I thank God for the New Year 2022 – at church you may hear Liberians saying   ‘we tell God thanks to be here today as some did not make it through the night’ – referring to those who have died overnight.  The United Nations Human Development Index is a summary assessing countries on three dimensions, health, education, and standard of living using life expectancy at birth, expected years of schooling for children and mean years of schooling for adults, and GNI per capita.  Out of the 189 countries in the index, Liberia is down near the bottom at 175.  Life expectancy for men is 62 years and for women at 65 years.  Under-five years old mortality rate, 71 out of 1,000 live births. Life is hard here.  As I get to hear people’s stories it is heartbreaking.  For some, they or a family member need surgery and it is either not available in-country or they don’t have the finances to pay for it.  For those who have a surgical need that may be possible with Mercy Ships, I promise to advise them when we start surgical patient selection later this year.  Though for most, I shared with them ‘sorry-o, that is not something Mercy Ships can help with’.    
With COVID all over the world, since March 2020, Liberia has only reported 7,354 confirmed cases and 290 deaths – I do recognize that not all cases were counted, but nothing like what happened here with Ebola from 2014 to 2016. 
Personally, I remain healthy, sleep well at night even when there is no electricity/current for the fan.    

 
Photo:  Felix, who is a current crew member from the ship, is here.  We have gone to church together and shared updates on Mercy Ships.

Photo below:  Team dinner at the apartment – me trying to be in the photo – though with a goofy smile.  The Team is larger now and at three locations.    

For 2022, I continue to work on our schedules and timelines seeing what is possible in this nation – from medical capacity building training courses in town and in a few of the counties as the team will travel, mentoring for those trained last year in biomedical, nutrition agriculture focusing on 32 young entrepreneurs, strategic donations, mental health training for healthcare workers and church leaders, and leadership training with hospitals.  Later in the year, more team members will arrive to accomplish all the ‘Advance’ activities necessary for the ship’s arrival.

Prayer Requests: *Health and Safety for me, my team, and the people of Liberia.
*Wisdom and discernment and insight as I serve in this nation.

Praise Reports: * Africa Mercy in Senegal as the ship was able to return to the continent after 22 months away and will be in Senegal for 2022.  Though many changes were needed to operate a hospital ship with COVID – concerns for our patients, training participants, crew, local workers, and partners.  
* The Global Mercy – check out this website and take advantage of a Patient Journey and Volunteer Journey.