in love...

Trying not to bring too much confusion, I will just let you know I'm officially dating Kyle Hickey. I tried not to, tried to stop it and surely didn't plan for it, but I've fallen in love. He is honest, trustworthy, funny, crazy, respectful, open and I feel very at ease with him and I can be myself.

In early June I came back on board and a few days later Kyle arrived on board the Africa Mercy as a second mate. He will stay until the end of this month and will have a brief stopover in the Netherlands and then go back to the States to work on a ship.

It's really been a little gift from God that I was asked to stay on board for an extra week to help with the sail back from Gran Canaria to Tenrife. It was cool to do that, but it also gave a great opportunity for us to get to know each other a bit better.

During the last weekend we hit the road together in a rental car and we enjoyed the island, driving around surrounded by beautiful landscapes, deciding to take the smallest dirtroads and chatting and getting to know each other better.

All technical work in dry dock was completed and the ship looked very nice. We sailed back to Tenerife on Thursday and I returned home on Saturday morning

As far as future plans go, this relationship hasn't been very helpful to sort out my life, but I am very happy anyways
This week I just hope to go back to work at the hospital in Dordrecht and we'll take each day as it comes. I'm looking forward to Kyle's stop over in the Netherlands.

It is strange to share my love life so public, but I know that there are many who truly empathize and follow my life's adventures, so I want to share this exciting news with you.

Thanks for being involved and tahnks for all your prayers.

Big hugs &
Blessings
Maaike



some roadtrip pics Gran Canaria

dry-dock

Hi all!

So finally another update. I’m sorry it’s been a long time.

Currently the ship is in dry dock in Gran Canaria. That does sound like a horrible place to be, I know, but I’m managing ;-)

We sailed early in the morning of the 2^nd of July and arrived before noon around the port of Gran Canaria. From there on we were pushed in and pulled in onto the dock by the shipyard crew. During the time of biking the Camino in Spain with Christina I picked up a little bit of Spanish, which really comes in handy now. Besides that I’ve had loads of practice doing charades with patients in Africa J

During this shipyard period the deck department has done a lot of maintenance work and also the shipyard has been working hard on the maintenance of the ship’s hull. But the main reason for this dry dock has been the replacement of the air condition systems, as you can see on the photo’s being put in through the side of the ship.

On board it’s about 28 degrees Celsius, since the air condition doesn’t work. On the island itself it is nice and cool, because of the wind. During my days off I’ve been biking around and been to the beach.

The plan for me was to leave the ship this Friday the 13^th, but we will be sailing back to Tenerife soon. The Chief Mate asked me to stay for that voyage, so I decided to stay until the 20^th of July.

Other interesting news is that I met a very nice, fun & sweet guy, who likes me too…

It’s nice to have an extra week to spend time together and get to know each other better.

Big hug

& Blessings

Maaike

sailing...

Hey!!

Just a few images to give you a view on the voyage from Togo to Tenerife.
Next Monday the ship will sail to Gran Canaria to go into drydock. I'll keep you posted!

Big hug &
Blessings
Maaike




  

 

 

  

 






 





 

Tenerife

Photos will follow soon... (at least the internet is up and running again)

Dear all,

I’m writing this message on the 25th of June. Unfortunately the internet doesn’t work, so I’ll see when it’s back up again.

But the great good news is that we arrived safely in Tenerife today! This morning I had my last watch on the bridge from 08:00 till 12:00. It was very foggy, so we couldn’t see a lot, but just a few miles from the ship we could see the island. Since we are docked in Santa Cruz, which is in the Northeast corner of the island, we followed the coast till the pilot came on board around 14:00 and we started sailing into port.

The sail was really nice and smooth. We had a few days with some rough weather and even wind force 10 (55 knots), but somehow it didn’t make the ship move all that much. 

During the calm days we’ve seen a lot of sea life, which I enjoyed a lot! Even when we sailed out of Togo the crew on the bow was entertained by some dolphins, which I rather watched for a little while than work :-) But I did work! I don’t know why, but sailing really makes me sleepy. A lot of people did daytime naps or slept in, but I had to work, so it was early to bed for me…

I have to admit that I had quite some fun with the guys on the bridge. After that I was on day work, which means that I got paint a lot of things on deck from 13:00 till 17:00, which is a nice job with some headphones and the sun out… During our sailing out of port and docking in Tenerife I was stationed on the bow, which I do like. I start getting more and more of what we are supposed to do and when and why.

