Daddy's Girl

One of the best sounds in the world, to me, is the sound of Jess and Andrew laughing together, which they do often. It is music to my ears. Jess has always been a Daddy's girl so I was delighted to hear that the very unique relationship between a daddy and daughter was going to be honoured and celebrated though a Daddy Daughter Dinner Dance on board the Africa Mercy.

It turned out to be quite the evening.

Some very creative minds worked together to make everything special, from the invitations to the preparations to the dance itself.

Andrew surprised Jess in the hallway outside our cabin with her invite, wrapped with twine around a small bouquet of flowers.

On the back are the details of the dance but on the front Andrew had written, " Dear Jessie, I hope you can come to the dance with me, Love Daddy".

Obviously an occasion of such magnitude requires a lot of preparation. The Queens Lounge was converted into a pamper studio where all the girls on board, from the little tiny ones right up to the oldest teenage daughters on board, had their hair, makeup and nails attended to by some of the young women on board. Mum's could come for this bit!

Me helping Jess with her nails. What a proud mum I was too!

Having the gorgeous mane blow-dried!

Mummy and daughter selfie!

Almost ready!

Daddy and daughter ready for the dance!

One of our talented young photographers on board took some beautiful photos to capture the bond between father and daughter. Andy sure is a proud Dad!
(Photo above and all photos below by Ryan Cardoza)

Sitting down for dinner. Chicken fingers and fries followed by an ice cream bar. Of course!

Toppings for the ice cream.....

Many of our young men on board, who are yet to be Dad's, offered up their time and talents to help out for the evening. Above, our ship's plumber Laurin played the piano and guitar.

Deckie Luke waits tables.....

Some of the guys who gave up their evening to help serve our families. You guys rock!

Going back in time...Jess dancing on her Daddy's feet.

Dancing with Daddy

"Dance with me Daddy!
I take him by the hand,
Like a prima ballerina, atop his shoes I stand.
With my first and favourite partner, we glide across the floor,
By the sparkle in his eyes, I know I'm loved and adored.
He is charming and funny, he is big and strong,
We laugh, I twirl and giggle, as I follow him along.
We dance into each other's hearts, sweet memories of these days,
Daddy and I will dance again, the day he gives my hand away."

(Daddyncompany.com)

 

Aftermath...Jess and her two besties, Charlotte and Deborah.

 

Finding the Right Ones

On the Africa Mercy our prayer for our potential patients, before we even arrive in country, is always that same, "Lord send us those who you have in mind for transformation, spiritually, mentally and physically. Help them to find their way to a screening site or to the ship. Give them a divine appointment. Help us to find the right ones, whatever it takes."

So just how do people find out about the ship? Long before the ship's arrival in port, the Advance team does a stellar job of advertising the ship's arrival and the surgical specialties we offer on board. Advertising is done for screening day/s and surgeries by way of poster, billboards, text messaging, radio advertising and probably a whole heap of other creative ways. The advance team also spends a lot of time forming strategic relationship with local hospitals, churches and government officials.

So by the time we arrive into a port our prayers have been lifted high and God is whispering in the right ears and planting seeds in the right hearts, prompting them to find a way to the ship or to help another find their way, often against great adversity that continues to stun us. So many of our patients walk for days to reach the ship with debilitating conditions, facing torment and ridicule along the way. Many are already on death's door and somehow God makes a way. We are often their very last hope. It is a miracle, plain and simple!

Things have been a little different in Madagascar. Ordinarily we conduct one huge mass screening day in a large facility such as a sports stadium. However this field service the screening in Tamatave was held over a period of two weeks at a local hospital, Hopital Be (pronounced Bay). After that several surgical screenings were held in large cities all over the island of Madagascar, including the capital Antananarivo. In conjunction with the surgical screenings, eye screenings also took place in many other regions of Madagascar.

Screenings have now finished for this field service and miracles are taking place everyday on deck three!

