I signed up 3 months ago to observe a surgery and my opportunity was last Friday. I watched Dr. Tony Giles from the UK perform a tumor removal surgery on Philip from Guinea – one of our neighboring nations. A cell that is used to make enamel went bad and formed a tumor in the chin/jaw area. They had to take out the lower jaw along with the tumor. It was interesting to watch and see all the tools they use and how they are able to do these life changing surgeries. Last night, I visited briefly with Philip in the hall and he is on day five of his recovery and doing good. We were limited in our conversation as he speaks French and I have not yet learned much of that language.
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Centre for the Orphaned / Abandoned
Saturdays, I visit the Centre for the Orphaned and Abandoned with about 15 other crew members. There are about 70 children and teen living there under the care of Comfort and Dennis and their staff. While we are there, we usually have games, singing with motions, a Bible story lesson, crafts and more games. As it was rainy last week, we met on the small porch and here is a picture of some of the boys.
Armor of God in balloons
Last Saturday, we brought a special guest to the orphanage… Mario from Italy as the clown. When he came out, the children ran, they had never seen such a person. Prior to our visit, we asked the director if this would be ok and she said she. We were huddled on the small porch as it was raining and so when he came out, they even ran out into the rain. The Bible lesson was on putting on the armor of God and he made balloons to demonstrate – Sword of the Spirit, Breastplate of Righteousness, Belt of Truth, Shield of Faith & Helmet of Salvation.
Collin at Orphanage
On Sunday, July 29th I responded to an emergency announcement and reported quickly to Reception. I was assigned to drive for our emergency medical team to a site on the other side of town. The site was where we found Collin who was not breathing and his heart was not pumping, his friend was doing CPR. He apparently drowned while swimming with friends at a local nearby beach. Our doctors and nurses did all they could, but we could not revive him. Henry and Phil, two of our chaplains, came to the site to be there for his friends, our team and others – we had a time of prayer and crying. I didn’t know Collin that well, but he was part of our community and being there trying to help just hit me emotionally also. He was 21 years old, just three days shy of his 22nd birthday. Please pray for his family and friends.
Little George
My friend took this photo at church last Sunday as I was sitting next to George, 6 months old, and his mother. I was attending the New Georgia United Methodist Church, only 20 km from the ship. Our man of peace here in Liberia used to attend this church prior to being moved into the district overseer role with the United Methodist Church, which is a large denomination here in Liberia. The president herself attends the Methodist church.
HIV Graduation – Ceremony
Our HIV/AIDS training has been happening in 3 communities with small group representatives from 8 churches. They came to the ship for their certificate ceremony. I joined them for the special event and I ran into two pastors I met at our Pastors Reception – they were the ones who gave me my Liberian name, KOFA.
HIV Graduation
Last Friday, we had the graduation ceremony for 8 church groups as they have finished their training in HIV/AIDS. Now they are working on their own proposals on how they will use their training to impact their communities in regards to HIV/AIDS.
Celebration of Sight – Slit Lamp
I helped with getting the patients to this point. After our station, an ophthalmologist performed the laser eye procedures utilizing a portable, table-top YAG ophthalmic laser. “When the cataract is removed the surgeon leaves a little membrane in the eye which helps to hold the [synthetic replacement] lens in place,” Dr. Hugh explains. “After a period of time this membrane may become cloudy. As it becomes cloudy the patient’s vision is compromised. So they bring the patients back and they use the YAG laser to cut a little hole in the center of that membrane. The patient is able to see clearly again through that hole.” Medical research indicates about half of those who undergo a cataract removal procedure will eventually lose their sight a second time due to cloudy membranes. We will have our Celebration of Sight day in September.
Celebration of Sight – Left or Right
We seated the patients and their families. Many stood and shared testimony and expressed their thanks to God and to the crew and to speak of how their lives had been transformed. One man spoke of losing his livelihood as a fisherman because of the cataracts that stole his vision. Another said he’d feared his eyesight had failed because of a curse placed on him by a neighbor. Both gave praise to God for the return of their sight. As you can imagine, many were older people. I reviewed their records and got them ready for Dr. Hugh to look into their eye.
Celebration of Sight
One-hundred eighty-five patients crowded the Africa Mercy cafeteria on last Friday to celebrate the restoration of their eyesight with the beat of African drums, hymns and shouts of praise.
Health Care Services Manager Jean Campbell said of the Celebrate Sight event, “One of the things we wanted to do was to celebrate the fact they could see again, that this was a gift to them, and that ultimately it was God who made it all possible for their operations to take place onboard. It also was an opportunity for patients to express what a difference sight has made in their lives.” My role was patient flow and getting them ready for the slit lamp.