Hello, friends!
So much has happened since my last Blog when we left Benin and now since arriving in Cameroon already five weeks ago.
Instead of writing a whole lot and letting you read all of it, I thought it would be nice to leave you with some pictures of these last three months of my life. So here goes!
We departed Cotonou, Benin on June 3rd and made our way to Shipyard in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. The ship undergoes important maintenance and repair works in this time and wouldn’t be able to function properly without this annual shipyard period. The journey took us roundabouts two weeks, we had mostly very smooth seas and lots of water and horizon views, with flying fish, sharks, dolphins, turtles and other sea creatures accompanying us on our journey.
Part of the Shipyard time is drydock – which means that the ship is actually lifted out of the water and important works can be done on the hull and other parts of the ship that wouldn’t be possible if she is afloat. Taking the Africa Mercy out of the water (which happens every other year) means however that the entire Air Conditioning and Ventilation system has to be shut down, since the cooling is provided with sea water. It was HOT!
During Shipyard my ship home looks, smells and feels very differently than usual – it is a noisy, dirty and partly quite dangerous environment, because you are constantly moving about a big construction zone inside and outside of the ship. So wearing closed toe shoes and hard hats was daily business when moving about in the shipyard.
Ruben had an especially busy and intense time, since shipyard is that time of the year where the Engineering and Deck departments have the most work to do. I was also working a lot during this time (even though the Hospital was closed) since I was assigned to some special projects.
These tasks included preparing the department for the implementation of a new supply and medication dispensing (and tracking) system called OMNICELL, working together with the shipyard project teams and coordinating their different jobs within the ORs, updating pre-arrival paperwork for crew of the Anesthesia department and writing departmental guidelines to help new crew adapt to the new working environment faster and easier, and helping out in other departments here and there.
I even got to join the screening team for a couple of days and assisted with writing letters to patients that had already been accepted for treatment in Cameroon – that was exciting! Plus I got to (theoretically) put my Paramedic skills to work because I got to be part of the Emergency Medical Team during the sails and shipyard phase and was filling in for the Crew nurse on a couple occasions – luckily my skills weren’t needed 🙂
But to keep my skills fresh, I was granted the privilege to participate in a four-day training in BLS (Basic life support) , ACLS (Advanced cardiac life support), and PALS (pediatric advanced life support) which was very challenging but very beneficial – and … I passed!
In our free time we explored the island of Gran Canaria as much as possible, which was a great opportunity to spend some time with friends! And one weekend Ruben and I rented two motorcycles and went on a tour with the awesome Ondrej!
Check out his website HERE if you’re planning to go to Gran Canaria. He knows all the insider tips and will even help with flights and accommodation!
Because we were so close to home, I decided to travel to Germany for two weeks to catch up with some friends and even visit family! My travels first took me to a place near Hannover, where I met with my Mom who lives in Canada but happened to be in Germany at that time to visit family. So my first stop led me to the Steinhuder Meer.
After that I visited my friends in Murg, which is very close to Lörrach and the Swiss boarder. It is always a huge blessing and joy to spend quality time with my friends as they are really more family to me than friends. They have a big house and alongside their four cats and German Sheperds they now also have chicken! It was fantastic to travel through Germany with a Flixbus and then just have some time to breathe before I picked up Ruben from the airport to spend the next week together with him and show him a bit of beautiful Switzerland. I had promised him a swim in a mountain lake, but the July weather was cool and rainy, so we postponed that to our next visit 🙂
We had little time to meet with a lot of people, but we managed to see a few friends and also were also invited to have a coffee with the awesome “Bethesda sisters” (that’s how I lovingly call them, they are nuns that I met through my work in Switzerland in the Bethesda hospital in Basel) who support me. It was a privilege and also a lot of fun to share our work on the ship (I am really bummed I didn’t take a selfie with them)!
So if I didn’t manage to see you this time, I would love to meet with you next time I’m around, just let me know!
After two weeks (one week for Ruben) we went back home to finish up shipyard, clean up the ship and set sail to Cameroon. I had the privilege to work with the OMNICELL team again that was onboard during that time and I am excited to be working with them in the future (there is a lot of exciting things happening, but I will save that update for another time).
On the sail from Las Palmas to Cameroon we came across a pod of dolphins, and a colleague of mine captured this video:
During the sail we also crossed the Point of 0° longitude and 0° latitude. When a seafarer crosses this point, he has to go through a ceremony in which he can inherit the status of a “ROYAL DIAMOND SHELLBACK”. Of course we didn’t let that opportunity pass and got our certificates 🙂 Unfortunately, the details of thus ceremony are a well-kept secret, so I cannot share any details ….
After thirteen days and nights of sailing, we arrived in Cameroon and were greeted by our lovely Advance team and some of our preselected day crew.
Since our arrival, a lot has happened. A team that was in Country before us to set up had already prepared our dockspace and sites like the Hope Center, so we could get started with our part of the setup right away.
Vehicles were unloaded, ORs unstrapped, unpacked and cleaned, and the whole ship was turned back into a fully functioning hospital ship.
Three weeks after our arrival in Douala, we had our first surgery! It sounds like a long time, but we just got finished in time with setting up and cleaning :).
But before that, all crew had the opportunity to get a look behind the scenes for our Open Hospital night! Inject an orange, dress up like a surgeon, intubate a patient, partake in the amazing sterilizing race and care for a patient on the ward were only a couple of the offered activities of that night. It was fun!
And now, two weeks after our first surgery, we are already in full swing. It is exciting to have our first patients on the ward, and we kicked the field service off with one of my favorite specialties – Ortho!
It is still shocking for me to see the needs of the people here in Westafrica and some of the kids I have met from Cameroon are marked with deformities I have never seen in my life. It is risky to perform surgeries on the children with such immense deformities – and our team is well aware of this.
So every day we lean heavily on God and pray multiple times before, during and after these complicated surgeries for wisdom and guidance for our team.
We pray that healing would come – for the hearts and bones of our patients, for lives to be touched and changed. For God’s love to be poured out to our patients and their families and anyone we encounter, that we may be His empty vessels to fill.
I am praying that we can leave an impact in Cameroon through our work. And as our Chief medical officer and long term MaxFax surgeon Dr. Gary always says – “You cannot change the whole world. But you can change the whole world for a single person.”
So, here’s to a new day, a new field service, in a country that Mercy Ships has never visited – may our time in Cameroon be fruitful and a blessing to many!
I am happy to hear from you! Let me know if you have any questions in the comments (like “what is an Advance team?” or what does “day crew” mean”? And let me know if there’s anything you would like to read about (like “how does it feel living in a country where rainy season is said to be 8-10 months?”) 🙂
Much love from the Africa Mercy, be blessed!
Silke
