and I've never veered starboard, cause I've never sailed at all

On Monday night, our ship was visited by the U.S. ambassador to Benin, James Knight, and his wife, Amelia. We all had received an email saying we could come meet him and get our pictures taken with him and all that fun stuff. I intended to go, as one doesn't often get to meet people of authority like that, but I forgot it was on Monday. I spent the afternoon watching the movie Big Fish with my friend Megan, during which I wept profusely (It moved my soul.), and then I had gotten into my comfy pajamas in order to be better suited to hanging out with my roommate Lisa during her last few minutes on the ship. Then a guy came around and told us that the ambassador was aboard and we should go meet him. So we did. I had my camera with me to document Lisa's final Mercy Shipper minutes, so I got my picture with the U.S. ambassador, who was in a three piece suit, and his wife, who was wearing a nice suit dress herself, while I was in my PJs. Basically amazing. I will post the picture later.

We are starting various increased security procedures as we prepare to set sail (supposedly in 13 days! Wow!). One of these is "swimmer watch," which I have volunteered for. Apparently people attempting to stow away on ships like these will somehow shoot a line onto the ship, shimmy up it, and disappear. So at nights we have people all night in various places on the ship watching for this. Mostly, the visibility discourages this practice. My roommate Kelsey and I signed up this Friday for one of the hour long shifts. I'm really excited for it, as we get to be on the bow (up front) of the ship.

Yesterday morning an oil tanker was attacked by pirates 18 nautical miles off the coast of Benin. Here is a link to an article about it: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=112088&sectionid=351020506
Apparently the attacked ship is at anchorage just outside the harbor, and we can see its lights at night. I am not too worried about this, as I trust our captain and security officers to know what sort of precautions are needed. Plus, we are covered in prayer. So this is something else for everyone to pray for!

Did I shave my legs for this?

Last night we dined with the President of Benin. I think we did, anyways. Hard to say, from such a great distance.



The dinner had been postponed at least three times already, so none of us really believed that last night would actually happen. But happen it did. I got out of work as early as I could and joined my roommates in the preparations for the dinner.



We were all to meet in the Cafe area. At that time, we were given numbers. The whole ship was to go, so there were going to be several bus trips. Our numbers would correspond with when we got to go. I was on the second bus, along with my roommates. We all sat down to wait. We were told it'd be about 20 minutes until the buses returned. These 20 minutes stretched into an hour. I have been feeling sick so I had eaten a small lunch. I snuck some bread and butter during our wait, which was a wise move. Turns out the buses thought there was just one trip to the president's house, so they parked and were not intending to come back for the rest of us. Eventually they did, and we made our way to the compound in which the president of Benin lives.

We were lead into a huge room where the first batch of Mercy Shippers were already mingling. They opened an area for drinks, so we all rushed over. We sat and drank our beverages until the third group arrived. After that, we waited some more. Eventually we were all lead into a large room where there were tables set up. We all sat down, or so we thought, until we noticed a group of about 40 people for whom there were no seats. The staff quickly acquired chairs and tables from another room, and they set those tables with our second set of silverware.

We then waited. After a time, we were asked to stand up for the national anthem of the country of Benin. We did so, and the president arrived. We were all hoping to eat before the awards were presented to Don and Deyon Stephens, as well as to other Mercy Ships people, but that was not to be. We continued to stand for another 20-40 minutes while the awards were presented (in French) and speeches were made. The translator fortunately abbreviated the president's long, formal speech in about three sentences.

We finally got to sit. Then we waited. Eventually the tables for the buffet opened up. My roommates and I beat a path to as front of the line as we could, as we were all quite hungry at that point. We got food, which was everything from rice to couscous, rabbit to chicken, fries to plantains, and ate. During that time, dances from the various regions of Benin were performed. They were interesting but quite far away, so we only got to see snippets. After dinner and the performances, we sat around until the bulk of the people got taken back to the ship. We boarded the last buses and vans, and headed back to the ship.

