Sunday, January 29, 2012

A Dip Into the Cultural Pool

This past week has been very interesting as we've had a small taste of the life we will be experiencing here in Africa.

The Africa Mercy has visited Togo five times since they first started surgical missions in West Africa.  In fact, Togo was the first country willing to let our ship come and minister to the local people so in a sense the Africa Mercy was sort of born in Togo and the country extends a very warm welcome each time the ship comes back.  The last visit was in 2010 but was unfortunately cut short due to an urgent engine repair issue.  So, in a sense our trip now is a continuation of the trip that was cut short in 2010.  Due to that shortened mission there were many people that had to have their surgeries rescheduled for this visit.  20 of those people were contacted and urged to come to the ship for reevaluation and scheduling. 

Many of these people have to travel long distances to the ship which was apparently prohibitive for some of our returnees as we ended up only seeing 4 patients on Wednesday and then 6 on Thursday. Those that did come gave Peter and I an opportunity to see, on a small scale what the future holds for us this next week.  We had men and women with large tumors that needed surgery and had more hope in their eyes than I've ever seen in my life!  With the help of interpreters we did the history and physicals, ordered labs and imaging studies and then would go over the studies with the chief surgeon on board.  This amazing man has served with Mercy Ships doing maxillofacial surgery for over 20 years!  Not only a great heart but a vast wealth of knowledge.  Sadly, the first day both of the people I worked up were turned away due to problems making their surgery either impossible or very ill advised.  This is certainly the downside of working in a third world country where resources are scarce. 

The next day we saw more patients and most of them will be coming back for their surgeries when the ORs are up and running in the near future.  As I said - this is just a taste of what's to come as the huge screening for thousands of patients will occur on the morning of the 1st of February.  So please keep this date in your prayers that all will go well and that everyone will have a good day and stay safe. 

Beautiful wood carvings
Multiple stalls of merchants
It is always a bit more interesting when we go off the ship.  Thus far we've always gone with others that know their way around and in one of the cars.  Yesterday we went to a local craft market where artisans where painting, doing batik, making wood carvings and sewing garments.  We bought a lovely round table cloth and napkins that I'm looking forward to seeing on our kitchen table.  Until then it is our new bed cover to make our room look a bit more festive!  We then went to one of the local restaurants that many of the Mercy Ships folks deem safe and tasty.  I was not too adventurous and just got a pannini but Peter opted for a local favorite called "Sharma" I think?  It's a rolled sandwich in a flat bread like a tortilla with several vegetables, some meat, a mayo based slightly spicy sauce and french fries of all things!  Peter liked it and I'm sure he'll be getting more in the future. 

Today we had a real slice of local culture in that we attended a local church on the beach in a fisherman's village about 10 minutes from the ship.  We forgot our cameras but will be sure to bring them next time.  I'm most disappointed about forgetting the camera since after sitting down and looking around I noticed I couldn't see where Peter went.  He didn't sit next to me because they have the women sit on the left of the church and the men were on the right.  I looked all over the right side and then lo and behold!  I see my husband sitting all by himself along with two rows of empty chairs in the front of the church next to the preacher!  I kept trying to tell him he needed to sit with the other men but he gestured that they wouldn't let him!  Fortunately, after being married for 25 years we can communicate across a crowded room pretty well and I could tell he was confused and somewhat embarrassed.  I asked the security head from ship who was sitting in front of me what was going on and she said it was a respect thing because he was obviously an elder man of the church so he was made to sit in front!  I had to keep myself from laughing out loud because - as most of you know - I'm several years older than Peter and no one made me sit up there!  I'm still chuckling about it a few hours later.  So, I started showing him that it was his gray hair that bought him the seat in front so there he stayed. 

