Home Sweet Home

Since we have now lived in our cabin for longer than we lived at our previous house, I felt it was time to invite you all over for a virtual visit...... Above, our front door.

We are one of two cabins on the whole ship who have a "patio". This is because we have a fire door as well as our normal cabin door. On our door we have our prayer card and a favourite verse that a friend gave to us before we left to do our Mercy Ships training in 2006.

" If I rise on the wings of the dawn. If I settle on the far side of the sea, even there you  hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast."
Psalm 139:9-10.

We also have a noticeboard to keep track of each other's whereabouts as our home is pretty big and climbing all those stairs can get tiring!

All our walls are magnetised so everything is held up by an array of different sized and strength magnets. We have a cool map of Africa that we bought at a Chinese supermarket in Togo for about $1.00! It has a yellow arrow that says, "We are here, just in case you are lost". We move it around according to which country we are in and when we sail.

Coming around the corner of our little dog entrance leg you can see the collection of books we have managed to obtain from the Boutique (op shop) on board and a few we brought from home. There is a whole container on the bottom shelf just to hold some of mine and Jessica's flip flops! Jessica's artwork adorns our cabin everywhere.

Next you come into our lounge/kitchen/dining etc.. We have a sink and a small fridge/freezer. We used to have a huge full sized fridge that got dumped in our cabin before we arrived. Fortunately the freezer part (it was an upside down fridge/freezer) died while we were back in Oz last so we were able to get rid of it for a smaller model that fits under the bench. We have a TV and a DVD player which is often what keeps us sane, especially when we sail and during the weekends. Next to the TV you will see out pets! We have 17 fish in the glass bowl. Some of them are pretty tiny. On the wall above the table are two batiks-Jess made the one on the right and I made the one on the left ,in Togo last year.

Our cabin also shares the honour of the most windows as well. We have five double windows along the full length of our cabin and we have an eagle eye view over the gangway and the dock. Andrew likes to check his babies (the land rovers) out the windows. Our couch is as hard as a rock but we manage to squeeze all three of us on it on occasion. We have a few plants around the place to bring a little bit of nature to our home. You can just see the hanging plant above the couch.

Another perspective of the living area. The side of the cupboard where the computer has it's home is plastered with photos of family and friends and our dog Barney. The blue things hanging from the ceiling are surgical caps from the hospital (yes, they have many uses) that cover our A/C vents to capture dirt coming out of the vents. Jess painted the canvas of the giraffe on the wall. You can see the door into our bedroom.

Our bedroom-straight ahead. Yes-it's not an optical illusion-our bed is tiny and I sleep on the side with the racing car sides and it drives me crazy! We just got a new doona cover in June as we can't really change our furniture or even the curtains, so the doona cover it was! To the left you can see our blue fold up chairs and to the right our hot pink laundry bag. We wake up to a beautiful sunrise each morning-lol.

Our bedroom-to the right. Andrew and I have one small cupboard each for all our clothes and shoes and the middle drawer holds sox and undies. The small drawer is a pull out table. The harp holds Jessica's vast collection of earrings.

Our bedroom-to the left. One thing I bought in South Africa, when we briefly lived on land, before we came to the ship was a full length mirror. It is secured to the wall by super strength magnets.

Our teeny, tiny bathroom where you can sit on the loo, lean on the sink and prop one foot on the edge of the shower, all at the same time. (Hey, it's comfortable.) Our plumbing is a bit unusual. It is operated by a vacuum system which sucks the water away very loudly. Sometimes the vacuum fails and the water comes up trough the toilet or through the drain in the floor and floods the bathroom (often).

An earlier purchase was a toilet paper holder after we kept running out of loo paper because we had nowhere to store it.

The busiest room-Jessica's room, located opposite the bathroom just next to the bookshelf in the dog leg entrance way! The beds are on the left and fold down-Jess sleeps on the bottom bunk. To the right is the same cupboard, drawer, shelf arrangement as in our room but Jess gets them all to herself. One is full of clothes, the other with toys, books, old school work and art. Jessica's room is almost fully outfitted with items from cabin sales and the Boutique.

We hope you enjoyed visiting our home! Stop by anytime!

Breaking New Ground

There is an air of anticipation. I have already picked out our clothes and have them hanging, ready to put on in the quite of the morning. One last night of rocking and rolling with the promise of sweet stillness just hours away. One last sunrise at sea. After thriteen days on the Atlantic Ocean we finally glimpsed land on the horizon. Back in Africa, where our hearts beat to the rhythm of the djembe and the laughter of the children. Back in Africa where the dust sticks to your legs and the smell of garbage gives way to the scent of the jungle and the sea. Back to the rains and the dry, the poverty of the people and the richness of character and culture. Home at last.........but a new home! For many, many years it has been the dream of Mercy Ships founder, Don Stephens to take the Africa Mercy into Central Africa. So we were very excited to be making history as part of the first Mercy Ships crew to sail into, and complete the first ever field service in Pointe Noire, Republic of the Congo, Central Africa!

