Hospitality Center...playing memory :)

On one of my days off, I decided to go spend some time at the Hospitality Center, where patients stay as they wait to get surgery or post-ops if they live far away and can't make it back frequently, or on short notice. I went thinking i'd only be there a little while and when i left it had been several hours! here are some pictures with explainations...


The boys kept takin pictures of me so i gave them something to take a picture of ;-p hehe Later they had so much fun with my camara and taking pictures of themselves that they wouldn't hardly give it back to me!


Some of the boys wanted in on the pictures :)

I got to steal the cook's baby and carry him around for a while. He was SO adorable!

This is Jean, one of the boys i played with at the hospitality center. He had a surgery on the tumor on his head.

I also got to play with some of the boys who were there. We played memory and played with my camara for at least an hour! they love taking pictures with it themselves. we got kinda goofy :-p

This is a little baby that needs a cleft lip/palet surgery. The hospital has been helping her mom try to get her weight up so they can perform the surgery. She is very malnurished and cannot seem to gain wait. It would not be safe for her to have the surgery yet. (below

Mom and baby

More memory

Even the Adults got into it :)













my memory game players

Random ;-)

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've written! So here are some random photos and then if you keep scrolling down I made about 3-4 new posts today of things that i've been up to. In general, I finished my first set of night shifts last week. Everything went well and I stayed awake just fine :). My "adopt a patient" girl is doing well. Her name is Emacule, She got her bandage off of her leg and her hand and arm are healing well. We've had fun, playing games, laughing at eachother because we can't understand what the other is saying. I've painted her nails (which ended up being a painting party: her, her sister, and several other lady's! it was fun :) I've enjoyed playing some sports, volleyball and Ultimate frizbee. I've enjoyed getting to know so many new people from all different places. A few of us went to the beach to have church last week. It was a really neat experience. I have enjoyed some good times with close friends just sitting up on deck 8, doing devos, listening to ipods, or just having good chats.

We had an 80's dance party with the whole crew (Upper right: me and my roomies- Suie, Stacey, Sandra ). It was crazy and goofy but lots of fun. A few pictures in the land rovers (lower left). One Sat. we went on a day trip to a little island. it was a nice little boat ride then we just relaxed (lower right).

Waiting for the boat and then riding in the boat (above).

Me, Becca, and Kelly

Oida "The Gate of No Return"

We did a day trip to Oida, "The Gate of no return. This is a monument where the africans were taken as slaves.

These are just some buildings we saw.
Then we went to another monument for the first Priest to Benin. This was the side we came up on first as we walked from the "Gate of no return" up the beach to this on. It is the country of Benin with a cross in the center.

To our surprise and delight this was what was on the other side of the memorial!

Me and Becca

We also went to a slave museum inside one of the old mission camps. A beninese man did our tour. He surprised us being very good at english. The museum told of the wars between tribes, the ways of chiefs and villages, the conditions of slaves being transported and things they made. etc. It was sad but very interesting to learn the history. Our guide told us that we should go see the tree of return. This is a picture of that. It has things carved in it from people that were able to come back.

Fishing!

One of the resources here on the coast is fishing. Here are pictures of how they pull in their massive nets!

It seems to be a community event to pull in the net. There were people lined up at differnt places all along the beach. They would literally come all the way from the edge of the water up to the road and across. Prolly 50 people, men and kids, possibly even some woman. Then after, i would see a big gathering maybe to get all the fish out.

These are the kinds of nets they would use. I think this is all one net.

These are the kinds of huts we see along the beach. We see kids playing, people selling things, etc.

The View from deck 7

These are some pictures from the portside of deck 7 This picture is not from deck 7. This is the view coming down the gangway to the dock. Sometimes the people sitting at the bottom are patients waiting to be transported to the Hospitality Center. The gangway comes off of deck 5 where I work in reception. I see the entrance from the reception desk :)

Standing at the railing of deck 7 looking down at the divers below.
These are what the deckies and day workers used to paint the side of the ship. They have to paint regularly to prevent rust.

view of the port. There are ships up to the left as far as you can see as shown above and below.

These are All fishing boats. This is where they are docked. Sometimes mornings they are all out on the water at once. it's quite a sight!

A fishing boat going out to work. They are almost all wooden handmade.