This lovely view is of Las Palmas from the hillside where the Korean Church has their building. They hosted 55 of us crew on Sunday for service which was translated from Korean into English, Spanish and Chinese. Then they enjoyed bulgogi, my favorite Korean food and then went for a short bus ride to the Botanical Gardens and the Calle de Colon – Street of Christopher Columbus.
Author Archives: Keith Brinkman
Africa Mercy High & Dry
Photo of the Africa Mercy in the drydock here in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria for our annual inspection. This is required for our passenger status for the ship and our options from West Africa are to go to South Africa or the Canary Islands. Soon I will post a photo of me standing down below the ship on dry land!!!
Entering into Drydock Las Palmas
I am standing on Deck 8 – highest deck on the Africa Mercy as we watch the ship being raised and on placed on platforms with railroad like wheels as they pull us into our ‘parking spot’. You can see 3 of the bulldozers pulling us. I have been in many drydocks, but this is the first time usually a system like this.
At the helm, heading north
The helm (steering wheel) on this ship is much smaller than on the Anastasis and Caribbean Mercy (ships of the past). In case any of you are wondering, the officer on duty had the ship on auto-pilot – I just stood there for the photo.
Checking the charts for the sail
Even though most things are not electronicized/computerized on board the ship, we still make use of the charts for our voyages. Here we are checking out our route to the shipyard in Las Palmas.
Great View!!!
On the Africa Mercy bridge, there is this section on both side that has a glass bottom, so the capitan and officers can see when docking the ship. In the photo, I am standing on the glass looking down at the ocean as it goes by. When the orphans came to visit the ship, we got permission to take them to the bridge and I would ask for a brave one to volunteer to stand on it first, usually I got one, but even afterwards, some of them would not stand in this spot.
Alieu Swaray School Tenegar
The area of Tenegar is a possible location for agriculture, water & sanitation and community health education. Jeff and I visited this school, Alieu Swaray School, spoke with the principal and teachers to learn more about the area. All of our photos and information in our reports goes to our Programs Director and the leaders at our headquarters to be considered for a community for our ’08 field service in Liberia.
Ministry of Health clinic in Artington
As part of our assessment for our community-focus activities for next year, we visited this Ministry of Health clinic in Artington. Regretfully, it is not fully staffed and only offering limited services for the people in the area. Artington is north of the capitol city of Monrovia, Liberia.
Assessment in Royesville
Blamacee Charles who is a teacher in the school showed Jeff and me around northern Royesville, which is a hike as the bridge was destroyed by an UN tank. I believe this is William Town or Besi Town in this photo. We asked alot of questions, but were careful not to raise expectations as we only did assessment. Others will take our photos and notes and make the appropriate decision.
Assessment in Royesville
With our return to Liberia in ’08, we needed to do some assessment to find appropriate communities. I went out to some recommended locations including Royesville, which is a community the Anastasis crew worked with in ’05-’06.