Day 5 - September 30

What a day! Before lunch I helped screen about 200 people for dental care and observed three surgeries!

Every Monday and Thursday, Mercy Ships screens the locals for dental care. And by dental care I mean mainly extractions. They have a team of dentist that work in a building near the ship Monday - Friday. On Mondays and Thursdays, they screen people that need immediate care and treat them that day. For the others, they hand out appointment wrist bands and they treat them on the other days. The process is really pretty cool but really sad too as so many people have to be turned away that really need care.

The way it works is the men line up on one side and the women on the other. The children get their own line behind the women. This is all done outside. Today it was super hot. At 9:00 two screeners came out. They are not dentist - just trained to look at teeth. They screen the children first and treat all that need care. After that they each have 20 appointment cards for the day and 20 appointment wrist bands for the other days. My mom and I walked the line with Jenny, one of the screeners, for security reasons. Apparently the crowds have really gotten out of control in the past and we were there to help get Jenny back to the compound if the situation went awry. Ok - you can all stop laughing now. I realize my mom and I are not exactly the two most intimidating people in the world. 

Back to my story...

Jenny took half the men and half the women. She walked down the line the first time looking for obvious swelling. Anyone with swelling gets a card for immediate treatment. Some try and fake it but she knows better. After that, she re-walked the line and each person opened their mouth and she looked inside. Being that the crowd was quite gentile and not the least bit out of control, mom and I took the opportunity to take a look with her. (Jodie - I know how you feel about teeth - look away now). Keep in mind, this is all happening right in the middle of a hot muddy field in front of 200 people. The majority of the people had teeth that those of us in the states would consider in desperate need of attention. Many were missing teeth, had rotted teeth, broken teeth, black teeth, 2 teeth total, pretty much an array of decay. It was very sad (I know I say that a lot but it is). Jenny could only take the really bad ones and the rest were sent home to try again Thursday. Some have been coming back for months and still aren't urgent enough to warrant treatment. Several people Jenny sent in for treatment would need their remaining teeth pulled and she told them they had no replacements (Mercy Ships had 500 sets of dentures to start but is already out). They agreed to have all their teeth pulled, even knowing that. I asked her if they would go get dentures elsewhere and she said they probably wouldn't because they are very expensive.

Besides checking out teeth, I was in charge of putting the wrist bands on the people Jenny designated for later appointments. As I walked up and down the lines with her, I held them in my hand. I may as well have been holding bags of money or gold bars. I heard many of them murmur about the wrist bands and I could tell they were watching my every move. It was a little unsettling but I wasn't too worried as the people of SL aren't violent. Just desperate. My mom had to mark an X over the wrist band (where the sticky part is) to make sure they don't try and remove it and give it to someone else. This was a huge problem in the past. When Mercy Ships first arrived, they treated people on a first come/first serve basis with the dental clinic. The locals started camping out for spots in the line and they would sell their spots. They were also selling their appointment wristbands. How tragic that someone that desperately needs dental care needs the money more and is willing to let their teeth rot to get it.

After everything was handed out, everyone else was sent home and we went inside the clinic. Those that are being treated that day have to sit and wait until they are called. Sometimes that is all day. While waiting, a volunteer teaches them proper dental care and diet. Part of the reason their teeth are so bad (besides lack of dental care and proper oral hygiene) is their diet. They eat very surgery and processed foods and chew a lot of surgery gum and hard candy. They also smoke a lot. Jenny told us some people would show up with soda in their baby's bottle. 

The area where they treat the patients is a big room with 4 or so dental chairs. Each dentist has two assistants. There was also a hygienist. In the middle of the room is a huge table full of sterilized dental tools. It is a pretty nice operation.  I really enjoyed seeing it and it is super cool that Mercy Ships does this. It was one of my favorite parts of the day.

Next it was off to observe surgeries. Mercy Ships is kind enough to allow us in the operating rooms as long as we don't touch anything (duh). My first surgery was a 4 year old with an encephalocele excision. Basically it was a large growth between his eyes on his forehead that CSF was leaking into. It was very disfiguring, caused the little boy to be terribly cross eyed, and let's face it, CSF should not be leaking into the face, so I am sure he had a host of other problems as well. Poor little guy! When I arrived they were half-way through excising it. I am not real keen on the whole surgery thing (especially not 2 feet from me) so although it was super cool, it also made me queasy. I actually was more interested in the anesthesiologist. During the surgery, his blood pressure and heart rate started climbing. The anesthesiologist injected something into his IV and his heart rate and blood pressure immediately went down. I asked what was injected and it was morphine. Apparently you can still 'feel' pain even though you aren't consciously feeling it. It is a sympathetic reflex in the basal part of the brain. I am sure I learned this at some point but totally forgot it and it was super cool to see in action. So, the little guy didn't know he was in pain, but his brain did. Go brain!!

