Week 8: HOPE Center

HOPE Center before renovations

Now that I’ve talked about our hospital wards and the types of surgery that we provide aboard the Africa Mercy, it’s time to talk about our HOPE Center. HOPE stands for Hospital Out Patient Extension, and it’s where many of our patients stay before and after their surgeries. Here in Madagascar, our HOPE center has around 240 beds, which is much bigger than in most other nations that we go to. This is because typically the port city that we are docked in is the capital city of the country, with many more patients living in close proximity, whereas in Madagascar, the capital city of Antananarivo is in the middle of the island and we are docked in the port city of Toamasina. Madagascar is a huge place – the world’s fourth largest island, and many of our patients have traveled very far to come see us, often walking for days, or taking a combination of boat, bus and taxi. For this reason, we have a larger outpatient facility which allows us to house the patients in the time leading up to their surgery, and in the time after they are discharged from the hospital but still need to return to our rehab tents for checkups.

HOPE Center after renovations

Last field service, which was also in Madagascar, we renovated an unused portion of the local hospital and transformed it into our HOPE Center. It was unused because it was in a state of disrepair and they were unable to get electricity and water up to the second floor. Our teams went to work and the difference is amazing. After we leave, it will be turned back over to the hospital, which is run by the government. The patients are housed (along with their family members) and fed while they stay with us. Visits to the HOPE center are always lots of fun because you will see many kids ‘running’ around in single or bilateral casts. Another one of the procedures we offer is orthopedic surgery, which is used to fix bowed legs or club feet in children under 15. This is a very long process which requires surgeries to straighten the legs, weeks or months of progressive casts, and extensive rehabilitation with our physical therapists. These patients spend the majority of their time at the HOPE Center and they adapt very quickly to their casts. The staff at the HOPE center is made up of mainly day crew, and they do a great job of taking care of the patients and their needs.

One new thing: This week, we had a lesson on speaking Malagasy which was super helpful and interesting. Some very amazing day crew volunteered their time to help us learn and apparently the lessons will happen every two weeks, which is exciting. Their words are really long, so i'm struggling with it, but hopefully with enough practice I’ll be able to grasp enough to have basic conversations with the patients. My favourite word so far is ‘Faly’ which means happy. Short and simple! If you want to say very happy, you say ‘Faly be’. One that we use a lot is ‘Mafana be’ which is very hot – that’s pretty much every day here.

One thing I observed: The passion that the founder, Don Stephens, has for this organization and for the dream that God put on his heart, is inspiring. On Wednesday, we had a town hall style meeting where he answered questions about the new ship. I can’t reveal much but I can say that it was amazing to listen to him speak about it. I definitely ‘caught’ the vision that he has, with such a heart for helping the poor. Something that really helped me understand the power of having a strong vision was a TED Talk by Simon Sinek that our comms team watched this week. In it he talks about the concept that, why you do something is the most important thing. People buy from you or join you for themselves, because they believe what you believe. You need to start with why (he has a book with that title), and I think that's one of the key things about Mercy Ships. We know why we're here. We're here to follow the model of Jesus and help the poor. How we do that is by improving their physical, emotional and spiritual health. What we do is provide free surgeries, a safe community and an outpouring of love and support. That's quite the vision. 

One thing I felt God was telling me: This week I got a really interesting answer to something I’ve been struggling with. I’ve been trying to figure out how to best deal with secular media that wants to take God out of the equation, and our Executive Director compared it to Jesus and the way He did ministry. Jesus didn’t constantly tell people he was the Son of God and the Messiah, he showed it in the way He lived and served others. He asked his disciples, who do you say I am? It’s the same principle with the media teams, instead of telling them about God or why we are here, allow them to see what we do and experience His presence in this place and then ask them, who do you say we are? That’s the question they will answer when they tell their stories about us. Their interpretation of what they saw, of who they think we are, will resonate more than what we told them.

And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. - 1 Thessalonians 2:13

Our beautiful HOPE Center.

Week 7: E Ward

Serafine - being admitted today to have a goiter removed.

The last ward left to talk about is E ward (because C ward is for overflow). E ward is for general surgery, which typically focuses on fixing hernias, goiters and other problems that the surgeons believe they can fix. When I first arrived, E ward was empty because there was no general surgeon aboard and the focus was on plastics. This is a side note, but one of the world’s best plastics surgeons, Dr.Tertius Venter, comes twice a field service, for around 8 weeks each time, and performs plastic surgeries. He will be leaving shortly, giving his patients plenty of time to heal and go through physical therapy to regain full motion of limbs, before the ship sets sail. The focus now shifts to general surgeries and this past week has been a bigger focus on goiters, from what I’ve seen.