It was an interesting experience.

I didn't watch you go cause I suppose I don't know how

So sad about Katie leaving!

Benin vs. Ghana football game

Well, bunkie, this is the tribute I didn't want to have to write yet! What can I say that can adequately express how wonderful living with you has been these past few months? You are such a great friend, an amazing woman, and and awesome person all around. I've been truly honored and privileged to get to live with you, and it has made this first part of my Mercy Ships experience truly great.

Blue Steel!

Setting sail!

You are one of the most hilarious people I've ever met! Our late night times of hysterical laughter are definitely some of my favorite memories! Maybe our roommates didn't like them, but I just think they were jealous because we were having so much fun!

Ouidah!

Costume party

I also really appreciated being able to talk to you about anything and everything. You were always very honest about stuff and gave me good and wise advice. I will miss being able to talk to you. Deck 8 will never be quite the same with you gone!

I will always love this photo. It couldn't have been planned better!

Packing away. :(

Our berth is not the same without you. I have to say, the additional space is a little overwhelming. Having the bottom bunk isn't worth you not being here!

My first zimmy ride ever, after the concert. I'm glad it was with you!

WHAT? They scored and we MISSED IT?

I loved having adventures with you! You are always up for fun times, and you definitely helped me get out there and do things that I would not have tried normally. Thanks for that!

Our last Mercy Ships picture together! The lady in the background kept rubbing me with her sweaty arm and nearly crushing my toes with her cane.

I miss you, my friend! I'm praying for your next adventures, and I'm going to ask people who read my blog to pray too. (In case you all didn't get it, that was me asking.) Thanks for everything! We will talk soon!

And when it's done we will walk where the road meets the sun

These past few weeks have been really hard for me. I know that God is doing some sort of work in my life, but it has been really hard and it is unclear what he is doing. Then last night in the community meeting, we talked about pruning.

I'd never thought about looking up pruning as I thought the analogy was pretty straightforward, but the gal who spoke did, and it made John 15:1-8 come alive, especially in my life.

According to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden:

Unlike many shrubs and trees that do well without ever being thinned or cut back, even vines grown in sizable settings may require regular pruning to keep them healthy, productive, attractive, and under control. Many vines just don't know when to quit—or in which direction to grow. They must be taken in hand early on or they will be collapsing trellises, pulling down fences, and obscuring windows and doors.

Once vines have developed adequate roots, most just keep on growing above ground. To keep a vigorous climber healthy, you must do the following:
Remove any dead, damaged, diseased, or unproductive stems.
Remove overly tangled stems.
Remove errant stems, especially those growing away from the support.
Direct its growth.
Limit its growth.

Reducing a vine's mass not only ensures that your fence won't collapse, it also allows light and air to reach the plant's interior. Don't forget, though, that pruning doesn't just reduce mass: It can increase it. Heading back stems encourages new growth.

All other websites about pruning say basically the same thing. As applied to my life, right now, I can officially say that pruning is not fun in the slightest bit. However, in the end, I don't know what is best for me. The Gardener does.

And I can definitely say that in spite of the difficulties of this time, I am enjoying the presence of God more fully now than I have in a long time. That, more than anything, makes this time okay.

Ghananana, Ghananana, Heeeey, Goodbye!

Roughly once a month (every six weeks or so) the ship has a holiday. Last ship holiday I went to Possotome and got all hurt and whatnot. This time I got to go to Ghana. The "promised land." It was a much better time.

We gathered in Reception on Thursday morning. Our group of eleven travelers to Ghana were all excited. After filling out what we had to in order to disembark, we were on our way.

For some reason, a man besides the driver was coming along with us. He wasn't a part of our group, and the minibus was too crowded with him in it. Dennis, our Ghanaian host on our journey, told the driver to leave the guy. So he did. We never quite found out what that guy was doing there.

