Wrapping up in Guinea

Hi Everyone!!!

We are wrapping up our time in Guinea . . . recently my world has been quite busy!!  As we finished the medical care, many of our crew departed.  On Sunday we had a total of 60 people going to the airport (including drivers) for departures.  With the difficulties going on in the country, we decided to run a single convoy of 12 Land Rovers . . . it was my responsibility to coordinate the trip.  Here is a picture of what that looked like:

Everyone did a great job and seemed to enjoy the adventure!!

Then, last night, a group called the Guinea Initiative hosted a Thank You event for Mercy Ships.  It was held in the People's Palace which is a common gathering area that has the largest auditorium in Conakry.  The only problem from my standpoint was that we had less than a week to plan!!  This left the security team (Melodee, Gabe, and me) with very little time to do all our planning for arrival, movement, exit, emergency transport, etc.  Well, thankfully, the event went off without a hitch and we had fun using the lapel microphones and earpieces for our radios . . . very Secret Service-like!!  The speeches of thanks were heartfelt and appreciated.  The entertainment was excellent with several different groups highlighting talents from native drumming to ballet and acrobatics.  I've attached a photo collage from one of my friends from the event (I was too busy walking and checking on stuff to take a camera).

Now it is time to secure our cabin for sailing.  The ship has a tendency to roll quite a bit so everything has to be taken down, padded, or secured in some way.

Blessings