One Year Gone . . .

It appears we weren’t very with it and have missed a month of blogging… sorry about that.  Let’s see what has happened since the last post.  We reached our 1-year mark on the ship!!  I was called to give blood. They were in surgery and needed more units so a couple of us were called.  We had been informed the day before this could happen.  It is really strange when you’re sitting there giving blood and someone comes to check just how much longer until the unit is ready. 

The President of the Republic of Congo visited the ship a couple of weeks ago.  Matt was very busy getting security on the ship organized.  He recruited many very willing volunteers to man the route of the Presidents tour of the ship.  He was deeply moved by what he saw. Since then senior staff have had meetings with Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo and some dignitaries from there have visited the ship.  Perhaps one day the ship will be in their ports. Also, I’m not sure if we’ve mentioned it but Mercy Ships is in the process of having a second ship built!!  It should be completed by July 2017. The plan is to have two ships in service.

This is the President of Congo and our founder

We went to the Gorge again.  It had been about 3 months since we were last there.  We went with people who had never been before.  The countries of China, Russia, England and Sweden were represented. It has been rainy season and there has been a lot of growth. The grass that was about knee high was now as tall as we are.  We went to the restaurant look out area. It was closed the afternoon we went because it had been raining all morning.  The rain stopped shortly before we arrived.  It was so peaceful.  We were the only ones there. There were so many animal sounds mostly birds but may be some chimpanzees. Chimps have made their presence known in that area.  

Here is the group at the Gorge 

This is the Atlantic Ocean at the bottom of the Gorge

Some people have asked to see pictures of Denise at work . . . here you go!!

We are definitely in a more westernized port.  The last two Tuesdays which are African meal nights, we have had take-out pizza with groups of people in our cabin.  It has been so relaxed and more like home. The only thing missing is a beer to go with it.

We are doing well.  We are tired.  I was trying to figure out why and it occurred to me the other day that when we left Owatonna there was something new every two or three months.  Now we have been in one country for 9 months and doing the same job during that time, and add to that the longing for home.  We look forward to seeing many of you this summer and getting some rest. 

Admirals, Ambassadors, and Colonels . .. Oh My!!

Well, it's been quite a weekend. . . . one of those that if you told me 2 years ago I would be involved in, you would have received a skeptical laugh and a "Yeah, Right!"

Every six weeks, the ship observes a Friday holiday.  This is because with over 30 nations represented aboard, we can't do national holidays like Thanksgiving, etc.  Last Friday was one of those holidays.

On Thursday, the Italian Naval Group 30, comprised of the aircraft carrier Cavour and two support ships, pulled into port.  It was very cool to see an aircraft carrier moored about 500 yards across the harbor from us . . .





We were contacted by the Italian authorities who advised they had researched Mercy Ships, were totally supportive of our mission, and wanted to help through technical/engineering assistance.  The Captain organized a team of 10 of us to visit the Cavour on Thursday afternoon to discuss options.  I was lucky enough to be part of that team.  During the visit I met the Public Information Officer, Lt. Rino Gentile, of the group who asked if there was anything our crew would like from them.  Knowing the comments we had already heard from our shipmates, we asked hopefully if there was any chance of our crew touring the Cavour.  He graciously offered that any and all Mercy Ships crew could tour.  He and I quickly set Saturday for the tour. 

Shortly after returning to the Africa Mercy I made an announcement to the crew of the opportunity.  Within hours we had 200 crew sign up!!!!

On Friday, Rino and I worked out the details . . . and on Saturday we shuttled 210 crew to the Cavour for tours, all completed within 3 hours!  Also on Saturday and Sunday we welcomed 6 technical crew and 6 divers to our ship to assist in fixing a ballast discharge pipe.

On Monday we welcomed crew from the Cavour aboard the Africa Mercy.  The last tour was of the senior staff.  What we didn't know was that the Italian Ambassador to Congo was with them!  So about 5:30 p.m.,  a convoy led by siren blowing police pulled into our berth!  When the staff was aboard we were hosting the Ambassador, a 2-star Admiral, 4 Captains and various other officers! 

In the midst of coordinating these events on Friday, I had to respond to a traffic accident where a Congolese Army Colonel's truck had tried to pass one of our vehicles and had cut in too fast, catching the front bumper on our truck, heavily damaging his rear quarter.  Of course, he argued that it was our fault!  I stood in the sun for an hour arguing with him as he attempted to get money from Mercy Ships . . . when it was all said and done, we all left the scene understanding there would be no exchange of funds!!!!

