It makes me smile.

As I sit here in the dining room of the worlds largest hospital ship listening to laughter, people chatting and watch sleepy people head to bed after their fun weekends I am curiously content and wonder when did it become normal to live on a ship in Africa and socialize with people from all over the world? It makes me smile.

It makes me smile because if you asked me when I was a little girl where did I want to go when I grew up it was always Africa. I have no idea why but, I always said Africa.  I can still remember my long suffering parents allowing me to take on another random passion in my life as they bought me a large map of Africa which I proudly pinned up on my wall and then proceeded to print out reems of facts and figures from the computer about Africa and stick stickers on the parts of Africa I wanted to visit. My dad wasn't overly impressed as it meant he had to go out and buy a new reem of paper the next day and i'm sure some ink also. (It was obviously worth it dad ;0) ) I never really thought I would be a nurse and I even worried slightly when I started university in England that I was making a mistake as I honestly couldn't see myself being a nurse or if I did become a nurse I would only do it for a few years until I found something I truly love

.... It makes me smile to see how my life has panned out. I got my first taste of aid work when I went on a trip to Haiti in my second year of nursing and suddenly felt at home. I finally felt 'yes this is why i am doing nursing and I love it!!'. I felt at home and I couldn't and cant explain why. I have always wondered since then if it was a one time thing and surely there are more suited people out there to work abroad then me but on a spur of the moment one day I applied to Mercy ships and found myself in Sierra Leone and now in Togo....more countries than I thought I would see or get to work in. Life hasn't taken the complete direction I thought it would but I am content knowing that whatever path I choose, as long as I am serving God and honoring Him in my decisions then I can happily live on a ship in Africa for 6 weeks of my year. It has also been amazing that I was placed on the Gynaecology ward on the ship which has introduced me and given me a keen interest in VVF. I don't know if it means that perhaps in the future I will find myself in Africa again working with VVF ladies or if I will go back to work in England with the NHS but wherever I go it is my aim to do it with joy and give 110% to my daily life.