WTA- Welcome to Africa

The Africa Mercy arrived in Togo, West Africa Wednesday. The arrival was great. When we were coming into the Lomé Port there was a large group of people waiting at the end of the dock for us. There was a brass band from a local church playing music and there were people dancing. The group followed our ship all the way down the dock just playing, dancing and clapping. It was a little over whelming. They were so happy to see us. It definitely made the arrival an emotional celebration. We felt really important lol.

These are the best pics I could get of the crowd because I was like on a ledge lol and security wouldn't let me get any closer to the edge :(

Following us down the dock





After we docked there was an official dockside welcoming from the Cabinet Director for the Ministry of Heath in Togo and the President of the Council of Churches in Togo. We also brought down like 5 or 6 of our officials from the ship. Cool thing is I am in the Public Relations/ Communications dept so we were allowed off the ship to cover the event and everyone else had to stay on (I was the second person to step into Africa from the ship)! Again making us feel oh so important lol.

Director of Cabinet of Ministry of Health for Togo
All our crew watching from above
Fellow East Texan, Lewis, playing body guard lol
D while setting up the sound system for the whole event

Clemetine, a Africa Mercy crew member from Togo, carrying her home flag down the gangway.

Wed night when everyone was settled a few of us were standing outside on the dock and I had the most overwhelming thought, "We are Africa, this is home for 6 months. I live here" Wow... Just sayin

So far Africa is as excepted in many ways but different as well. For one its hot and the smell is not great AT ALL. When its really hot it smells SOOOOO bad.

WTA- is Welcome to Africa it is what everyone says if you complain about something, like the heat, the smell, or my favorite “oh man that dude\chick just ripped me off…” lol.

Right around the corner from where we are docked there is a small open air market so it is an easy walk for us. Though its not a nice market at all, it is a local market so basically it is just food and ‘vendors’ selling junk. It is so funny walking around here though because people stare like you wouldn’t believe. Like EVERYONE. And the younger kids and teenagers yell ‘whitey’ in French or ‘American!’.Its really funny. Then random people will follow you forever trying to sell you stuff. No worries though everyone here is really nice. They say the Togolese really want peace so it isn’t scary.

Friday a couple of friends and I went to the Lomé city center, which is a little farther. It was so fun. The market there is enormous. It goes for miles and spills out into the streets. You can’t even walk! It is insane. It is really dirty tho. My feet were like black after we got done walking (I figured out why they said not to wear flip flops lol).

We also went to a Chinese restaurant too. I know that sounds funny but yeupp there is a really nice Chinese restaurant in downtown.

It is sooo Africa, like totally what you except to see. But, not totally what you except to feel, everything is pretty disturbing if you really think about it because the poverty is so in-your-face. Though we saw some stuff that was just really really sad and you won’t forget. For example, we were sitting at another place that was outside and there came a guy that was totally and completely naked walking around. Not a stitch of clothing. He was like in the street jumping around and stuff. He obviously had some kind of mental problem. But, what was really sad is that no one helped him. I guess all this time everyone just lets him walk around naked. Also he was covered in dirt and dust probably an inch thick. A friend that was with me that night said she saw him again Saturday so its not just a one time thing.

Saturday was nice because we all went out to hotels for swimming pools and the beach because we had a blackout on the ship. A blackout is where they turn off the electricity so that they can fix or clean something down there (idk exactly) so they arrange for shuttles to take us to different places. It was relaxing I guess. Expensive though, way too expensive. At the hotels everything is double prices than it is on the outside.

Being in the PR/ Communications dept I get to be a ship driver! There aren’t a lot of drivers and you are supposed to be 25 but they made an exception for me. It is really exciting. I can only drive for business purposes tho since I’m under age, oh and to church.

So this morning I drove my cabin girls and D to church in the city. When I say city I mean a big village lol not a city. I was pretty nervous at first but it wasn’t so bad. The worst part was that it rained really bad last night so there was only half a road for both ways of traffic. We made it; we got the Land Rover a little bit muddy though.

Church was actually kind of boring. We were all geared up for the cultural dancing praise and worship they do. Well, we ended up at a Presbyterian church so it was really calm, no dancing no clapping and they sat to sing. Not only that most churches have an English translation, not this one so we sat through two hours of stuff we couldn’t understand.

After church we went to an actual market, like a grocery store, indoors lol like Kroger or Brookshire’s. Weird thing, their food and stuff isn’t a whole lot cheaper than stuff is back home. I was able to get a red bull. That was nice :)

I wrote my first story over the arrival ceremony. I don’t think it will be published online or anything because it was more like a report than a story.

Anyways, so that is the last couple of days in a nutshell. There still isn’t a whole lot going on. But the surgery screenings start on Tuesday and the our first surgery is the 25th so there won’t be any more slow days for me I don’t think

Everyone please pray for our first week of screenings. Thanks for reading and press the follow button people! :)

Africa here we come: Sailing

We have been sailing for 5 days now. The first couple of days the waves were huge and seemingly full of anger so the boat was thrown back and forth all day and night. Trying to do anything on the sail is painful, moving about usually results in mashing into a wall or some other type of solid unforgiving object, like the floor lol. We all look drunk walking down the hallways and flip flops have been abandoned voluntarily for any shoe that has some kind of grip on the bottom. Sleeping was interesting because you slide from one end of the bed to the other. People are MIA as they are paralyzed with sea sickness, I’ve heard some pretty rough stories but I will spare you the details.