This evening we were cleared by customs around 17:30, so we could go off ship wherever we wanted. So I went out with a group of dear friends, ordered some tapas and had a mint ice-cream afterward and walked off my sea legs :-)

It’s weird to be back here with a whole different group of people. There are a lot of memories coming back and I’m sure missing lil’ C or D…. (aka Christina)

In the beginning of July we will sail to Gran Canaria to go in dry dock. I’ll write more about that later. In the coming days there will be a lot of nurses and good friends leaving the ship, so the time has come again for me to say some goodbyes. 

But there will also be some familiar faces coming on board during this ship yard period. It keeps on being an interesting and special time to be here. I am very grateful!

Big hug

& Blessings

Maaike

departure

Just some photos to give you an image of my recent activities on board

 

 

 

 



First week back

It’s been a week and I have had a great time with old friends. A big group has left the ship during this week, but it felt OK for me to say goodbye of farewell. It was a little reunion for me and I have very much enjoyed it and now we’re moving on.

Within this first week I have managed to get a cold! Thank you air conditioning!

Today four of us went diving, sipping some of the poopie water, so I might get some ‘fast fast’ as they call it in Sierra Leone (and I think you know what that means)

On deck we are working hard to get everything ready for the sail. The last few days we’ve been loading containers and started putting some cars on deck eight. That’s one of my favorite things to do! It just looks so cool when you see the landrovers hanging next to the ship and then have them come on board.

The moment of actually sailing out of the port of Lome is coming closer. Of course the actual time of departure is top secret, but I’ll inform you guys again once we’re sailing.

Besides the work, I also get some time to reflect and look back and forward. People on the ship ask how things were back home… To be honest I have to tell them it has been great to meet up with friends and family, but it also has been difficult… Trying to meet up with many people, getting used to life in Holland, getting registered, starting to work again, living out of a backpack all the time…

And some people want me to stay and settle and others want me to go and be a missionary and I… I don’t really know at the moment. I am willing to go if that is where I need to be, I would love to work in Africa, but where and what and how long…

But at the moment I don’t have any clarity. I would like to work on ships too or do projects in Dordrecht as I used to do or come to Mercy Ships every now and then… I just don’t know

So as I am doing my work and resting after work, I think, reflect, chat, write, ect. Maybe I haven’t taken my return back in society as seriously as I should have… and this time on board is a chance to pick up what I forgot to pay attention to…

Will keep you updated on sailing activities!

Big hug &

Blessings

Maaike

P.S. Tom Bradley has some nice shots of a nearby African country, the street view is very comparable to Togo. http://tombradley.wordpress.com/2012/06/10/cote-divoire-from-a-car/

first week back

Thank you all for the comments on the last blog post! Thanks also for your prayers and support!

I’ll have to start with a some confessions J I started working last Tuesday after ‘sleeping in’ till 9 am. After work I wanted to go the a nearby shop to get some mint syrup (as some of you know I really really like in about every drink). After some time walking out of the port, I realized that I was going alone… which would be normal back home, but not recommended (or forbidden by Mercy Ships) in West Africa. Besides that it was 5:30 pm, so it was getting a big dark already. Because I wanted to make sure I was back on the ship before dark, I took a motor-taxi. Euhm… going out at dusk is not recommended, as a woman alone very much not recommended and riding the motor-taxi’s without a helmet isn’t recommended either. (for the record, you may need to read ‘not recommended’ as 'not allowed'… :-S). I did get my bottle of mint syrup and got back on board safe and sound, but I realized that I might have sort of broken a few rules within the first 24 hours of my time back on the ship. I’m trying a little mantra; think first, then act or speak… not working that well yet :-D

The only 'obstacle' during that trip was the guy in the store. He did not want to let me go without giving me his phone number… just to boast the ego a bit ;-)

Last Wednesday we had to say goodbye to most of the dayworkers. Since I knew a lot of them from 2010 and from the start of this outreach it was so great to be present at this moment, where their service and commitment were celebrated.

Yesterday we had to say goodbyes to a lot of people. I feel blessed to get the change to wave them farewell and give them a last hug.

