Weekend in Ghana

Me and three of my friends spent the past weekend in Ghana! It was a fun trip. We made some memories. I just figured it was a shame to be that close to another country and never go. So we made a trip. :) We began our trip on Friday night. At the border we met a friend of Lydia's, an Liberian guy named JR. He ended up going with us the whole weekend. It was kinda nice having an African to help us navigate our way through Ghana. :)

So the five of us left the border in a taxi for four passengers on a four hour drive to Accra Ghana. That was an experience in itself. We'll just say we did some very close bonding during those four hours. hehe Go through the pictures to get the rest of the story...

After the four hour drive we very relieved to get to the motel. We climbed out of the car sore backsides, numb legs, feet asleep and all. hehe :-p this was the bed all four of us girls shared that first night in our little room :) hehe I slept like a baby...some of the other girls weren't so lucky.

The next day we found a tro tro (passenger van taxi) at the busy bus station.

Window shopping is one of the fun parts of Africa. You can pretty much get anything you need food or drink wise right from the comfort of your vehicle without even pulling off the road. As soon as you stop you are surrounded by venders all carying baskets of goods on their heads. Here you can see we are enjoying some plantain chips we bought. So yummy!

We finally reached Cape Coast after a three or four hour drive in the Tro Tro.

We went to do a canapy walk! I heard there are only three in the world and this is the biggest. Its basically a bunch of rope bridges hung above the trees.

Hiking to the beginning of the bridges.

Up in that little building is where the walk begins!

Climbing the stairs. Almost there!

waiting our turn

Here we go!

notice the mud squishing between my toes and all over my flip flops. Note to self, wrong choice of shoes! it had been raining so the trail up was pretty muddy. :)

Hello! ;-p

Really big tree!! JR said, "we don't call that a tree, its a Log!" haha

Don't slip!

All done. this way out of the jungle.

A trail of ants. they were all over. and are supposedly pretty bad ones.

This little station was on the way out, they were selling coconuts and other refreshments :)

Next we went to the place we were staying Saturday night called Han's Cottage. This was my bed! :) we were all pretty excited to have our own after the previous night. Hahahah!

Hangin out eating some snacks we'd packed

So Hans' Cottage is pretty cool! its a hotel, hostel, restaraunt, gift shop, pool etc. and kind of all built over this water!

waiting to eat dinner in the restaurant.

So they had aligators! and we got to touch them! I know, it doesn't sound safe, prolly wasn't all that much, but don't worry, nobody lost any limbs or anything. ;-p

the pool

Cheese!

Lydia being goofy on her bed :) wait maybe it was my bed, which became Carmen's bed (we switched later)

So Carmen and Karen decided to brush their hair up so it would be crazy and poofy. So funny.

On Sunday we drove another 4 hours back to Tema to visit the Logos Hope, Operation Mobilization.

Their main focus is to bring books to people all over the world so people can have the opportunity to learn and obtain books at extremely cheap prices, whereas otherwise books are only affordable by the rich.

Eating some ice cream at the coffee/snack bar on the Logos Hope.

Carmen...being Carmen. She was so fun, we all found her our greatest entertainment I think. Thanks Carmen!

Driving home in another Tro Tro. Everyone was tired. We had fun but we were ready to be back onboard our floating home.

*Sigh* It's so nice to be home.

the sight of the port and then that big white boxy ship makes us all breath a sigh of relief and comfort that only home brings. It's crazy to think that this familiar gangway is the walkway to my home. ;) I was so excited to get back to my room and my little bunk bed. :) And I'll tell you a shower never felt so good. (Well ok, there have been other times)

A nice ending to a great adventure.

Fire Drill :)

So every other week or so on Thursday, we have fire drills. When we are in port, everyone has to leave the ship and go out onto the dock to their muster station. This past Thursday is one of the few that I happened to be onboard for. Usually the dental team is still off the ship during the fire drills. So these are just some pictures on the dock. Everyone checks into their station, crew and dayvolunteers and even patients (to some extent, depending on the drill, and the seriousness of each patients condition), and then we all just hang out and pretty much sit for an hour or two while the emergancy teams finish everything up inside the ship. hehe enjoy the pictures.

This little girl and her sister kept running around together playing on these wooden steps almost like it was a slide. ;-p it was funny.

That fenced in area is a waiting area for patients. It is used for other things as well as you can see. People are just chilling till we get the ok to go back onship.
Kelly and Jo! My friends AND my Muster takers at my muster station! :)
They are great. :) Kelly is also my roomie and Jo is pretty much an honorary roomie, she is in our room more than her own I think :) Every day definately, more than once hehe
Melissa and Karen, the dental team just claimed a spot on the dock and plopped down right on the ground hehe.
Gini and Me. Best way to sit! back rests. Yes!