Aside from the busy schedule of the hospital, it has also been very busy in terms of media and vision teams. We had the pleasure of hosting two wonderful ladies from Northern Ireland who were doing a story for BBC (through Waddell media). They were here for three weeks and were hosted by my colleague Ryan. While he took care of them, I was leading the vision trip guests that we had. First we had a group from CLIA (cruise line international association), who has named Mercy Ships as their charity of choice, and will present our story at their yearly gathering in a few weeks’ time. They were accompanied by the CEO of Four Winds Interactive (which sells software to manage content on digital signage and interactive kiosks) and a reporter for Seatrade Publications (and some lovely people from the Mercy Ships IOC). I am always so encouraged by how touched our guests are by what we do. Seeing their wonder and excitement, and being able to share this amazing vision with them is a huge blessing. Hosting these teams would be impossible without the buy in of the crew, who go above and beyond to help us host them and make them feel welcome. The fact that secular, business people can feel that there is something different about this place, even if they can’t quite pinpoint it, is a huge testimony to God’s presence onboard the ship.

CLIA/FWI Vision Trip getting ready to see a surgery.

Last week, I had the opportunity to host a very large vision team, with several of the Mercy Ships France board members and their families, as well as some of the people who are involved in building the new ship. This trip was rather fun to host because there were 5 teenagers and we had a great time. Also part of this trip was the Executive Director of Mercy Ships Global and his family, and it was a huge blessing to meet them and hear their stories. The director, Bryce Wagner, truly emulates what I was saying last week about how every conversation is important, to be able to love and see people. He takes the time to get to know each and every crew member he can, and tries to see how he can serve them. It was also neat to see that the volunteering aspect of Mercy Ships extends beyond just the ship – Bryce has an assistant who has volunteered his time for the last 6 months (and counting) to help Mercy Ships grow, including paying all his own travel costs.

One new thing: I was debating putting this in here, but considering everyone involved is okay, and no damage was done to the car, I suppose we can have a good laugh about it. This week I drove one of the cars into a ditch (more like a sewage draining system – the two right wheels were hanging in the air). It got pretty intense as around 30 Malagasy men rocked us out of the ditch (including reaching in and shifting the gears for us), and then moved us off the road when we couldn’t get the car to go. But we eventually figured out what was wrong and managed to get back to the port safely. My favourite part of the story is that about halfway through (when I was pretty rattled), my friends insisted that we stop and pray. I can’t tell you how much that helped, and how wonderful it is to have friends who look to the Lord in all situations. However, they also thought it was necessary to film some of our adventure so we have some interesting videos. It was a huge blessing from God that no one got hurt and nothing bad happened. I also have a greater appreciation for our land rovers – we didn’t even dent the plates underneath!

One thing I observed: This Friday, our founder Don Stephens, arrived on board. He spoke on Sunday about Mercy Ships past, present and future. They used this opportunity to honour our three crew members who have served more than 25 years (Dr.Gary Parker, Susan Parker & Keith Brinkman). I have no words to describe how absolutely amazing this is – lives spent being obedient to God and serving in this way when many would ignore the call to help the poor. It was great to hear Don tell very personal stories about them, and they received a well-deserved standing ovation. As one vision trip attendee pointed out to me, Don definitely has a vision for Mercy Ships, but Dr.Gary also has a vision that very much shapes how we move forward.

One thing I felt God was telling me: Prayer is so important. Pray in all situations. Pray for all things, big and small. There were so many instances this week when I felt overwhelmed by the impact of prayer. At last week’s church service, to honour something called Freedom Sunday, we prayed for all the people who are victims of human trafficking (27,000,000 – more people than at any time in history). Again, on Tuesday we watched a documentary on human trafficking (Nefarious: Merchant of Souls) and while the problem seems overwhelming, the victims found light and love and escape by believing in Christ, and one of the crew members prayed and it was exactly how I was feeling, just being honest with God and asking why this happens, but trusting in Him and praying that he would protect and love these ladies. No problem is too big for Him. We will continue to pray into this problem, every Tuesday, especially for the ladies trapped in the sex trade here in Toamasina, because prostitution is a prevalent problem. This Sunday morning, we again went to service at a Malagasy church, and at one point several elders spread out around the church and the people had the opportunity to go to them for prayer, whether for something specific or general prayer. As the congregation sang songs of worship, people lined up to be prayed for. I was overwhelmed with this idea of 'prayer warriors' – these people who are praying love and peace and joy into the lives of their brothers and sisters in Christ. It was amazing. God has definitely been opening my eyes to the importance of prayer and how I need to pray over all things. What a blessing to be able to walk with Him!

