.  Excited at seeing porridge on the menu, we waited for our breakfast to arrive and enquired about the guide we wished to use to take us to the falls.  The manager of the hotel was very helpful and sent one of her staff off into the village to find our guide!  (He doesn't have a mobile, you just go find him.)  In the meantime our breakfast arrived, however, unfortunately my porridge was rather salty and burnt, and even with honey to try to hide the taste it wasn't so palatable, but never mind.  We stocked up on water and headed to the village centre (a few little wooden stalls) and the entrance to the waterfall area (which was a table with a couple of men sat behind!) to find our guide.  We paid our entrance fee and we were off on our adventure.

Unfortunately on the journey up to the hotel I had become rather dehydrated, partly due to my water bottle being under my bag on the floor and partly due to the desire to avoid the inconvenience of needing the toilet on a long journey at night in Africa, and in my infinite wisdom had not thought that it would have been a good idea to drink more overnight to replenish and re-hydrate myself.  Hence within half and hour of setting off I was starting to find things hard.  About an hour in, the incline had got rather steep, it was rather hot and despite drinking nearly a litre of isotonic gatorade I was feeling terrible.  The views were incredible, but all I wanted to do each time we stopped was crumple into a heap.  The fluid I had drunk was starting to make me feel sick and the prospect of spending another 5 hours hiking was looking distinctly unappealing, yet I did not want to let the others down or spoil the trip by turning back.  In my mind I cried out to God, 'I can't do this, you have to get my through, you need to give me the strength to keep going'.

A little bit later we stopped and again I crumbled into a heap in the tiny patch of shade behind a tiny tree.  I was feeling light-headed and weary, and rather sick.  I didn't know how I was going to find the strength to even get up let alone carry on.  I could barely hold a train of thoughts and literally was sat with my bag still on my back, leaning backwards up the hill and staring into space.  Then it just occurred to me, clear as anything, that I needed to eat a little alongside drinking.  So I somehow mustered the strength to pull my bag around and pull out a peanut butter and jam (yes being around this many americans is having an effect on me!) cheese roll I had made the previous day.  I felt so bad that it took me about two minutes to chew and swallow a small bite and I only managed to eat three bites, but it was enough.  Over the course of the next little stretch the sick feeling I had had deep in the pit of my stomach that had gradually been working it's way up to my mouth started to disappear, and I felt able to talk to people.  When we got to the next stop, I ate a few more bites of my roll, and really started to enjoy the incredible views out across Ghana.  Out in front of us was a steep drop down to a plain which seemed to stretch for miles with a thick covering of lush green plants.  We kept going up and up, and then rounded the corner to an incredible view across from the waterfalls.  It was beautiful, but we still had quite a way to go. 

As we neared the upper falls we had to cut through a wooded area.  We scrambled up and down a thin path, over and under fallen branches, holding onto vines as we slid down.  I could hear the waterfall, it sounded so close, yet the vegetation around me was so dense I just could not see it.  I got to the end of the first section of the path and was sent on my way along the last section down to the waterfall.  I knew it was close and started to move faster, until I realised I was on my own.  It was the first moment on my own in a long time.  So I paused to savour the moment, and in doing so noticed the beautiful red flowers which just managed to push themselves out by the path, and the unusual butterflies with long tail like protrusions at the bottom of their wings.  Eventually I rounded the corner and I was there.  The waterfall was right before me crashing down into the pool. 

After spending a little time eating, and swimming and relaxing, we started the hour hike down to the lower falls.  The first part was horrible.  The glorious downhill stretch we had to the upper falls was now a strenuous uphill climb until our path split off from that we had used to the upper falls, where it started to go downhill again.  Some of the drops were steep, and the drop to the side of the path was even steeper.  We clambered down, clinging to vines and branches along the path.  At one point we came up to a couple of tree trunks.  The first I climbed over, and then stood in between the two to tell the people behind me where the 'hand holes' were, and then proceeded to slip right under the other one knocking my head in the process.  I wasn't hurt at all, just in slight hysterics at having just disappeared under the tree.

