Stats for the 2010 Outreach in Togo and the Republic of South Africa…

For consistency purposes, I am basically copying and pasting the report I sent to my church for their the missionary booklet that they update once a year. For those of you that read my blog and the Northview Missionary Booklet, you will find some differences as the page in the booklet doesn’t have room for many pictures, they had to edit some of the information I provided because of space and I edited requests for support because I didn’t feel that for this particular blog it was appropriate… here goes:

New outreach, new cabin, new job, new season…

There is so much to share with you in this yearly update on what was accomplished in 2010. How, then, do I decide what I will include? I guess the obvious is I have prayed about what to write, and I thank God in advance for the wisdom and discernment of what I am going to include in this blog…

So much has happened since I was home last June and July. As our past CEO (even he has changed) said, “We have had volcanoes disrupt our travel and supply lines, political uprisings block our paths, and a little detour to the ship yard make 2010 a very unique year indeed. We had to shorten our Field Service in Togo to allow the Africa Mercy to be retrofitted with new more efficient equipment. 

5 Month Dry Dock in South Africa

 

Me with some Zulu children in the province of Kwa Zulu Natal where some of the the crew stayed in a community called at Appelsbosch.

 

 

 

 

 

Jim Paterson, Senior VP of International Operations commented, “As an organization, we have just completed one of our largest undertakings in the generator refit project in the Durban shipyard.” Here are some of the things we accomplished during this time:

Replacement of 6 old, noisy, unreliable and dirty generators with 4 super efficient, more economical and environmentally friendly brand new MAN generators; Replacement of 2 old and unreliable air conditioning SABRO units with 2 shiny new and reliable Carrier units;  New engine room piping for cooling salt water, fire mains, heavy fuel, diesel fuel, fresh water, etc; Replacement of engine controls in engine room and bridge;  7km of new cables between engines and bridge; Modification of electrical switchboard; New shelving in Deck 6 and Deck 2 food stores; All lifeboats, life-rafts, and lifeboat davits serviced and all cables renewed; All fire-fighting and SCUBA equipment repaired/serviced (Scuba equipment needs further attention); New Mercy Ships logo on funnel and along side; Pool modified with installation of wave catchers;  More sprinklers installed in cargo hold; Damaged windows replaced with new ones; Main engines overhauled; Tons and tons of provisions loaded; All Land Rovers and Nissans repaired and serviced; Elevator converted from manual to electronic, with fancy new controls. The estimated costs to get these repairs done is approx. 8 million USD. It is not exact because they are still working on the final dollar amount.

Whew, there was a lot of work done and as you can read, our time in South Africa was very necessary and very busy! We are still working out some of the glitches and details in making all the new machinery work and in some instances still waiting for parts towards that effort, but as the Captain said, our sail here was without the usual generator problems and the new ones have already proved worthwhile.

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Leaving Durban Dry Dock in the Republic of South Africa

One of the Mercy Ships VP’s announced, “There was discussion that we would not be able to perform many services while in South    Above & to the right: Dry Dock Crew. Below: Appelsbosch Crew wearing “ I survived the Bosch t-shirts

Africa, but yet our Crew took the challenge and not only provided services, they have helped us to make 2010 a new record for the number of people impacted with Togo and South Africa combined.”

We have just released our 2010 Field Service numbers and we were able to impact over 480,000 people this year!  Praise God!” Again for you statistical minded, we were able to perform over 77,000 procedures with over 59,000 direct beneficiaries. Some further statistics include 30,265 eye consultations, 1,150 reconstructive surgeries, 15,702 dental interventions and 12,215 students trained in village health. These statistics don’t include of course the volunteers trained to do lay work, doctors trained in specialized areas of surgery, relationships made, a multitude of programs and ministries offered, and God being represented and glorified in all we do! I have shared previously some of those stats that were performed in South Africa which you can find under ‘old posts’ on the sidebar.  Below are a few pictures of just a few of the people those stats made a difference to in Togo.

 

Patrick after Maxillo Facial Tumour surgery.

 

 

Loveless below is 4 years old. Unfortunately, her tumour is malignant and we could not help her. The truth is the doctors were quite surprised that she had made it thus far…. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aissa - NOMA

 

 

Alimou – Maxillo Facial Tumour

 

 

 

                               Marthlynn – Cleft Palate

 

Look at the beauty, the peace in her right eye…

How, when carrying this around???

Wow! Isn’t she unbelievably beautiful? 

What is it they say, “The eyes are the mirror to our soul.” I’d say with eyes like hers and a such a smile to match that Akuavi is one special treasure …

 

 

And how about Kossi (below). As a mother, his situation pulls at my heart, and without a doubt reminds me why I sacrifice being at home with my own son! Abel – Orthopaedics: unbelievable aye?