The crew wave to onlookers as we approach our berth in the Port of Pointe Noire 

The pilot boards the ship from deck three, ready to guide us safely into port.

Josh, the ship's videographer jumps aboard the pilot ship to film some awesome footage of our arrival, from the sea.

Our deckies man the lines ready to tie the ship up next to a small fishing fleet and a rusted out shell of a shipwreck.

I love this about Mercy Ships. Everything we do is covered in prayer. Every single patient is prayed for right before they go into surgery, standing in their hospital gowns bewildered and afraid and our only long term surgeon, max fax surgeon, Dr. Gary Parker lays his hands on each anesthetized patient and prays over them before he begins his surgery. Each department begins the day in prayer and each Monday morning the community gathers and we are directed in specific prayer points. Perhaps my favourite ship prayers are those that the captain makes over the PA system at the beginning and the end of each sail to thank God for his protection and provision as we sail. It is always a very moving experience, as the crew stop where they are and what they are doing to close their eyes and join the captain in prayer.

Berthed! Tied up alongside, the berth is adorned with tents splashed in the colours of the Congolese flag. The gangway is lowered to solid ground. Terra firma at last!

Touchdown!

The crew wave at the advance team who have paved the way for our arrival, already clocking up five months in Pointe Noire, before the ship's arrival.

 

Some of the West African crew wave bonjour!

The elementary kids wave their homemade Congolese flags, excited to be in a new country and ready to feel dry land again! Sailing can be tough for a kid!

Jess all dressed up out on deck with the Academy.

A poignant moment indeed; Mercy Ship's founder Don  Stephens and his wife, Deyon stand on the dock, waving in the Africa Mercy. After 38 years at the helm, they had yet to see a Mercy Ship sail into port. They purposefully chose this historic moment as Mercy Ships breaks new ground into Central Africa, as their time.

Congolese buglers play as crew begin to make their exit.

Captain Tim had first honours to walk down the gangway.

Followed by the Africa Mercy's managing director, Donovan Palmer and his lovely wife, Mae.

Congolese military sit on the dock in full regalia

The media surround a VIP Congolese guest.

The media hang on every word of Mercy Ship's founder, Don Stephens

Captain Tim makes his way back on board assisted by the ship security officer.



The AFM hospitality team shine, ready to welcome on board a boatload of VIP's and dignitaries.

Head Chef Ken encourages the visitors to sample his finger food.

The Africa Mercy proudly displays the fluttering flag of the Republic of the Congo. For the next ten months we will endeavour to bring our best to the nation of the Congo, offering free, live saving surgeries to the poorest of the poor, while delving into the culture of this land, to form long standing relationships with locals and the government, to ensure a future for Mercy Ships in the region of Central Africa.

So What's it like to Sail on a Mercy Ship?

So what is it like to sail on the Africa Mercy I hear you ask? For those of you who have been on cruise, well it's absolutely nothing like that at all! We still have to go to work, the kids still go to school (on some sails) and everything needs to be secured before we leave. As our esteemed captain likes to tell us at our pre-sail briefing, "Think of your house tilting violently at a 20 degree angle". Unlike cruise ships and other larger vessels, the Africa Mercy is not equipped with stabilizers and can pick up quite a roll(side to side) and when you add in pitch (up and down) it become a bit of a vomit machine. But the very worst sensation is corkscrewing (side to side and up and down and round and round and every which way there is).

There is always an air of excited anticipation just before we sail. It is almost palpable. Either we are sailing towards our shipyard destination which means down time and holidays, for most of the crew, or towards our next host country. Both events highlights, each for different reasons. There is a certain sense of community and bonding between those of us on the sail. We are united with nowhere to go and nowhere to be. There is plenty of time for lazy conversation and getting to know one another better. There are also plenty of wonderful sailing traditions such as sock golf, Sail Olympics and worship on the bow that are quite unique to Mercy Ships. It is also a bit of fun to pick out a suitable movie to watch such as "A Perfect Storm" or Poseidon" for the journey!

We have been on very short sails and very loooonnggg sails but there is not much better way to feel close to the heart of God than standing on the bow watching a magnificent sunset, while dolphins leap alongside the bow, the air balmy with a hint of a breeze, staring out at the vastness of the ocean.

The bridge is the major hub of the sail where all the navigation and of course, steering the ship, takes place. Crew are able to tour the bridge during the sail to experience what it is like from the heights of the ship, overlooking the bow and the waves crashing beneath.

