June 2006 - We are sailing, we are sailing

We are sailing, we are sailing….

After months in Liberia, we left Monrovia Tuesday morning, May 30th, to sail on to Ghana.

It is always hard to say goodbye, and we have had plenty of that these few weeks. Around a hundred crew members have left the ship and many more will leave in the next month as their time with us come to an end. This also means saying goodbye to the patients we have met here, whose lives of courage inspires us, and our fellow workers from Liberia, without whom our work here would have been impossible.

So. Goodbye, Harris, your story of courage and patient faith will ever stay with us. Goodbye, Kebbeh, our VVF* sister who is now dry and celebrating a new life. Goodbye Richmond, goodbye Cecilia, goodbye John, your help and good work on board and with others will remain in our memories. We are blessed to have met you, and we trust you into God’s hands and hope He will one day make our paths cross again.




By God’s grace we have finished our work here for this season. As a family we have survived the steep learning curve to community living, working and worshiping and eating with the same people, self-confessed sinners and God-risen saints. As humanitarian volunteers we have survived the hard face of suffering, particularly one long day as kae got involved in the screening of VVF* ladies, escorting these courageous women from dock to ship to examination rooms and back, hearing them recount the long labours, the loss of their babies, the shock at discovering their fistulas and incontinence, some of abuse, all of ostracism or rejection, often in simple statements washing over drip-dripping days months years of hardship. Seeing some being told no we cannot help them, then praying with them, weeping with them. Seeing at the same time others whom we can help, given appointments, came back, had surgeries, became dry for the first time in years, no longer plagued by the continuous smell and wetness of faeces and urine, danced and wept with joy at the dress ceremonies, left with new hope and life. Which again motivates us to carry on. If we can do some good, we must go on.

So go on we will. We will arrive in Tema, Ghana tomorrow. New crew members will fly in to join us there, new patients await us, new trials, new hopes, new friendships, new stories to be told.

And meanwhile, we sail, watch waves, rest, worship at the bow during sunset, clap hands in delight when dolphins come to join us, see turtles and flying fishes and squids, hope for whales. The ship is in good form, its classical structure slicing through the water with minimal rocking, although we still feel it and got a bit queasy the first day. Pens roll off the table (and Etienne’s ball and toy cars take on new lives), drawers open on their own accord, stairs either rise up to meet your foot halfway or descend and hold themselves back a split-second more than usual. Cupboards need to be secured and computers tied down, 2-minute ship showers are back on and there will be no laundry to conserve fresh water until we arrive. We drifted near Abidjan off the Ivory Coast last night to bunker, to get more petrol from a bunker barge this morning, and this afternoon we set off again, gently rock-rocking across the ocean. Many tell us this will be the best sleep we’ll have in our lives and it is true. Etienne has been having 3 to 4-hour long afternoon naps since we sailed. He is not sea-sick at all and loves watching out for ships, dolphins or turtles. This evening after calling out from the bow ‘Come turtle, come dolphin’ for five minutes and none appeared, he suggested we ‘phone’ them! Wonder where he gets these high tech ideas from …



Many thanks for prayers, letters and emails, and please continue to send us your news from home, you’ve no idea how wonderful ‘normal’ life accounts sound to us, the news of spring, mountains, space, flowers, pets, especially long showers! We’ll write more when we arrive in Ghana, lots of hugs, blessings and love,

Kae, Julien and Etienne
Currently sailing from Liberia to Ghana, passing near the Ivory Coast

*VVF- Vesico-vaginal fistulas, caused by long and difficult labour often resulting in the baby being born dead and tissue injury resulting in incontinence of urine and/or faeces.

Photos:

Farewell to Cecilia & Zinneh liberian dayworkers on the dock before sail

Hawa, a liberian seven year old girl's story www.onamercyship.com/hawa/hawa.html




Etienne on board - Timmy's first birthday party; playdoh time; preschool deck pool and sandpit time (look same swimming trunks!)