Good Morning Africa!!!

It is 6:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning and I'm sitting on the top deck of the Africa Mercy watching life go by.  The port is starting to wake up but the ship is still sleepy.  During the week the pace onboard can be quite hectic, with 450 crew and a couple hundred day workers all together in a 500 foot space, not to mention the patients and their caregivers. 

However, Saturday morning seems to be the time when everyone can just take a deep breath, savor a cup of coffee and recharge.  That is certainly what I'm doing.

Living in an active shipping port is a new experience.  It's been a blast watching the ships come and go, checking the web to see where they came from and where they are off to next.  Here are a couple pictures to show you one of the larger ships that docked right next to us.  For perspective, the smallest boat in the picture shuttles lines to the dock and is about 20 feet long.

Some of the things that are normal in West Africa really require a change to our Western mindset.  Here are a couple pictures of a fishing boat in quite good African condition! 

                                    


Much of the fishing fleet and the vehicle fleet here would never be allowed on the waters or roads of the US.  Recently we've had a couple very large car-carriers dock near us.  They unload equipment and cars that have been sold from the West because they are no longer considered servicable in our countries.  They begin a new life in Africa and often keep going for years!!

Well, the tugs are headed out so I will freshen my coffee and watch another ship come in!  All our love . . .

Matt and Denise