This was a most interesting service with not only a lot of singing but A LOT of dancing!  We were paraded out and taught to dance like the natives and the little kids selected laps to sit on and everyone had a great time.  At the very end of the service, yet another surprise.  Peter was asked to give the closing prayer since he is, of course, so old.  He did a wonderful job.  I just shake my head with all of this as I don't think he's ever gone anywhere and been anonymous for very long - even Africa.  Just amazing! 

With church over we headed off to our respective trusty land rovers parked in the sand.  The final bit of local flavor came when two of the three rovers had to be pushed out of the loose sand in order to get on our way.  Not quite the Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom that I grew up with but we are certainly not in Kansas anymore....

Inside the center
Minister of health addressing group
The other big deal this past week was the huge Partners reception on Friday night where the Ship's bigwigs invited the higher ups from all the partner organizations in Togo that we either work with while here or have facilitated the arrival and support of the ship.  Hopefully by the next posting there will be pictures available that I can post for you. 

In the mean time here are some shots from the Hope Center dedication that we went to last week.  Don't forget to keep us in your prayers for the big screening on Wed.  We start seeing people at 6am and there will be people in line waiting all night before hand.  At times disappointed people can get violent but the set up looks pretty secure and they have a long history doing this.  Nonetheless, prayer is always appreciated. 
 
Mom's and babies at the clinic

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Baby Steps Off the Boat

                 It is nearly impossible to believe that we have been in this country nearly a week now!  We’ve been able to take our time getting to know this 8 deck ship with all the offices and cabins tucked in every nook and cranny.  We’ve made at least three or possibly four trips to the onboard store to buy items for our comfort as well as shipboard necessities.  Since we have to clean our own cabin we had to buy a few items to keep the bathroom and kitchenette clean.  Yes – dear friends.  I miss my non-toxic Melaleuca products and did bring soap, wipes and shampoo in all those heavily packed bags but one can only carry just so much stuff you know.  In addition to cleaning items and a few snacks we managed to snag some highly coveted computer speakers!  These beauties have made it possible to enjoy the DVDs we’ve started watching each night before bed.  A little bit of the old home routine transplanted to the Dark Continent. 

                Peter has been put to work much earlier than I since the only crew physician here had not had an opportunity to leave the ship in 52 days!!  He’s a bit pale but amazingly does not have a crazed look in his eyes as one would expect after such a long interment in a small place.  He is a lovely English gentleman and Peter was happy to be the instrument of his liberation to take a long overdue hike into town and along the picturesque coast on Saturday.  Yes- Peter has been on call all weekend as well so neither of us has set foot on the gangway lately, so we have high hopes for next weekend to see a bit of Togo prior to the first patients coming onboard. 
Ship at the pier

Although this weekend there’s not much to tell about our big news regards Friday.  We had a bit of a road trip into Lome’ – the capital city to a dedication ceremony for the local Hope Center that Mercy Ships has spent the last several years helping the locals to build.  Along the short drive to the center the road was lined with merchants hawking every sort of new and used item imaginable!  We were nowhere near the area known as Le Grand Marche in the center of town so I can only imagine the buzz commerce there as I was impressed but the bit that we saw.  The center is currently used for maternity and young child visits so there were many moms and babies at the ceremony.  In addition there were at least twenty ornately dressed tribal leaders.  Each of them had gorgeous gold head pieces that I’m sure indicated either their region or a ranking significance.  Despite not knowing what it meant it was quite impressive.  The country’s health minister spoke as did the director of the ship.  In between each speaker there was a musical interlude.  It seems that music is a mainstay of life here. We’ve been warned that there will be much dancing and singing on the wards when the patients move in.  If we can attach sound files in the future I’ll give it a shot.  Taking pictures of locals is very iffy without certain permissions so I’ll have to wait until I can get some of the official pictures once they are posted and can then add them to a future posting.  Here are a couple of pictures we did find via marketing to show the ship as well as two of the many land rovers that are used to get around in port. 