Life goes on, even at sea! This 'aint no cruise. Above, some of the Academy kids in class.

Drills, drills, drills. This is the time when we have all kinds of drills- man over board drills, at sea drills, pirate drills, lifeboat drills etc., etc.. Pictured above is one of the 150 man lifeboats being tested, shortly after we pulled out of the Port of Conakry. These are the life boats that have been on the starboard side of the ship which, when are in port, is generally against the dock, so they remain unused for ten months.

You never know what you might see when you look out your cabin window. Above, a lifeboat goes past our cabin!

When the hospital closes and things slow down, many crew take the opportunity to work in other departments. Jess spent a week working in the galley and she worked hard! The galley staff start at around 8:00am and work until about 7:30pm, except on Sundays when the ship has a hot breakfast and the galley start at 5:30am. They work two days on and two days off but on the sail the schedule changed to one day on, one day off. Jess is dressed in her galley attire, all wet from doing mountains of dishes, and sporting a potato around her neck-someone's idea of a joke remedy for seasickness!

Ask most of the crew and they will pretty much be in agreement that the best thing about the sail is going out on the bow and watching the sunset and the sea life. It doesn't get much better! Andrew and Jess on the bow above.

 

Who needs SeaWorld? These dolphins are wild and free and perform the most spectacular shows for us over and over during our recent sails. They are beautiful animals and even the most seasoned sailor is awed by their majesty!

 

Flying fish-another frequent addition to our sea life viewing.

These past few sails we were blessed with many whale sighting and a few clever and/or quick photographers captured them on film. Orcas (killer whales) were also sighted.

This about sums it up! A picture says a thousand words.

Almost every night we sail, God paints the sky in a myriad of stunning colours as the sun sets and rises each day.

 

 

 

The shadow of a lifeboat under the waning sunset.

Now I talked earlier about that rock and roll...here you can see a little hint of an angle to the portside. This is just a small glimpse of the "gentle" roll of the Africa Mercy!

During on of our recent sails we had a drone fly overhead to take photos of the ship at sea. The result was some pretty awesome stills and video, captured from a perspective that the crew will never get to see.

The Africa Mercy in all her glory headed for a week in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain for one last week of fun before the epic two week sail she took to the Congo.

When long term crew think about sailing on the Africa Mercy, they think about Ghurkha cooking! Our security team is largely staffed by Nepalese Ghurkhas and they are fabulous cooks! As they have a bit of down time when we sail (there normal post is at the gangway) they cook a meal for us each sail......fried, curry chicken, curry eggs, naan bread and dahl. Yum! Another foodie traditional on the AFM is a hot breakfast the morning of the sail. This is to give all the deckies and engineers a nice, hearty breakfast before the long day of hard work ahead!

What about all our rubbish (trash, garbage)? Well the only stuff that we are legally allowed to throw overboard these days (this has changed while we have been on board) is food scraps! Every night the dining room staff go up onto the bridge deck and toss the scraps overboard. It is an interesting sight if you happen to be standing next to a window. The rest of the rubbish gets stored on board in our cabins, in the galley and on deck. Man you should have seen how much rubbish we had after 13 days at sea! The poor Congolese garbage men didn't quite know what to do!

 A few more awesome, aerial pics of the bow, from the bridge, taken during worship on the bow, a very special sailing event.

 

 A bit too much of a close up photo of me during one of the worship on the bow sessions.

Love the djembes and the way our West African crew play them with such skill. It is amazing to watch!

God can hear our worship even in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean! Worship on the bow is one of my favourite parts of the sails. Expect a close encounter with God!



I cannot go without mentioning one of the highlights of our sail to the Congo and perhaps the most highly anticipated sailing event, thus far, our crossing of the Prime Meridian and the Equator at the SAME TIME! Yes! Following old navy traditions, once you cross the equator by sea you move from the lowly title of "Pollywog" to "Shellback", a status we achieved on our very first sail from Durban, South Africa to Freetown, Sierra Leone. But crossing the Prime Meridian and the Equator together earns you an even more coveted and elite title of "Royal Diamond Shellback"! Woot. Above the crew celebrated the day before "crossing the line" with some line games on the bow, like tug-o-war and the limbo. Jess pulls hard for her team of "already shellback" kids.

Proof from the bridge that we have earned our "Royal Diamond Shellback" status!

 

Here we are out on deck "crossing the line"! Beforehand we celebrated with and Open Mic night and kissing of the fish ceremony. We also got certificates to commemorate this illustrious occasion.
 
And that is just a few of the things that happen on a Mercy Ships sail. Unforgettable, indescribable, sometime downright miserable but definitely not to be missed!