It's been another slow week on the ward, we still only had one OR running, but I'm told it's gonna get busier starting this week! A plastic surgeon arrived on ship today, so I will start taking care of kids who require skin grafts due to burns or other issues. I'm excited to see a new type of patient and be a little busier!

The highlight of the weekend was I got a full tour of the ship. One of the deck crew took me around. We walked the whole ship- bow to stern on each deck (note my nautical language!). It took about 25 minutes! The tour ended in the engine room and the engineer on duty proceeded to give me a tour of all the inner workings of the ship! It was a spur of the moment tour, but they were very welcoming- a common theme I've found in Africa. Even if it's an imposition, they will go out of their way to welcome you/help you with what you need.

they had me pretend to do work!

more pretending

It was very hot and noisy down in the engine room!

me and the engineer on duty

  Let's see, here are some other random things from the week...

I sat one evening watching these guys pull in fish with this huge net

it was neat because you could hear them singing the whole time to keep them working in sync

The ship got some pet birds! I guess vendors cram lots of birds into a small cage and sell the birds for people to make a wish on. They often break their wings so they get eaten by cats when they are released. This didn't sit well with the crew so they bought 29 of them and built a cage for them on the ship

the mean dock cats 😂 they are everywhere!

It's the rainy season in Senegal, which so far hasn't been too crazy- just some occasional rain. I did get caught in a pretty impressive thunderstorm on the way back to ship yesterday! It started with a quick wind storm then the skies opened up!

these guys were washing their goats, most likely getting them ready to be sold at the market

the wind storm- the streets emptied very quickly!

thankfully the rain didn't last too long!

 Hi all! I'm settling in to life on the ship! I had two training shifts this past week, then my first two shifts this weekend. Because we only have one surgeon on board, the hospital is still pretty calm. It's been a nice way to ease into working on the ship! 

This week we mostly took care of patients who needed thyroid surgery. Due to malnutrition, especially a lack of iodine, goiters (or an enlargement of your thyroid) are more common here. Most of the patients have had part or all of their thyroid removed and stay in the hospital for a day or two after to make sure everything looks ok. Some of the patients I took care of had been living with a large lump in their neck for over 10 years. I commented to one patient that I was impressed with his ability to sleep in the noisy wards (there aren't any private rooms- 6+ people are sleeping in the same room). He said that he was able to sleep so much better without the lump on his throat that the noise didn't matter!

I got to be a pediatric nurse this weekend as I was assigned a 2 month old baby! She has a cleft lip and is hoping to have surgery, but is only 2.5kg (5.5lbs). On ship, all the patients have to be at least 3kg to receive surgery, in order to decrease the chance of complications. So this little baby came in to get help with feeds to fatten her up! For the first time I was glad that I had been floated down to work in the NICU at Children's (something I always hated!) so this wasn't the first time taking care of a kiddo that small. I think all the adult nurses on our shift were also glad!

Other than work, I've been getting off the ship and exploring Dakar a little bit. Tonight I'm starting Wolof classes- that's most common language spoken here. We'll see how that goes! 

PS -if you want a postcard- send me your address!

One of the common areas on the ship- there's a Starbucks!

I'm a big fan of these prices 😃

exploring off the ship

a view of Dakar for our dinner spot

a view of the city from our pier

post shift ice cream for dinner- i'm really roughing it over here 😃

Hi All!

I decided to commandeer our (Rachel, Stephanie and I) old blog from our days in Tanzania and use it to share about life aboard the Africa Mercy (AFM). I arrived to Senegal on Saturday without any issues and after quarantining 24 hours, made it on board the ship! So far it has been mostly orientation, learning about living on a ship and how the hospital functions. 

Right now I'm working on adjusting to life onboard! I'm in a cabin with four other women. They have been very welcoming and helpful- especially the tutorial on how to take a quick shower without flooding the bathroom! My roommates are from literally from all over the globe- South Africa, Australia and Germany and all work in different capacities on the ship- in the lab, physical therapy, outpatient nursing and anesthesiology. As the newest person, I get the honor of sleeping on the top bunk. The beds are small but comfy and I've only hit my head on the ceiling once 😊 My favorite thing about being on the AFM so far is meeting people from ALL over! There are about 30 different countries represented on board.

The ship is docked in a pretty large port, so it's been interesting watching these huge container ships come and go. Our neighboring ships are importing rice and corn. While the views of the port are more industrial than spectacular, it is nice being by the water. The Mercy Ships rent out dock space, so we are able to go off the ship and walk around the dock to stretch our legs/get outside.

Tomorrow I start my orientation in the hospital. I have two training shifts, then will start working. I guess right now things are a little slower in the hospital because they only have one OR in use (so I'm only having to work 4 days a week!). We are currently providing surgeries for people with thyroid problems so I think I will start off by taking care of adult patients. We'll see!

my cabin doesn't have a porthole, so I think I'll be spending more time in common area 

the neighboring ship unloading rice, the area inside the yellow containers belongs to Mercy Ships, and the upper level of the parking lot (our outdoor track!)

Mercy Ships dock area

my scenic view

My home, The Africa Mercy (AFM)

my cabin

Pumoja Bab!

Well, we made it to the highest point in Africa, all three of us!

Last Sunday we started our climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro, and I'll say it, we had no idea what we were getting into! We new that it was going to be physically challenging, so we'd been running in Kowak, but other than that, we were clueless. So it was a bit of a surprise (and a relief-we thought we would carry our own bags!) that when we met with our guide the day before we left, we found out that we had a team of 10 people to take us up the mountain. There were 2 guides and 8 porters to carry all of our food, bags, tents and general supplies! We thought we were being spoiled, but soon found out that how everyone goes up the mountain!