Miracles like eight year old Sandrins (below, right), her right leg was negatively affected by a quinine injection. The medicine that cured her of malaria unfortunately damaged the nerves in her right leg, causing her foot to bend inwardly at the ankle. Now she is free to go to school again with her twin sister, Sandra!





 

Zafaline....This courageous young woman travelled from the southernmost tip of Madagascar in search of the Africa Mercy. Travelling with her mother, the journey took four days. Zafiline shared with us that she never doubted that Mercy Ships would be able to heal her.

 

  

 

 Look closely.......fraternal nine month old twins, Ichaya and Aycha, were born with polydactyly (extra digits) of their hands and feet.

Five beautiful fingers and five beautiful toes.....

 

Meet eleven year old Windy, the electricity went out in his home, so a candle was lit instead. Unfortunately, the candle was too close to the mosquito net that enclosed Windy and caught on fire, leaving him horribly disfigured. Just look at him now, with his arms so free....

 

 

All her life Vanya, aged eleven, has been disabled by an unusual condition called 'windswept legs'. Look at her straight legs now! With her legs so crooked Vanya wasn’t able to wear a dress. Now that her casts have come off, she can wear a dress, showing off her wonderfully straight legs.

 

Little Sorelle was born with a cleft lip. After Sorelle's surgery, mum, Antoine said, “I am happy because now Sorelle can grow up without people laughing at her or pushing her away. God will provide for my daughter like He has done with this surgery.”

‪ Zakael was ashamed of the cyst on his neck and would be teased by the neighborhood kids. Now that Zakael is healed, he want to follow his dream to become a soldier just like his grandfather!  

Two years ago, cataracts robbed William of his sight making it impossible for him to see his wife and son.

A simple operation changed his life!

 

Minette has been carrying around a 4.3 kilogram neurofibroma, that began growing on her back when she was just five years old. This young women has shed her large, oversized t-shirts and her sad demeanour. Now her face shines with joy!

 

Jocelin  had a golf ball sized tumour that had grown out of the tear duct and pushed his right eye almost completely out of its socket, immobilizing his eye and disabling his vision in that eye. S‪surgeon's had to disconnect and reconnect some of the muscles attached to his eye in the removal of the tumour.

Jocelin was told before his surgery that he may lose his eye but his eye was able to be saved.  He says, “I am so thankful to God and Mercy Ships. Surgeries are expensive. I could never afford to do this. Not only is the tumour gone, but I still have my eye. I’m going to be able to look people in the eye again!”

Eighteen year old Mamisy came to us with no nose or upper lip, his face eaten away by a destructive condition called Noma. Mercy Ships surgeons recreated his new nose from a part of his scalp and then fashioned a new upper lip from his bottom lip! Mamisy is looking forward to getting married and having lots of children!

 

For thirty two years a growth ate away at Vololonirina's cheek. After all her hope had left her, she began to pray. For fourteen long years Vololonirina and her church prayed for a miracle! Vololonirina, who became known for her beautiful shawl, proclaimed, after her surgery, “Hallelujah! Thank you, God! It’s gone! I feel free!”



 

 

 

Meet  four year old cutie, Priscilla who suffered from bowed legs, a physical deformity that gave her legs an “O”- shaped appearance. This condition created many limitations. She was unable to walk long distances or jump and walking up and down stairs was painful for her. Other children teased her. Priscilla’s mother, Llanariana prayed for a miracle and it came in the form of a hospital ship.

 

Now this little bundle of mischief is achieving all kinds of new things! She can squat, stand on one leg, and has even returned to school.

 

 

 

In our time with Mercy Ships, the story of Sambany has perhaps been the greatest miracle! After walking for two days with dangerously low haemoglobin levels,  fifty five year old Sambany made it to the ship, carrying the largest tumour even seen on a Mercy ship, weighing in at a hefty 7.46kg. After a marathon 12 hour surgery, that included the aid of  seventeen crew blood donors, Sambany was free of his burden!
 


