June 2006 - Liberia memories
This is a random collection of our Liberian outreach memories :)....a sort of closure I guess before moving on to news on Ghana :). I will continue to add items as they come to mind...
Our German baker Albert (a kind man in his seventies and a good ping pong player) made fresh croissants for the whole crew every morning for breakfast for the two months he stayed. For a while Etienne called them 'fish', and I couldn't understand where he got this from until I realized that he thought they were 'poissons' (french for fish, similar pronunciation to croissants)!
Sunday morning service in the ward, where we would bring Etienne along, and sit on the edges of patients' bed or stand beside them, and have african worship then a short sermon by the disciplers in the ward. Note: The disciplers in the wards are unsung heros, they are crew whose fulltime work is to be with the patients and they do exactly that, spending days and nights with the patients beyond 9 to 5 work hours, talking to them, listening to their fears (first time meeting white people, having surgery, venturing on board a ship, venturing away from their village etc etc etc), praying with them, braiding their hair, playing with the children, sharing in tears and laughter, discipling those who want to know more of God and His love for them. Sadly there is only one discipler working at the moment in the ward here in Ghana due to the high turnover and transition. Please pray that God will call and bring forth more disciplers for the ward for the great work they do!
Liberian English: a bit like malay, doubling a word to emphasise it such as "fine fine" for very well, or "small small" for very little :). The following examples are from another crew's newsletter: Diarrhea is "run belly run" or "runny stomach", sexual intercourse is "mama-papa business" or "dat bad-bad thing", "carry me" means "take me" or "drop me off", "waste it" means to throw it away or spit it out (like with chlorhexidine mouthwash for max-fax patients), to ask for drug allergies you say "any medicine when you take it, it can itch your skin or put small small bumps on your body or turn your eyes (make dizzy) or make you want to vomit?” To explain surgery, you say “When the doctor work on you…”, mangoes are "plums".
Academy running club: the ship school principal initiated a running club for the kids and every wednesday after school they would run back and forth the dock in Liberia in the evening, and when they logged an accumulated 25 miles they get a golden shoe trophy :) (Brian would appeal from time to time to the crew for old running shoes and spray them with gold paint for this purpose!)
Visiting an orphanage with the ship teenagers. We did this two Saturdays with Etienne, visiting the orphanage with some of the teenagers and their parents from the ship. They had adopted the orphanage as part of Mercy Ministries, the crew activities that Mercy Ships facilitate (and two very courageous ladies coordinate fulltime) so that crew members not directly involved get an opportunity to do so (for example crew who works fulltime on board the ship like in housekeeping or the bank). Mercy Ministries range from visiting orphanages to hospices to leprosy colonies to prison ministries to showing the Jesus film in villages. Many such visits led on to tangible relationships and involvement, in this case the ship teenagers raised funds to build an additional room to the orphanage and spent weekends whitewashing it. One led to a ship family adopting a liberian baby met at an orphanage whose mother died at childbirth. Again, please pray that Mercy Ministries will find new facilitators and continue its good and necessary work.
Our German baker Albert (a kind man in his seventies and a good ping pong player) made fresh croissants for the whole crew every morning for breakfast for the two months he stayed. For a while Etienne called them 'fish', and I couldn't understand where he got this from until I realized that he thought they were 'poissons' (french for fish, similar pronunciation to croissants)!
Sunday morning service in the ward, where we would bring Etienne along, and sit on the edges of patients' bed or stand beside them, and have african worship then a short sermon by the disciplers in the ward. Note: The disciplers in the wards are unsung heros, they are crew whose fulltime work is to be with the patients and they do exactly that, spending days and nights with the patients beyond 9 to 5 work hours, talking to them, listening to their fears (first time meeting white people, having surgery, venturing on board a ship, venturing away from their village etc etc etc), praying with them, braiding their hair, playing with the children, sharing in tears and laughter, discipling those who want to know more of God and His love for them. Sadly there is only one discipler working at the moment in the ward here in Ghana due to the high turnover and transition. Please pray that God will call and bring forth more disciplers for the ward for the great work they do!
Liberian English: a bit like malay, doubling a word to emphasise it such as "fine fine" for very well, or "small small" for very little :). The following examples are from another crew's newsletter: Diarrhea is "run belly run" or "runny stomach", sexual intercourse is "mama-papa business" or "dat bad-bad thing", "carry me" means "take me" or "drop me off", "waste it" means to throw it away or spit it out (like with chlorhexidine mouthwash for max-fax patients), to ask for drug allergies you say "any medicine when you take it, it can itch your skin or put small small bumps on your body or turn your eyes (make dizzy) or make you want to vomit?” To explain surgery, you say “When the doctor work on you…”, mangoes are "plums".
Academy running club: the ship school principal initiated a running club for the kids and every wednesday after school they would run back and forth the dock in Liberia in the evening, and when they logged an accumulated 25 miles they get a golden shoe trophy :) (Brian would appeal from time to time to the crew for old running shoes and spray them with gold paint for this purpose!)
Visiting an orphanage with the ship teenagers. We did this two Saturdays with Etienne, visiting the orphanage with some of the teenagers and their parents from the ship. They had adopted the orphanage as part of Mercy Ministries, the crew activities that Mercy Ships facilitate (and two very courageous ladies coordinate fulltime) so that crew members not directly involved get an opportunity to do so (for example crew who works fulltime on board the ship like in housekeeping or the bank). Mercy Ministries range from visiting orphanages to hospices to leprosy colonies to prison ministries to showing the Jesus film in villages. Many such visits led on to tangible relationships and involvement, in this case the ship teenagers raised funds to build an additional room to the orphanage and spent weekends whitewashing it. One led to a ship family adopting a liberian baby met at an orphanage whose mother died at childbirth. Again, please pray that Mercy Ministries will find new facilitators and continue its good and necessary work.
posted by everydaymercy at 10:33 pm
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