Afterwards there was a little ‘special goodbye’ for the hospital staff. Last year some nurses started a bit of a tradition in closing the outreach with a water fight. I love water fights!! The group would come together after community meeting and have some sort of end-of-the-outreach-talk until one of the masterminds would start throwing water balloons. I was asked to ‘help out’ from deck 7. Of course I wanted to share some love from above :-D

It is really nice to be able to help out on deck, assist in the hospital pack up and have some fun on the side.

Many blessings

& a big hug

Maaike

real update

Hi all!

It’s kind of fun to be back on this blog and share a bit of my life with you.
I must admit that it felt a bit unrealistic when I sat in the plane. After leaving ‘for good’ I’m going back to the ship. It’s amazing, but I also remember the things I didn’t like about this life :-)

After a good flight and no problems with customs (in itself very special) I got into the car with my dear friend Jane. There were about 8 nurses waiting for me on the dock and some at reception. A really very warm welcome!

I went to bed around 1 ‘o clock (which is 3 ‘o clock Dutch time), I was really tired. Wonderfully being rocked to sleep by the ship. Oh what a joy to be back on board. The thing that is really confusing is that I feel so at home here. Much of that feeling is determined by the people around me at the moment.
I have two lovely girls as roommates. I can not walk ten paces, before walking into a ‘new familiar face’. I've eaten dinner with a bunch of old friends. On deck I will be very warmly welcomed by the other deckies and the officers.

A big group is leaving the ship next Thursday and then there will be about 40 more to leave the ship on Monday. It’s immediately becoming a time of saying goodbye to all those people who have welcomed me so warmly today.

There are 20 patients in the hospital, but they will all be gone home at the end of this week or get their care done for by people who have been appointed by the ship to do this. Then the hospital can also be completely packed, with which I’m hoping to help.

Today I have done some paperwork and started work at 1:00 p.m. with the guys on the deck. Nice weather, nice people, catching up with many people in the meantime. Really nice.

A very big hug &
Blessings
Maaike

Where's home??

I feel soooo welcome and home! It's really great to be back on board. So many familiar faces and I can't keep track of the amount of hugs I've (been) given. I arrived yesterday eve around ten and after a lot of greating went to bed at 1, so I slept in a bit and then got on with some of the paperwork (the ship is very good at having loads of paperwork :-D) and in half an hour I'll join the guys on deck.
Everywhere I look there are friendly, familiar people. It's really nice!!
The will be a big exodus this Monday, so there will be goodbyes, but that's part of the deal unfortunately. I'm looking forward to these next few weeks spending time with good ol' friends, having great roommates and just enjoying the hard work on deck.

Thanks so much for your prayers!

Many blessings
Maaike

'home'

How wonderful to see,hug and catch up with family, friends and people that have been supportive during the last few years!!

There are things I enjoy so much these days;

It's really great to bike around without the immediate threat of being killed by a truck :-D And how I enjoy eating super tasty brown bread with chocolate sprinkles (hagelslag). What a delight to be babysitting with a cat on your lap. How great to be running in the fresh air and knowing that sweat means you've actually done something ;-) It’s so nice to go by bike and visit friends and what a luxury to have 4 (yes really four!!) windows in my room, with doors to the balcony that can be openend (which I don’t do since it feels like it’s freezing outside). And the ordinary Dutch meals with kale and endive are about so amazing.
I’m staying with two very sweet people, I’m being pampered and have a room with more space than that four people on board share. It's also really cool to speak with various people, to exchange ideas and to share about the time on board.

I do really miss the community on board. After living on/ in that floating village, it has  become my home and I got great friends on board. It’s been hard to say farewell.

And of course there are some things I find difficult here.
For example the supermarkets are a bit of a challenge. It's just overwhelming to pass rows and rows of food. And then I think ... why do we want to choose from 60 types of shampoo!? The abundance of things overwhelms me sometimes, but I realize that I was used to this and that it is ‘normal’ if you’ve never seen otherwise. Sometimes it seems we have a right to those things which we are so accustomed to and we are outraged when the service is disappointing. But it is good to realize how well we are off in the Netherlands.
And as I wrote, there are actually things I really enjoy and I don’t think that is wrong, as long as we receive it with a grateful attitude.

