Over 100 adults and 47 children moved off the Africa Mercy within 24 hours of our arrival into South Africa. This is required by the shipyard for safety reasons, etc. It was an ‘all hands on deck’ moving party to get all the personal belongings, work items and over 240 boxes for the Academy.
KRB Update #2158 September 1, 2010
Keith R. Brinkman
Arrival in South Africa
Greetings from eThekwini (Durban) Kwa-Zulu Natal, Republic of South Africa. We have arrived at the shipyard in the harbor in Durban and we enter into a new season for the ship and for us the crew members.
But first, the sail… we left Togo around noon on Sunday August 15th for the long sail to South Africa. We practiced our drills for emergencies and secured everything in our cabins and work spaces for sailing. While still prior to going around the point of the African continent, we hit some bad weather for about three days – see the below photos to give you an idea. In total, we traveled over 3,400 nautical miles (6,290 km or 3,910 1.15 mile) arriving in Durban this morning. I was able to work at my desk just like normal – though sometimes the monitor moved a bit much for my eyes.
For the ship, she will undergo the replacement of our electrical generators, main switchboard, upgrades to our air conditioning units for decks 5, 6, & 7 plus various other projects. The goal with the new generators to reduce the noise and vibrations and their affect on the hospital on deck 3 and throughout the ship.
For us in Programs, we will be active on a smaller scale as do not have the platform of the ship and the hospital available to us. The Eye Team will be working in another province in partnership with our Mercy Ships Southern Africa office and a local foundation at three hospital locations for three weeks each. The Dental Team will be at various rural locations in the Kwa-Zulu Natal area at the discretion of the Department of Health. Our Mental Health Team will be in four rural areas providing training sessions in basic mental health assessment and counseling skills for churchleaders in partnership with three local Christian Councils.
In my role as Programs Administrator, I still have much to do related to the close out of our time in Togo – 14 official final project reports and 11 unofficial reports. I will continue to support the programs teams working on the field. Then I have a couple projects to work on, before shifting gears as we look at the possibility of public relations in Durban and Cape Town. Plus we will be deploying our Sierra Leone advance team in mid October and so I will serve as their liaison on board the ship.
Prayer Requests: ** Safety for those living on and off the ship ** My completion of the many reports – that they will be complete and full of integrity **Training Participants – with the eye project in the Eastern Cape and for the 75 church leaders participating in the mental health training ** Our community as we are separated between those still on the ship (primarily in the technical departments) and the families and others (I am an ‘other’) who are living over 100 km away at a former government college campus.
Waves on the Sail to South Africa
We are on day 10 of our sail from Togo in West Africa to South Africa – we have already travelled over 1,800 nautical miles. A friend took this photo yesterday. Here is the description from the captain of the day “As anticipated, the weather deteriorted overnight and the sea conditions have worsen. The winds are from the southeast at 40 kts, gusting to 50 kts. The ship is rolling moderate to heavy and pitching heavily. There is heavy spray on deck and sometimes the spray envelops the bridge. The weather forecast call for similar weather through Tuesday.”
Thank you Reception
We greatly appreciate our many partners during this field service in the nation of Togo. In this photo are Donovan Palmer, our Managing Director, and Pierre Christ, our Government Liaison, who served as his translator. I am sitting with Ambassador Apaloo who I initially met last year while during assessment work. Mr. Apaloo was instrumental with our first visit to Togo back in ’90 – which was our first visit to the continent of Africa.
Thank you Reception
As we are nearing the end of our field service here in Togo, we are taking the opportunity to express our appreciation to our many partners. We hosted on board representatives from the government, non-governmental organizations, churches and other organizations. In this photo, I am part of the receiving line as the guests arrived on board.
Dental Clinic Toni w Small Girl
One of my responsibilities as Programs Administrator with the Africa Mercy is to coordinate and host the ‘Off Ship Ministry Site Visits’ for the general crew – both short and long term – to visit the various ministry sites that are located off the ship – these include the dental clinic (as seen in the photo), field eye team site, screening site, Program Support Facility, and Hospitality Center.
Mercy Ministry Dayvolunteers
On Friday afternoon, we hosted our Togolese dayvolunteers at the Thank You Reception for them. This is a photo of three of our dayvolunteers who served with us in Mercy Ministry, an area here on board in Programs which I am responsible for. They did a great job this year, especially Emmanuel to my left in the photo.
Crew Shot Togo ’10 FS
Photo of some of the crew of the Africa Mercy during this Togo ’10 Field Service in Lome. Communications scheduled the shot to be done after our emergency/fire drill on Thursday afternoon. I am located on the far left hand side, second row with the bright yellow vest on (which is what we wear for Emergency Medical Team).
Christian et Gea Wedding 31July10
Yesterday I was able to attend the wedding of a couple who met here on the Africa Mercy – Christian Gbaguidi from Benin and Gea from The Netherlands. He was smiling the entire service. They were married in his church in Cotonou, Benin – Benin is the neighboring nation to Togo where the ship is on field service location. Benin is celebrating their 50th Year of Independence from France today.
KRB Update 2156 – Durban / eThekwini – South Africa
KRB Update #2156 July 19, 2010
Keith R. Brinkman
Durban / eThekwini – South Africa
Greetings from Durban / eThekwini, South Africa. The reasons we are going to South Africa are for a technical work phase primarily though we will have some programmatic activities ashore. These may include an Eye Training Program, Mental Health training for local Christian leaders, and a Dental Clinic outreach. I am here serving on the Advance Team.
Mercy Ships will bring the ship to the city of Durban. Durban is also known by its Zulu name – eThekwini – which is translated as the place ‘where the earth and the ocean meets’. It is situated on the east of coast of South Africa, on the shores of the Indian Ocean. The weather is milder, subtropical climate with all-year-round sunshine (down here the seasons are opposite to us in the United States and Europe, so here we are in winter). South Africa has eleven official languages – though the predominant language in this area is Zulu.
Some of our tasks here as the Advance Team include finding accommodations for the crew who are not able to live on the ship while it is in the shipyard – that consists of families with children (51 children in total), couples, and singles (though about 80 crew members, primarily technical crew, will remain on board). We as a team (primarily Cathy) have followed up on many contacts and have taken hundreds photos and written reports so our leaders can review the options. Brenda, who is our team leader, continues to work with the government contacts.
At the same time, I am here on the Advance Team, I am still doing various aspects of my role as Programs Administrator for the Africa Mercy – doing that remotely has had its challenges.
A side note – the nation of South Africa hosted the World Cup 2010 – Soccer or Football depending where you are from. The excitement was in the air – flags were flying – South African flags and also the flags of the other countries competing in the World Cup. Even though South Africa was knocked out in the first round, the people are still proud of the team and the country for being able to host this huge event. We as a team have watched various matches on the television.
Prayer Requests: ** Technical work to be completed with excellence and on schedule **All the logistics for the crew who need to move off the ship during the shipyard phase ** Divine opportunities and appointments ** Remaining funds needed to pay for the shipyard phase