The President of Benin, who is a Christian, has his own prayer team. He has been sending them to the ship twice a week to pray on board for us, the ministry and all that is happening in Benin. So on Sunday, we hosted them with their families on board the ship – I was a tour guide with a translator to French and then to Fon, the local language. In this photo, we are enjoying a meal together in the dining room.
KRB Update 2143 Plastic Surgery Screening
KRB Update #2143 September 8, 2009
Plastic Surgery Screening – the below report was written by our Communications Department – I volunteered for the day to help with patient care and flow and now I am seeing those patients on board in our Hospital – plus many were at our optional Sunday morning service in the ward.
South African Surgeon Screens for Burns and Keloids
Dr. Tertius Venter, a plastic surgeon from South Africa, has volunteered with Mercy Ships since 2000. He will spend five weeks onboard the Africa Mercy serving the forgotten poor of Benin. Dr. Venter has already screened over 100 patients at the Mercy Ships Hospitality Center in Cotonou, and 94 were given appointments for an operation.
“There are many good candidates for surgery,” Dr. Venter said. “The challenge is making it work in the time frame.”
Many of the patients Dr. Venter sees are people who have been severely burned and have lost range of motion in their arms, hands, and legs. He will also remove keloid scars, which are hugely disfiguring and often painful, and reconstruct noses and other severely damaged areas of the body. In addition, he screens patients suffering from elephantiasis, a severe thickening of the legs and ankles.
Keith Brinkman, a 20-year volunteer with Mercy Ships, has seen the transformative effect of Dr. Venter’s surgeries. Keith remembers a patient whose hands were gnarled and non-functional from leprosy. Dr. Venter was able to restore enough motion to the man’s hand so that he could grasp a paintbrush. The man was able to become a painter, earn an income, and improve his life.
Dr. Tertius Venter will work onboard the Africa Mercy in Benin, healing patients and reconstructing areas destroyed by burns or disease.
Dr. Tertius Venter, a plastic surgeon from South Africa, hopes to heal Ganiyou from the effects of a severe electrical burn.
KRB Update 2142 Emergency Drills
KRB Update #2142 August 18, 2009 Emergency Drills
EMERGENCY SIGNALS: (from the Africa Mercy Crew Handbook)
Crew Alert: One long continuous sounding of the ship’s general alarm for not less than 10 seconds. At sea, this may be accompanied by one long continuous blast of not less than 10 seconds on the ships whistle. General Emergency: At least 7 short alerts on the overhead paging system followed by one long alert. At sea, this may be accompanied by at least 7 short blast followed by one long blast on the ship’s whistle. Man Overboard: Three long alerts on the overhead paging system followed by three long blasts on the ship’s whistle. When the general emergency alarm is sounded – go to your appropriate muster station. At sea, unless you have been instructed otherwise, the muster stations are on Deck 7 by letters: A,B,C,D (portside) and E,F,G,H (starboard side). Prior to sailing, your muster station will be posted on the Muster List at various locations around the ship, including outside the Purser’s Office. In Port, unless instructed otherwise, proceed directly to the dock and find the muster taker holding the sign that contains the first letter of your last name. Drills will be conducted on a regular basis.
During most of my years living on the ships, I served on an emergency team. When the Crew Alert alarm is sounded, I know where I am going and how to respond as we drill regularly and with different scenarios. I serve as a stretcher bearer here, which also includes various duties in addition to safely moving someone to a safe place. We have also responded to true emergencies when something has happened to a fellow crew member. While on the Anastasis, I was also on lifeboat crew, but not here on the Africa Mercy as we have four large lifeboats (plus many life rafts – sufficient for our entire crew and more) and they are staffed by the deck and engineering departments.
My regular prayer requests include health, safety and protection. I appreciate your partnership with me in prayer as I serve here in West Africa.
Emergency Drill EMT
This is our response to an emergency drill set up by the safety officer, Michael from Australia. You can see the firemen in full gear and our Emergency Medical Team (EMT) which I am a part of as a stretcher bearer – I’m in the yellow vest on the far left of this photo.
Emergency Drill 06Aug09
This is a drill, this is a drill!!! In order for good practise and to be ready in the case of a real emergency, the safety officer had a scenario set up for the Fire Team and the Emergency Medical Team (EMT) – as you see in this photo up on deck 7 of the ship.
Young friend at a local church
This was a young friend who kept walking by our seat while at a Sunday service at a local Foursquare Church here in Cotonou – which is the home church of a fellow long term crew member and friend. Another friend gave him a balloon and since it was her last Sunday, she had her camera and took this photo.
Off Ship Site Visit 07Aug with Jean Claude
Our second stop on our Off Ship Ministry Site Visit was with Jean Claude who is our agriculture trainer. He is training five men from Bethesda in agriculture who will be the trainers in their training program. In addition, they have 5 other men from the local community going through the training. Soon they will start with 30 new participants. You will see below the building they will use as the dormitory for participants and staff.
Off Ship Site Visit 07Aug – Hevie Training Facility
One of my privileges and responsibilities as the Programs Administrator is to plan and host the Off Ship Ministry Site visits for the general crew on a sign-up basis. Our very capable Public Relations department does this for visiting guests, donors, staff from our offices, etc. Though, I am able to offer this for the general crew. On Friday, we drove for about an hour to Hevie where we are partnering with Bethesda, a local Christian non governmental organization in building a training facility / dormitory for agriculture training. The building is near completion and will be occupied as soon as it is finished.
Jardin d’Eden Basketball
Following our time of singing and sharing a Bible story / lesson and craft time, we usually have free play time – this week we brought a basketball. Basketball is not too popular here, as football (soccer is king) though the boy with the ball now has a shirt with ‘Jordan’ printed on it.
Jardin d’Eden with Dorreal 01Aug
In this photo, Dorreal is one of the older boys at the Jarden d’Eden (Garden of Eden) Children’s home here in Cotonou – he is holding on his shoulder ‘Baby girl’ who has just started to walk.