Last Friday I held a presentation and I was overwhelmed by the group of lovely people who had taken the time to watch and listen to my story. It was a very successful evening and I really enjoyed it.
Slowly but surely I am meeting up with many people to chat and catch up, but I also schedule times of rest to think and pray about the future and to acclimatize and relax.

For the next few months I’ll be in the Netherlands, seeking the right path.
Thanks to the many many people being part of my adventure in recent years. I will continue to share my experiences and plans with you, probably less frequently, but when there is news, then I’ll notify you of course using the blog :-D

Big hugs &
Blessings
Maaike

Arrived

Just wantend to let y'all know that I safely arrived on European ground. This morning I got to hug my mom and sister in Belgium. And now spending time with my grandparents in the beautiful, but cold Kingdom of the Netherlands :-) I felt so privileged to get such an amazing farewell from my shipfamily. Thanks you guys so much!!! Big hug& Blessings Maaike

the end is near

Time is passing fast right now! It’s so strange that suddenly two and half years have passed. Last Tuesday I worked my last shift. Wednesday and Thursday I went out on a trip. During the community meeting on Thursday there was an official goodbye.





I wanted to see blood running into the patient, so I asked if I could take a look in the OR. The 23-year-old lady who had surgery had a large neurofibroma hanging on the left side of her face. It was very interesting to observe the operation. The following picture are of this little event, so be aware!

  

It is quite special to see your own blood flow into someone else.

During this period of Lent, I found it special to deal with blood. Maybe my blood has made a contribution in the life of this young woman, but blood has been shed for me too. The blood of Jesus. Lifesaving. Really cool!

So, the packing has actually begun. Final Evaluations are done. Last times have passed. With mixed feelings I am getting ready to say goodbye. I am definitely looking forward to seeing my dear family and friends again! But it’s weird to leave ‘home’ to go ‘home’. I'll miss my wonderful friends on board a lot!


A very big hug &

Blessings
Maaike

I read the following blog a while ago and seemed like a nice ending of my blogs, an impression of the life and work on the ship! It is written by an American nurse (I don’t even know who should get the credits… sorry) and I just translated for the dutchies (maaikerademaker.waarbenjij.nu). It's just funny.

“ Living on a ship and working in this unique hospital does take some creativity and adjustment. If you have been thinking about living or working on board a hospital ship in West Africa, feel free to try a few of these out and see how well you adjust. And of course, post and let me know how it works out for you!

*Disclaimer…”hospital life” suggestions are not meant to be tried in actual American hospitals, as some of these are by design not intended for western healthcare facilities.

Ship Life:

Invite five of your friends to stay with you for the next three months. You should all live in a partitioned one-room apartment, and take turns sleeping in the closet. Remove all the doors and hang curtains instead. All wall decorations should be magnetic.

Most of these new roommates will be medical professionals. At any given time, two should be working days, evenings, and nights respectively. Rotate shifts to keep things interesting.

At least half of your new roommates should speak another language. Learn medical terms in that language and try them out at work.

Set aside a small room for privacy and prayer, and spend time there regularly. Donate books in 10 different languages to the local library. Check them out in the middle of the night.

Line up for mealtimes at 0730, 1200 and 1700 each day. Eat together with 400 of your closest friends. Have fried plantains at least once a week.

When you go out into town, don’t wear shorts no matter how hot it is. Go with at least 5 other people for safety. At least 8-12 people should fit into each taxi...15-20 per van. Never pay the initial asking price. Sit on top of each other. Bring goats.

Move somewhere very sunny, and then take Doxycycline. Drink at least 4 liters of water daily. Eat the goats.

Fill plastic bags with water. Refuse to drink any water that comes out of the tap. Instead, drink out of the bags...or your nalgene.

Leave a lawnmower running in the living room for proper noise levels. Occasionally bang on pots. Turn on the vacuum every time you flush the toilet. Color water green and put it in the bathroom. Once a week measure some out and flush it down the toilet.

When you take showers, make sure you turn off the water while soaping down. Limit yourself to two total minutes of shower water per day and one load of laundry per week.

Have a birthday party at least once or twice a week. Invite 50 friends. Play baseball with an empty Pringles can as a bat. Cook plenty of sweets, using at least 5 mangoes. If you bake a cake, GoogleTranslate the instructions into German, then ask your roommates to help you figure them out.

