“Welcome Back to Guinea” – was what we heard having arrived back in Conakry, Guinea last week.  This is the fourth visit of a Mercy Ship to Guinea, the first two done by the Anastasis in 1992 and 1998/1999 and then the one was I was greatly involved with the Africa Mercy from 2012/2013 including assessment in 2011.  We had planned to return earlier to Guinea at the invitation of the president and the great need of the population.  Due to Ebola disease in Guinea which also spread over to the neighboring nations of Sierra Leone and Liberia, we had to delay our visit as we are not equipped in our hospital for Ebola.  So we had to communicate to the president that we were postponing our visit, not cancelling.  Now, there is no Ebola in West Africa and the World Health Organization (WHO) has cleared Guinea so now we are fulfilling our promise.  A sub point to our Core Value of ‘Be People of Integrity’ is ‘Doing What We Say’.

On the Human Development Index from 2016, Guinea ranks near the very bottom in position #183 of #188 nations.  55% of the population live on less than $2/day.  During the time of Ebola, next to no elective surgeries took place and regretfully hundreds of their healthcare workers died from Ebola as they were caring for their patients.  I can tell you from my experience, they did not have a surplus of surgeons, nurses and anesthesia providers.  So we are coming to partner together with the country (government, church, and NGOs) to provide 2,500 life changing and some lifesaving surgeries free of charge to the population.  Some patients will travel from the neighboring countries (including my friend Daouda from Liberia for a follow-up surgery) in order to receive care as they know Mercy Ships and our history in Africa.                             
Photo Caption: Arrival Day – even with the rain we were out and waving the flags – I have the Greek flag in the far left

Population of 12.6 million in the three largest ethnic groups (82%) in Guinea – Fulani, Malinke, and Susu.
Religions in Guinea:  86% Muslim, 10% Christian mainly in the Forest regions, and 4% other.

There is great excitement among the healthcare workers in both public and faith-based hospitals (like Hope Medical Center in N’Zao which I first visited in 2008 – they have brought severe surgical cases to us whenever we have been close) about the opportunities to receive continuing medical education.  The training will be in surgical-related subjects that we offer through our Medical Capacity Building (MCB) mentoring and courses.

I look forward to reunions during the early part of this field service with friends I knew in 2013.  Some of these friends are former patients, caregivers, training participants, day crew (local workers) and partners.

Prayer Requests:
*  For our prescreening for potential surgical patients – Monday August 20^th starting at 6am – so between midnight and 2am if you are in the States.  Please pray that the people God has purposes with Mercy Ships at this time they will come and nothing will stop them.   The surgical need is greater than we can meet during our visit.  The ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ is a difficult decision.  Pray for our healthcare professionals.  I will assist with patient escort and will see all the patients and caregivers coming in – a great opportunity that I am thankful to be a part.  In order to better reach patients in the interior, four more screenings will take place in the regions in October and November.

Photo Caption:  Those serving with the Prescreening from our rehearsal on Friday.
*  God to use our hands and feet for His work and purpose in Guinea.

You may wonder why we are on field service in Africa for ten months and then have to go to a shipyard for maintenance, repair and inspections for the ship.  These inspections are required in order for us to continue to operate the vessel.  The maintenance and repairs are managed by our Technical departments – Deck and Engineering.  We are always thankful for the Project Team volunteers who come in to help it all to be accomplished.  For the Africa Mercy the two primary shipyard options are: Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain and Durban, South Africa.  We will be back in the same shipyard next year between the Guinea and Senegal field services.

So am I involved with the repairs and maintenance of the ship?  No, you could ask my Dad that I don’t have many skills in maintenance and repairs.  As a kid and teenager my Dad tried, but often I was only good for handing him tools and always hoped I got him the right ones.  My role as Programs Administration Manager continues year round.  During the period between the field service, I am working on reports, project expenses vs. budget, supporting the Advance Team and taking some time off for rest.  I create the final narrative report as a summary of all that happened.  I have posted this report in pdf on my web site:  www.KeithBrinkman.com if you wish to take a look.  At the same time, I support the Advance Team in the next country as it is a busy season for them.  For Conakry, Guinea, we have a team of 10 members doing all they can to make arrangements for the ship’s arrival so that we can have a great start to the field service.  We always want to maximize the time the ship has in country to love God and love and serve the people of Guinea.  I will write more in my next update on Guinea.

            Photo Caption: Map and Scripture from the local church we attend – we are pointing towards the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa

I would like to share some thoughts which I wrote for our community:  Our ship community is unique in many ways – there are not that many communities out there like a Mercy Ships community on a ship – whether that is the Africa Mercy, was the Anastasis, Caribbean Mercy, Good Samaritan or the Island Mercy.  We hear the number of 1,000 crew volunteers coming through in a typical field service ~ 100 every month for ten months – that is a lot of hello/welcome and goodbyes.  For me, it is hard to remember being a new crew member after serving on four of the ships and the US office over the last many years.  But we as an entire crew need to remember and reach out to the others, especially new people arriving.  Even in our community on this ship, there are people who are lonely.  If you wish to interact with fellow crew members, hang out in the dining room, the café, mid ship lounge, or up on deck 8 under the canopy.  Invite someone new to join you at your table in the dining room.  Seat with others in the dining room and ask to hear some of their story.  Check out the Programs Opportunities Sign Up binder and see what you may wish to join and be apart during your free time.  There is also a binder called Social Activities – where your crew members are planning something and inviting other crew members to join.  Let’s make the Guinea field service an amazing field service for all involved.

Please pray for
* our upcoming sail to Conakry, Guinea – though it is not a long one – only six days as we sail along.  Pray for a safe sail and arrival to Berth # 4 in Conakry for our ten month stay.
* for the first surgical screening at the People’s Palace on August 20, to find many of our surgical patients – there will be four other surgical screenings elsewhere in the country.  May the people who need our assistance will hear the announcements and have the courage to come.