Next up was a salivary gland tumor (which actually turned out to be just a really clogged and swollen gland). When I got there, they had the 'tumor' fully exposed and were checking his nerve reflexes. They needed to be sure they didn't cut the nerves or he risked hearing loss and/or facial paralysis. The OR nurse was super cool and was pointing everything out. She motioned to some really gross looking thing on the tray and pointed out the lipoma they had just removed. I could have lived my whole life without seeing this guy's 'ball of fat' (as she put it) and I especially could have lived without her graphic description of, "it just pops right out - it is in its own capsule." Ick. I appreciated her willingness to describe everything and she didn't know I was all queasy about these kinds of things, so I don't fault her. My mom would have loved the ball of fat talk. She couldn't get enough of the blood and gore in the OR's. She would have stayed there all day had they let her.

Finally - cataract removal. I didn't think I would like this one because I am especially queasy about eye procedures, but this was actually my favorite. The procedure was up on a monitor with it really zoomed in on the lens, so it didn't really look like an eye up there - just a large circle. The doctor inserted all sorts of needles and blades and things (yes, I know, my medical terminology is impressive) to excise the cataract. It took about 10 minutes to get to that point. When the cataract was loose, he used what looked like an inoculating loop to remove it. He then cleaned out the area and installed (I am sure that too is the medical term) a permanent lens. He then pulled the  skin back over the incision and cauterized the tissue in the corners and was done. Whole thing took about 20 minutes. It was super cool. Shortly after they pulled the cataract out, the nurse brought it over for me to see. Talk about queasy! It looked like a small round tablet of wax. And then she started stabbing it so I could see how thick it was (typing this is making me gag). Then the other nurse brought over a vial of all of the cataracts they have removed. As I feigned interest, I was trying not to visibly gag.

Looking at a vial of removed cataracts - check. One more off the bucket list...:)

While the doctor was working on the cataract, they prepared the other patient by inserting a very long needle into the skin under his eye. The syringe was full of liquid and it took her about a minute to push it all in. The guy didn't flinch. I would have been freaking out seeing a needle that big coming towards my eye! I did ask one of the other surgical nurses about the demeanor of the Sierra Leone people in the OR and she said they are very stoic. They do not say much and rarely express fear. I am sure a whole bunch of white people doing medical procedures in a hospital inside a ship is a bit foreign and unnerving to them!

The most amazing part of the surgeries is they are all being  performed on a ship that rocks back and forth every 8 seconds!

I asked one of the surgical nurses what they did with the biohazard waste. They have an incinerator on board and burn the biohazard material on the ship. Initially they were throwing away drapes, used IV bags, etc. However, one day, one of the volunteers went to the slums and saw one of the locals selling a pile of used drapes. Blood and all. Now they cut the bloody areas out first and incinerate those pieces and throw the rest away. They also now have to incinerate all needles, medicine bottles, IV bags, etc., because the locals dig them out of the trash and resell them, just like the drapes. With the medicine bottles, they will put whatever in them and try to pass it off as the medicine on the labels. With the IV bags, they refill them with water and sell them as the labeled solution. The desperation in acts like that is not even comprehensible to me...

Morgan worked with OT today and worked with the burn victims. Many had been burned in the war and their injuries healed with massive scar tissue that limits their mobility. Arms that can't extend out, feet that are permanently turned upward, fingers curled up into a fist. All needed surgery to excise the scar tissue, replace the skin with graphs, and then PT to get motion in the appendages. It is very painful for the patients and Morgan said they screamed in agony during the sessions. Although painful to watch, Morgan was very inspired by their plights and it reaffirmed her decision to go into OT (I originally said PT when talking about Morgan, but it is OT). Morgan watched a skin graph surgery and I have pictures of the graph to post (so icky).

Dr. Stuart wanted me to let you all know the shunt arrived today (29th) via Laura from Virginia. As I am typing this on the 30th, I am happy to report the surgery was a success and the nine month old with hydrocephalus has his new shunt! Dr. Stuart was able to get it donated. That's like a $5k donation. Super cool. The shunt has a synthetic ruby in the top of it to keep it from getting clogged at the top. Near the bottom are slit valves coated in graphite, because graphite doesn't allow anything to stick to it. So, if the bottom gets clogged, the slits open and the CSF can continue to drain.

