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