Things have settled down now and the water is really smooth. It hasn't felt like we were on the water for the last couple of days.

So far I've seen whales, dolphins and flying fish. The water out there is amazingly blue and you can see forever. The massiveness of the ocean is impressive each and every time I look out. I feel so small on the water. Like a tiny spot of nearly nothingness. I knew the ocean was big but the expansiveness is incredible first hand. I feel as if we are the only thing in existence sometimes, just cruising around in our own little world of a boat (ship).

And the stars… Its hard to explain the sky at night out here. The stars are brighter than you could begin to imagine. The contrast of the totally black horizon and the moonlight and stars is incredible. I would take a pic but its pointless because you won't be able to see anything lol. Just try to imagine the darkest night you’ve ever seen and the only light source for miles is the moon and stars. Its pretty amazing.

There is also a lot of “boring” to sailing. Like, there isn't anything to do really. After work people get together and play cards, watch movies, play games. Like today there are some activities going on because its Saturday. But most of the days after people get off work we are just kinda sittin around. I find myself having the same conversations with the same people at the same table in the dinning room everyday. lol. Its really funny. But, getting to know these people is a really good experience. Especially when we get the Africa, I bet we will need these close relationships to make it through the days.

Also, it keeps getting hotter. Like in Tenerife, Spain we had to take sweaters with us everywhere and sleep with two blankets. Not anymore. Every day I wake up and it’s hotter and more humid, and we aren't even there yet. They say this is cool compared to what it will be like in Africa. Ugh. I hope I brought enough sun block. Yesterday was the worse because the air conditioner was turned off. It was awful. In the dining room with like 100 other people, hot food and no air conditioner feels like your melting. I felt like a missionary yesterday lol. A hot dirty one. I kinda like it ;)

I am starting to get use to this life here on the Africa Mercy, it starts to feel normal after a while. But sometimes I'll just be sitting there and all of a sudden I think to myself. Dude we are on a boat in the middle of the ocean headed to Africa. Wow. The lifestyle was easy to get use to. That thought process is another thing. Living in Africa... I think its impossible to even begin to cope with that until I am actually there and my feet are firmly planted on African soil. Wow. We are getting close too. We will be in Africa on Wed. :)

So the sail out of Tenerife was kind of sad. I was there just long enough to get a little attached. The town was so amazing the weather was cool. It felt so much like vacation tho, too much like vacation, thats not what we are here for. It was amazing to me the number of young people here that were all on the same page. Like yeah we all are having a freakin blast, going to the beach, the mountains, out on the town every day and night but, when are we leaving again?. We all know what lies ahead of us in Africa (some of us more so than others) but no one could wait to leave paradise for it. I’m relieved to be in a place full of people who don’t think I am crazy for thinking like this.

Well I think that is it for now. I probably won’t blog again until I get to Africa. I am planning on a blog about a girl on the ship named Emma. She has basically grew up on this ship and I thought maybe ya’ll would like to hear about that. HOPEFULLY it’ll be a video blog. We will see!

Random pics of the sail so far:

Lil man playing songs while we sailed away

Everyone watching as we left

Keisha and Caitlin being silly one day during the sail

Goodbye Tenerife

I dont even know what to say about this one

Sailing

Told ya there was nothing for miles...

Keisha and Caitlin acting silly one day on the sail

Certified Adventurer Status.

Saturday was an absolutely amazing day! Me and my new friend Daniel (aka D.) took a serious adventure into the mountains of Tenerife. Basically we took a bus into the mountains and just jumped off at a random stop kinda in the middle of no where! It was a-mazing. We just walked down this little road absorbing the breath taking views.




The bus ride there and back was a little insane because we were just getting higher and higher into the mountains and the road we were on was so tiny. It looked like the bus wasn't going to make it around some of those turns, and if you look down its straight cliff, there is no shoulder on the road just the side of a mountain! A couple times I thought I was going to lose my stomach. I didn't.

Walking through the mountains with my backpack and camera I really felt like an adventurer, lost in the wilderness type thing (We weren't lost though). There were little villages spread out through the mountains. Thankfully we jumped off the bus not far from one little village, I don't remember the name (it started with a T lol). The village had a cute little restaurant/ bar area. We were able to get something to drink here and some olives. Sitting outside surrounded by mountains and some of the most intriguing wilderness I've ever seen was surreal. I just kept thinking, "are we really here? like seriously?" lol :)

The most amazing-est olives EVER! No really they were soooo fresh

D's food. It was some kind of omelet w/ a mini salad

I have to admit though it was kind of scary being an adventurer because we didn't know if the bus was going to come back to the bus stop we ended up at and no one spoke English (imagine that) and we don't speak Spanish (oops) so we just weren't to sure. It was totally cool and a little funny until the sun started going down, I got cold and then the dogs started howling. Scary movie type stuff lol. We figured if worse came to worse we could hitch hike right?

D hitchin a ride lol

The one thing I will always remember about being up there is the feeling of calm quietness that washes over you with every deep breath. Even though there were some cars and a few people it still seemed so quiet up there. People were relaxed and carefree. It seemed like a place were time stands still and everything is touched with beauty that is everlasting. It is very relaxing and made me feel like anything is possible.

So thats what we did Saturday. It was awesome. Below are more pictures. Be sure you press the follow button people. and subscribe by email. :)

Stairway to Heaven ;)

Some pretty flowers

This is one of my favorites all day. Needs some photoshop love tho lol

Lonely tree :(

Take note of the tiny roads :)

Wow!

One of the bus stops