Week 3: Communal Living

One of the most interesting aspects of the ship (in my opinion) is the communal living. You have 450 crew, plus 200 day crew, as well as patients, all living together in one place. You have people from all over the world, different cultures, different languages, different ways of worshiping God. The most obvious shared space is your room. I’m in an 8 berth cabin (which I’ve been told is fairly unusual), there are also 10 berth cabins, 6 berth (most common I believe), family cabins and couple cabins. There are also guest cabins for visiting family or media teams. Our cabin has two washrooms, but most have only one. Some cabins (on deck 2) don’t have washrooms in the rooms, only public ones for the whole floor to use. Because there are so many different people filling different functions, you have a lot of shift work, which means there is likely someone sleeping in the cabin at all times. I don’t really spend any time in my cabin except for sleeping and changing. However this also means being quiet in the hallways where there are cabins because there are often crew sleeping.

Another aspect of community living is the food. I feel like feeding that many people is quite a challenge. Meals are only served at specific times [Breakfast: 6:30am-7:30am, Lunch: 11:30am-1:00pm, Dinner: 5:00pm-6:30pm], and you have to eat what they serve. Typically a meal will be something like: Moroccan chicken, green beans and rice (in Madagascar if you haven’t eaten rice, then you haven’t eaten). There is always a salad bar and bread, ham and cheese for people who want to make sandwiches, as well as peanut butter and Nutella. I think it’s a bit of a struggle sometimes for people with allergies but they seem to make it work. Every day is different; sometimes we have African night, or burgers, or stew or pork chops (yum!). One night we had Nepalese food because we have a security team made up of Gurkhas, which are soldiers from Nepal, and they cooked for us. For the most part I have enjoyed the food, although portioning is hard (and so is getting up early enough to have breakfast)!

The main community gathering area is in midships, where there is a starbucks, lots of tables to play cards, couches, some tvs, and an internet café. We hang out there a lot and play dutch blitz or spoons or just sit and talk. You’ll see people playing board games and doing puzzles, reading, skyping home, etc. There is also a library which is a great quiet place; a crew galley where people can cook and bake their own food (we’ve made some cake and brownies for people’s birthdays); a laundry room for the crew to do laundry; a small gym (which I love because no one uses it and it has everything I need :D); and a prayer room. There is also the international lounge where we have large community gatherings. Sunday night we have a worship service, Monday morning is when they give us updates for the week (and we typically let the crew know which media teams are coming), and Thursday we have a time of prayer and updates on patient stories (and ice cream).

One new thing: It’s getting hard to pick just one new thing because every day there is something new and different. The biggest thing that comes to mind is having to take a driving ‘test’ – the cars here are land rovers that take 10 people and are all manual. The people drive wherever, there are no lines on the roads, and there are people on bicycles (pousse-pousse) and tuk tuks (little motored vehicles) everywhere. However I passed with flying colours (joking…I barely passed), but I’m blessed to have wonderful friends aboard who have gone out with me and helped me practice, so I’ve definitely gotten better. Tomorrow I pick up a media team from the airport, so that will be the real test!

One thing I observed: People are truly transformed by the work Mercy Ships is doing. To see people come onto the ship very shy and reserved, having been rejected by their families and society due to tumors, or burns, etc., and then to see them completely changed as love is poured out on to them, is amazing. After a few days, many of them are smiling and dancing and singing praises to God. Even before their operations, they are so loved by the crew that they stand taller and regain some confidence. After their operations, many of them can’t stop looking in the mirror, they can’t believe the change. They have been given a new life, have had their dignity returned to them, have been so courageous through this whole process and have been so loved. It’s amazing to see.

One thing I felt God was telling me: This is a tough one. I’ve been getting the sense that I am very selfish – that I need to work on having a servant heart. When you are surrounded all the time by people who are always thinking about others, you realize how much time you spend thinking about yourself. When you’re with the Malagasy people and you realize they have nothing, yet would give you everything they have, it’s quite an eye opener. I feel like God is really reinforcing that I am here to serve others, and to do that I need to start thinking about the needs of others (all the time) and how I can meet those needs.

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything. Rather, He himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us. – Acts 17:24-27