Mi gladi fo mit yu!

     Freetown, day 11.

My first Sierra Leonian sunset!  

     It's crazy I've been here this long already, but at the same time it feels like I have been here forever.  I have really melted in nicely to fun group of people here.  My transfer flight in Brussels, I met a few other Mercy Ship-ers and we really bonded and stuck together.  (I taught them Farkle and they love it so they are keepers!)  It's always intimidating to meet new people, especially when you don't have a safety blanket of friends to fall back on.  I have learned that the best place to meet people is at meal time, so I have been diligent about sitting with different people every time and it is working out well! (But note-to-self: look for mostly-full plates before you sit down!  It's not good on the ego when they leave 2 minutes after you sit down!)
      I was nervous at first to start working, but it has turned out to be the best part of my day.  They really rush you into it- with 2 days of "orientation" and then BAM you're on your own!  Although, surprisingly, I felt very ready to be on my own, and I have blended into the ward nicely.  Other nurses were commenting on how quickly I became comfortable and jumped right in to help.  I attribute it all to my 4EF- upbringing! I believe I have proved the motto true, "If you can work on 4EF, you can work anywhere!"
      The work here is very different than back home, as expected.  Most things are run by protocols and nursing pathways, and there's not much stray from the norm.  In contrast from home, where most things were driven by insurance and CMS!  All the charting is paper, and I have no CYA charting to take up my day! (CYA= Cover Your A**)  For instance, when I get a new admission, my one task is to place an IV.  THE END.  No asking 1 million questions, no calling the doctor for 5 million orders, etc.  It's amazing :)  Which in turn, this means that I can spend so much time talking with and getting to know my patients.
     I can't take pictures in the ward, but to give you a little picture, imagine 10 beds in a room, with 2ft max between them.  No walls.  It seems awful in our American mind set, but they actually love it.  If we have to put up a curtain to separate somebody who has an infection, they hate it!  The African culture is very focused on relationships.  In the hospital, they are always talking to each other, helping each other, and they practically cry when someone has to go home!
     One of my favorite aspects of the hospital is the "day volunteers".  There are day volunteers working all over the ship.  They are local Sierra Leonians who are payed to work with Mercy Ships- so it offers locals an income, and it helps us to be more integrated with the culture.  In the ward, they serve as translators for us, as housekeepers, patient educators, as well as a whole other list of duties.  We don't have nursing assistance so they partly serve in that role.  It is fun getting to know them, and they have been teaching me a lot about Freetown!  They also love to teach Krio, which has been a true blessing!  It is a pretty easy language to learn, as it is based on English.  One of my new local friends said, "Krio is a mixture of English, French, and some other language".  I asked him what the "other language" was, and he said, "Ahhh.. I don't know".  So I have decided the other language is gibberish. For example, the title of my blog is "mi gladi fo mit you!"  which means "nice to meet you!"  As you can see it's a phonetic version of English that utilizes some gibberish-like words!
     The day volunteers are also teaching me some cultural norms and helping me to blend in.  For example, I was whistling a little ditty the other day, and one of my local friends looked at me and laughed.  I said, "what's so funny?" and he said, "o nothing, I'm just surprised to see a girl whistling".  Uh oh! this is not a good sign!  I asked, "is it a bad thing?"--"no it's not bad.  but girls don't whistle here, it's only for men to do.  we think she is a man if she whistles".  NOTE TO SELF: don't whistle!  Which is very very depressing, as most of you know I just recently learned to whistle, and enjoy doing it ALL THE TIME!

fishing! Freetown style!

     My first weekend here, I went with a group to a beach called Mama beach.  It is a local village beach that not many people go to.  It is a big fishing beach, and the local village was pulling in their nets when we got there, so we helped!  Unfortunately all they caught were thousands of 3in long fish and a few jellies.  Don't know if the Jellies were stingers, but I wasn't about to find out!
     The beach was all locals, so we stuck out like a sore thumb.  All the African kids just love white people for some reason- they all wave excitedly and say "hello!" and want to shake your hand- apparently white hands feel cool, not sure.  They kept running in front of my camera saying, "snap me! snap me!" which  means, "take my picture!".  So I have about a million pictures of these cuties!

the kids that wanted to be "snapped"

     The fishing boats are wooden, hand carved!  I asked one of the guys how they build it, and they carve and chisel it all out.  One of my goals "which probably won't come true" is to buy a boat so I can go canoeing on the bay!  They are all painted with their family names.  If they are lucky enough, they have a little outboard motor to tote them around.  If not, which the people from the Mama beach village were not, then they paddle their huge nets out about 1km, and then the people on the beach pull them in.
     I also made some pretty good friends on the beach.  I spent most of the afternoon playing with these 2 boys, Allie and Abdul.  They knew English fairly well and loved walking up and down the beach with me.

