Africa Mercy Hospital

Here are some pictures of our lovely hospital. It is now nice and clean and ready for open house tonight and for patients next Thursday.

relationSHIPs

One of my favorite things about living on the ship is the relationships. I am so incredibly blessed to have friends on the ship that have known me for a long time, people that knew me single and wild, and know how much I have grown. My friend that I have mentioned before from Brazil is so good at reminding me how much I have grown in the past 4 years. She knows a different side of me that my new friends don't know. But, I relish connecting with people and I have found in the past month I have made some real connections that I truly treasure. Sometimes I just feel at peace with certain people and truly connect after a short time of knowing them. I really think this is God. I think He puts people in our lives to help us along with our journey and to grow closer to Him. Praise Jesus!!

This weekend I spent a lot of time with my friends. On Saturday a bunch of girls went out to this nice Lebanese place that had excellent food, but the best part was being on the ship with my friends and hearing their stories and learning more about who they are.

Today I went to the beach, but you can't really tell. I was wanting to work on my tan, but I put on too much sunscreen and I reapplied it too often. So I sweated like crazy, but there is not much to show for it. The beach.... in one word is dirty. Yes, the water is mighty grimy and obviously dirty. But the whole experience was super fun!!!

My head is Foggy

This weekend has been very busy, wonderful, and meaningful and has left me feeling like my head is full of fog. This weekend I went to the market with Tyrone and 5 other Mercy Shippers. I am still processing all of that. The tremendous amount of noise alone was overwhelming in itself.  There are an incredible number of taxis that are obsessed with honking  their horns about every 3 seconds. And there is music playing and so, so many people (ranging from very young to very old). There "market is this sunken in sand pit/ mud pit/ cess pool of sorts that has stand after stand of African necessities. This market sells fabric (which a lot of girls buy then have clothes and bags made), cooking products and utensils, clothes, shoes, etc. At one point we were looking at a guys stuff that was in wheel barrel and all of the owners of the stuff started to yell and move very quickly. I turned around and saw the Liberian police officer coming very quickly and he was kicking all of the stands down that were to close to the road. We skedaddled out of the way.

I have spent so much time researching what it would be like in Africa. I think I was as ready as I would ever be, but I am still recovering from the mass amount of sadness I felt for these people that live in such epidemic poverty. A we drove down the road you could see the bullet holes from the not so distant civil war. And it is so obvious the pain that the Liberians have experienced even by the fine lines on their children's faces.

Since the ship has been here just 2 months ago, a lot of roads have been paves ( by the Chinese), street lights have been put up and many gas stations have been put in. So , yes, Liberia is progressing and rebuilding. Thank you Jesus.

AFRICAN NIGHT!

Whether you love it, or dread it...back by popular demand is the African style food every other Monday starting this Monday the 11th!

(On a health note, as much as possible I will try to keep the oil saturation low)

Response #6

No sticky rice...because our rice is parboiled when we receive it...that means: (following definition edited from Wikipedia)

Parboiled rice is rice that has been boiled in the husk. Parboiling makes rice easier to process by hand, improves its nutritional profile, and changes its texture.

Parboiling rice drives nutrients, especially thiamine, from the bran into the grain, so that parboiled white rice is nutritionally similar to brown rice.

The starches in parboiled rice become gelatinized, making it harder and glassier than other rice. Parboiled rice takes less time to cook, and the cooked rice is firmer and less sticky. In North America, parboiled rice is generally partially or fully precooked by the processor.

So that is the main reason we do not have 'sticky' rice. According to Russ at the IOC this was a major donation given to us...so I think this rice will be around for awhile before we will explore other options once we free up space from this present rice quantity. Which by the way is a lot.

I received a comment about food at the beginning of meals not being the same as food at the end. I personally can't say I experienced that much since I have been here, or have I done this myself. Maybe a couple of times if necessary OR if it is a day to get rid of all the leftovers...its just one of those things that needs to be done and sometimes theres just no way around it.

In addition to that the comment also suggested the food that came after was more 'kid friendly' or kid oriented. I don't know how to address that comment. I cook for people, mostly I think of all of them as adults. If by chance you are referring to fish sticks or something else I do not know about yet then I am afraid you will be disappointed in me because I will use fish sticks as the main meal from time to time...ketchup, tartar sauce, mmmm delicious.

Maybe that was in the past? Not sure.

Thanks for all the great comments and suggestions! Please keep encouraging the crew!