It was my every intention to write a few blogs before I left the ship and give you a glimpse of what life is like on the ship when we are winding down, discharging patients and scrubbing and cleaning, saying goodbyes etc. but time ran away from me.

....and now I have no idea where to begin.

I could begin by explaining precious moments spent with my patients with crocheting, 'chatting' and learning Ewe or their local dialect (I failed miserably but gave them a laugh), learning a local game called Oware, having them giggle and laugh when trying to plait my hair and sigh in exasperation as it fell out after their hard work as it was 'Too Yovo', dancing up and down the corridors singing and clapping, watching movies with them and holding their hands and dishing our hugs as they have days where they are down and not looking forward to going home.But those moments are not captured anywhere except to memory which are moments that I enjoyed the most and felt most content and spent most of my free time when not working.

I could try to explain the blessing it was to be asked by Dovi, one of my patients to escort her home and be there when she saw her family again following re constructive facial surgery- pictures would not do it justice. I could try to re-live the huge hugs, kisses, thanks and prayers offered by our patients for the work Mercy Ship done for them through Gods love. I could try and explain the fun and joy we had when down on our hands and knees scrubbing the floor, cupboards, beds and chairs on the wards while listening to African music and having a dance with fellow Togolese workers but I cant....

These are precious moments in my memory with so many more and I cant find words to explain or recapture them so im not going to even try. Thanks to all who read my blog and left comments, sent messages, emails and txts. A special thanks to those who prayed for me during my trip. It was a real encouragement and felt very loved :0) I had the most amazing 6 weeks where I have cried, laughed, felt frustrated, been overwhelmed and felt pure joy and contentment and peace.

Until the next time.
x

Being creative

This has been a fun and very random week on the ward and probably the most creative for me also. Last week I started chatting (take that phrase loosely, it means smiles, nods and charades) with a lady who had facial surgery the previous week and was on our ward  for wound care and until her sutures had to come out. She had a lesson from another crew member in how to chain some stitches in order to crochet and was so keen to learn more. I had a quiet shift one day so I sat beside her bed and 'asked' if she would like to learn more. She nodded and smiled and wiggled herself into a more comfortable position on her bed. We started with chaining and single crochet designs. We made a flat cup coaster shape and once she mastered that i thought we could move on to circles. So for another couple of hours in between dishing out meds and doing some vital signs we continued making a circular shape which ended up being quite large as we were using torn fabric strips with a very large hook...At the end of my shift I left with the promise I would be back tomorrow and we could work on some more designs and perhaps make something out of the random plate sized circular object we had made...

SIGH, I wish i had pictures. I came in the next day where she proudly presented a bag! She has continued making the circle which turned in on itself and she kept adding and adding and then made handles. She couldnt contain her smile as she watched all the nurses drape the bag over their shoulders showing surprise and awe that she had made this bag overnight. Such a sweet lady full of pride which made me smile all day!

We then started on headbands. We were sitting on deck 7 one day when she presented me with very fine brown thread a a needle and pointed to a lady nearby who was wearing a hat. I giggled and said to a translator to explain the last time I attempted to make a hat it did not turn out well but I was happy to show her how to make a headband. So at 14.30 that afternoon we started on the headband. It was a joy to see her learning and taking in all the advice I gave her (not that I know much about crocheting, all my knowledge comes from Nikki Smalley and my mam). We continued until about 22.00 that night grabbing moments inbetween dinner, meds, vital signs and some wound care. I made a little flower, finished it off with a button and ta-da!

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.

Joy

My last post was one side of what I see and experience everyday. It didn't reflect the joy and love I feel and receive on a daily basis as being one of the nurses on the VVF ward. The women who have had successful surgeries are the joy that radiates out and around the ward. They are the women who have light shining from their eyes and smiles as wide as their faces when you say Ca Va? The beaming smile and eyes raised towards the roof with their hands clasped in praise and thanks to their God is enough of an answer to that question. In saying that there is one lady in particular who although has experienced complication after complication and is still wet is the one who melts every ones heart with her beautiful smile and cheeky ways. She cannot speak very good French or Ewe but has managed to pick up a few words in the weeks she has been here and also has learned a few choice English words which always follows with her mischievous giggle and a huge smile as she gets a reaction of joy from the nurses. 

