On Sundays the crew are encouraged to attend local churches for Sunday morning services. Normally I have had patients in the Hospital on the ship and we have an optional service in the ward and I invite my patients to attend. At times, when I am not going to the service in the hospital, I attend the New Georgia United Methodist Church with other crew members. Rev. Alex Harmon has been a friend for two years now. This photo was from our last Sunday with them and they presented Certificates of Appreciation.
Programs Reporting Time
During our field services, every Friday morning at 07:45 I have the privilege to host Programs Reporting Time. This is an opportunity for Programs (Hospital and HealthCare Development) here on the Africa Mercy to share what is happening both on board and off the ship. I usually start out pointing out opportunities for the crew to join us – that is what I am showing in the photo.
Benin Advance Team
On Thursday evening at our Community Meeting, we prayed over and commissioned our Advance Team for Benin ’09 Field Service. Four women (Brenda, Anouchka, Yvonne, Melissa) were asked to join the Benin Field Representative (Daslin) to prepare for the ship’s next outreach. As part of my role as Programs Administrator, I assist to prepare the logistics and provide support for the team. I will drive them to the airport on Monday morning as they fly to Cotonou, Benin via Lagos, Nigeria.
Group Photo 08 w Mercy Ships
Photo of the children, teens and staff of the Liberia Children Rescue Education Foundation Orphanage at the start of their visit to the ship. In addition, some of the crew who have been involved in their lives are also in the picture – I’m seated in the middle on the dock. I printed this photo out for them to keep also.
Ship Visit 15Nov08
During the visit of the orphanage to the ship, I showed them a 6 minute power point with about 140 photos from this year. It was fun to watch them watch themselves on the big screen here in our International Lounge. I played the famous Liberian song ‘Carry My Load’ while we watched the photos.
Ship Visit
On Saturday afternoon the 15th of November, the children, teens and staff and 3 staff children came to the ship for a visit. One of the highlights was playing on the dock with the ride on toys, wagons, etc as you can see in the photo. Thankfully we had no close calls with the children and the edge of the pier – as that was one of my fears and thus ensured we had enough of us there to be watching.
Visit Nov 22
During today’s visit to Liberia Children Rescue Education Foundation Orphanage, I had given my camera to Joseph and he took this photo of me with Isaiah, Princess and Ma Hawa. I will miss them greatly when we leave in a few weeks.
Visit Nov 22 Distribute Photos
While the children, teens and staff of Liberia Children Rescue Education Foundation Orphanage visited to the ship last Saturday, I took individual portraits of them. Then I printed and had them laminated and as the picture shows, Kennedy, the orphanage director is giving the photos out to the children and teens. When I saw their faces while getting their photos, it was worth all the work.
Programs Reporting Times
One of my great enjoyments every week is hosting a weekly meeting on Friday mornings at 07:45am. I arrange and coordinate for speakers from our Hospital and HealthCare Developments areas. This provides a time to have our project team leaders and others to share what is happening in programs both on the ship and off the ship. For some of my speakers, it is the first time they have done a speech in English for a large group. I usually start with a welcome and advertise the opportunities for that weekend that the general crew may sign up and join us and also about the sign up sheets for local churches on Sundays.
US Ambassador Visit – US Crew
I joined our managing director and others in hosting the visit of the US Ambassador to Liberia on board the ship. Some of the US crew gathered here in our mid-ship lounge for a photo. She and her party stayed with us for dinner in our dining room.