The evening ended with the community meeting which is pretty much a church service. The first speaker was talking about an organization she discovered in Sierra Leone. It provides training and computer classes for the locals. In particular, the organization is working with 80 women who were abused during the civil war. They were raped, forced into marriages, and were subjected to human trafficking. They are training them to sew and cook in European and African styles so they may work in a restaurant or open their own. The men take computer classes. I was so encouraged to see an organization that is actually addressing the real problems here. They so desperately need education and training and jobs. They took an offering for the organization to which I gladly gave. We got ice cream after the meeting! The first dessert we have had (they do not serve dessert with meals onboard the ship) since we arrived. :) The little things have really made a difference. Mom was in heaven.

As we were driving home, we left via 'Bad Boy Way.' It is where all of the 'bad boys' hang out and smoke and drink. Animals are treated very cruelly here and dogs roam the streets everywhere. The locals tend to abuse them because they bite; however, they bite because most are rabid because they don't vaccinate them. It is really sad. Anyways, as we were driving, one of the bad boys shooed a dog out of his way and the dog ran right in front of us. Dulce hit the dog and killed it. She felt terrible. The bad boys immediately started freaking out and yelling at us. One actually picked up the dead dog by his leg and ran towards us with it. He just stood there holding the dead dog. She stopped the car (seriously) and then rolled down the window (seriously - she is crazy brave). We were all pretty much freaking out that she not only stopped but also rolled down the window! We immediately had 10 or so bad boys surrounding the truck and one was yelling at her that she just killed his dog. Since hardly anyone actually owns a dog here, she figured he was lying. She kept apologizing to him anyways and he kept insisting that she killed his dog. She told him there was nothing she could do about it and it was an accident. When she finally said, "I'm sorry" in Creole, he backed off. Many times the locals lie about things like that because they want money. He was just trying to see if she would offer him money. Crazy.

We got back to the hostel and at the main door there was a frog about the size of a quarter. Dulce freaked out. Apparently she can drive through the craziest place in the world and she isn't afraid to confront the bad boys, but she is scared of a quarter sized frog. Go figure...

That's it for day 5! 

Ethan - I miss you very much! I love you! I think about you every day and am so thankful you are safe in Texas. I can't wait to see you when I get back!

To Mrs. Deinhammer's Class

You guys are awesome for following me and the team on this journey (special props to the one that told me the Rangers made the playoffs - that totally cracked me up)!

I will try and answer as many of your questions as I can while I am here, but if I can't get them all done here, I will make sure to do it when I return home. I am also going to pass some on to my team members as they have a totally different perspective on things and I think it would be great if you heard other views. Plus, they probably talk/write a lot less then me!

I wish I could skype with you guys but I don't have an international data plan on my iPad and we are 5 hours ahead of you. So, many times when we see the kids, you guys are still sleeping.

I will send some videos of them and will try to get them to give you a personal greeting. However, the words Coppell or Deinhammer may not be easy to get out of them! :)

Thanks for hanging in there with my very long stories!

Day 4 - September 28

We ended the evening last night on the top deck of the ship. The sun was setting and the breeze was wonderful. No matter where you are in the world, an amazing sunset looks the same. The children play on the upper deck and clearly they were having a great time racing around on play cars and rollerblades. I can't imagine a childhood where my 'normal' is rollerblading on the top deck of a missionary ship in the middle of Africa. As I was riding around the deck on one of the play cars, a little boy raced up beside me and 'won!' He was thrilled. It was blissfully fun. Hard to believe we would laugh as much as we did today and had as much fun as we did. Life after Africa will never be the same.

The traffic was worse than usual last night because of the earlier wreck. At one point we went to turn around in a very treacherous area and the local men were kind enough to stop traffic and help us avoid the ditches. They love the Mercy Ships here and when they see our vehicle they always stop and wave and help if we need it. I know I have said this a lot but I just can't emphasize enough what traffic and roads are like here. Thank God Dulce knows how to navigate this area and she is an excellent driver in the worst of conditions. 

We passed by the children's hospital on the way home and you could see the beds all in one large room. Each bed was covered with mosquito nets. The parents sleep on small, thin matresses under the child's bed. The hospital is free for kids under 5. Over 5, you either pay or don't get treatment. That explains why childhood mortality is so high here. The people of Sierra Leone simply don't have the money to take care of themselves physically and even if they did, there is hardly anyone to take care of them. They truly lack the most basic health care.

After 2 hours we finally made it back (2 hours for 10 km). I didn't sleep well last night - lots of noise and music until late and then the rain started. Huge torrential downpour with lightning and thunder. Although it was hard to sleep, it was nice listening to rain again. Too bad we aren't getting any in Texas! I got up at 11:00 to take some Tylenol pm but that still didn't help. That's ok though. I had a lot to think about - this trip has been like nothing else.