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 VVF (Vesicovaginal fistula) ‘Coming out Celebraton!’ (I hope you remember my stories from last year of what this terrible affliction is about and what all these women in West Africa have to suffer – unnecessarily!)

  Although, empowering VVF patients is one of our passions, we won’t be doing these surgeries while we are in Sierra Leone (SL)as they have a VVF Clinic that was established our last time in SL and is still up and running. We will come alongside them, but we don’t usually do surgeries that can already be done in the country we help.

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Of course I can’t share about all of the 480,000 beneficiaries Mercy Ships, you and I have impacted, but I did want to share a few of the above statistics of the incredible life-changing surgeries that are done on board the ship with you. 

As of 27 February 2011 we have docked in Freetown, Sierra Leone for a ten month long Field Service bringing hope and healing to a country rebuilding itself after years of civil war, conflict and instability.

I have to admit, it is a little scary to be here where human devastation and poverty is at the bottom of the World’s Human Index Scale. However, I am challenged to serve God in a way that is totally outside of my comfort zone and humbly look forward to how He plans to use me in this new season…This last sentence reminds me of a couple of quotes, “To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.” And, “The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you”

The Anastasis was Mercy Ships predecessor to the M/V Africa Mercy and was retired in 2007 when the M/V Africa Mercy was put to sea.

 

 

The picture on the right is painted on the wall outside the port in SL (Thank you Murray for the pic)

Before we started our mass screenings in the Capital of Freetown…,

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…some of our approx. 60 person advance team (including 2 doctors) had gone to 5 rural areas, and had already screened 4948 people from crowds of over 7600;

scheduled 368 surgeries, 139 surgeon screenings, referred 503 people to other departments,  

 

 

 

 

created a waiting list of 708 and were able to perform 26 minor surgeries

 

 

 

 

This list does not begin to include what the advance team prepared for our arrival including hiring, giving orientation and TB…

 

Sailing into SL

 

 

Some more members of the advance team below:

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Below: Managing Director and his wife (Donovan & Mae Palmer) with Captain Tim Tretheway; the raising of the country flag, and the pilot boarding to bring us in.

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There was a lot of fanfare: Above: Marching Band & Some of the land-based media team – Below: Welcome Banners & Minister of Health with the Head of our Advance Team and the boy (past patient) I speak about on the sidebar; his story yet to come.

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Okay, the below pictures having nothing to do with anything other than coming into port. I just thought you might want to see a few pictures of me now… LOL :) The port coming into view behind me; Penny (my South African friend) and I holding up the sunrise which actually looked more like a sunset, and Alice Maude & I (my Sierra Leoneon friend)

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Above: I am just posing for this momentous occasion. (yes Tracey, I will be printing the above pictures, so you can see them close-up :):):):))

… testing and immunization shots of more than 150 day workers to work with us once our ship arrived and an abundance of other factors I couldn’t begin to list here. I look forward to providing more details to you through my blog and my next visit home in June and July 2011!

 

Freetown

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Congested City of vehicles, people & vendors all fighting for a spot on the same narrow street….

 

It can take 2 hours to move 6 Km.

 

 

 

 

Freetown has national clean up day once a month.

But….

and now with the rainy season it’s couples with mud etc. and is quite a mess! (Thank God I brought my rubber boots!)

Please pray for me about all the things in my opening sentence; each one presents a challenge of it’s own kind and I could not be here doing this work without your faithful prayers, encouragement and financial support.

Okay, okay, this blog ended up being quite a bit different than the original sent to the church for the booklet; a little more embellished should we say…I’m blaming it on prayer…lol 

“Around the world today, billions of people live in fear and desperation, with impure water, inadequate food, and little or no access to health care. Behind every statistic is a person waiting for hope and healing. Utilizing hospital ships, Mercy Ships delivers medical excellence with integrity and compassion to the world's forgotten poor by mobilizing people and resources worldwide. Mercy Ships serves all people without regard for race, gender, or religion.” -                                                      -Marianne Huurman, HR Manager

I have no medical training, but I have the love of God and love for others that I can share along with some administrative skills and an open heart and mind to learn and participate in whatever I can do, to help make a difference here in West Africa; where living one day at a time is harder than anything I’ve ever had to do – ever… !

Come, let us bow down in worship,                                            ; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;                                     ; For He is our God and we are the people of his pasture,            The flock under His care. – Amen! 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for whatever your part was in bringing hope and healing in 2010 to the 480,0000 and to the successful implementation of our new generators plus, plus, plus….

Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance!

Love and hugs,

Carol  XX 

P.S. More to follow on the new job and new cabin