                The clinic was completely spotless and gorgeous!  While we are here the patients that we see will get post-operative care at the clinic in order to help with their transition following their surgery.   Very impressive!  We were so glad that we got to go along and see this facet of what Mercy Ships does while here and then leaves behind to facilitate continued care. 
                So – just when we thought we’d be settling in for a long, possibly boring weekend on the ship we were invited to go out to dinner with a young, German couple we met at our three day training we attended in TX last September.  We hit it off with them as soon as we met last fall since Peter is, of course, fluent in German and loves ein bier as much as the next German.  Tina is an operating room nurse and has been working very hard with the rest of the nurses to get the ORs in shape for our patients to arrive.  Simon is a social worker by training that has been put to work organizing the 200 Togolese day workers that assist on the ship.  Huge job! They both needed a night out and fortunately they invited us along.  Soon after the ship pulled in last week they discovered a wonderful German, Christian mission near the docks that ministers to the sailors from the local ships.  What a lovely place within walking distance!  The walk was a bit harrowing, dodging trucks and motorbikes that give no berth to pedestrians and have no lanes anywhere for guidance.  Getting there was an adventure but once behind the mission’s walls it felt like an oasis of calm!  Thank you Simon and Tina!  The mission has a cute, little bar, ample seating and a nice pool.  We settled down to a drink and conversation and met many other very interesting people.  I may well end up learning more German than French in the next five months.  After our drink we went next door to a real slice of Germany!  The restaurant “Alt Munchen” looked like it could have been cut from a German travel brochure.  The furniture, the wall coverings, curtains and the menu items were very authentic.  One could almost imagine that we’d slipped thru a worm hole or something to the Fatherland except for the very black waiters speaking French.  I’m glad I don’t drink or I think I’d get confused. 

                Finally, the last bit of good news came yesterday when we and nearly everyone else on the ship took advantage of the satellite phone to Florida and got a chance to call home. We were able to talk to Peter’s mom and one of our son’s last night.  Although there’s just a bit of time delay between speaking and the other party hearing our voice the connection was clear as a bell and one would never, ever guess that we were calling nearly half way around the world!  The amazing technological advances that we’ve benefitted from just in the past week simply boggle the mind!  We can hardly consider ourselves missionaries of the same ilk from centuries past that would set out for a foreign land with little hope of ever seeing their loved ones again.  I really stand in awe of the dedication and minute by minute reliance they had on the author of universe to guide their steps doing His work.  I pray and I hope you’ll pray with us for the fortitude to obediently do whatever it is that He’s laid out for us to accomplish in the ensuing weeks to come.  Thanks so much to all of you that read this and especially to those of you that have taken the time to drop us a note or a comment.  Until next time….

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Mercy Ships Day One – And then some…


Dear Friends and Family,
Greetings from Togo, West Africa! The past few days have been almost dreamlike in how well and easily our trip has gone. Thank you for your prayers as there were so many spots where we anticipated that things could have been frustrating or complicated.


We had a lovely three days in Paris getting over our minor jet lag. We even spent a fair amount of time wandering around the city since we both felt pretty good despite the time change. This was quite remarkable for me as I've had many a migraine after overseas travel so we were very thankful for our good health. It would have been a shame to waste the gorgeous weather we enjoyed in Paris as we marveled at the cloudless blue skies that greeted us each morning. What did surprise us was how late the sun rose each day! It was actually well after 8am before we saw even a glimmer of sunlight! Much higher latitude here in this part of Europe as compared to where we live in San Diego!


While in Paris Peter received an e-mail from Brussels air offering us the opportunity to check our bags in the night before our plane and if we did we would be allowed a bit more weight. Since one of our bags was over 50 pounds we jumped at the chance plus the added peace of mind of getting to the airport the night before and not worrying about early morning traffic in Paris. What a wonderful surprise! So, the following morning we only had to check ourselves and hand luggage in and we were set. We had a short hop to Brussels where we met others heading to the ship. We were the only newbies it seemed so we learned some of the inside scoop from those returning after their Christmas break as well as others that were starting yet another trip with Mercy Ships. Our next delightful surprise came while waiting to board. Peter's name was called and lo and behold - we were selected for an upgrade!! Since we had not even applied to upgrade this was an amazing bonus that we were enormously grateful for. All those frequent flier miles and special airline status designations really came in handy! Our eight hour flight was now just an extended barcalounger adventure.


