Togo 3 (02/02)

Hello friends!

Just finished my two-day week, Thank Goodness. I need some rest

On Monday I had the day off and me, two girls and Tom, a day worker from the galley, went to the market in search of fabric. Unfortunately I couldn’t find what I was looking for- I don’t know exactly what that is but il know it when I see it. After that we took another taxi, to the tailor who lives near Tom. The girls were measure for dresses and skirts and since we were there I had myself measured as well. Tomorrow, which begins my weekend, we will return to the market for fabric finding! I also hope to play ultimate Frisbee in the evening.

On Tuesday I slept in and missed breakfast… trying to get max sleep before the Screening Advance leaving that afternoon. The Advance is a cautious security strategy which resulted after someone was trampled during Sierra Leone’s screening. Screenings being the process whereby thousands of people are seen by doctors or nurses to determine whether or not the Mercy Ship can help them. We left the ship at 14h0, travelling in convoy along with some nurse and technicians setting up for the following morning. We constructed our Control at the top of some stairs overlooking the outside area of Lome Stadium. After helping construct queues using plastic “caution” tape, we split into pairs. I was with a very nice Lithuanian an, Dennis. Dennis reminds me of Allan Garbaccio. He too is an engineer, is loud, funny and has a refreshing outlook on life. We two were posted at the main gate for the first two hours. This basically and unfortunately meant that all we had to do was make sure that the Gendarme, the local trained riot police, did their job of ensuring no one entered during the night. A bit demeaning, I thought. I slept fro about half an hour on a step at Control and a very short while in a hammock that some genius decided to bring. Dennis and I also manned the ‘Patient Gate’ where potential patients waited since that night to be seen in the morning. At 22h00 two nurses arrive to ‘preprescreen’ the waiters so that they could spare some the night out by sending them home if they could not be helped. We ‘escorted’ the nurses as they did, more to keep us from being bored than for security- the Gendarme were outside as well. By the end of the night there were about 120 people waiting. Conversations, my book (despite poor lighting), takeaways from KFG (not KFC and it took about 90mins to prepare!), chocolate chip biscuits and water (we were sponsored 4000 bottles- a treat to have such good water!) sustained us until the first convoy arrived at about 06h00.

I didn’t even feel tired when I arrived back at 07h30 to be at work at 8! I had a very good ‘2minute’ shower. During my lunch break I went up to the 8^th deck to read and devotion in the sun… I fell asleep with my bible open and woke up half an hour later sweating, a lot. Just as well… on Sunday the stand in chef woke me at 6 15 when I overslept. Once was enough. I finished work, ran 18 times of the pier, showered and went to bed at 20h30. Slept brilliantly.

I really enjoyed The Advance. Despite thinking it was perhaps over cautious, the screening did run smoothly with about 4000 people arriving. We each had a radio and code names. Mine was Legolas, the elf from the Lord of the Rings. It was heaps better than some of the other guys’. The radios provided much laughter and were no doubt useful. It was a real night for the boys. It was sad that I couldn’t be there for the day itself. We were told NO CAMERAS so I didn’t get any pictures. I regret not taking mine because that order seems to have been aimed at people attending the actual screenings. I will try to get some pictures from those who did take and put them up.

For prayer, I am struggling with feeling distanced or far from God. I really wish to end any such feelings as soon as possible so that I might get the most, spiritually, out of this year. I have been chatting with the chaplain, whom I met at the Plumstead MS office before leaving, and he is a wonderful man. It is good to have someone such as him to open up to. So please pray that God may reveal Himself to me powerfully so that this stress may be removed and so that I may grow!

I was asked this week to be a cabin checker during the fire drills. The cabin I must check are three floors up and toward the back of the ship! We had a drill on Tuesday, while I was trying to catch a good mornings sleep. I jumped out of bed super quick and ended up waiting on the dock for about 40 minutes. I was starving!

Tomorrow night I plan to make Panzerottis, the crest shaped dough with tomato and cheese, since there is a good tomato paste in the fridge, which is deep fried (thanks Rocco!).

I am looking forward to my visiting an orphanage on Saturday morning, my first outreach. Hopefully I will be able to attend a local church on Sunday. Also, Man united versus Chelsea on sunday. I am told it is also the Superbowl...

 As for the Pictures, I took them shortly before my impromptu nap… I am continually surprised by the amount of ships at the sea here, all waiting to come into port. I took this at port side (left) aft (back).

The beautiful ones of the screening were all taken by my roommate, JJ. He is clearly a very good photographer :)

Also there is a picture of a friend having a 'surgery' at the Hospital open house. It was really fun and involved games of emptying drips and throwing items into bed pans!

Thank you for reading this, I enjoy relaying my experiences.

ben x