As a sign of respect and love for these women who have come with such traumatic stories we celebrate them in a dress ceremony. We dress them each in a beautiful dress in the traditional manner with headdresses and jewellery and basically celebrate how great and wonderful they are. The new dress is a sign of a new beginning and also makes them feel very beautiful :) We give them a chance to speak and say a few words if they choose which always begins with a shout of HALLELUJAH and a response of AMEN from the crowd repeated a good few times getting louder each time along with many many songs and a lot of clapping cheering and laughter!!We present them with symbols of hope and the beginning of a new life so they recognise how precious and wonderful they are, trying to undo years of abuse and anguish. First a bar of soap, representing a new and clean life with no need to feel dirty anymore due to their illness, cream for their beautiful bodies, a mirror so they can look at themselves and see a beautiful women with her dignity intact and a Bible so they can grow to know their Saviour more. It is an honor to be part of these women's lives and celebrating them in this way couldn't be more appropriate. An African dance party praising God for their lives and  helping them to recognise that even if their bodies are not perfect on this earth that someday in heaven as daughters of God they will have no more tears, pain or suffering at the hands of those around them. Since I arrived 3 weeks ago I looked after 5 ladies in particular almost every shift so needless to say I became quite close to them and felt such a sense of pride, love and joy when I saw them dancing on the ward in their beautiful dresses as all the nurses, doctors and crew on the ship joining in. 

The final picture is the kind of reception we receive almost every time us nurses come to the ward especially if we have been off work for a few days. Then its exclamations of joy, laughter and oooo's and awww's as hugs and kisses are handed out from each lady. I would like to someday say that if I am ever faced with such sad and devastating circumstances as many of these women are, I will be able to demonstrate and give as much love as these women have.

Their joy is humbling. 

Its not always fun.

Today is one of the toughest shifts Ive had so far this time and Ive only been here 10 days. I have been assigned for the past week the same 4 ladies (and others) which has been so wonderful. I have managed to slowly build a relationship with each one with simple things like hanging a curtain around one lady's bed who likes to sleep early, two more loved being tucked in when they lay down and another enjoys holding someones hand and having her arm stroked as she rests in her bed. I absolutely love being able to do this for them and show love as I cannot speak their language which sometime frustrates me. If the shift is quiet then we can sing songs together, try to talk by doing charades (I'm not good) and paint toenails, make friendship bracelets or play X&O's on a scrap piece of paper.

These ladies each have a heart breaking story of their own and came to the ship with such high hopes that their suffering would finally end. The hope that the big white ship brings is held on to very tight even when we have not been successful with surgery....'There must be something more you can do?' This is the question asked of me today by my patient who I had to tell that it was time to go home.

She is still wet.

As the tears flowed we had to tell her through two translators that we were so so sorry but there is nothing more we can do and if there was we would do it for her in an instant...... 'but I am still wet'..... Lalle  has been leaking for such a long time and she came with hope that the big white ship would be able to change her life however, due to her bladder size and other issues her surgery did not make her dry. She cried. We asked her to open up to us and explain what was concerning her most and she cried as she told me that in her village she is chased by the villagers and scorned for her condition as urine leaks down her legs while doing her daily chores. She struggles to find food to eat or buy and when she draws water at the only well in the village they jeer and torment her...... my heart breaks.

Pray that she is accepted back into her community and that her neighbours will recognise the hurt and pain she feels. Pray that she remembers how loved she is and that although in this present world she may not have a dry body, God will restore her in the next and give her a beautiful and dry body with no more tears or shame.

Today in the UK my beautiful God-daughter is being dedicated to God and is having a celebration of her life with people who love her.
I am sad not to be there. I will praise God for your life today Mia and everyday as you grow up. You are a precious gift and I look forward to watching you grow up into a beautiful person.

A verse for you- Proverbs 3:5-6 : Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

This year I have the privilege of working in Togo on Mercy Ships for 6 weeks. I have been placed in Gynae which is amazing as most of you know that’s where I love to work. The women that we are treating are women who have the need for VVF surgery otherwise known as Vesicovaginal Fistula. Basically these women had a neglected and obstructed birth and never healed from the damage caused. Most of the ladies here have struggled until the baby died and during this agonizing process, loss of circulation caused tissue to die, leaving large gaps between the birth canal and bladder or rectum, causing incontinence. Most women suffering with obstetric fistula are ostracized by their families and communities as they smell and are constantly wet, leaving them to live as outcasts. Not only do they have to come to terms with losing a child, they have to suffer loss of their families and their dignity.