Togo beaches

Our grand and glorious adventure was now underway! We made great time through the border from Benin into Togo. We enjoyed the beautiful sights of the Togo shoreline as we drove past. Then it was observed that we were going rather slowly. I thought we were just obeying the posted speed limits, but then again, TIA (this is Africa), so I should have known better. Soon we pulled over. Turns out our engine was overheating. We all piled out of the minibus and sought shade where we could. We were delighted at this turn of events because it made our Africa traveling experience all the more authentic. After maybe a half hour or so of our driver dumping water on the engine we were back in action!

Unexpected engine trouble = PHOTO OP!

Milling about.

SHADE!

We arrived in Ghana and settled into our rooms at the Tema YWAM base. They had saved us dinner, spaghetti and meat sauce with veggies, which hit the spot. Some of the nurses went to bed, but a group of us hit up Southern Fried Chicken, which is the place to be in Tema. We had drinks and ice cream there.

YWAM room

The next day we ate another YWAM provided breakfast and headed to the jungle. After a looooooooong drive, we arrived at Cape Coast. The first stop was Kakum National Park, where we enjoyed a canopy walk. It was amazing to walk over the bridges and see the huge trees and be so far above everything.

Hike to the canopy walk

Tree I like.


Bridges

Afterwards, we went to the slave castle. It was a fascinating and tragic place. For over 200 years, the Portuguese and the Dutch shipped out thousands of slaves to the Americas, Haiti, and any other colony that needed free labor. It's unimaginable how much death and horror the place saw. It was a huge old building, and I enjoyed the tour.

Slave castle


Line of sight shot.

Beautiful sunset!

That night we stayed at an interesting hostel type place called Han's Cottage. They had a pool, which we enjoyed in spite of the slightly green shade of the water. There was also this Belgian couple who renovated a huge truck thing into the craziest RV ever. They have been traveling since 2007, spending their retirement working their way south through Europe and into Africa. I had heard about them from some Canadians that I met a couple of weeks ago, so I was amazed to see them there!

How to RV in Africa

HUGE!

The next day, after another looooong drive, we arrived at Boti Falls. Before we enjoyed the water, we went on a hike to see the other interesting attractions. The hike reminded me of the Manitou Incline, because it was pretty much straight up in some placed. We arrived at the umbrella rock as a field trip was preparing to leave. All the kids wanted pictures of us. I suspect it is because we're white. Anyways, I finally understood whiny celebrities who hate attention. It was really annoying to have people just stand next to you and put their arm around you without your permission. Weird. Next was the three headed palm tree, which was basically exactly what it sounds like. After that we hiked back to the waterfall. It was beautiful. We passed signs that warned us not to swim, changed into our suits, and got in.

Umbrella rock, dead ahead!

Yep. Three heads.

Ominous.

I have experienced few things that were as exhilarating as being so near that waterfall. We weren't allowed to go under it, but we got close. It created its own wind, which made it hard to stand on the rock as we were trying to pose for pictures. Everything was so green, and it was in a cove. It was like the Garden of Eden.

So amazing and unreal!

FUN!

Cool tree

We went to Accra for the night. We chose to stay at a hotel called the New Casanova Hotel, which was decent. We had dinner at a "fast food" restaurant, which really wasn't fast, but it was very good! We stopped by the mall and everything was closed. This was a bummer, until we realized that there was a movie premiere going on. It was for the Ghanaian move Sting in a Tale. We chased down one of the actors and got our pictures taken with him, which is really cool because evidently he is pretty well known in Ghana. I, however, can't remember his name right now.

After that excitement, we went out to a place where we could dance. It was a restaurant place on the street. They had no room for us, so they brought out a table and chairs into the parking area. We were having fun dancing when we noticed some street performers. They were dancing like crazy. It was so cool. We soon sat down and just watched. They were doing all sorts of acrobatic stunts. It was amazing. We also met some beggar children who we think might have been in the sex trade. That was really sad and we got together and prayed for them later.

