Adjusting to Life

Well, here we are again!!!  We've started settling into the routine that is life aboard the Africa Mercy.  Denise has gotten her work schedule in the dining room.  She works 5 days one week and then 2 the next; however, those days start at 5:30 am and end about 7:30 pm.  There are a couple breaks between meals but days still are long!!!  She has had fun interacting with our day workers.  Mercy Ships hires over 200 local citizens who work for the ship through the time we are here.  This is one of the ways that we work to infuse money into the local economy. 

Matt has been active in his job.  Twice a week he travels to the dental clinic to oversee security of the screening lines.  This morning there were approximately 700 people in line for less than 200 slots for dental care.  As this is the last clinic that is still actively screening, people with all sorts of issues come hoping for a  referral to a medical or eye provider; however, we have to turn them away as all the slots are full through the rest of our time here.  It's heart breaking to watch as children suffering from issues that are treatable in any first-world country are turned away simply because we lack the resources to help everyone who needs it.  We do a lot, don't get me wrong.  By the time we leave Guinea in June we will have helped thousands of people.  However, with the lack of medical accessibility, we've only scratched the surface.  Hopefully, this is where our capacity-building within the local medical community will provide more long-term impact.  We pray for these people but we also pray for our ability to remain compassionate to them.

We are very pleased with our cabin!!  It seems almost like an efficiency (VERY EFFICIENT!!) apartment . . . here is a picture . . . couples and families have it much better than singles in housing.  They are generally housed at least 4 to a cabin, and often start in 6, 8, or even a 10 berth cabin!!

Hope this finds you well, thanks for your thoughts and prayers as we move forward in this journey!