Today Sambany is looking great and healing nicely at the Hope Centre. He says, “My heart is very, very happy. I’m very happy. I’m just happy!



"Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for,
Being forgotten by everyone,
I think that is a much greater hunger,
a much greater poverty
Than the person who has nothing to eat..."

Mother Theresa

 

Just to finish up, I couldn't resit a few pics of our othopedic cuties! How could you resist these gorgeous faces? 

 

 

Before and After!

Many of you will remember the trouble we have had in our cabin, over the years, with mould. After the shipyard period in 2013 the mould in our cabin exploded. We had mould everywhere-the carpet, shoes, hats, belts, our mattresses, pillows, wooden souvenirs, handbags, laptop bag, any kind of bags, everywhere we looked. We smelt the mildew smell as soon as we came in the door. Our cabin felt "damp" and humid all the time. The Captain measured the humidity in our cabin at around 73%.

We had a ceiling leak just outside our cabin door for over 18 months so the carpet in our entry way was always wet. It just wasn't any fun and Andrew started to develop some allergies and congestion issues as well.

So we took the issue to those in charge and our cabin received the once over in dry dock/shipyard last year in The Canary Islands. I spent the whole sail from the Congo to the Canaries packing up our cabin which was no mean feat, while the ship was rolling from side to side. We stored all our stuff in a classroom in the Academy while we stayed on land in a hotel with the rest of the families not on leave.

Our cabin was cleaned from top to bottom, new lino flooring was installed and the stink, rank carpet was ripped up. New suction vents were installed in both the bedrooms and sound proofing was installed in the large suction vent we already had, in the lounge room.  The air-conditioning vents were cleaned out with a huge vacuum sucker thing and the leak was final fixed outside our cabin door. No more water to slip on when we came out of our cabin!

Our cabin sans carpet!

 

One square of carpet left from under our bed.

Repairing the leaking pipes outside our cabin door with our fridge and other furniture sitting in the hallway

The first strips of lino are laid.

Lounge room/kitchen completed.

Shipyard workers cleaning out the large suction vent in our lounge area. Andrew happened to be there when they first started sucking out the vent and he said it sounded like cornflakes being sucked into the hose!

A big hose sucking out our small bathroom vent.

After six weeks in a hotel during dry dock we came home and had to move our stuff immediately out of the Academy as the staff needed to get ready for the next school year. Needless to say our cabin looked like a cyclone had hit, for quite a few weeks. There was just no room to put anything while we were trying to unpack. No garage or spare room to put the unpacked boxes in!

Just a small area to walk from one end of the cabin to another and out the front door.

Found a place to store some of the boxes while we unpacked. We moved Jess from the bottom to the top bunk and stored the boxes under her bed.

Finally done! Some before and after shots. New linen gave our bedroom a bit of a lift, including a new mattress! We also took the opportunity to get rid of the horrible wooden side on my side of the bed and one for the talented carpenters on board fixed it up for us! Needless to say we have been sleeping  much better these days!

Our bedroom before, looking to the portside and after to the portside.

 

Before-starboard side and after starboard side.

 

Lounge/kitchen looking towards the front door before and after, below. Check out our lovely new couch!

Another angle of lounge/kitchen before and after, below.

 

Lounge/kitchen before looking towards our bedroom and after looking towards our bedroom.

Another view before of the main living area, above and after, below.

The "hallway" before and after, below.

 

The front door, before and below, after.

Jessica's room before, above and after, below. looking less little girl and more teenager!

Before, above and after, below.

I am very happy to say the we haven't found any more mould, our cabin is sweet smelling and Andrews congestion has resolved. Let's not talk about the bed bugs, leaking ceiling and window inside our cabin and blocked toilet that have happened since shipyard, shall we! Let's just say that when deck and engineering crew see cabin 6417 on a work request they put in for a transfer-lol!