The next day we headed home. I inadvertently offended a border woman in Ghana by handing her my passport with my left hand. Then the border guy going into Benin wasn't in a good mood, so he gave us a hard time for a while. All was resolved eventually, and we got back to the ship safe and sound.

It was a great weekend in the "promised land!"

When you're broken

Before I delve into the wonderful weekend that I spent in Ghana, I wanted to devote an entire posting on something that I feel is so important, so tragic, and so completely unheard of in the Western world. Vesicovaginal fistula, or VVF.

VVF is most commonly caused by obstructed labor. Women may be in labor for days at a time, usually with very little help. Most women are told to squat, which they might do for most of this time. After a few days of this, the baby dies. Eventually the dead baby's head bones contract enough for the woman to expel the fetus. The labor has ended, but the woman's problems are just beginning.

The prolonged pressure of the baby's head on the woman's bladder causes tissue death. This forms a hole, or fistula, between the woman's bladder and vagina. This causes constant leakage of urine. Sometimes a fistula forms between the vagina and the rectum as well, causing fecal incontinence in addition the urinary incontinence. In extreme cases, there can be severe damage to the nerves, thus crippling the women.

Women with this condition are most often alone, having been abandoned by their husbands and rejected by society. They are reduced to living on the fringes of society, begging or working in the field to make a living. Their smell is offensive, and they have no way of managing it.

This is not a small problem in the developing world. It has been estimated, according to the website emedicine.medscape.com, that the number of unrepaired VVFs in the country of Nigeria could be as high as 1,000,000. This happens with great frequency due to several reasons. First, poor roads and distance bar rural women from access to proper health care. Lack of defined health care infrastructure causes a shortage of properly trained midwives who could identify problems as they arise. Many of these cultures encourage girls to be married before age 14, which means the girls are usually pregnant before they are fully developed.

About 90% of VVF cases can be treated and completely cured by a simple surgery. The Africa Mercy performs many of those, and we're doing it right now. The last 10% can never be fully cured because the damage to the bladder was too extensive or because scar tissue has blocked things beyond repair.

After the women receive the surgery and are officially declared "dry," the women are given a new dress. They call it the "garment of praise." There is a special ceremony where the women are presented with the dresses. Some women have had these problems for over 20 years. They are all truly grateful and excited for the new opportunities they have.

For more information on this tragedy that is befalling mothers in developing countries you can check out:
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/267943-overview

I just read this book, and it is incredible:
http://www.amazon.com/Hospital-River-Story-Hope/dp/0825460719

Another resource:
http://www.fistulafoundation.org/index.html

Information on Mercy Ship's involvement:
http://www.mercyships.org.nz/what-we-do/our-progammes/vvf-surgery.html

Please pray that the procedures will be a success for all the women and that they will come to know Christ's love.

Hope you had the time of your lives!

It's that sad time again where I must make a tribute to my dearly departed (to their homes!) friends.

Jane

(Jane is in the middle.)

You are a lot of fun! I will miss you coming and chatting while I work. I'm glad we got to go out once before you left! You met me the weekend I got hurt, and you were still my friend after! Thanks for everything! Good luck at university!

Natalie

(Natalie is the nurse. I have played with this patient and she is really sweet!)

You are so awesome! I really miss you! Your love for people and games made you so much fun to have around! You and your sis knew pretty much everyone on the ship, which I found impressive! I hope you get to come back!

Hilary

You knew pretty much everyone on the ship, like your sister! You are super fun, and I miss you saying hey and walking by me while we both work! Have fun at school!

Dorothea

(Dorothea is the one on the right.)

You saved my life in Possotome! I couldn't think of a better way to become friends with someone! You are just so sweet and fun and I'm so grateful for how you listened to my problems and pointed me to God! I really miss you, but I am glad you get to see your boyfriend finally! Ich liebe dich!

I will post something about Ghana later when I have picture on the computer!