On Wednesday morning I attended a ceremony on the ward where 8 women following a successful surgery are dressed in a new gown with a beautiful headdress and we celebrated their new found dignity and praised God for the outcome of their surgery.
I cried. I couldn’t help the tears from flowing as a listened to these women telling their stories of how they lost their children and then lost their families with one lady being forced to live in the bush and others being taken in by neighbors who took pity. Some lived with this 'sickness' for 20+ years, others for 2 but this did not make them complain. I think if that had been my story...losing a child and then my family...I would find a lot to complain about. Instead these women started their stories with a shout of HALLALUJAH and continued to sing and hug those around them. I wish you could be there to see and feel the atmosphere. It was very special.

Please pray for continued success for surgeries and that these ladies stay ‘dry’and for the ones where it has not been possible to make them 'dry' that they will be accepted home into their communities. The surgeries are sometimes not successful which is heartbreaking for us and them.

A new season

It is officially 35 days since i walked down the gangway of the MV Africa Mercy for the last time in Sierra Leone. Do i wish i stayed, yes!Do i think i'll go back? If thats where God wants me!

Saying goodbye

Final wave off

Since I came back to the UK I have had the most amazing support by friends and family and church family to help me transition back into western life. 9 weeks was not the longest amount of time but it certainly made an impact on my life. My wonderful mam came to Heathrow to collect me with my adopted english family who had huge banners and massive smiles as they wrapped their arms around me and said Welcome Home Hannah! I can honestly say at that moment my heart sunk and I had a moments thought of....right, how do I get back on that plane? Not because I didnt want to see them but I just felt I had left a massive piece of my heart in Africa and i needed to go back and collect it. I relunctantly got in the car to drive away from the airport and officially was 'back in the UK' where it was clean, not very warm, and organised!Everything is very neat and tidy.

It was and has been an overwhelming 4 weeks not helped by the fact that my job didnt start when it was supposed to and I had way too much thinking time. I finally started my job last week in a palliative and elderly care unit. It is very differant to the ship for sure but I do love looking after elderly people and making a small difference on their day even it means putting some rollers in their hair or reading a newpaper with them while also attending to nursing needs, i do get some satisfaction from it. Its very slow paced and I know I wont be there long as I like the fast paced movement of the wards but its good for now while I plan my next escape to Africa.

I wanted to write this note as a thank you to all of you (you know who you are) on the ship and at home for your continued and loving support of my time in Sierra Leone with my fees and with prayer. I have met the most amazing beautiful people from Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone not to mention the other 41 nationalities that were onboard while i was there. I have so many memories and wonderful moments etched in my mind that will never fade. Moments like carrying a baby (on your back if you prefer) while mum is in surgery, sitting with the day volunteers trying to learn some more Krio to make communication with the patients more effective, giggling when trying to open the doors of the ward and they are just so heavy because the ship is leaning to the side or the opposite and running after the BP machine as it trundles on its own down the ward as the ship leans the other way, the ship shuddering and bouncing right at the moment you are about to pour some lactulose, peaking out of B wards door and seeing that the laughing and giggling is coming from beautiful children from A-Ward looking like the walking wounded with many bandadges wrapped around their healing limbs but smiling and playing none the less. I could go on and on and on!

Tamba, Umar and Alberta

These children and patients have made a lasting impact on my heart and life. The pain and agony they have gone through both physically and mentally after years of verbal abuse and hurt from their communites and they still laugh and smile and see the good in life makes me actively conscious about how much i moan and complain about such stupid things. I wish i could watch these wonderful kids grow up and see what they will do with their lives. I can truly say i have never met such wonderful and thankful children as them.

Me and two of my Padis (friends) Umar and Osman.