Up at 5:30 and off by 6:30. On the drive this morning we saw many children walking to school and they were dressed so nicely in their uniforms. As previously mentioned, despite the living conditions many of the locals dress very nicely in their finest clothes. The women wear elaborate printed dresses with matching head scarves and the children are often dressed in what I would consider 'church clothes.' (Side note for you Office fans out there - we saw one shipyard worker wearing a Dunder Mifflin shirt - too funny!) The children in uniforms go to private schools - those that cannot afford private school can go to public schools, but even those are not free. The parents have to pay a small fee and many cannot afford it so they just don't have their children go to school. That explains the high number of children we see during the day just milling around.

At one point during our drive, traffic was still backed up from the accident last night (we did finally get our first glimpse at the wall that was taken down that had been the source of our traffic woes) and we cut through an area called Bishop's Court. Inside the area is a burned out/falling down building. Apparently it was a church at one point and during the civil war, people would go there to take refuge. However the rebels (I guess that is what they called the bad people) invaded the area and burned the church with the people inside - they burned alive. Such a sad history.

Also on the drive this morning a little boy about 10 stopped to wave at us. He had a marvelous smile. We kept driving and then would stop and he would catch back up to us and stop and smile and wave. This continued several times until his mother got impatient with him and gently smacked him on the shoulder. When we passed him a moment later, he didn't dare stop and wave but couldn't resist a smile at us. It made us all laugh - he was adorable.

After breakfast we left for the Kissy Eye Clinic to start our painting project. Today's project - scraping paint. Lots of it! We were blessed with a mainly overcast sky so it wasn't too unbearable except for the humidity, which just makes you feel damp all the time. I guess today was about paybacks because we all have been gawking at the locals for the past 2 days and today was their turn to gawk at us. I am sure it was quite a site to see 6 white women scraping paint off the outside of the building. Lots of locals just stopped and stared.

In the morning we had quite a few local men just wonder over and ask to help. They knew they weren't getting paid but just wanted to help anyways. Several small children also came over to help. Sadly, they should have been in school. We let them help and there I met my African equivalent, Abu. Abu is 12 and talks non-stop. Unlike the other children who were pretty quiet and shy, this little boy was so chatty and amazingly smart. It is tragic he isn't in school because clearly he is a gifted kid. As we were talking, I couldn't always catch what he was saying because of the noise and his thick accent. He called me out on it, "you are not understanding me" and I apologized and told him, "it is loud and you have an accent" to which he quickly replied, "so do you!" At one point he asked me, "why is our English different?" Which led into me trying to explain dialects to a 12 year old - being the sharp kid he is, we finally made the connection with mobile phones vs. cell phones and "how de body" vs. "how are you." (The locals speak an English/Creole mix where one of the expressions is, "how de body" to which you reply, "de body is fine.") He told me all about his family, his love of football (soccer to us), how he reads his Koran every night and that he is learning Arabic. (SL is primarily Muslim.) Being the mom I am, I made sure to work in some motherly advice like telling him to brush his teeth twice a day. He had never heard of dental floss. Trying to describe it as "thread between the teeth" only led to more confused looks. He was simply adorable and wonderful and I hope his living situation is ok. He seems happy and well adjusted, like all of the kids in SL, but the lack of school worries me. I hope to see him again. I kept telling him that he should go play with the other kids but he insisted on working with us and he was a very hard worker.

At lunch time the private school let the children out to play and they immediately surrounded us. They were so cute and reinforced to me that children are universally children. They all play the same and do the same things and they loved seeing us (according to Dulce, many have rarely ever seen white people). They all wanted to help us scrape and fought over the scrapers (I had to start a count to 10 and switch game with them so they wouldn't fight over them.) They sang for us, took pictures with us, held our hands, hugged us, and some just stared in amazement. The little girls were concerned about the paint flecks on my arms and they kept trying to clean my arms for me. I taught them to twirl to make their dresses 'fluff' out and they loved that. I also taught them to bow and we would clap and they also loved that. They loved it any time we clapped for them. After school they came back out and lingered until the head of the school made them go home (as most had a long walk ahead of them). Hands down, they were the best part of the day. I absolutely loved the children and can't wait to see more of them. They made the day of scraping old paint totally worth it.