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” - Isaiah 6:8

CLIA/FWI Vision Trip having some fun - racing up on Deck 7 after spending some time with the patients.

Week 6: D Ward

D ward is for maxillofacial (max fax) surgeries, which involves removing facial tumours, repairing cleft lips and cleft palates, as well as ear-nose-throat diseases. D ward often has the most impactful before and after results, especially because the focus is on facial problems. Again, these are things very rarely seen in North America because tumours would be removed when they are very small, and cleft lips/palates are corrected in infanthood. Often with the small babies, they must first go into an infant feeding program to ensure they weigh enough to be safely operated on. Sometimes the babies come to us weighing less than they did when they were born.

Our max fax surgeon is Dr.Gary Parker, who has been with Mercy Ships since the beginning. He has served 29 years on board the various ships and has become one of the best surgeons in his field. He is an amazingly humble man and has dedicated his life to helping others. He does approximately 4 surgeries a day, 5 days a week for 10 months of the year. This is far more than most surgeons in North America do – they often only operate 2 days a week. He also spends time training local surgeons and is very good with the media and vision teams that come. He is one of the brightest, most humble and compassionate people that you will ever meet.

Many amazing stories come from max fax, such as Claudio, the 14 year old boy who had a 7lb tumour on the back of his head. It had been growing since he was 2 years old and his mom didn’t think he would have a chance at a normal life. They thought it would take 8hrs to remove but it only took 2.5hrs, and Claudio was soon up and about, playing around. He told me he wants to become a nurse or doctor, to help heal people the way we healed him. However there are also very sad stories, such as when people come and after testing we discover that their tumour is cancerous, which means we can’t operate. We aren’t a fully equipped hospital, more like a floating surgical ward, so we only operate on people that we can heal with surgery alone. Sometimes they will make exceptions if operating means extending their life for a few years, but these are often the hardest cases, where we have to say no to people.

One new thing: On Sunday we were blessed with the opportunity to go to service at a Malagasy church in Tamatave. It was really wonderful to be in a place full of brothers and sisters, singing and praising the Lord. Even though we didn’t understand what they were saying, I found it really encouraging to be in their presence, and see that how they worship is very similar to how we worship. We were there because one of the day crew had invited us, and later that evening we brought him on board the ship for our worship service. It was really neat to share our different styles of worship with each other, and know that we are all worshiping the same God.

One thing I observed: Children are basically the same, everywhere you go. I had the opportunity to help take care of 22 of the crew kids for 24hrs, while their parents went to a marriage retreat, and it was awesome. We had a huge scavenger hunt, trying to find the ‘secret church’ and not get stopped by the guards; we did henna and crafts; we had big dance parties and played lots of games; we watched movies and ate snacks; and we had lots of pillow fights. 7am pillow fights; 10pm ‘meetings’ to discuss the terms of the pillow fights; and lots of ‘training’ pillow fights in between. It was exhausting but also a huge blessing to spend all that time with the kids and get to know them. I think it’s one of the few scenarios where you have to be like, so who are your parents? What do they do on board? And link the kids with people you know.

One thing I felt God was telling me:  We are so blessed to live in this amazing community of people. I realized this week that the whole time I’ve been here I have had no stress, nothing has angered or upset me, it’s just been really good. Normally I would get stressed about things work wise, like people not doing what they should and whatnot, but here I haven’t felt like that at all. I just roll with everything, I’m super calm and just trusting God for everything. He really opened my eyes to that this week, how life shouldn’t be hectic and crazy but rather just one interaction at a time, loving on one person at a time. Sometimes you can’t go 3ft without running into someone and having a conversation but it’s great because you learn so many people’s stories and are so loved on. I’m surrounded by people who are full of grace and mercy; people to play cards and spoons with; people who will braid my hair because I can’t; people who will come with me when I’m dropping off media teams so I don’t have to drive back alone; people who will run or work out with you; people who will go to the beach and eat with you; people who give you valentine’s day cards and who you love so much you buy them lots of chocolate; people who invite you karaoke and you get to see them dance and sing; people you can sit next to and read quietly; dining room staff who always smile at you and say good morning and ask you how you are; people to worship with; people to have intense biblical debates with; people to go on adventures with; people who push you to be more Christ like in all you do. God has brought me here to this amazing community, where we have the opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus, and I am forever thankful. There is nothing we do without Him – we simply obey and participate in His good works. Last night’s worship is still ringing in my ears: It is well with my soul.