Several crew members from the ship were at the gate to pick us up and since Lome, Togo is a rather small place the trip from the airport to the ship was only about 20 minutes. Apparently the previous mission in Sierra Leone was much more arduous and travel took several hours to go just about anywhere.


We were so excited when we got to the ship and given our room that we proceeded to unpack all four of our huge bags. Next great news - everything arrived completely intact! Note to self: socks, underwear and 20 skeins of yarn make for perfect packing material.


In a future post I'll include pictures of our sweet little suite. Not only do we have a decent sized desk unit, we have small kitchenette, our own bathroom, a loveseat couch, queen sized bed AND a window that looks out over the dock! The floor is carpeted and we've got more than enough storage for all the stuff we've brought.


We've run into many of the folks that we met from the three day class we took in Texas so it's nice to see people we already know. We've also met a few other people that we'll be working with and it seems that there's a lot of effort to build community here. Of course, the nicest thing is that Peter and I are here together so we have someone to go to things with and experience all this newness together. We have a few meetings to go to this afternoon where I'm sure we'll learn more about what we'll be doing and how we can help the hospital get ready to take on patients. Until then I think we'll be just keeping our eyes open, taking notes and seeing where we can help. I also think there will be a lot of opportunity for us to grow closer to each other and to God as we seek His will for what we're here for and how we're to help this mission and His people. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. I can't remember the last time I was so at peace about where I was or what I've been doing. We're just so excited to see what He has in store for us here.


Thanks so much if you've bothered to read all the way to the end. I look forward to hearing from you. Please keep in touch while we're so far away.


Love, Ann and Peter




Addendum: Jan 19th – day three on the ship


Peter's been yammering at me to get this entry posted but the internet has been a smidge of a challenge thus far. That we have the internet in Africa is wonderful, of course, but there are always limitations one must work around. We have a cable connection in our room which works well but gets slow during peak times – like in the evening when everyone wants a piece of the bandwidth. My Galaxy only works via Wi-Fi so that means I need to go off to the central communal area where the store and café are to get online. Also not arduous, but a bit less convenient. Since I took pictures of our cabin on the Galaxy getting the pics to the blog has slowed me down a bit. Last night I got a tutorial on downloading pictures from my camera to the laptop so we're back in business. I think I'll also finally get around to posting the long lost pictures from Andy's college graduation and Peter's retirement now that I have the tools.


Here are the pictures of our cute little cabin that we've thus far found quite roomy. 
At this point our biggest adjustment is to go with the flow of the local day to day operations. Since we are used to being in charge this has been somewhat of a change. Peter has been put to work already, and is currently working in the crew clinic and was on call yesterday. It will probably be awhile before we get off the ship and go into town since he is the call doc this weekend, too. We have a few meetings coming up in the next few days so we should get more plugged into what's going on where. I had an orientation with my team leader today regarding the upcoming huge patient screening everyone is getting ready for. It's the first time they've had a doc on the screening team so they are adjusting the flow format to put me to use. 

So - a marathon reading session. Sorry it took so long.  Blogging is also a learning process for me and I'm glad I've got the added free time to work out the quirks.  Especially the picture foibles!  Any tricks or suggestions to improve my blogging prowess are also warming welcome. 

Hope this entry finds all of you well and happy. Looking forward to hearing from you all from across the many miles.
Ann and Peter

Thursday, January 12, 2012


And….we’re off!





