The Vampire Diaries

It wasn't "Twilight" but there was plenty of blood involved! A definite highlight of the Academy school year is Work Experience Week and this year, Jess was finally old enough to work down in the hospital. She spent a week shadowing her youth leader and Senior Lab Technician, Jenny.

Jenny didn't go easy on Jess and she worked long and hard, on her feet all day and even returning to work one evening to assist with blood donation for an emergency surgery. Turn outs Jess is a natural vampire and Jenny decided that Jess could even have go at drawing blood herself. She was so proud of herself as she "got it on my first try".

Mum even dropped down to have her blood typed (by Jenny, not quite brave enough to have her child stick her)!

Jess kept a diary during her week of work exercise. These are some of her thoughts....

Day 1: "On the first day I went around the lab and did QC (quality control). That includes checking temperatures of all the incubators and fridges. Next we made sure all things were in date and all machines worked, using synthetic blood. After I learnt what each machine did briefly and did blood bank, which is checking blood types and cross matching blood donors. There were a few donors so I learnt how to stick a needle into someone. I learnt about antigens and antibodies, so like which blood types could go with who. I was also called back after dinner which was really interesting..."

Jess and Jenny

Day 2: "Today I basically did a little micro-learning about gram positive and gram negative cells. Also did blood smears. Mainly what we did was run in and out of the OR giving blood that we took from donors. I saw my first bit of surgery which was cool...."

I remember Jess saying to me, "Mum, today I went into the OR and saw a guy with half his face peeled off!"

 

Day 3: "Today was an exciting day. I started with QC and then haematology, working with CELL-DYN, seeing the amount of white blood cells, red blood cells, haemoglobin, platelets....other. Then I worked with  a little micro-biology and learnt how to streak plates and made up micro scan ID plates-they identify the bacteria based on chemical reactions and give antibiotic sensitivity. I also learned how to use a small needle and drew some of Jenny and Scott's blood. It was very good and I got it on my first try!...."

 

 

Day 4: "On day four we did QC the just jumped around from blood bank, haematology, looking at stained streaks. Typing in more patient information, Safety Committee meeting, community meeting, departmental devotions, coags...."

Ready to run into the OR to deliver life saving blood donated by crew members.

Taking blood all by herself!

Day 5: "I did more blood bank and drew blood! I did a bit more micro and haematology......"

What Jenny had to say!

Work experience on board the ship is an amazing opportunity to see how the ship operates outside the walls of the Academy. The kids get the chance to see where Mum and Dad work and to become a little more involved in the day to day running and mission of the ship!

 

    

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men"

Colossians 3:23

Little Bean

(Photo credit: David Forrest)

"Our hearts are broken over the loss of a young patient.

 

The beautiful 5-year-old girl from Northern Madagascar passed away on board the Africa Mercy on Thursday 10 March, at 5.45pm. She died two days after a very unusual, rare and severe reaction to the surgical procedure in combination with general anaesthetic, during treatment to remove a complex tumour of her lower face and neck. Her mother had been at her bedside since their arrival to the Mercy Ship on 20 January and her senior uncle joined them Thursday evening.

 

Official formalities with the local authorities were completed and the family and the body were flown back to their village  to prepare for her funeral.

 

Our prayers and our love leave with them."

(Mercy Ships Media Statement March 2016)

Little Bean, I did not know you, but as news of your passing filtered through the decks my heart broke for you and you family. I am a mother too, you see and while I cannot fathom what you mamma was feeling that day when she said goodbye, I can imagine her pain. I can hear her wails of despair.

As we waited for your condition to improve, all of us as a united crew stopped what we were doing, wherever we were on board, to pray. The galley stopped preparing lunch, the housekeepers stopped mopping, the teachers paused with their classes, meetings came to a standstill, the hospital staff dropped to their knees, to storm heaven for your healing.

But God chose to take you and whilst our frail human minds cannot comprehend, we have chosen to trust in Him.

As Andrew co-ordinated clearing of the freezer to store your broken body, now just a shell, your soul was flying free in heaven. As one of our carpenters skilfully crafted a coffin to carry you back to your village and some ladies on board lovingly created padding to soften your journey, you were dancing beside Jesus. As your body was dressed in a beautiful outfit, by hospital crew, you were free of the tumour that had taken your life.

Little bean.......your last days on earth were dignified. You were loved, prayed for and treated like the Princess you were! A daughter of the king.