Stop wearing heels. Climb 50 flights of stairs per day. Watch the sunset over the ocean.

Ask famous national leaders to visit. Invite them to make a speech, or share their testimonies. Then give them a tour of your workplace. Introduce them to patients. Throw them a party.

Bring maracas and drums to church. Dance excitedly during worship. Encourage friends to dance with you. Sing in several different languages. Provide two translators for the pastor. Have a 100 person church service in your living room with all the patients from the hospital.

Announce emergency drills every other Thursday afternoon. Gather with a group of your friends in the dining room. Pretend to do CPR. Every few months change the drills to 3 times a week with life jackets. Take roll call.

Set up a rotating schedule to watch for pirates. Dress up like pirates. Watch Pirates of the Caribbean on a laptop. Then watch Titanic and the Guardian. Then hide for an hour in an undisclosed location.

Get up excited for work, knowing that God is in control and making a difference in hearts and lives!

Hospital Life:

Make individualized balloon animals for each patient. Hang them above their beds. Play volleyball with the balloons.

If family members want to stay, provide mattresses for them under the bed. Encourage family to stay for a few days...the more, the merrier!

Put all the patient beds two feet apart. Encourage your patients to get to know each other.

Pantomime all instructions and questions to patients. Insist on teaching each new admission how to use a toilet. Put up signs depicting improper toilet use.

If the patient needing a transfusion is your blood type, offer to be the donor. Have your friend collect the unit while your bed is moving. Then start the IV and transfuse your own blood...by drip.

Refuse to use regular IV pumps. Instead use burettes, or syringe pumps, or calculate drip rates.

Hang privacy curtains from hooks in the ceiling. Move them around according to need.

Regularly have dance parties at work. Play the drums. Encourage your patients to play the drums. Provide crochet hooks in place of drumsticks.Pray during shift change and ask your patients to join you. Wear matching scrubs with all your co-workers.

Play Jenga with your patients.

Make sure to specify if a regular diet includes snake or not. This may be important.

Announce an emergency blood drive overhead. Draw blood from all your friends that are A+ or B+.

Need to do a stress test? Have your patient run up and down several flights of stairs, and then do an EKG.

Import medications from Europe. Ask other nurses to translate instructions for you. Refer to acetaminophen products as “paracetamol” and Versed as “midaz.” Double check with pharmacy before giving your IV medications orally, and optical preparations aurally.

Crying baby? Tie them to your back with a sheet and keep doing your nursing work. They'll happily fall asleep soon.

Look at the drool spots on your scrubs… and smile fondly at the adorable brown baby who fell asleep while you were charting. Thank God that you get to be here.”

Big hug &

Blessings

Maaike

screening Togo 2012

  

pre-pre-screening

 

nursing starts again

This afternoon we welcomed the first patients on board. Tomorrow we start with the very first operations. Currently there are three maxfax surgeons, so the next two weeks will be devoted to facial tumors, cleft lips and the like. After those two weeks we will start general surgery and plastic surgery too.

Photos for screening are not yet available, but I can say that everything went very well. Once some photos are available, I will blog again. For now at least my gratitude for your prayers and involvement!


There were several other photos available, so the rest of the blog is dedicated to show you some footage of our medical crew and photos of the open house.


Big hug & Blessings
Maaike

biking trip and ...

A short update tonight. This week is a bit of a mess, so at the end of the week more news.

Today we met the day volunteers that we will work with during this outreach in the hospital and gave them an introduction.I manned a station that informed the day volunteers about isolation precautions with two others. Other stations were focused on serving food, washing hands, how to use the washing machines and what type of waste is going were.This evening we had open house for the hospital. We provided many crazy, fun activities, so the rest of the crew could take a look at the hospital. It was a nice evening and I must say I'm really tired and will go to bed soon.Tomorrow we will have a fire drill on board where we use simulation patients in the hospital and then do an exercise where all patients from the hospital need to be evacuated.After that the screening process will start for me. With another nurse, Laura, I am assigned to do the pre-pre-screening. That means that tomorrow night at 22:00 we will go to the stadium where the big screened is held and start with the first selection. We can not force people to leave the queue, but we can recommend them to leave when they have a condition that we can not do anything about. Around 5:00 in the morning the actual screening starts and we hope that peace and order in the queue that is formed during the night. It is something so big, with thousands of people ... emotional and sometimes quite heavy. It is still a big prayer request to pray for peace.Sunday, the first patients will come on board and life as a real nurse begins.



