Multi-purpose tubs

I stole a few pictures from Michelle Zeller (her blog is mzellerafrica.blogspot.com she does palliative care).  Just because the pictures were so cute.  (yes, this is still Tyrone talking).

   

We have several of these tubs that we use in the galley, colored just like the one you see here...we use them for defrosting meats, marinating meats, making salads in bulk (coleslaw, macaroni, tuna... those kinds of salads), and a myriad of other things.  Here in Liberia, well as you can plainly see it works as a good bathtub for babies!

I am sure this is what I would have looked like as a child if I was west African and grew up in Liberia~ (pssst, I still eat like that)

This is baby George eating his rice.  How cute is that?

The Liberian Handshake

An example of the Liberian handshake. This is used whenever greeting or meeting people. Mostly a simple handshake and the snapping of fingers is what I use.

1 - grasp the hand of your counterpart:
2 - slide into a thumb-to-thumb grip:

 

 

 

 

3 - pull back to clutch the finger tips of your counterpart:
4 - release with a loud snap of the middle fingers:
Note that the handshake can be abbreviated by jumping straight from the quick hand shake to the snap.

 

Reminds me of a couple of handshakes in my old neighborhood...

Pictures of Henry

Henry is still here on the ward. His wounds (from a severe dental infection that almost took his life) are healing and he looks so much better than the first day I received him in the ICU almost 3 weeks ago.

Henry spends most of the day just sitting around waiting for the day to pass, but during the week he goes up to deck seven and plays football (soccer) as his Occupational Therapy. I went up the other day and we were teammates and pretty much won by a lot.

A Walk To Beautiful...

Stephanie and I both saw a movie here on board that will soon be playing on PBS in the states, which I will soon give you information about.  http://www.walktobeautiful.com/   -  http://www.fistulafoundation.org/movies/screening.html  We were able to view and see the movie because of Dr. Steve Arrowsmith (who is currently here on board).  Bio available here at this link: http://www.globalhealth.org/pop_ups/events/steven_arrowsmith.html

We would both strongly recommend you see this movie, it is not Mercy Ships affiliated except for Dr. Steven being Vice President for International Program Development for the Worldwide Fistula Fund, and we do these same surgeries here on board the ship for the women of West Africa and in a clinic in Sierra Leone.  This movie will definitely help open your eyes to life changing operations that we have eradicated altogether in richer parts of the world.  Fistula what?  What is that?

I (me Tyrone, being the guy that I am) was even moved by the emotion and power that this one surgery or hope that these woman have can mean so much...so its not just for the women to watch or understand!  And even how sometimes it takes more than one surgery!

Broadcast Premiere

• NOVA on PBS
      May 13, 2008 -  Check your local listings or go to pbs.org for details

 

Cooking Teams (#2)

If you missed the first installment of Cooking Teams you can catch up here.

My role as Chief Cook/Lead Chef (the title really does seem to change on a whim) sounds good on paper.  The reason I say that is because on paper my hours are from 8 to 5 Monday thru Friday (Riiiiiiiight).  I guess it could be in certain circumstances or if I really didn't care and wanted to get on with life outside the kitchen, but I am one of those people who love it.  I usually stay hanging around the kitchen thru to 6 or 630pm just to see things thru or just do some recipe research or the small 'pushing paper' part of my job by creating menu's or questions to bother my boss about, he loves it. (I am being sarcastic)

In the past we had some special events, functions, and dinners which usually involved me working on the weekends, and if you are actually on the ship when are you really ever off from emergencies and unknowns?  Believe me, a lot of unknowns or surprise things need to be done that involve guess what?  That's it, the galley!

If you remember me talking about the earlier schedules of the cooking teams in my last post you will see that my schedule has me working with both teams thru out the week (remember team Fried Chicken and team Watermelon?).  Oh and by the way, I named the teams not to be cliche (ok maybe partly because I thought it would be funny) but because I actually like both of those foods allot...although I try to keep my fried chicken intake down for all the obvious reasons.  Being able to consistently to work with both teams on and off thru the week really helps me to keep a good handle on things and to see both strengths and weaknesses in each team.  And that in turn helps me to know how to menu plan, clean, cook, and get organized in the kitchen/galley depending on the character and quirks of the team working.

Now that most of the special events or food functions have passed away I may actually have weekends off...BUT the joy in that is now I can start 'hanging out' or signing up for other projects and events.  This weekend I have signed up to go out Saturday to help work on construction projects for a local orphanage, Stephanie has also signed up for a totally different project than mine and she will get to visit with handicapped kids (& maybe some adults) at a home.