Little Bean.......we did our best for you but it was not enough.

Be uncomfortable with us as we have mourned and we continue to mourn and pray for all the other beans......all 5,165 people whom our screening team saw and for whatever reason we could not treat! Yes your eyes did not deceive you, five thousand, one hundred and sixty five.

Then there are the thousands that we could not physically reach due to poor roads and sheer isolation in this vast nation. There are those we pass on the street from day to day that we cannot help as our surgery schedule is full to overflowing. There are five operating theatres running, an extra ward as been opened and the Hope Centre is overcapacity, as we race to the finish line, desperate to help as many beans as we can.

Do you feel uncomfortable? We do. We rest comfortably in the knowledge that we can access world class medical care, medication, clean water, electricity, education and freedom of religion while others are dying just trying to access these basic human rights.

It is so hard to consolidate. I don't think we can really. We can only place our faith in a loving God who sees each little bean. Every. Single. One.

Can I ask that you pray for the 5,165 people who we had to turn away, for the family of the little girl who passed away, for the patients recovering in the wards right now and for those who are yet to receive surgery in the next few weeks before the hospital closes it's doors in Madagascar for this season?

#5165

Mercy Meets Hope

Jesus really loves the people of Madagascar. What are the odds of two ships with entirely different missions, serving one God, crossing paths in a tiny town off the east coast of Madagascar. A town that is friendly and safe by day but whose demons come out at night, to play. A town seeped in prostitution, kidnapping and robbery. A town where the locals are warm and friendly, where coconuts hang from palm trees swaying in the sultry air and the brilliant blue of the Indian Ocean beckons seductively.

This town, this beautiful nation, that we have come to love has had an influx of hope, healing, help and knowledge in hundreds of different ways, depicting the love of Christ, channelled through the crew of the Africa Mercy and the Logos Hope, representing over 60 nationalities.

I cannot tell you how excited we were to have a sister alongside. We began as strangers and parted as friends, immediately bonded by our passion for the people of Madagascar, our faith and our unique lifestyle and ministries!

Here she comes!! The crew of the Africa Mercy lined the decks to catch a long awaited glimpse of the much anticipated arrival of the Logos Hope.

A view from our bridge. Captain Jan in the green shirt.

Getting closer. The Logos Hope have a wonderful tradition of gathering on their decks, on arrival into a new country, proudly waving their countries flags. It is an awesome spectacle!

Panning out.....
(Photo credit: Carol Tanzola)

From the bow.
 (Photo credit: Robbie Lerma)

Jess and her two Aussie friends, sisters Charlotte and Annabelle represent!!!

 Aussie to Aussie (look real hard to the top right).
(Photo credit: David Forrest)

Side by side.

(Photo credit: Kristin Jack)

 

Nice panorama!

On Christmas Eve we were privileged to be amongst the first in Madagascar to visit the Logos Hope for the opening of the book fair. We listened to quite a few speeches, watched the "Parade of Nations" and heard a number from the Logos Hope choir.

We then moved down to the book fair, where a local dignitary cut the ribbon for the book fair, officially opening it in Tamatave. Oh yeah.....there were snacks :) Above, just a small section of the huge book fair that expands over almost an entire deck.

Jess and Andy at the book fair.

Having our snacks in the Logos Hope café.

We also celebrated Christmas side by side, each of us empathizing with the other, the feeling of being far from home, our own cultures and traditions and the family and friends we had left behind, never far from our thoughts.

Not long after we had finished our Christmas brunch we heard a lot of commotion coming from outside. Andrew and I ran up to the deck and were greeted by the amazing sight of the Logos Hope crew clustered on their bow, proudly waving their countries flags. In unison they called out "Merry Christmas Africa Mercy!" It was a whole lot of fun!

An aerial viewpoint.



Our first joint gathering was on our dock side and was basically a huge getting to know you event, reminiscent of a speed dating night! :) We call them Connect Groups though!
(Photo credit: Kristin Jack)

A crew member, Mathieus, who runs their Transportation department hosted us for dinner one evening on the Logos Hope. It was eerily similar to our dining room. Spaghetti Bolognese and white chocolate brownies were the order of the day and we enjoyed a great evening of getting to know several of the crew. There was plenty of...."Do you have this, do you do that?. We also had a guided tour and I was finally able to peek inside the Logos Hope library. We also toured the bridge where I took my turn at the helm. Captain Jodie!! Fortunately this was a drill.