As with most 3-day weekends, I also had to travel to assist staff that had encountered difficulties in their personal adventures  . . . ask me for the various stories sometime over a beverage!!!!

Here are some pictures from my tour of the Cavour:

This is a picture from the flight deck looking back to the bridge

I am standing next to a Harrier vertical take off and landing jet

This is one of the troop transport helicopters carried onboard

The ship on the left is the newest ship in the Italian navy having been commissioned in October.  The ship on the right is a supply ship.



The naval group sailed this morning on their way north up the western coast of Africa . . . maybe now the weekend is over I can actually get some rest!!!

Denise's Ramblings . . .

Wow,it’s February!  I wrote a blog post last week and then never updated so now I have a few more things to add.

Last night and this morning we said good bye to friends.  There are always so many mixed emotions at these times.  So glad we have been able to make friends with people around the world and in such a short time, sometimes two weeks, sometimes a few months.  Then there  is the happiness for them to go home, see family and share their experiences.  Then there is the sadness; it isn’t easy to always be putting the effort into relationships that will end in goodbye in such a short time, but it is always worth the effort.  So many stories to hear about how God is working around the world, definitely worth the effort.

Here are a few things I wrote about last weekend.   January 31^st - I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted so here goes…. Friday was Spirit Day in the Academy.  The theme was Twin(Multiple Birth) Day, so basically find someone and dress alike.  Remember we are on a ship in Africa, resources are limited. It was great to see the creativity of all; preschool girls dressed as princesses, a group in striped shirts, some convicts (jumpsuits from the deck department), a couple of kids wore their dad’s officer uniforms. I decided to borrow some t-shirts,(Thanks Bethany and Jeremiah!)  here is a picture of me with TC, the Twins mascot, actually the bear’s name is Baxter and he lives in the second grade classroom.  The kids really look forward to Spirit days.

 

 

On a different note, the last few weeks we’ve had some great messages at our Sunday services and Thursday community meetings.  Sunday’s have been focused on ‘Faith.’  This past week we were encouraged to listen and follow God’s calling and timing, not making excuses. It can be easy to believe ‘we are already in Africa what more can we give’ or ‘it’s not the right time because…’  God wants to use each of us.  Have faith, be used where you are; don’t wait.

A couple of weeks ago we had the pleasure of  Wess Stafford, former president of Compassion International, speaking  to us at our community meeting.  He was here for only 2 days to visit his daughter who is the Kindergarten teacher.   He is a terrific speaker, has a great story and was very encouraging He told us we are his heroes. He is such an advocate for the poor and children.  He stressed the importance of taking ‘just a minute’ in the life of others especially children and how that can make a difference in someone’s life.   He has a couple of books I’m looking forward to reading. 

We have decided to visit home this summer.  At Christmas time we were both homesick and decided planning two years away was foolish. However, at Christmas the cost versus the time we would have been home didn’t make sense, and who knows what the weather would have been, so it was then that we decided, home for 7 weeks this summer. We can’t wait! 

 It was announced this week that the ship will be returning to Guinea for the next field service.  When we signed up with Mercy Ships we were excited by the fact that we would be in 3 different African countries but, we are excited about going back to Guinea.

Matt had an upcountry trip the end of last week.  It went well. Here are some pictures of things he saw.  It is pretty common for live animals to be transported with their owners . . . . while he was waiting at a construction zone, he saw this goat  . . .  . and pig!  Only in Africa!!!!

 

 

Lives Changed

As I've written before, there are many times we see people asking for help well after our surgery schedule is full.  This has been one of the heart breaking things in my world as I'm at every screening for eye and dental care and this is where the people primarily come.  One of my jobs overseeing the screening security is to work with these people and either refer them to our surgeons if they have a condition that may qualify for one of our remaining slots or to break the bad news that we won't be able to help.

The week before Christmas, on Wednesday, we were conducting an eye screening looking for people with cataracts.  Some of the first people in line was a 12 year old boy and his father.  The boy had a dressing covering one side of his face.  When we talked with them we found that the child had a growth that ran from his ear to the corner of his mouth.  We are still able to look at maxillofacial issues so we pulled them to the side, knowing we would refer them to the screening team.  The Eye Team Coordinator spent time with them and found that they were from 10 hours north of Pointe Noire.  They had heard of Mercy Ships in the past few days and felt pulled to immediately travel the 10 hours to see if they could find help.  Once they were in Pointe Noire, a city of over 1 million people, they found us at a church in a residential neighborhood.  Please understand this was absolutely the last screening activity of any sort for 2013 and only went on for about 3 hours.  Given the distance they had travelled and the significant condition the boy suffered, we called the screening team on the ship and asked if he could be seen that day.  They were happy to do so if we could get them to the ship.  So, when eye screening was done, we loaded them up with us in the land rovers and brought them home with us.  The screening team had arranged for the boy to be seen by a surgeon and to get his blood work and CT scan done all within a couple hours.  That young man is now scheduled to have surgery at the end of February.  This will totally change his life, no longer will he be looked at as the boy with the growth on his face (often believed in Africa to be evil spirits), but he will just be another boy!