Ok so this fire drill something hillarious happened. As I went down the gangway I saw Paul, our hair dressor carrying his stool, I yelled, "Paul you saving your chair?" hehe he was like yup.

after checking into my station, i started wondering around, and found him set up next to the portapottys cutting Theo (one of the kids onboard) and Mareijke (one of our dentists) hair!! hahaha it was the most hillarious thing ever. He was like, well I gave them the choice and they said just do it on the dock! otherwise it would have been built up with people wanting me to squeez them in after the drill. This was the best drill ever :)

Thank God for sanitizer, (that little stand) though i'm not sure how much good its going to do, as you can see i think that portapotty is leaking ;-p Yuck! haha

Babies! Love them! :)

So at work, there is a little local resteraunt right beside our building inside the compound at the clinic. The woman there makes food for our dayvolunteers. Her girls always bring it over. Half the time they have this adorable little one with them. Her name is Gracia. When we first started, she was absolutely terrified of us! She wouldn't even let us come near her, much less touch or hold her. I think it was the combination of us being white and all wearing the same uniform. ;-p hehe Anyway I was determined to have her like me by the end. hehe Little by little she let me get close to her, and then touch her, and she finally let me hold her a couple weeks ago! I haven't seen her much since, so i've probably lost some ground again, but ya its kinda funny. She is adorable!

Oh and you know how I talked about women carrying babies on their backs? well I never mentioned the fact that sometimes they don't use cloth; sometimes for short distances, they will just put them on their back and put their hands like under their arms and kinda clamp them down, and the kid just hangs on. It's kind of amazing! and really cool :)



She let me hold her!! She didn't struggle, but her face says she's still unsure :-p hehe She'll smile at me as long as I'm not too close or threatening to try and hold her :-p haha
Ok so I got baby duty! and isn't this little one the most adorable thing ever!?

I had so much fun cuddling her. I think she was only a few weeks old. We were doing her momma's teeth.

"I now can be counted among the other women"

This past Sunday I went to Ward church (a church service held in the hospital with the patients and translated for them). Right now the vast majority of our patients are VVF ladies. These are women who have Vesico Vaginal Fistula.

Ok, for those of you like me who don't speak "doctor," this is a condition caused by abstructed labor, the the circulation is cut off in the blatter tissue causing it to rot away. This results in holes in the blatter, and constant leaking for the woman. Women who have VVF are treated as outcasts here. They cannot associate in regular society, because of their smell and the humiliation of being unable to control themselves. Many of their husbands leave them as well as family and they end up alone, hiding away. These women are barely considered women.

So, I was sitting in the ward for the service with these women patients and many crew also. We enjoyed african style worship with drums and local songs, and one of the day volunteers (togalese that hire on to help in different departments) gave a message. Then at the end, unexpectedly, they decided to have about six of the women who had been treated give their testimonies.

So for the next 45 minutes, I sat listening to their stories, with tears welling in my eyes and running down my face. In my mind I was seeing a picture of God's love play over and over.

These women had all been suffering for at least 6 to 8 years, living as outcasts, and now were praising God for healing them and allowing them to be women again.

One woman, I believe the last one to speak, got up to share her story. Hers stood out dramatically and again my tears came. This precious woman had been suffering from VVF for 35 years. Thirty-Five years! I heard myself quietly gasp at hearing this. She had tried many doctors to no avail. Finally, her husband left her. She continued looking for help until she had spent all her money in hopes of being healed. As I listened, I couldn't help but remember the story of the woman who had been bleeding, whom Jesus healed when she reached out to him.

So in the end this precious woman was living in a room in her father's house, he the only one providing or caring for her. She would rarely leave the house because of the humiliation. She had nothing left. Not even her womanhood.

Then she heard of Mercy Ships and there was hope again. She came to this big hospital ship as a last resort. There was nothing else she could try, she had resigned herself to living this way the rest of her life alone.

Now she has had the operation and it was a success. She is no longer leaking, smelling, or hiding. You could see the joy on her face, as well as the other women. She thanked everyone on the ship. and gave glory to God as they all did. She ended as many of them did, saying "I am so grateful! Now I have been healed. Now I can be counted among the rest of the women."

What a God we serve. He is a healer, a restorer, a giver of hope. I just keep thinking what an incredible love this is! How much he cares for these precious women. And what joy it brings him to see their lives and dignity restored. Just like the bleeding woman, Jesus' love and compassion has fallen again, on this VVF woman. And I can't help feeling such joy at how this time, He reached out for her. She couldn't reach anymore. Thank you for your love Lord!