The further we went down the track the more we separated into smaller groups.  Lindsay (who is my wonderful bunk mate) and I made our way down the now more level path, exploring the hut in the thick of the vegetation as we went.  After a while we decided to stop for a few minutes for a drink.  After being there a minute we heard this great noise as what looked like a flock of birds took off from the lower falls, but as we peered through the perfect gap in the trees above us we saw a colony of bats, who live hanging onto the rocks around the lower falls, taking off for the evening.  After marvelling at the wonderful view of these bats we continued on towards the falls, until we eventually emerged from the track, and found the hoards of people at the lower falls, it was a public holiday in Ghana and many people had taken the opportunity to visit the falls.  We stopped at the entrance to the lower falls, not having the energy to battle through the people and waited for the rest of our group.  Once we were reunited we made our way back gradually to the hotel and had a shower ready for dinner. 

After a relaxing dinner and celebration of Alana and Naomi's birthdays (with candles!!! big excitement when you can't have them on the ship even if I can't remember the last time I actually had candles for my birthday!) we turned in for an early night all fairly exhausted from the lack of sleep and the long hike.  The next morning we headed back down to view the lower falls which were beautiful, and so much more serene without the crowds of people.  After a spot of lunch our taxi driver arrived and we headed back home, arriving back just in time for dinner and a shower.

All in all it was an incredible weekend and a real blessing.

(Credits for the following photos go to Alana, Linda, Naomi, Miriam, Hannah, Tatiana, and Lindsay with one of mine for good measure, thanks girls for an awesome weekend)

The group with our ride in the background

The windscreen of our ride! (Typical of Africa - autoglass does not exist here)

Our hotel

Our hotel

To the waterfalls we go

We hike

We pose

We walk

We do strange things....?

We climb

Obligatory group shot in front of the waterfall

We enjoy the scenery

And the waterfalls

And the waterfalls a bit more

And we arrive at the upper waterfalls and swim (well wade and splash)

And we see the lower falls

Mercy Ministries - Brigade Mineur (Youth Detention Centre)

One of the Mercy Ministry places that I co-ordinate and lead are the visits to the Youth Detention Centre in Lomé.  This centre houses mainly boys (although there are a few girls there also) aged between 14-17 who have gotten in trouble with the law.  Some of their offenses include stealing, damage to property and inappropriate behaviour towards female workers in their parents house.  They are housed at the centre for anywhere between 1-12 months and have to have a hearing with the judge and pay a fine before they can be freed. 

The Youth Detention Centre is not the most pleasant place, however, it is far nicer than many African prisons.    The cells are about 2-2.5m by 3m and have two concrete blocks, approximately each the size of a single bed in.  Each cell houses between 4-6 kids, sometimes more if they have a particularly high number in the centre.  They normally get fed three basic meals a day, and they have classes during the week, however, at the weekend and public holidays they are locked in the cells.  The main room is fairly small and dark owing to the fact that less than half a metre from the wall and windows is a high wall that blocks most of the light, but exciting things happen in that depressive room

At 7am on a Monday morning I meet with the group and we head out to Brigade Mineur.  Whilst we are there we do a Biblical story, often getting them involved in acting out the story as we tell it, and then we have a thought or discussion relating to that story and then a craft.  Afterwards we have time for free play with blow up beach balls, Jenga, pairs, chequers, nail polish and friendship bracelets.

Brigade Mineur is my favourite way to start the week.  It can be a challenge to keep them focussed, particularly when the tv won’t switch off and is blaring out from beneath a cover but we have had some incredible opportunities to discuss with them and really share what God means to us and how they can also have a relationship with him if they want.  Some are not interested, and that is ok, but others have really shown interest and in what we have to say.  Who knows what the future will hold for these kids, but hopefully we can show them that there is a hope, and there is something more than what they know.  I can’t begin to describe how much fun I have here and how much I enjoy my time spent with this group of kids.

The pictures below are from when we did the story of Jesus turning the water into wine at the wedding (see John 2:1-12.  We had great fun getting dressed up and decorating the room to recreate the atmosphere of the wedding.  We had cake and dancing, like you would at a celebration and acted out the story.  At the end we discussed and thought about the implications of Jesus turning the water into wine and what that told us about him, and we also thought about Mary and how she reacted, and her faith in Jesus and his ability. 

 We made necklaces and garlands and flowers

Our 'Love is...' craft from a previous week

Decorating the room ready for the celebration

Before the story

Being given flowers before the wedding (I was the bride)

At the wedding

Dancing!

And music and celebration

Acting out the rest of the story.