Giving Berth!

This was the plan for our Madagascar berth. Looks simple enough right? But did you know that months of planning goes into our berth and dockside area in every country we go to, even the visiting nations like The Canary Islands. Every little measurement, every tide and current matters. Will there be enough space for out tents and our vehicles? Will the mooring lines hold? Which way in should the ship go? Aft or forward? What about an area for the kids to do P.E? Where will the transportation tent and container fit? What about dockside power? Can our containers be delivered safely. Will the ship be able to use its cranes without obstruction? What about security? How far to the port gate from our berth? How will the patients get to and from the ship? What about garbage collection?

The list of questions goes on and on and many of them, especially the maritime ones, are above and beyond my understanding. A few years ago it was decided by someone wise that the questions above needed an individual to make it their sole focus to organise, answer and deliver in each port. So originated the role of Vessel Transition Coordinator. This role also oversees the pack up as well as the set up. The individual would be required to come for approximately six weeks at the beginning and six weeks at the end of each field service and be accompanied by Mercy Teams (groups of people who come to Mercy Ships for short bursts of time to fill a special need we have on board, despite their occupation at home). We have had a couple of great people in the job over the years but due to the unusual circumstances of our prolonged shipyard and change(s) of field service the ship found itself without a Vessel Transition Coordinator for the beginning of the Madagascar field service.

Enter Andrew! Andrew was approached by the Africa Mercy Operations Director to stand in the gap for the Madagascar set up. What a mighty challenge this was for him. Usually our advance team is in our host nation up to four months before hand setting things up and getting things started. However, this time they had just six weeks so there just wasn't the time to do the usual preparations. On top of that, Andrew continued to work as the Transportation Manager along side the Vessel Transition Coordinator role which is usually a singular role.

 With the help of a great team he did an outstanding job!
 

The warehouse in our berth space where we have full use of the bottom story, before any renovations.

The Port getting busy resurfacing our berth space that resulted in the smoothest dock space we have ever had.

Looking towards the warehouse after renovations and the lines painted in for our vehicles. In the outside berth space there is also a marked out basketball court and designated play and P.E area for the kids.

The back of the warehouse before.......

.........and after with the Transport container and marquee erected.

Before resurfacing and renovations......

Aerial view of after.

Advance Team leader, Andrea Valk inside the warehouse before renovations.

The same view after renovations and set up. Different areas of the warehouse were screened off for rehab, screening and a communications photo booth, using large plastic sheeting and metal frames.

Some before pics. The warehouse was a sad, wet place screaming for a paint job and some quality electrical work.

 

A before view......

Same space after! Table tennis, bike parking spaces, pickle ball and badminton courts. This area also doubles as a movie viewing area and party space for crew events.

Just turning the camera a little to the right you can see the transportation repair area. At last our mechanic gets to work inside, out of the stifling heat and humidity and the torrential rain that are part and parcel of our host nations!

The Alaska tents set up, inside the other end of the warehouse, for Admissions and Outpatients all kitted out with their own A/C. Andrew had the great idea to build a particle board partition between the recreation areas and the hospital areas of the warehouse for patient privacy and security of expensive hospital equipment. The wall is about 2.4 metres high and around 25 metres long!

This used to be a dumpy underutilized room next to the warehouse. It was cleaned and painted and is now used by the eye team.

Twenty one days of dockside set up equals two years of hope and healing for the people of Madagascar!