There was a maternity clinic nearby and many of the women were bringing in small babies for check ups. They too were adorable. The people of Sierra Leone are truly beautiful with gorgeous skin, big white smiles, and very healthy bodies. There is absolutely no obesity here and everyone appears to be in very good shape. Despite the poverty, not too many seem malnourished. However, just because they have food doesn't mean it is healthy food and there is malnutrition due to the lack of fresh fruits, vegetables, vitamins, etc., coupled with consumption of a lot of sugary/processed foods, sodas, etc. They are very fit given their lifestyles and amount of walking they do. Much of the poverty here is more about living conditions than food or goods. They have plenty of stuff for sale everywhere (seriously, I have never seen so much stuff) and food seems to be readily available (although not high quality food). The poverty is more centered around the lack of houses (and/or condition of the houses), plumbing, running water, sewer system, drinking water, vaccinations, medical care, government, schools, police, technology, infrastructure, etc. For a population of 1.5 million, they are lacking basic things like proper roads, traffic lights, police, hospitals, etc. This is why they are in such dire straits. They are not starving - they are living in squalor surrounded by 'stuff' but no basic infrastructure to support it all.

Because of this, Mercy Ships has done a great job extending their help beyond the ship. They have a magnitude of off shore projects (like the eye clinic and the agriculture program I mentioned before) and many of those initiatives will still be around long after they leave. The people here are very grateful that not everyone has forgotten them.

It is 11:00 and I have to be back up at 5:30 so I better stop here. We ended the night playing trivia which was a lot of fun (so many normal things combined with so many abnormal things!). Tomorrow is security detail at the dental clinic until 10 and then surgery observation, which should be really cool. Then back to the eye clinic. Here's hoping my buddy Abu is back.

P.s. Special thoughts to my friend Michele. Check your email sometime tomorrow. I love you!!! 

The Team

It wouldn't be fair to write this blog without introducing you to the team!

First and foremost the awesome, amazing Dulce! Dulce, our team leader, is from Honduras and credits her driving skills to her training in Honduras (I think Formula 1 is the only driving she hasn't mastered at this point.) She is fearless, smart, great with the locals, an inspiring leader, and most importantly has become a friend to all of us. We would not have had near the experience we have had without her guidance. She keeps us all laughing and Mercy Ships has been fortunate to have her as a part of their team for the last 2 years. She is retiring from Mercy Ships this December and heading home to see her family, her dog, and figure out her next big adventure.

My mom is my partner in crime on this trip. We talked for years about taking a big trip together, which turned into we should do a mission trip together, which led to Mercy Ships. We have been planning this for over a year now and it doesn't seem possible we are almost halfway through our amazing adventure together. This has been a trip of a lifetime for us. (Side note for Mrs. Deinhammer's class - for those of you that would rather lop off your own arm than travel with your mom, you won't always feel that way. I was in your shoes in high school but surprisingly enough, my mom is super cool. Who knew? Mrs. Deinhammer will tell you the same thing about her mom - she totally rocks too and I know she would go to Africa with her mom. So, maybe 10 years from now you guys will do something like this with your mom or dad and I promise you, you won't regret it!) I find myself worrying about her on this trip and making sure she is ok and it is odd that those tables have slightly turned. It's great to have her with me and we are taking good care of each other.

Dr. Stuart is a super cool neurosurgeon. Most surgeons I meet have zero personality but this guy is super witty, super smart, and a super team player being the only man on the team. As you guys have already read, he arranged for the delivery of a high flow shunt for a 9 month old. Today he was in the OR observing the removal of a highly disfiguring facial tumor from a 9 year old. He explained the complexities behind the sphenoid bone, which apparently is the most specialized bone in the body. The temporalis muscle, nerves, carotid arteries, and a whole host of other things (yep, that's the medical terminology) are intertwined in this bone. The tumor was compressing the orbit and would have continued growing if they didn't remove it. The surgery was successful and this child can expect to have a pretty normal life from here on out. Maybe I have just had bad experiences with surgeons in the past (and the ever present 'God complex' most have) so I find myself marveling all the time just how nice and laid back Dr. Stuart is. And funny. And he doesn't talk down to anyone despite the fact that he is crazy smart. I imagine back home in the real world he is a comforting, patient doctor and if I ever need spine surgery, he's my guy. Mrs. Deinhammer's future surgeons - my advice to you - graduating med school may make you a good surgeon and people will respect you just because you are a surgeon; however, be humble about it, donate your time and services, and simply be nice to people on their level and then you will be a rock star surgeon like Dr. Stuart! Sadly, Dr. Stuart's patients need him more than us and he has to return home on Friday.

Morgan is the baby of the team. At 23 the world is her oyster. She always wanted to go on a mission trip and never could get the timing right with college until now. Now that one thing is complete on her bucket list (although by the sound of it, this is the first of many overseas mission trips for Morgan), she has her sights set on PT school next. She is the infectiously funny one and keeps us all laughing. She loves the kids here as much as I do and they clearly love her back. I am amazed at her observation skills - she misses nothing and notices all sorts of cool things in this chaotic world of Sierra Leone (like they use shards of glass glued to the top of their brick walls in lieu of barbed wire). She and Dulce go on and on in their own language with Nacho Libre references. Guess I will finally have to see that movie.

