On April 12th I Blogged about the Dangers…

of the water crisis. After I did that blog I also listed it on the sidebar as one of my requests for regular prayer for our dive team. The situation has grown worse now that the rainy season has started and our divers are now diving regularly twice a day to keep the intakes clear and scrape the barnacles off the bottom of the ship and out of the valves (refer to the pictures on the Apr. 12 blog). The dangers of the current is still very real and our divers can only dive at high or low tide which doesn’t give them freedom to dive at their own convenience. Each dive takes around 4-5 hours and they still have their regular jobs to do. We have just taken an offering to help pay for the additional equipment they need such as full face masks (approx. $1500 USD ea), so they can stop sucking in the disgusting water, flood flashlights (approx. 350 USD), pressure gauges etc. These dives are very labour intensive and the crew on the ship become more appreciative of them everyday!!! HR is now working out a bed space to hire a fulltime diver to alleviate some of the pressure and because the need is so dire. The divers are all suffering at present from low-level sinus infections as well as just generally feeling unwell.

Do you want an idea of the conditions they are swimming in???

Of course you do…

Here we go…

Can you see Olly and Dan circled in green????Maybe now?

Is this unbelievable to you?? You should see the streams of this garbage floating down the river; it is unbelievable to my eyes. Wow, we may be strict in Canada about garbage waste and litter, but I am so very thankful for those laws….Anyway, that picture of Olly in the water amidst the garbage in Benin (again 12 April blog) is a ‘day at the beach’ compared to this, and what the Captain, the dive team and the crew would give to have Benin’s polluted waters back.

Can you imagine???

At this point I would also like you to know that there is also a large percentage of crew getting sick: stomach infections (me), diarhea, colds (me also, they call it ‘opportunistic illness’) etc. etc… there is so much sickness and time off on board that the Captain, Operations Manager and Doctor put together a survey sheet to try and determine the cause of where all the sickness is coming from. It has been hard to make that determination however, but as always our leaders do what they can do and all of a sudden there are a lot more hand sanitizing machines around the ship. I personally believe this is from a combination of the water (even though it is treated) and the fruit and vegetables (that are often grown in sewer water), I no longer eat either which we know is not healthy….ohhhhhh, when I get home, I want to eat beautiful salads without dressing and taste the fantastic taste of fresh crisp vegetables – yummmm. Also, a nice cold glass of real milk, skim milk – mmm, mmmm, I can’t wait! :) Anyway, I digress…the situation here is challenging and we and our unsung heroes (diving team) could really use your prayers for safety, health, diving equipment and our machinery onboard that is cooled and run off water.

Thank you for your prayers!

See you all soon!

Be well, be safe and be with God!

xx  Moi  

P.S. Have you noticed the countdown clock lately?? (My mom certainly has – LOL.)