One of our precious ortho patients

I am thankful that I as given this opportunity to serve with this organisation and I encourage you to keep them in your prayers as they complete this outreach in Sierra Leone until December. This outreach has been known to be a particulary difficult one and resources and options for wound healing and managing chronic condidtions are becoming more and more difficult. As are the nurses bodies and minds. It is hard for some to be so far away from their familes and it is hard to have a refreshed mind when you are surrounded by people 24/7.

I am content being back in england knowing that I am here because that is how God planned it. He knows exactly where and what and who and why! It says in the Bible that He knows the plans he has for you....thats not talking just about the future. Thats about right here right now. I went to Sierra Leone for 9 weeks and I came back and God was with me the whole way. I will honour him if i am I England or Africa and I now look forward to this new season in my life whatever it may hold. I am willing to come and tell you about Mercy Ships and give you a more detailed idea of what they do there if you are interested in serving. You dont have to be a nurse. Anyone can serve there!

Team B!!

Me with Ali

Umar saying goodbye in his own way!lol!FISHFACE!

Alberta

And now after radical surgery she is free and can use her arm completely!

Faith

Faith is so evident, clear and spoken about here in Africa. I feel free and finally content that I can care for patients and show them Gods love and compassion through actions but also through prayer. It is such an encouragement to walk down the hall and see people praying together in a little group, walking into the ward where the patients and day workers from Freetown are singing freely and worshipping their God, sit by someone and have them ask for you to pray for them, walk hand in hand with a patient to surgery and pray with them before they walk through the OR door, praying for peace before a shift and thanking God for another day and honour to serve Him in Africa. I ask patients how they are doing and their response so often is' By Gods, grace I am well'. I am sitting here on a night shift listening to Tamba who is 40 praying and exercising as he does. He has recently had a Mastectomy (breast removal) for a cancer. He is now on treatment that he has managed to pay for himself for a year but he needs to have the treatment for 5 years. It is so difficult to know that we cannot help everyone as volunteers on the ship and as a charity. Our money and resources just do not extend to providing chemo or required medication to all patients. It is so frustrating to know that even if we had all the money in the world we still would not be able to help everyone physically however, it is a blessing that the ship managed to removed the cancer before it spread any further. The best thing we can do is pray!

God is a very present help and source of strength for these patients. It blesses me to see their faith and hope in God and that He is praised in good and bad times. Tamba is one such a patient who displays such faith in God. He knows that even if he does not have the money to pay for treatment for the whole 5 years he is trusting and relying on God. Do you trust that God holds your future and cares for you? His love is so unlimited and free and He just wants you to accept it. Trust that He knows what our future holds and cares so deeply for us. He just wants us to accept His gift of freedom, peace and love. All things work together for good even if we cant see it or understand it.

Ephesians 3 v 20:To Him who is able to do far more than all we ask or even think be glory forever and ever.

Changed Lives

Fanie when he came for surgery

There he is on the left walking with a crutch about 7 weeks ago....and here he is now on the day of discharge walking free smiling that gorgeous smile with his Physios and mum!

Lives are truly changed here!

Reminiscing

As i sit here on my cabin floor dressed in my scrubs ready for an evening shift on the worlds largest NGO i am feeling a bit reflective....I am first of all blessed for the amount of amazing and awesome (becker, that's just for you) friendships I have made here in 2 months. Living in such a cramped and small community forces you to be friendly and talk, not that i have a problem with that but thankfully by doing that I made friends that i know i will be in contact with for life!!you know who you are :0) I am sad that today i have sad goodbye yet again to a precious friend and crew member but at least I know I have places to stay when i go on holidays now!lol!

I am also blessed that i have have had the privilege of being a crew member on Mercy Ship. Although its not perfect like every organisation run by man it is no doubt trying to make a difference in the world and is achieving some amazing things. Lives, bodies, faces and limbs have truly been transformed and it is an honor to be part of it. I have uploaded some photos on to my facebook of the patients I have met and I will try to get some more pictures uploaded on here as a stories can truly be told through some of the before and after pictures i have seen!

So, as another evening shift begins where I will greet new patients who come onto the ship for the first time and walk into the ward for the first time and maybe even meet a white person for the first time I will attempt to show them Gods love and honor Him through my actions. It will be an evening full of teaching like how to use a toilet, how to wash their hands correctly, cannula ting which is absolutely NO problem normally because these men have veins like ropes because of all the manual labor they do and perhaps receiving some patients back from surgery. All in all I am feeling blessed and honored today and slightly sad because I don't have much longer left.....