The hand-carved canoe I intend to buy ;)

my 2 buddies, Allie and Abdul

    
    







     My first Sunday here, I went to a local church with a group of Mercy Ship-ers who have been attending this church regularly since they arrived.  It was awesome to experience an African service.  It was about 2 hours long (which was apparently exceptionally fast!)  They sing and dance and have a lot of energy, similar to the Mexican churches I have experienced.  It's awesome to see how excited they are worship the Lord, especially when they have so little.  It was really humbling for me to see how strong their faith was compared to mine, when I have so many abundant blessings to be thankful for.

     This past Sunday I was working so I attended the ward church service.  Every Sunday morning they have a church service held in the hospital for all the patients and family members.  This was again very humbling to see a lot of the patients, all wrapped with gauze bandages, stitches, NG tubes, crutches, etc. smiling and praising the Lord for the surgeries they have had.  Many of the patients are Muslims, but they are experiencing Christ during their stay on the Ship. Lord willing, they will be able to see the incredible Grace and Peace that Christ gives and will surrender their life to Him as a result of Mercy Ships ministry.
     My favorite little buddy from the ward sat on my lap during the service and belted out all of the songs.  It was so heart-warming.  He is a 7 year-old boy who was badly burnt in a fire.  There are many burnt children here, mostly from cooking fires at home.  His hand was melted shut for many years, and the doctors here were able to open up his hand and give him most of his hand dexterity back.  It's amazing how much that can change a little boys life.  He is part of the family here, and it will be so sad to see him leave, although I know it will be such a blessing for him and his family to be back home!
     It has been such a blessing (but at times struggle) to live with so many nationalities on the Ship.  Last time they announced it, their were 37 countries represented here.  Most seem to be US, UK, Australian, or Netherlands, but still their are so many different cultures and languages here.  I didn't realize how different we can be in the way we think, speak, and act.  It has been a wonderful learning experience!  Last night I hung out with a friend from Ghana who works as a night watchman.  I did "rounds" with him which was awesome!  I got to see all the inner-workings of the ship, as well as the bridge (where they drive the ship- I held the steering wheel!), and the "control room" as I call it.  I don't know what it does, but there are lots of knobs and buttons and screens, and  there are people up all night working down in the belly of the ship! What a commitment!  As exciting as it was, it was still a challenge to work through our language barrier, as well as thought and humor barriers!  (I still haven't decided if the poo-conversations are acceptable here..)
     I have gone on a few excursions into town, just walking through the streets and the markets.  I think I would be fully satisfied if I never did any tourist attractions, but just walked through town everyday.  The streets are crowded, dirty, and noisy, and at times dangerous! (I almost lost my head to a Poda-Poda mirror the other day!  A Poda-Poda is a ghetto taxi-van that can shove incredible amounts of people in it!..as well as goats and chickens at times.)  The other day I went on a hunt for ice cream- knowing full well that I wouldn't find any.  And lo-and-behold I found a guy selling frozen-yogurt soft-serve out of a little machine!  It was the best frozen yogurt ever, and much to everyone's surprise, it has been 20 hours and I'm still not ill with the squirts!   
     unfortunately I am not able to take as many pictures as I had hoped.  Many people don't want to be "snapped", and it's safest not to take my camera out in public, because it will make me an even bigger target for pick-pocketing.  (as if my ghost-like skin doesn't already make me stick out!).  As soon as I develop a sneaky sunglass-camera I will post more!
    This is a pretty incredibly long blog, and I thank anyone who makes it all the way through!  I love sharing my stories with all of you at home, and thank you so much for your prayers and support!
     My prayer requests for this week:
          - To learn more Krio so I can communicate with my patients better!
          - For hernia and hydrocele patients who have been here for 60+ days due to infections and
            complications.  Pray that they will heal quickly and be able to return home.
          - For the burn-victim children who had surgery and skin grafts several weeks ago and are starting to go
            through therapy to get movement back!
          - For me to continue making good relationships with fellow crew on the ship!

     Love and miss you all- please write and e-mail to keep me in the loop!