The Logos Hope leadership came to have a special dinner on board with our leadership. Worse luck I was down with gastro for this event but you can see Andrew in the back row on the right and we couldn't go to their leadership dinner as it was on Jessica's 16th birthday.

Each time the Logos Hope is in a port they take on many short term projects. Their advance or "line up" team find needs within the community, prior to the ship's arrival, similar to how Mercy Ships operates, expect we mostly search for patients and long term ministries we can partner with.

One of the large projects the Logos Hope crew undertook during their visit to Tamatave was the complete overhaul of the local libaray or Biblioteque, in French. On behalf of the Africa Mercy I was able to donate about seven boxes of books to the Logos to take to the Biblioteque. I also visited one day to see what was happening and stayed to help catalogue books for a while. No mean feat as the titles were in French!

Above, a Logos Hope crew member and I working on cataloguing books.

Locals helping out with cleaning the books which were very dirty and dusty. Some were covered in mould.

Logos Hope crew sanding shelves.

Inside the Biblioteque.

Outside-right next to the local tip!

We couldn't miss the opportunity to get together with the Logos Hope mum's! There are a few less families on board the Logos than on the Africa Mercy, mainly due to the fact that the Logos Hope school finishes at the end of grade six. So lots of little ones!

The Logos mums came to visit us first and the next week we went over to visit them (above photo). There was lots of mutual "checking out" of family cabins! We were surprised to find that some of the family cabins on the Logos had he same carpet as the cabins on the AFM.

We found a unique bond with the Logos Hope mum's and it was great to be able to compare notes. I mean how often can you find a group of women in the same boat as you? Since then we have formed a Facebook page for the Logos and AFM mum's called Ship Sisters.

Having some fun on the Logos Hope!

We heard the rumours long before the ship graced the sunny shores of Tamatave. Was it true? Did the Logos Hope really have a soft serve machine in their café???? Much to our delight the rumour was completely founded and I am sure our crew doubled the Logos Hope's usual port intake of soft serve ice cream!

Above, Andrew enjoys a vanilla soft serve. Below, Jess and friends with a soft serve selfie! (Photo credit: Kristin Jack)

 

The Logos Hope is largely evangelical as well as programmatic. During the course of their visit they had several concerts/shows for the local people where the gospel was presented in an appropriate manner and translated into Malagasy by local translators.

We had the pleasure of attending the International Cultural Festival where we watched many of the crew perform. It was an upbeat concert with a serious message.

Above, me, Jess and friend Charlotte with some AFM crew photo bombing behind, at the concert!

Some Logos Hope crew who were amazing on the drums/djembes!!

A large proportion of the Logos crew are very young, with many kids doing a gap year (or two) fresh out of high school. This proved too good to be true for our youth on board, who took the opportunity (as much as possible) to hang out with the Logos gang.

 Above, some of our youth on board the Logos Hope.

Logos Hope engine room tour-Jess and friends.

Logos Hope + AFM youth=fun!
(Photo credit: Zach McKillop)

To bid our neighbours fond farewell we hosted a combined BBQ, our dockside. Around 700 of us gathered, relishing new found friendships and lamenting our impending goodbyes, over dinner. The fun continued as the heavens opened up and a torrential downpour took us by surprise. Many of the crew danced in the rain while about 200 Logos crew invaded the AFM leaving our poor security guards a bit frazzled.

In West Africa, a downpour of rain after a significant event is often called a "shower of blessing" signalling Gods approval on the event. Oh how the angels must have be rejoicing over the gathering of so many Christians together, sharing a common goal to bless and serve the people of Tamatave and beyond! 

I love this photo. The Logos "line up" (advance) team beside our Logos liaison team with swapped t-shirts!
(Photo credit: Kristin Jack)

All good things must come to an end and it was a sad day as we bid the Logos Hope farewell. Jess and some new friends (on each end) pose for a final photo!
(Photo credit: Patricia Royston)

Africa Mercy crew, locals and other ex-pats gathered dock side (or quayside as the Logos crew prefer :) ) to wave off the Logos Hope after their short but impactful visit to Tamatave.

(Photo credit: A Logos Hope crew member)

Jess and friends say their final goodbyes.

(Photo credit: A Logos Hope crew member)

Au revoir, Veloma, goodbye....

Fair winds and following seas, Logos Hope. God bless you on your future ministries and we hope to meet again! #madameetsmercyandhope

(Photo credit: Patricia Royston)