Cathy is Morgan's mom. They are the 'other mother and daughter' (I guess they say the same about us!). Cathy lives in Montana with her postman husband. She is an avid cycler and has a really cool job working for a family that owns a lot of banks and has one of the 5 largest ranches in the US. She is also apparently very popular with the local men as one man was relentless today in pursuing her, despite the fact that she is married. She took it all in good stride and gave us all something to joke about. She and Morgan have a great relationship so again I emphasize, moms can be really cool!

Peggy is a hairdresser in Tyler. She had to lug a bunch of hair products all the way to Africa. I think many times people forget about the unsung heroes like Peggy who perform the necessary services people need when living in an isolated environment for months at a time without any access to modern conveniences. The haircuts are free on Mercy Ships for the staff and they only have one hairdresser, so Peggy is going to give her some much needed relief tomorrow. Peggy was in a terrible car wreck last year and greatly damaged one arm (and much more) and you would never know it. She scraped paint with the best of us and it is hard to believe she suffered so much damage to her arm. I hope I am as strong as Peggy one day! 

Betty is the trooper of the gang and wins the award for best paint scraper. She has a daughter-in-law named Neon who is going to have a baby soon. Her other son is a former marine. Betty is super nice and she and her husband live on and own a true working Texas ranch. However she lives part of the time in Tyler because, "she needs to get back to civilization." Amen sister! :)

Michael the dentist from Germany is our honorary team member. He happened to be arriving and leaving at the same time as us and we hooked up with him in Brussels. He traveled alone so we sorta adopted him. He joins us for most meals and is a fun guy to have around. He has been pulling teeth since he arrived. They have so many people that need extractions, he literally loses count. He pulled over 250 his first day here! We played trivia tonight on the ship and he was on our team, so we named our team 'The Toothless Wonders' in honor of his daily extracting duties. He is a sharp guy but kept saying, "I know the answer in German, just not in English." That worked the first couple of times... (Side note - Jodie you would be ashamed of me - I couldn't remember glucagon! I didn't feel so bad when Dr. Stuart admitted he couldn't remember that one either.)

There you have it - the team! This blog of mine has become quite the topic of conversation amongst us and the team is great about telling me to put certain things in the blog. I know my postings are super long and for those of you that know me, that shouldn't be a great surprise, as we all know how much I love to talk! Thanks for hanging in there with me and reading through it all. I have greatly enjoyed writing it.

Thoughts about my blog

I only have a few minutes before we leave for the eye clinic; however, I wanted to add a thought about my last few posts...

Although I have mentioned that the food is not exactly great and the hostel is a tad primitive, I want to be abundantly clear that I am extremely grateful for what I have here, as it is so much more than the locals. The abundance of food we have here (even if it isn't the tastiest) and the safety and cleanliness of the hostel is a blessing and I am so grateful for this experience. I truly hope to make a difference here. These people are the world's forgotten and despite the immense poverty, you see pride and happiness in them and I know they will change me and influence me more than I ever will them.

The amazing medical/spiritual things they are doing here are truly life changing and I am so happy to be a small part of this...

Ok, it's off to paint the clinic and interact with the locals. I miss you guys back home. Ethan - I love you so much. You are the best thing that ever happened to me! I miss you!

Day 3

Day 3 - Sept 27 - Brian's bday - Happy Birthday Brian!

I woke up 6:00 despite setting my alarm for 7:00 as apparently SL starts moving around 6:00. I quickly figured out why the dog we first met when we got to the hostel is named "bark!" :)

The open windows made any more sleep impossible and there is non-stop car honking, people talking, dogs barking, and the smell of smoke. Like people roasting something. Church bells also loudly went off. So much for wondering if I would wake up on time!

I am about to get out of bed and go to the cold shower again to wash off the sweat from the night (decided against the shower). Today we head to the ship for a morning orientation and then it is off to paint!

I can only imagine what God has in store for me today! :) Looking forward to it!!

Outside school girls are gathering in nicely dressed uniforms. They attend the private school next door. 

Driving to ship - what an adventure! I was so overstimulated. The sites of the poverty and the local people were unimaginable and indescribable. The traffic was crazy and the amount of pedestrians, cars, motorcycles, and buses all on tiny roads was simply amazing. I wondered why all the people were out and where they were going? I saw one very pregnant woman with a baby strapped to her back and a giant tub of stuff on top of her head. It is super cool how they strap the babies to their backs. The babies are so cute. One person joked that they would ask for the baby and Dulce said they would gladly give it to us. I thought she was joking but she wasn't. The women would gladly give their infants to a white woman because it means a better life. How sad...