                I’m currently sitting in the Houston airport, thankful for a strong Wi-Fi signal so I can quickly post that our adventure has begun!  What a whirlwind we’ve had for the past few days!

I cannot complain about how fortunate we’ve been, as last week we were basking in the sun and surf in Maui at the gorgeous timeshare we bought last year.  I can’t believe it took us 50 years to finally see the beauty of Maui.  It was doubly enjoyable this year as we were able to bring our two sons along with us as well.  We haven’t had a family vacation since Andy graduated from high school in 2007 so we were overdue.  We also enjoyed time with old friends that used to live in San Diego that also have a timeshare week at the same resort.  Peter had a golfing buddy and I didn’t have to have my spa day alone.  It was perfect. 

The vacation was planned many months before our mission trip came about and we were hesitant to cancel but boy, oh boy did we have a three day marathon after getting back!  First on the agenda was putting away all the Christmas decorations inside and out.  Fortunately, having the free labor gave us the old “many hands” bit so it went faster than ever.  The boys flew back east on Tuesday.  Andy is moving into an apartment with friends and starts a new job as a paralegal next week.  Talk about excited!  Tommy starts his new semester next week, too. 

We had lists and lists of things to do, turn off, cancel and gather up.  Our phones were ringing off the hook with reminders we’d set so that we didn’t forget anything.  Who knows whether I can buy contact lens solution in Togo?  The guest room was re-tasked as the “staging area”.  Peter got a bit antsy that we had way too much stuff despite his elite status with the airlines and the rumored authorization that we could take heavier bags.  I reminded him that I had many years of military duffle bag packing before I’d ever met him. 

In addition to the piles of stuff and the lists of things to do we had a few hiccups along the way.  When we walked in the door after coming home from Maui we discovered our main computer had absolutely no signs of life!  Yup – a bone fide disaster since Peter still had our taxes to do prior to leaving. 

While in Hawaii the alarm company called that one of the sensors kept going off so that needed fixing, one of the toilets decided it would rather “run” than be a quiet tank holding a finite amount of water and then Peter’s car had some sort of electrical malfunction. 

We started to wonder if maybe someone didn’t want us on that boat??

So, we got our fixer people to come by the house, Peter took the car to the dealer and loaded the last back-up onto his laptop and all was right with the world. 
I started to pack.  When Peter returned he was quite amazed that it all fit!  Just call me “Pack Master General” 

Last hiccup came this am.  We elected to stay at the airport hotel so we could close up the house in the afternoon vs. in the wee dark hours of the morning thinking we’d be more apt to forget something.  We were stunned that neither of the alarms we set for 4am this morning went off!  This never happens to us.  Never.  Fortunately I woke up at 4:22am and thanked the Lord and all the wonderful people that have us on their prayer lists that there was not the chaos that ensues when one is late getting to the airport. 

So, in a few hours we will be off to lovely Paris to recover from jet lag and enjoy our solitude prior to a crazy day on Monday where we get up tres, tres early for a flight to Brussels and then on to Lome, Togo – with at least one stop in between. 

Thanks again to all of you that are supporting us with words, prayers as well as a few donations.  We also are very, very thankful to my sister Jenny and our friend Brian for volunteering to keep a close eye on our home during our absence.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers on Monday as we venture to Africa.  From then on we have little knowledge of what is in store for us other than we’ll be sleeping on the hospital ship and eating most of our meals there.  I will be spending most days off the ship and hoping my general medicine skills will surface to the point of being able to diagnose those that have surgical problems we can fix or improve.  Peter will be taking care of patients post-op.  Since a lot of the surgeries are on children and he’s a bit rusty in that area he may elect to find an internet café to “skype” those of you friends with Pediatric backgrounds if he can’t find what he needs in his nice, new Harriet Lane handbook.

Thanks again for caring about what’s up with us.  We look forward to this next chapter and pray that we’ll not shirk any divine appointments placed in our paths. 

Until next time.  Ann and Peter