We should stand on that rock

Going to the market in Liberia is always an adventure, well leaving the ship at all is an adventure. Yesterday, Jen and I both were canceled from the ward, so we decided we would be brave and go to the market. We walked through the gates of the port and entered Africa (on the ship we are next to Africa but not in Africa). We stood by the road with our hand out, kind of waving in the direction that we would like to go, hoping that a taxi would stop and take us to the market. We stood there feeling very silly and watching taxi after taxi whizz right by us, with at least 7 passengers already in them. Then, a Mercy Ships Land Rover stopped and gave us a ride. It worked out perfectly. We then walked towards the "market" , I use this word in-quotes because it is by no means is anything like any market I have ever been to. It is a myriad of storefronts, Wheel Barrel stores ( a guy has a wheel barrel full of one kind of merchandise), and tarps of stuff on the side of the road. In some areas, it seems like a Liberian form of a mall. There are inside stores with lots of stuff and some of the stores are even upstairs (well up these uneven concrete things that kind of look like stairs). There are many things sold at the "market", we bought fabric, a serving dish (for my cookies that I often bake and share with friends, it actually looks like something from the summer collection from target), and Jen bought flip flops (slippers).

At one point we turned onto one of the side streets and there was a median-like structure in the middle of the road, but unlike our well-manicured western medians, it was actually a make-shift dump.

Once we accumulated all of our treasures and had enough hissing sounds and "white girl, white girl I love you!" yelled at us, we decided to venture back to the Ship. We needed to catch a taxi, which seems pretty much impossible. We tried a couple of different places, with our very best taxi catching wave with no success. So then we saw a large rock that we decided was a good idea to stand on so the taxis would see us better and then would definitely decide to stop. Many people just laughed hysterically and kept driving, but one taxi actually stopped and let us in.  We got almost to our destination when we figured out that this taxi was being chartered by a woman. When they got to the point in the road where they needed to turn and we needed to go straight we got out and the woman said we didn't have to pay.  What a blessing, we made it to the "market" and back to the Ship without even paying for a taxi.

Culinary Mystery

Here on the ship we have a smaller galley for individuals and families that want to cook their own food.  As an inheritance of small tools & devices from the 'cleaning out' of that area I have acquired a kitchen 'tool' that has been a mystery so far... (you can click on the pictures to see them bigger)

I asked (by email) a good friend Bob A Hunger Artist what did he make of the picture I sent him to which he sent out an email requesting the help of several of his food-centric friends.  In addition to this, he also posted this on his blog (which by the way gets way more traffic than my site does, by 'food' people at that!), and right away (or at last count) the first original post garnered 28 comments, mostly suggestions and humorous cracks.

Then Stephen The Foodist & Scotty Cooking In Theory & Practice also picked up the story...and later at Scotty's request, I produced another picture for him and Bob that suggests the proper 'right side up' look of the tool.

Stephen went so far as to inquire of the English (can't remember exact office) about the registered number posted on the tool...and we are currently awaiting an answer on that!  And for those of you who are curious, this is the only and exact writing on it:  REGD 911032 made in England.

So a final answer has not been forthcoming, and I am still enquiring from people here on board the ship since I have at least 30 nationalities represented on board at any one time...

Irritating as it may be (to us) it may be that this tool was really useless or does not work adequately, or maybe it's not even made anymore?  Which would explain why none of us know what it is, because we only remember the 'good stuff, the stuff that works.  And maybe sometimes the stuff that works so bad or was such a terrible idea that you can't forget it! (laughing)

A big 'thank you' to Bob at A Hunger Artist for kicking things off!  As well as The Foodist & Cooking In Theory & Practice for also helping out...BUT we are still looking for an answer out there!

Do you know what it is?

I hope Don can take a joke...

Mercy Ships founders and president, Don & Deyon Stephens were on board for some time which included the visits I blogged about earlier.  During this time there was a dinner for some distinguished guests that I was preparing for (outside of the regular 400 plus crew).  Don called the galley to speak with me about adding some guests.  Fine, no problem...having a restaurant & catering background we always plan for overage or surprises.

Thinking nothing more about the phone call we completed the meals and later that night I went back to my cabin after work. I noticed a message was left on my cabin phone (because Stephanie hasn't really gotten used to checking or retrieving messages) so I played the message for the both of us.  It was really quite simple it was basically a repeat of what Don asked me when he called the kitchen/galley only he probably called our cabin first.

After I played the message I just couldn't stop laughing and Stephanie wanted to know what was wrong with me so I explained...

Stephanie complained and voiced her disapproval of my several various attempts at being funny or informative in recording our message for the answering part of our telephone.  It was either too long, crazy, and/or she thought my various attempts were not so funny.  So finally I resorted back to a 'saying' that started on the Caribbean Mercy when we showed disapproval for something that we didn't like which is, 'Imakickyahead!' and translated to: I am going to kick your head.

So the phone answering message that Don got was:

Leave a message or Imakickyahead!!!

Don has a sense of humor, but I wonder what he thought about that!

(I am sure Stephanie was proud of me for that one too, NOT!)

Medical Screening Pictures

Caution: Medical Screening involves some graphic pictures and is exhaustive with over 800 low resolution pictures

That being said, I have completed the Screening Album and it is available on our picture page permanently or by clicking this link if you receive this by email subscription -

http://tyroneandstephanie.com/pictures/Screening

Stephanie probably appears in the album 6 to 8 times, and of course I was busy cooking on the ship so you won't see me there...screening day was actually the day before the Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf came to the ship.  And following that day was the pastors conference.  And following that day...

You can probably relate some of the pictures to earlier posts and maybe future ones, about patients that Stephanie will directly or indirectly be involved with...and for my part I have probably fed every Mercy Shipper you ever see in any of these pictures (whether they liked the food or not! [laughing]).

Benjamin

I was in the dining room last night with a plate of food, ready to sit down for dinner with my friends, when someone told me that Benjamin (the 14 year old boy that I wrote about in my last blog) had a Respiratory arrest (stopped breathing) when being transported to CT scan. He was intubated and evaluated, the CT scan showed extensive brain damage including a midline shift (meaning not good). The family was called in they said their goodbye and were going to return this morning to come get his body. The plan was to keep him alive on the Vent until the family could make it at 8:30 am to come get his body.

 This morning I woke up at 6:58am and was supposed to be at work at 7:00am, I through on some scrubs and ran down stairs. I had to take some deep breaths, I didn't know what I was going to find when I opened the doors of the ICU. The lights were dim and there were 4 Dr.s and one nurse and the captain praying for him before they took him off the Vent. The initial sight was so peaceful, so different from at home in the ER.

At 7:30am Benjamin was gone.  Ali and I washed his body and said our goodbyes. I can't express in words the connection that I had with this little boy. I only knew him for a couple days, but when you pour your all into keeping a child alive and comfortable the connections is there.  It is so hard to see a child die, to see his father grieve, and see his little body be carried down the corridor in a body bag.

Now as I am in my cabin and trying to process all of this I just thank God for letting me have the time I did with this sweet little boy.