Yesterday, I was honored to be allowed to observe surgery.  Due to a tumor removal prior to our arrival in Pointe Noire (a well done surgery according to our surgeons) and a number of following issues, a young man was left with literally no lower jaw.  I watched our surgeons create a jaw for this man out of titanium and fit it into place!  It was absolutely amazing to be on a ship in the heart of Africa watching a man have his life changed.

As part of Mercy Ships, we work to bring hope and healing to the forgotten poor.  We do this through our works.   Denise and I send out monthly newsletters that each give a story of how these works happen, focusing on a single patient.  However, we aren't the surgeons or the OR nurses who operate.  We aren't the ward nurses who build loving relationships with these wonderful people.  We play a support role.

For you, our readers, who support us in so many ways, we hope that these two examples help make this journey more personal.  Just as we work to support the overall mission of the ship, your prayers and thoughts support us!

Mercy Ships New Zealand office has put together a free wall paper calendar for computers.  If you would like to have some great photos and a calendar, please follow this link:

http://www.mercyships.org.nz/wallpaper.php

If you do not currently receive our newsletter and would like to get it on a monthly basis, please drop us a line at:

MTveite@gmail.com

Please continue to pray for God's peace for us and for all who serve here on the Africa Mercy.

Welcome to our neighborhood!!

It has been interesting living on a ship in an active African port . . . we see lots of different ships come and go on a regular basis . . . so this blog post is some snapshots of some of those ships!

 

This is a container ship that docks at one of the two container berths in the port.

This is a close up of the name of the container ship pictured above . . . we include it because it is also the name of one of our friends back in Minnesota (no photoshop involved!)

 

This ship is docked across from us.  It comes and goes back and forth to China with loads of logs from the forests . . . as you drive by the log yard, it is common to see logs that are 5 feet across!

 

 

This is the harbor's newest tugboat.  It doesn't look that big until you compare it to the car parked next to it!

 

This show the general cargo berths behind our ship.  The ship next to tug is a fish processor that is here to unload tons of processed, frozen fish.

 

This is some of the Pointe Noire fishing fleet.

 

 

This French navy Amphibious Assault ship came in today.  When I read up on it, they often do humanitarian missions and given the collapse of the government in the Central African Republic, it is not surprising they are here!  Additionally, the French navy has a strong presence in the ocean outside of this area combating piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.

 

 

And finally, I did say AFRICAN port!!  This boat load of cattle docked next to us yesterday morning and unloaded their herd.  The herd was led through the port and was last seen grazing in a field near the port gate!!!

 

 

Hope you had a great Christmas and a refreshing holiday break!



Patient Selection in the Congo Interior

I am back after a challenging 12-day trip to three towns in the interior of Congo for patient selection. On Saturday November 30, we loaded up and flew to Brazzaville. Our trucks had been loaded on a cargo train the previous week and (supposedly) would be waiting for us. Well, the trucks were present but still on the cargo car and the freight master indicated his crew was done for the day, we should come back on Monday. That posed a bit of a problem as our first selection day was Monday in a town 450 km north of Brazza . . . after many phone calls and involvement of higher ups the cars were unloaded and we were off!

Our first selection day was held in Oyo. We worked through about 6 hours of rain, some quite torrential (Thank goodness there were a couple big tents to protect us and the patients!) We selected 39 patients, many of whom will have truly lifechanging experiences on the Africa Mercy. There were a couple challenges for me setting boundaries for media and others, but once the boundaries were communicated they were respected. One of our first patients in Oyo was a man who has a neurofibroma growing over much of his face. When told that we would be able to help him, his whole body straightened and his face (what you could see) just lit up!