Love to you all....

A day in the life of a nurse on Africa Mercy (Morning Shift)

Morning shift:

6.15:Smack my alarm off, stumble down the ladder from my bunk, jump in my scrubs, grab my pens, badge, door key and water bottle and wander up the very steep set of stairs to the dining room.

7.00: After breakfast walk 3 minutes down the corridor past the hot engine room door and past D and C ward into B ward where i work, whispering as some patients are still asleep and grabbing my assignment sheet from the magnet on the door (everything is magnetic) and seeing what my day holds for me. Some days I have 4 patients , some days i have 8. It depends!

7.00-7.30: We pray together as a group and commit the day to the Lord asking for healing for our patients, wisdom what to do in difficult situations, that that we show Gods love through our actions and that we have fun as a team working together in Africa on a ship!!Then we have handover, i get to meet my patients for the day or i see the ones i have got to know very well over the last month or so who have been with us due to complications post surgery. I introduce myself 'Na mi name Hannah, na mi na u nurse tida' and i get a smile and a bemused look as i then explain that ' I de try fo tok small small Krio' and they nod and smile. Happy I have remembered my Krio i continue to meet the rest of my patients.

7.30-12.00: We give out our medications, teach patients who are about to go for surgery that they need to 'scrub very fine' the area they are having surgery and explain how and what will happen. So many people here have never interacted with white people, never been in hospital, never been on a ship, never had a cannula inserted in their arm, never had their blood pressure taken, never had some of the medications we give etc. The list is very very long. Some people don't even know for sure how old they are which gets very interesting when doing medications for kiddies because its done by age and weight but that's another story. We encourage people to go for 'small walka' but they really do like their beds so its hard to get them out into the corridor but we eventually manage after our translators have a little chat with them. We have devotional time with a team from Freetown who come in a sing, pray and dance with our patients African style for about 20 minutes. They are LOUD! I didn't know how loud people can clap, its unreal!I feel slightly deaf after they leave. Then its movie time...we try to cater for kids and adults so its Madagascar or some other cartoon most mornings and we get to sing along to 'We like to move it, move it'. Patients go to and from surgery. Life can be very busy in the mornings along with trying to entertain some of the kids who either hate or love white people. We blow balloons up or blow bubbles for them!

12.00- 14.00: Dinner is at 12 and no matter how much you need to do their observations or a dressing or give medication you do not disturb them during their meal. They do not like it and you either get a very resistant arm when trying to do a blood pressure or a disgruntled grunt. So, its best to either plan every just before 12 or just after. We then run around doing bits and pieces just before the next set of nurses come in at 14.00 for handover. We check our all charts, make sure any of the orders the doctors made for the morning have been done, do the dressing changes and give more medications.

14.00-15.30: We pray, commit the evening shift to the Lord and then handover to the new set of nurses. Then its time to bring the patients up to Deck 7 where the patients get to get some much needed 'fresh' air and for them to see Africa!! We either climb up the steep steps together or use the lift depending on what surgery everyone has had. We open the doors feeling the massive blast of either hot or humid air after being in air conditioning all morning. The kids from the other wards cycle around up and down the deck on the little bikes and carts we have up there while the adults watch the boats and ships passing by, chatting and talking on their mobiles. Its a great chance to just interact and get to know your patient which has been such a blessing and enjoyment. I love hearing their stories and seeing the impact the surgery is going to make on their lives. We stay together on deck for about an hour if it doesn't start getting too stormy and then we wander back down to the hospital and that is the end of my shift for the day!

Grace

Meet Grace....
She is a 50 year old lady who is a Sports coach at the local women's prison. She has attended courses in South Africa to become a certified coach and she has been able to teach boxing, cricket, football and handball. 5 months ago she found a lump in her breast. She has breast cancer. She lives in a country with limited resources and limited finances to do anything about this tumor growing inside her chest. She comes to Mercy Ship for surgery to remove the tumor which she would not have been able to afford to have here in Freetown. We have no resources to give her the medication she needs so she needed to find her own supply of Tamoxifen. She has been able to do this as she has some family in Australia but it is distressing to see the difference in how a women with breast cancer in England and Africa is treated. In England, within two weeks of a referral the lady is seen and a plan of action is made in regards to getting rid of the cancer that is growing.

