Out of the Mouth's of Babes

One of the jobs that Andrew has inherited in the past six months is giving tours of the engine room. He has given tours to Mercy Teams, guests, crew and Academy classes. It is something he really enjoys and something he is really good at. It gives his dry sense of humour a real workout! Above Andrew gives my parent's a tour on their recent visit to the ship. As you can see it gets pretty loud down there so everyone on the tour has to wear ear protection and enclosed footwear. The bowels of the Africa Mercy are huge and it is fascinating to see what goes on to make the ship tick from our fresh water to our fuel. 

Andrew and Dad in the engine control room where the ships watch keepers can keep a close eye on everything 24 hours a day.

Andy going up through the funnel. It's a bit of a climb and quite steep too.

Andrews' favourite tours are the Academy elementary kids. He says they ask lots of good questions. Above are Andrew and second engineer Anthon with the first-third graders. Andrew was chuffed to find our hallway adorned with thank you cards after the tour. Here are some priceless quotes from the cards.......

"My time in the engine room was hot but fun.........P.S I learned that even deck 3 is under water"  Eli

" Dear Mr Rothwell My favourite part was the control room. Can I come back? Your friend Luke"

" My favourite part was everything.God bless you" Isabella

" My favourite part was the control room. I learned that you should not touch the buttons......" Alex

"I like Mr Rothwell" Unknown

For more fun quotes see a blog post from fellow crew members the Cash family:

Cash Family Blog! Serving with Mercy Ships: Tour de l'Africa Mercy: ...