Orientation with Dulce was enlightening. I really like her. It is hard to believe she has been doing this for 2 years without any pay. I plan to leave money with her so she can continue her work here. Such a neat, admirable person!

The have coke zero on the ship! $0.65!

We got our schedule and went and toured the ship. We had lunch, which was pretty gross, but I guess I can't complain. Very starchy. Glad I brought the peanut butter - protein seems in short supply here. I was able to use my calling card and talk with Ethan and Keith. Mom called Jon and Linda. All were very glad to hear from us and hear we made it here it ok.

Dulce is going to see if I can scuba dive while here. Apparently divers are desperately needed. Not sure if that will work out since they dive in full face masks and I would need training on that but she is going to ask just in case.

The day is going slower than expected but I have learned that nothing is kept to a very strict schedule here. That is good because I get enough of strict schedules at home. Plus this will probably be the easiest, low key day we will have; so I am enjoying the slower pace. We toured the ship the majority of the afternoon and it is so amazing the resources and the people it takes to keep this place running.

Dr. Stuart was able to coordinate getting a high flow shunt in for a peds patient (9 months old). They weren't sure what they were going to do and he just happened to meet someone this morning that mentioned the need.  A few phone calls later and voila! A high flow shunt. He had his rep overnight it to a volunteer in Virginia that will be arriving on Thursday.

I also overhead Dr. Stuart and Missy (head of OR) talking about a woman that was in a car wreck a few days ago in another town. The German neurosurgeon that arrived late last week saw her when she came here for a CT. She had a subdural hematoma. The surgeon offered to go to her town's hospital, along with two neurological nurses that also happened to be onboard, and they operated on her at her local hospital. She was only under a heavy conscious sedation, not true anesthesia. The doctor went to see her on Sunday and she was doing very well.

While walking through the hospital ward we saw many various patients in bed. Each ward is a different speciality - burns, eye surgery, etc. We saw several cute babies strapped to the backs of several local women. I can't get over how precious the babies are.

We met with one of the off shore people that is in charge of agriculture. Their teams of people train 16 local people who will teach 246 other locals how to farm responsibly and productively so they can train others. It is all organic with focus on compost, mulch, water conservation, erosion, etc. They are trying to stop the locals from chopping, hacking, and stripping the land. We hope to see one of the agriculture sites on the way to the beach. They are called 'Food for Life' with an emphasis on physical and spiritual life.

Dulce is going to try and get mom and I fans for tonight! :) The small blessings!

The captain just announced over the loudspeaker there was a very serious accident on the road leading out of the shipyard. Something about a very large truck and serious injuries. It appears we will be on the ship longer tonight than expected due to the massive congestion because of this accident. They are advising the 'day workers' (that is us) to use extreme caution when leaving tonight due to the heavy congestion and heavy machinery. I am not terribly surprised there was a serious accident because the traffic here is insane. I don't see how they don't have very serious accidents every day.

These thoughts are super random as I typed this throughout the day today at random times. 

It is almost dinner time and then back to the hostel. We start the painting tomorrow with Ryan who is from South Africa. Days start at 6:30 am from here on out. Ugh!

Thank you so much Jodie for setting this up!!

Days 1 & 2

Days 1 & 2- September 25 & 26

The day started at 5:00 am as I had to be at the airport by 6:00.

Travel  to Dallas and then NY was uneventful. JFK airport was smaller then expected and didn't really feel like NY which I thought was odd.

We boarded the plane almost an hour late for Brussels due to a plane mechanical failure. When you are about to fly 8 hours over the ocean, that was a little unsettling; however it turned out to be something wrong with the AC which they fixed by the time we boarded.
This was the leg of the flight where I was supposed to sleep but it was near impossible sitting in the center seat. I could not get comfortable. The jet lag started to be noticeable with meals being served at odd times. I am pretty sure I ate breakfast around 1:00 am Texas time.

When we arrived in Brussels we had to immediately go to a different part of the airport which was largely deserted. I changed clothes and was overwhelmed by how tired I was. In fact, I briefly feel asleep propped on my chair in the airport. We met another Mercy Ship volunteer in the airport that morning, Michael, a dentist from Germany. We boarded the plane and it was the first time I had been on a plane with 2 seats, 5 seats, 2 seats (hope that visually made sense!). The plane was huge.

I was so tired, I was asleep before we took off. The plane was only about half full so I moved to the empty 2 seats behind me and slept the majority of the flight. It was like sleeping on a tiny love seat but I didn't care. It was the best sleep I had the entire time we had been traveling. 