However, he is not the case that is my "one" . . . at the end of the day a mamma brought her 3-year-old son to see us. The son was obviously well cared for, well fed and groomed, dressed in nice clean clothes. At a glance we all knew that there was nothing we could do for this boy, you see he suffers from hydrocephalus, a condition where excess fluid causes the head to swell to enormous sizes. The boy was interactive, giggling as we tickled him and played with him. We had to tell mom that while she was doing everything she could, there was nothing we could do. For this boy, those words are very likely a death sentence . . . yet in the west, this boy would have had a shunt placed and would be monitored and lead a very normal life. It is hard to accept that children live and die simply by the continent on which they are born . . . I don't know if I will ever forget the tears coming down mom's face (and several of ours!), nor will I ever forget the bright eyes smiling at me from within that beautiful child's face.

The second selection day was held in Ouesso, another 450 km north, right on the Cameroon border. We had excellent weather and a wonderful day. We could not have been more proud of our Congolese partners. They had done an excellent job of identifying possible patients and transported many of them to the site. At Ouesso we were able to select another 71 patients for travel to the ship. In Congo, the Government has made arrangements to transport all patients selected from the interior to the ship, which alleviates a huge, often insurmountable, burden from these people.

On our drive back to Brazza, we had a couple team building experiences . . . the first day we sat on the equator and ate lunch, the second, in the Plateau region, we found a ridgeline a bit off the road. When we got to the top of the ridge we could see the savannah all the way to the horizon! It was an amazing view of God's creation!

On Monday December 9, we loaded onto a 10-seat Cessna 208 operated by Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) and flew to Impfondo, approximately 1,000 km northeast of Brazza. This is a town that is only reachable from the air or by barge. It is also about 200 km south of the Central African Republic, a country that is currently effectively without a Government, being run by warlords. The UN has several refugee camps in the area.

At Impfondo we met Dr. Joe Harvey who runs the only mission hospital in Congo. The facility, Pioneer Christian Hospital, served as our home during the 3 days we were in Impfondo. This experience was humbling, as we recognized we have the Cadillac of medicine in Africa while those who serve on the ground in remote locations are using duct tape and baling wire to keep basic services available. Dr. Harvey is amazing!!!! We found 62 patients in Impfondo, including a very cute little boy named Elvis who has a cleft lip. Elvis will soon be in the house (or on the ship).

While there, we were treated to a walk in the jungle led by 3 men and 2 boys from the Aka tribe. This tribe is small in stature and have been controlled by other tribes in Africa until recently, thus, they tend to isolate themselves and not interact with outsiders. We were truly thankful they honored us by showing us some of their traditional ways!

Then we were on our way back to the ship, flying a local airline. I witnessed something I've never considered . . . when the luggage was being unloaded, I watched them pull a wrapped rice sack out of the cargo compartment but something didn't look right . . . the sack had a head . . . and it was moving!!! Someone had checked a live goat as cargo! Only in Africa!!!!!!

Here are a few pictures of the adventure:

 

These were two of our guides on the jungle walk.

 

Lunch on the Equator

 

Lunch on the African Plains

 

 

An aerial view of the jungle and the Congo River from the MAF plane

 

The runway at Impfondo

A Tribute to Our Parents

Our blog has been devoted to what is going on in our lives.  This entry will take a different journey and help each of you to understand how we got here.

This year is big for both sets of our parents.  Jim and Geri Sandin (Denise's parents) celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on Saturday.  Paul and Betty Tveite celebrated their 20th anniversary earlier this fall.

Jim and Geri are a testament to love and commitment.  They have raised 4 children who have grown into wonderful adults.  They are supportive of each of their children and help them in any way possible.  They have great love for their friends and neighbors.  All you would ever have to do is ask and they would give you the shirt off their backs!  They have been so very much a part of our marriage (25 years this year) by showing how to live and love each other.  Through the years, Jim has been Matt's hunting and fishing partner and truly been a friend!  Geri has loved on her grandchildren but still held them accountable which was very helpful with our parenting!  They are a constant positive influence in our lives!

Paul and Betty were married after the deaths of each of their spouses.  They have glowed with love for each other during their 20 year marriage.  Many of us have seen the wonderful impact they have made in each other's lives.  Our children were blessed to call Betty "Grandma".  We remember fondly our children describing having 5 grandparents, one in heaven! 

Both sets of our parents have been huge influences in our life decisions.  They talked with us when decisions were being contemplated, offered advice when asked, kept their own counsel when needed, but most of all supported us all the time. 

As we see families break down and people become selfish and demanding, we are reminded of just how fully blessed we have been to have these guiding influences in our lives!

Thank you Jim, Geri, Paul, and Betty for your commitment to each other and your love and support for us!