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