 We slept in a nice place at the lakeside and the next day we took a canoe to Togo Ville on the other side of the lake. After that trip we biked another 28 km back to the ship. Quite some physical exercise, but it was nice to get away from the ship and enjoy a piece of Togo.



This week we will make the final preparations for the patients, with first the screening this Wednesday.

A very big hug &Blessings

Maaike

Last weekend I had a wonderful break. Together with three others from the ship, I cycled to 'Lake Togo' which is about 28 km away from the ship. I was convinced there was a nice place a little further and made the others bike another 10 km with me to Aneho ... and back.

set up

The last few weeks have been really busy, but fun.

I always enjoy the weeks that I get to work on deck.

Last week we had a team to help us set up for this outreach, a so-called Mercy Team. It was a great group that was very eager to work and full of energy. I got the assignment to set up two of the four tents that we use during our outreach with that team.

In the meantime nurses have been setting up the hospital and I was able to help a bit in the hospital too. All of a sudden things start looking like they did in the old days. Slowly but surely I am going back to being a nurse. Tomorrow we will welcome about 40 new nurses, so the coming weeks there will be a focus on getting to know each other, educating all new nurses, preparing for the open house event, finishing the last bits and pieces in the hospital and preparing for the screening.

 The screening will be held on Wednesday the 1st of February. I will probably be involved in the pre-screening, which is quite difficult, because it does include saying no to people. Please pray for this event, for all the people that will come and the crewmembers involved.

The last two weekends I have finally picked up my bike again and biked to the Ghanaian border. It’s about 20 km going there and coming back, so it’s a nice ride. Lots of people along the road express their surprise, adoration and support. It’s quite an event to see a white woman on a bike :-)

Last Friday we had our first dive of the year. Kind of like a dutch new year dive, but different in temperature ;-) It’s so nice to dive in Lome again. The visibility is a lot better and there are quite some big fish swimming around and even some beautiful corals.  

It’s a weird time I must say. A lot of exciting things happening and the return of old friends and colleagues has been great. On the other hand there’s the countdown towards my departure. It is weird to leave this ‘home’ and go ‘home’ again… I do know that God is on my side and that His plans are great, wherever my next ‘home’ may be.

Big hug &

Blessings

Maaike

arriving in Togo, second time



The sail from Ghana to Togo was perfect. I think we’ve had the smoothest waters I’ve ever experienced on this ship. We only sailed for a few hours actually, but the technical crew had to work a long day. I was part of the team bringing down the gangway, which was quite tricky, but eventually it came down in the right place and now we’re using it as if it has always been there. The gangway is now on the other side of the ship. So in Ghana the gangway was on our portside and now it’s on the starboard side. The first few times passing by it feels like you decided to pick up you house, move it to another location and then decided to put the front door on the other side of your house… But after some days this is the new normal.





The last week we’ve been unloading cars and containers and getting things set up for the coming field service. There are so many things to do. Also on the hospital there’s already big progress in the set up.

My roommates came back after a month’s holiday, so that’s bringing back a bit of liveliness in the room. It’s also getting used to only using my own space to store all my junk :-) Slowly but surely familiar faces are reappearing on board and a lot of new ones also start presenting themselves. It’s good to reconnect with friends again and to have new people with lots of energy and enthusiasm to start this field service.

It’s also a time of finding closure for me in the midst of all the starting. I am enjoying my weeks left in Togo, but I’m starting to look forward to seeing family and friends again too. My support team has been really helpful and has picked the date of the 9^th of march to have an open evening in Dordrecht. More details will follow.

A big hug &

many blessings

Maaike

sailing again

Just a quick update to let you all know that we have left Ghana this morning. We are now on our wat to Togo and expecting to arrive sometime today.
We started this morning at 5:30 and it's very likely that there will be quite some work until this evening. It's a long day for all the technical crew, but soon enough it will be weekend.
It has been a great time in Ghana. Really a time of rest, reflection and celebrations. I hope that you had a good time with friends and family during Christmas and New Year and I wish you Gods blessings and close presence in 2012!

Thanks for your prayers and the interest in this journey.

Big hug &
Blessings
Maaike