Grace is one of many women here who have probably found lumps and never been able to do anything about it because they cant afford surgery and they are too scared to go to the doctor. So they live with the cancer and they allow it to eat away at their bodies until they cannot provide for their families anymore. I had the honor of looking after Grace at length this week and I had so many opportunities to chat, pray and read the bible together which was such a blessing to us both. We spent half an hour together singing and praising our God (Oh Happy Day & Our God is an Awesome God) while removing her staples and dressing her wound on her chest. It was such a breath of fresh air to be able to release such a big part of my life into the open and into my patient care rather than suppressing it and worrying every time God's name is mentioned at work that someone might be offended. Her faith in God is amazing and so strong. Pray that she holds onto the promises that He is with her and will strengthen and guide her through the hard times. She has three girls (one who she adopted) and because she has pain in her hips and the back of her head we are worried the cancer may have spread but there is nothing we can do. We have managed to contain a problem that may spread and become fatal for her.

Remember her in your prayers.

Hope

The Hope Centre is a place of healing, waiting and hope before and after surgery. Patient wait there after their surgeries for outpatient appointments if they live far away, patients wait if they are not strong enough or healthy enough just yet for surgery and patient wait there after they have had extensive surgery such as Tamba who walked on top of his feet...his toes were facing backwards and now they are completly up and straight and pointing the right way! He is going to continue with physio for the near future and no matter how much pain he seems to be in he continues to smile big and laugh the most gorgeous heart felt laugh!



















Notice the little boy standing beside Andreas, He is the little one i mentioned who has the tumor. He is waiting for surgery which will hopefully be next week. The boy on the right has

also had surgery for club feet and is almost ready to go home!








You always end up with a child on your back, knee or generally just hanging out of you when you get to the Hope Centre but it is such a fun place to go on a day off!

Screening

I joined the Max Fax team on Monday morning for screening and to see how they decide who and when people have surgeries. It was fascinating to see what came through the door. My day started by running down the gangway into the little white cabin outside to avoid the monsoon rains, we prayed together for wisdom and guidance for making tough decisions and then started bringing people in one by one from the tents the were sitting in outside.

I saw ladies and men with parotiod tumors- swellings and lumps under their ears which cause discomfort and stigmatisms in their communities. These surgeries can take up to 3 hours so it was not possible to accept the 7-8 people we saw. These growths can also sometimes be a sign of HIV so these patients went for a counselling session before having their blood drawn so they understood that we would have to wait for the result before making a decision about surgery. So many people wanted to know straight away if they would be accepted and some were upset when they found out that we would be screening them for HIV (if positive many would be ex-communicated from their communities).

I saw a little girl, 6 years old with a golf ball size lump on her chin. A man in his 60's that lived with a lump the size of your fist on the back of his head, another man with one on his forehead. I saw a man with a lump over his eye that was starting to push his eyeball back into his head causing pain, a little 2 year old with a big growth behind his ear and the only way to entertain him and get a good look at the tumor was by doing the good old blowing up a glove trick and drawing a smiley face on it!He managed to burst it before he left after chewing it and bopping all the chairs and kicking it around the room!I almost brought him back into the ship with me, so so adorable! We had another little boy come in who nose was completely blocked after an attack of scabies so he found it difficult to breath sometimes, a 13 year old boy with a big tumor on his face which he found very distressing and difficult to fit in among his friends. All very strange and i do wonder how on earth all these growths develop but i am seeing it in such a condescended amount of time and space. I'm sure most of the lumps that develop in England are caught while they are still tiny which is why we don't see such extensive lumps and bumps like we do here.

These patients will hopefully have clear blood tests and as long as we have theatre space we will schedule everyone in if they are fit and well. It was a good day to see how the process works in Mercy Ships and how the screening process goes. It is a hard decision for the doctors and nurses down there every week and i don't envy them their job but they do it with such love and gentleness, it was a blessing to see them at work! Good job Jane and Missy :0)

Kusheh

How de bodi?