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this? - Esther 4:14

Week 5: B Ward

B ward is the OBF (obstetric fistula) ward, or women’s health. This is something I had never heard of, and it really impacted me when I learned about. From my limited understanding of it, a fistula happens when women have very prolonged labour, typically because they don’t have access to health care. Often the baby dies, and the women are left with a hole beneath their bladder which will constantly leak urine. This leads to them being rejected by their family and friends, and makes it almost impossible for them to live normal lives. There is a great need for fistula surgery in Africa, and many people have made it their mission to help with this. There is an organization called Freedom from Fistula that focuses on providing surgery and healing to these women. It is one of the surgeries that Mercy Ships provides, and it really helps these women come alive again. It’s amazing to see them become more confident as they stay with us, discovering that they are indeed beautiful and worthy of love. Every second Friday, they have a ceremony at the HOPE Center, called a dress ceremony, to celebrate the women who have successfully had the surgery and are healed. They get dressed up in beautiful dresses and hats and share their testimonies about how long they were leaking and what it means to them to be free of that. The perseverance of some of these women is incredible, with some leaking for 10+ years.

If you want to know more about this, I would encourage you to do some research – it’s a really amazing way to impact the lives of women in Africa, and something a simple surgery can fix. We can’t really comprehend what it’s like to be ostracized in a culture where relationships are everything. Of course, the surgery can’t heal the emotional and spiritual wounds these women have, and this is why I feel so strongly about the ministry of Mercy Ships. These women are showered with unconditional love while they are here, they are cared for, they are able to tell their stories and to laugh and sing and dance and spend time with other patients. A real process of spiritual healing takes place while they are with us, which hopefully continues as they gain confidence and re-enter the world.

I feel that God has really been putting this idea of stories, on my heart. We aren’t necessarily here to create our own story or to be the focus of a story, but rather to join into other stories, to join where He is working. I’ve heard so many amazing stories and pieces of information (sometimes random things), that I thought I would share some:

          -  The ship receives supplies from two shipping centers  - one is in Texas where the head office is, and the other is the Netherlands, where we get all of our food from. It takes around 3 months for a container to get here. When we run out of things, it’s not because of poor planning – the company that ships our containers, does so for free, so when they have a rush shipment or something else comes up, our containers get bumped back (understandably).

- The ship goes through at least 5 pounds of peanut butter a day.

            -  Mercy Ships doesn’t pay for its spot in the port, it is a ‘donation’ in a sense from the government. I find this really interesting because it means the government is truly invested in us coming to their country – they are giving up a prime spot in their port, that would normally bring in revenue from cruise ships and cargo ships, and they often undergo renovations to allow us to use the space.

            - One of the reasons Mercy Ships doesn’t buy food from the local town is that it would drive up prices, especially for meat, due to the increased demand, and this would negatively impact the people here. They have really thought of everything, including their economic impact on the area.

- Starbucks donates it’s syrups to us, which is how we are able to have a Starbucks café on board. The symbol for our Starbucks isn’t the same as back home, instead it’s the same as what you would see in Saudi Arabia. This symbol doesn’t portray the woman with long hair – they discovered that in one of the countries we went to, the mermaid was considered part of their African tribal religion (involving witch doctors/shamans/rituals of that sort). In Saudi Arabia, they don’t have the woman because it isn’t culturally acceptable for a woman to show her hair. 

- There is a Chinese ship that has been stuck in the port for one year. There are different stories about why they are stuck here (they may or may not have been smuggling rosewood), but their captain was put in prison, and the rest of the crew and ship have not been allowed to leave. It’s very sad – one man has missed the birth of his child, and the crew in general has lost hope. They are not allowed to leave the port, and the government only gives them a small amount of fuel every day to run the ship, but not enough so that they could leave. However, when the Logos Hope was here, the Chinese community on board reached out to them, shared the gospel with them, and started a small Bible study. Our ship has continued to build a relationship with them, and this Monday they will be having a small celebration on board the ship to celebrate Chinese New Year. They have invited a missionary pastor in the area who is from Hong Kong and speaks their language. Pray that they are able to go home soon and that they would bring the hope of eternal life with them and share that with their family.