While we weren't sure what to expect, we had no idea how crowded the trail was going to be. Each day, about 150 people start their climb up Kili on the route we took. On average, most groups have about 3 porters per person to assist with the climb, so if you do the math, that's

A LOT of people hiking on a pretty small path- the majority of them being Tanzanian porters walking much faster than us! Now just a word about these porters, because what they did was pretty amazing. They each carry up to about 50lbs of supplies, and it's not in fancy trekking bags. They would combine all the supplies into a large plastic bag and carried them on their shoulders or heads! It was so impressive how fast they walked, managing such heavy loads. It was pretty interesting to see the different things they carried- everything from tents, tables and chairs, to fresh fruits and veggies, to 3 dozen eggs (I mean, who would even think to bring eggs on a week long hike?!?!)

Our trail took us up and back down the mountain over 6 days. The first 4 days we hiked about 5-8 hours a day, through gorgeous scenery- each day different as we ascended. It was mostly uphill, and /*on a whole it was tiring but not too difficult. The only downside was starting the first night, we got quite a bit of rain, aka every night and most morning we started walking in the rain! We definitely looked pretty stylish as we climbed in our ponchos! We had fun though, especially talking with all the various groups climbing.

Last Thursday was our summit day, and it was definitely the hardest. We started from base camp (4800m) in the dark at around 1am. Luckily, it was the first night it didn't rain and we had great weather for the whole day. It was a steep walk, pretty much straight up the mountain with a little zig-zagging, through the snow. We have never walked so slowly in our lives and still felt so tired! The altitude definitely was the biggest challenge, making it harder to breath. But we made it (it only took us 9 hrs to go up 1000m!), and we got to enjoy our first beautiful sunrise on the way. The views on top were stunning- bright blue skies against glaciers and snow! After taking a few pictures, we turned around and walked right back down to base camp. It was almost as hard as walking up- trying not to slip! After resting at base camp for about an hour, we finished off the day by descending to a lower camp site. It was our longest day, walking about 16hrs, but it was definitely the most rewarding!

It was great to get off the mountain and back to our hotel. We were all ready to take long, hot showers and actually sit on a toilet seat rather than use a squatter!

Kili here we come!!!

Just a quick update on where we are now!

We left Kowak on Wednesday afternoon and headed to outside the Western Serengeti gate, where we spent the night. Thursday we woke up, and after a yummy breakfast, met up with our driver and headed into the Serengeti. It was fun because this time we were in a Landrover with a roof that popped up, so you could stand on the seats and look out the roof while we were driving! Just like last time, we saw tons of animals- lots of zebras, giraffes, tons of elephants and wildebeests, and this time a bunch of lions! Wednesday night we camped in the park, then on Thursday continued to head East to a neighboring park called the Ngorongoro Crater. It's a smaller park, but has a spectacular backdrop (the walls of the crater) and lots more animals to see! We even got to see a few rhinos!

Today we drove to Arusha, one of the bigger cities in Tanzania, and the start point for our trek up Mt. Kilimanjaro. We leave tomorrow at 8am, drive for 2 hours to the base of the mountain, then start hiking (I think our first day as an easy 5 hr hike...at least that's what our guide said!). We got to meet with our guide today, he seems pretty chill and has climbed to the summit over 100 times, so we're pretty happy! We also have about 8 porters coming along with us to carry our bags and cook and set up the tents and basically do all the hard stuff but walk! Should be pretty easy! We're all pretty excited. Say an extra prayer for us on Thursday, that's when we should reach the summit, then head back down. We'll let you guys know how we did on Friday when we get back down!

So Long, Farewell!

It's official- 3:00pm, February 9th, 2011. It's kindof unbelievable, but we're 3 days away from our departure date from Kowak! 4 months have absolutely flown by, and it's almost time to end one adventure and start another (1 month of backpacking round Africa)! From start to finish, it's been great, we've learned a lot and have had a blast.

The last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind. We had a great visit in Nairobi, enjoyed the hot water, internet and good food (maybe the 3 things we are missing most!). Back in Kowak, it has mostly been business as usual while trying to fit in a few last-minute African adventures, we thought we'd share some of the highlights. Friday night we had 6 kids sleep over at our house. It was a blast- movie, popcorn (thanks Charlie!), pillow fight- the works! I guess you could say the only downside was that one kid wet the bed, and there was quite a bit of pee on our bathroom floor the next morning (I guess these kids aren't to using a sit down toilet!). Today, we went to church at the neighboring village, then went back to one of the hospital guard's house to eat lunch with his family. It was great to see a home outside of the hospital, the food was delicious, and we were even able to have a decent conversation in Swahili! What else, there was a ride in the back of a cement truck to check the PO Box (still getting packages, Thank you!), discovered a "movie theater" in Kowak, attempted to wash and style black people hair (Fran- you'd have been proud!) and just generally hung out and worked!

As we said, we have 3 more days left, and I know they're gonna go quickly! Tomorrow we are going to make our last trip to Musoma to meet some of the other Indian sisters working in Tanzania, and hopefully download the Superbowl so we can watch it on our computer Monday night (father is a HUGE Packers fan, so we're pretty excited!). We're also trying to fit in last minute laundry, which isn't so last minute because you have to leave enough time for it to air dry and who knows when it's gonna rain! We've started packing and compiling our "leave in Africa" pile. We're looking forward to giving away all the things we can't take with us!

Though we'll be sad to leave Kowak, we're all really excited about our trip to come. We start with another safari through the Serengeti on our way to Arusha, the city from which we'll start our week-long climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro. Other highlights include Zanzibar (we'll be ready to relax on a beach after all the walking!), Capetown, Lesotho, Victoria Falls and a mystery destination. We were originally going to go to Cairo but have decided not to go because they are trying to have a revolution or something- so rude! We'll try to keep you updated along the way with pictures and funny stories!