Na mi name hannah. Na mi na u nurse tida. If u want anytin call me i go cam.

Grap wit u elbow. Hol tight wit u side. (What i say to hernia patients)

U wan Drink wata?

U wan fo wet? (No.1)

U wan fo toilet?(No.2)

I da try fo tok Krio small small!!!

I am still learning but i can just about say all this...its grasping the african accent i'm struggling with but hopefully it will come.

Team B!

These are a few photos of my colleagues and I at 'work'!We had a quick break to have some photos taken! I havent had any photos taken with patients but hopefully i will next week so you can see what and who I look after!

PodaPoda bartering.

So if you want to go somewhere in Sierra Leone and you don't have your own transport you need to allow at least 2 hours if not more to give time to barter for a PodaPoda (taxi). We set off on Saturday morning at 12 up BadBoy lane (road to the dock,don't worry apparently its an old name) to aquire the services of a PodaPoda. Little did we expect it would take us so long...

You need to have a price in mind and be willing to move up or down about 20,000 SLL at a time. So if you start at 100,000 and get a PodaPoda for 120,00 (17 pounds) then that's not too bad. Bearing in mind we are still paying at least twice what an African group would pay. However, the price we were offered was no less than 600,000 SLL. (85 pounds). Someone from the ship had paid this price before so it was expected and word was on the street that the white people from Mercy Ship pay big money! (10,000 is about 1.40 pounds) White skin triples or quadruples the price!

We proceeded to barter which is a custom and must be done in Sierra Leone. Everyone barters!Its expected of you. So, the big group of white girls managed to gather a nice little group of maybe 20 + people who all got involved in the bartering or they just stood and started at us until it wasn't clear who the driver was and who we were supposed to be bartering with!TIA- This is Africa! After at least 3 bartering attempts, each of which lasted at least 20 minutes each, we managed to find a PodaPoda for 100,000 just like we wanted in the beginning! Unfortunately we had become so exhausted with the whole 'arguing' process that we ended up taking a PodaPoda that seats 8 and we had 11 in our group! Finally we set off at about 14:00 that afternoon!
We become quite close that weekend!lol!We piled in, rucksacks and all including a random guy which added to our number making it even cosier!

We had a great time at the beach again and made some little friends with some beach kids who had lots of fun in the sea and showing off doing cartwheels.

We did all get food poisoned or had some bad water or something so have been suffering for the past few days and i have had two days sick off work and i finally managed to have a proper meal today but i suppose that's what you get for eating off the ship!Wont be doing that again in a hurry!But the beach was amazing and i had an awesome weekend! Bring on the third week on Mercy Ship! :0)

Holiday!

Today is a ship holiday so everyone gets an extra long weekend!Think it is well deserved by those who work 5 days a week all the time...us nurses get afternoons or mornings off depending on our shifts. So a group of us girlies have decided to go to the beach tomorrow! AND we're goin to stay overnight in mudhuts!Bring it on!!SO excited....It is monsoon season though. Everyone was dressed for sun this morning and suddenly the heavens opened!The sun is out again now but there is no knowing when the next thunder storm is coming :0)! Bit like Ireland really, except its lovely and warm!

We had a manic day yesterday with unexpected admissions but thats the way things go in hospitals and the ship is no differant. We had amazing teamwork and sang our way through and played with children in the middle of the chaos!Team B!!!I absolutely love working here!Please pray for some men who have come back with wound infections. It is so difficult to manage wounds on Africa and no matter how much advice is given or instruction about how to keep the wound clean, some people do end up back with us. We also have been battling with high temperatures for no apparent reasons. Blood cultures, wound swabs, HIV tests and Malaria tests are all negative. Its a mystery!

We have a moment for praise though. A crew member was diagnosed with cancer a few weeks ago and needed emergency surgery. The ship crew were devestated to hear that a beloved crew member would have to leave the ship and go through gruelling amounts of treatments. I arrived the night she left and we prayed for her and her family. She was flown back to the UK where they have now found she has NO cancer!How amazing is God!She may go through some chemo rounds just to ensure the cancer is gone for sure but that is down to the consultants who are treating her now.

Right well i'm off out to the Hope centre for a few giggles and cuddles and bubble blowing with the kids before i go to work!Hope your all having a good day x