- This week, an Indian ship came into the port and they invited some of the crew over for a very formal party, with food and dancing, and the following day their leaders came on board our ship for a tour. They said they had heard from the media what we did but didn't believe it, but then when they saw it, they said the media was underselling what we were doing and they were very amazed and moved by it. There was a great connection because currently our third officer is Indian (my friend Sushmit), and they seemed very eager to help and spread the word. It was amazing to see God's timing working through this and it has definitely been a huge encouragement for us.

       These are just some of the stories that have been whirling around, but there are so many more. God's timing is amazing and perfect, and He is always involved in our lives in such a real way.

    He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. - Ecclesiastes 3:11

Week 4: A Ward

Elina - a beautiful little girl who is healing in A ward after
her surgery to separate her face from her shoulder.

I decided that it’s kind of funny that I’ve been living on a hospital ship for 3 weeks and haven’t told you anything about the hospital yet! However, bear in mind that this is the area where I have the least amount of expertise. I have to say, I never really thought much about the fact that I would be living on a hospital ship, but I have learned so much by being here. Many of my friends are nurses, which leads to weird conversations (such as them looking at how nice your veins are…), but also to conversations where I have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. But I’ve been learning. There are also talks every Wednesday night where one of the surgeons will talk in depth about something, and those are eye opening for sure. So far I’ve learned a bit about how they do various skin grafts or flaps; how they fix patients who have suffered from noma (a gangrenous infection that eats away at the face of young children due to poor hygiene and bad nutrition); and how to recognize and treat anaphylaxis (there was a whole dance to go along with that presentation). It’s pretty amazing how they are constantly teaching on the ship, in all kinds of different ways.

Andry - (with my friend Sarah) who is
 healing from having her fingers separated

However, back to the hospital. The ship has five wards, from A to E, plus an ICU (intensive care unit) that has 2 beds. Altogether there are 78 patient beds aboard. I was going to talk about every ward but then realized that was way too long, so we’ll go one ward per week. Plastics is in A ward (and C ward, which is for overflow), and this is often patients who have suffered burn contractions. This is where they were burned and there was no medical care so the burned area was simply wrapped up. What happens in the skin heals fused together, for example their fingers would be all fused, or their head fused to their shoulder, making it very awkward for them to function. We only see the patients who survive, which is amazing in itself, but it is something we would never see in a first world country because that person would be provided with intensive care immediately. Often the stories of how the incidents occurred are tragic – a child had boiling water thrown on them or fell into the fire while their caregivers were having an argument, etc. There are often a lot of children in A ward, and the surgery gives them back an incredible amount of mobility. Plastics also covers severe wound scars, the removal of benign tumours and chronic ulcers. These children are amazingly brave, often walking around with their arms sticking straight out because they’ve been put in casts or wraps after the operations. However they still love to dance and jump around with us. The patients in general love stickers and balloons and nail polish.

One new thing: We went to a lemur reserve this weekend and we got to see all kinds of different lemurs. Some of them even climbed on us. They are pretty amazing animals, leaping all over the place, and they come in lots of different sizes and colours. They're also pretty nosy - we had three of them exploring our cabin, drinking out of the tap, etc.

Three different types of lemur

My friend Natalie with one of the lemurs
who was exploring our cabin

One thing I observed: That you can learn German by osmosis....kidding, having a German speaking media team meant that I had no idea what they were saying most of the time. They spoke to each other and conducted their interviews in German, which meant my role turned more into bodyguard/chauffeur/french translator/assistant. That being said, they were very friendly and seemed to have a good time. I also learned that Germans are a little crazy - the camera man got on top of the car and asked me to drive (slowly!) so he could get a good shot (this is even after he saw my terrible driving). Overall, I think we accomplished everything they wanted to do, which is great.

One thing I felt God was telling me: This week I was overwhelmed by the sense that God turns our lives into beautiful stories. He turns our broken, ordinary, wierd lives into these encouraging, interwoven, beautiful journeys. One of the married couples on board shared their testimony with the crew - both of how they came to Christ, and how they met and it was absolutely wonderful. To see the way God met them where they were, the way God was an active part of their lives and the way they listened to what He was saying, it was remarkable. God has such a beautiful plan for our lives, if only we would listen to what He is saying and be obedient.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. - John 10:27-28