I have to say Brussels airline has not forgotten the concept of customer service unlike American airlines. We were 'wined and dined' constantly. They were almost non-stop with the food and beverages starting with lunch (which contained a mysterious 'thing' on the salad and a beer beef goulash), then snacks, then ice cream bars and then more snacks. The flight attendants were super nice and were still dressed very old school; the men in suits and the women in business suit like skirts and blazers and severe buns. After we made the first stop, they came through the cabin spraying some sort of fumigator that was 'required' by the health code. It was some sort of air sanitizer and it felt like they were roach bombing the plane! Very odd. They assured us it was harmless. I hope so! 

We made one stop at a tiny airport and then left for Sierra Leone (SL from here on out). Upon arrival you immediately noticed the airport looked like like it had recently been damaged. They were doing some sort of construction on it (with what appeared to be very rickety wooden scaffolding - OSHA would have a fit) and it hardly resembled an airport. Inside it was insane! People were everywhere and the overwhelming heat and body odor was almost unbearable. Words can not describe the humidity here. I am sure I will reference it many times it is so unbearable. Getting through customs was hardly like customs in the US. One very impatient crabby women barely glanced at you while stamping your passport. They didn't even ask for the visa. The yellow fever card was glanced at by a man in a lab coat (he simply looked for yellow paper - I could have shown him anything yellow). Then it was waiting for the luggage. They had one conveyor belt where luggage was coming through stacked 2 - 3 high. People were everywhere and it was very aggressive. People were walking on top of the conveyor belt and luggage was going everywhere. Luckily we all got our pieces and proceeded to leave the airport where we were inundated with people wanting to help with our luggage. There were just people everywhere and it was terribly hot and stinky.

We made our way to a mini-van of sorts that in the US would safely hold 8 people. They loaded our luggage in the back end and closed the lift gate with a threadbare piece of rope tied to the windshield wiper. I was not optimistic this was going to stay closed - somehow it did. Then 4 of us loaded in the back bench seat and the other 4 in the front. There was truly no room and I was half sitting on two other people. Needless to say seat belts weren't even a thought. The 3 people that picked us up crammed in the front and the 11 of us were off. Clown car would have been a step up from this.

Traffic was very much like Mexico. Tiny roads with people, cars, and motorcycles everywhere. It amazes me more people don't get in accidents or run over. Maybe they do. The immense poverty was immediately apparent by the looks of the homes and vehicles. We finally made our way to the ferry area which was also extremely crowded. The helpers loaded our luggage and we proceeded to the 'first class' area which consisted of benches in an 'air conditioned' (I use that term loosely) area with, oddly enough, 2 large flat screen TVs. The bathrooms on board were awful. No toilet paper or sink and horribly smelly. Definitely a last resort kind of deal...

We watched with great interest as another boat came to 'Moon Gay' (where the ferry started) from SL. Hundreds on people were packed on it carrying TVs, mattresses, huge bags of flour, bananas, etc., on their heads. It was nothing like I had ever seen. Everything seemed straight out of a movie. One woman carrying a very large basket on her head and a stool in one hand, bent down, removed her shoe, shook out the dirt, and replaced the shoe, all without tipping the huge basket on her head. I was simply amazed!

We set sail and it was a beautiful evening ferrying over to SL. Very nice breeze and beautiful sunset.

When we arrived, the chaos started again and as we were getting off the ferry, these local men got into a huge screaming fight about one of the vehicles blocking their exit. They yelled and screamed all sorts of obscenities at each other despite the huge crowd watching. We really felt like they were soon going to blows, but they never did. We met Dulce who was very nice and off we went.

The streets were insanely packed with people and cars despite it being 8:00 pm on a Monday night. Dulce said this is what the people do here - hang around outside all day and night. The streets were worse than Mexico and the sheer volume of people and cars was overwhelming. I can't imagine driving here. There are no rules apparently!

We arrived at the hostel and the outside appearance alone would make anyone in the US wary. We quickly found out there is no hot water and the electricity is spotty with only a generator for power and that is only occasionally. The rooms are not air conditioned and you have to sleep with the windows (with no screens) open. We went to our rooms and I started unpacking and was again overwhelmed by the humidity. I was incredibly hot and sweating profusely. The cold shower sounded great and I couldn't imagine how I was ever going to sleep.

Mom and I went to take showers and they were ice cold! And the power kept going out. Mom had to shine her flashlight in the shower so I could see which one was the shampoo. There was a questionable giant critter in the shower but neither of us had our glasses on so we are hoping it was part of the pipe. :) However I tried not to complain as I was so hot. I came back to my room and adjusted the mosquito netting around my bed (a first for me) and applied my deet lotion. I took tylenol pm to help me sleep and went to bed smelling like summer camp and sweating. I actually slept pretty well considering I was on a small mattress on a piece of wood. I was very tired.