Postcard from Tenerife

"Weather’s here, wish you were lovely" "Weather's lovely, wish you were here"

Sorry we've been out of touch as we've enjoyed Tenerife. We're guessing that many of you have been in the situation when you have promised to write many postcards home when you go on holiday and end up with writers cramp and not having a holiday because you are having to write so many to send back. So we decided to keep away from things in the attempt to have some rest periods. Unfortunately for Tim it wasn't really a rest time as there was alot of technical work to be achieved in the time we were there and the Spanish way of life has different work hours to us as they enjoy a siesta in the middle of the day, meaning many of Tim's days running from 7am - 11pm. However, Sharon and Nathanael enjoyed visiting the parks, eating icecream (luxury, when you've been in W. Africa for a while), shopping for supplies and a visit from Sharon's parents.

We did get a few days out together which included a trip to Loro Parque (spanish for parrot park) at the generosity of a donor who paid for all the crew to go. Normally it costs 30 euro's per adult to get in so it was a blessing for us. Nathanael got to see a lot of animals for the first time that he has been learning about in Nursery, from monkeys to dolphins, penguins (living in actual snow) to killer whales and sea lions to parrots, there was a good variety and he had a blast.

Click play to see Nathanael's reaction to fish!

Our Christmas Time

Being away from home at Christmas is not quite the same for all of the crew and so we try and make it home here with a little help from each other. Over the Christmas period there have been many things for everybody to get involved with. At the beginning of December we started off a series of advent services each Sunday night, which has been a special time as we focus on the birth of our Saviour Jesus which Christmas is all about.

As most of you at home would be enjoying all the Christmas markets, craft fairs etc, we had our own! Throughout the year many crew members are busy making things for this event so they can sell and maybe raise some Christmas money or missionary funding for themselves. The smell of Christmas spices and sweets filled the cafe area, people decorated their stalls and everybody went Christmas shopping and ate a lot! see below to see what you missed.

Ever heard of St Lucia Day. I hadn't until I joined Mercy Ships. St Lucia Day is a big part of Christmas in Scandinavia and as we have many crew members from Norway, Denmark, Sweden and the Faroe Islands on board we joined in their celebration. Maybe you might think it's strange to see a lot of people dressed in pointy hats and gingerbread men and then a girl taking big risks by putting 5 candles on her head (non drip, I may add), but they did it and somehow it was moving to hear the songs sung in their mother tongues. If you want to learn more about St Lucia, click here

On the sail we had the BIG cookie bake, which Nathanael loved. Some friends lent us a cute apron and chef's hat so he looked the business. We had 1kg of sugar dough and 1kg of gingerbread. Everybody had to roll, cut and place them on a tray and deliver them to the cooking station. From there it was taken to the galley to be placed in the oven and returned back to our table when it was cooked. Next we had bags of red, green and white icing given to us to ice and take them home. We actually saved the icing until we got back to the cabin as it was a bit of a bumpy sail that day and sitting in the dining room at the front of the ship was not the best place for our stomachs, believe me! It's a shame you're all not here to share these cookies with us as there are lots still in the freezer waiting to be eaten.

Inbetween all these goings on there were film/movie nights, Christmas decorating, school Christmas play, kids craft nice, decorating door competition and more food!

(Our "fun" cabin door)

On Christmas Eve we had our big Christmas meal (so the galley staff weren't having to cook over Christmas!). The Galley really did a good job, they decorated all the tables and there was turkey, ham, green bean casserole, breads, cheeses, fruits etc. Our faces were aglow, having been in Liberia for 10 months this food was luxury to us. This was followed by a Christmas Eve service.

Then that night there was the sound of shuffling feet along the corridors. Everybody on the ship puts one of their shoes outside the door and then we all go around and put small gifts in. It may only be one chocolate, but one chocolate from many people makes up a nice selection, better than any celebrations chocolate box. Some are very creative, we even had one present wrapped up like a sail boat. This is a picture outside our door before we went to bed......and as you can see, when we brought them in, in the morning, many more had come while we were sleeping. We were so amazed at everybodies generosity.....thank you so much Africa Mercy Crew!

(Nathanael bringing in the shoe gifts) (So many sh0e gifts!)

We all enjoyed a great brunch and then some family time as we celebrated Christmas together and phoned home. We pray that you all had a blessed Christmas.

Of course it didn't stop there. On New Years Eve there was a ball arranged....we didn't quite make it after a day out and getting back late but we heard the fireworks and all the ships blowing their horns. One cruise ship actually blew it's horn at 11pm, we figured that it must still have been on another time zone, having arrived that day....we bet their faces were a picture when all the other ships blew their horns an hour later (hee hee). On New Years Day we took part in an open house night where people opened their homes up for a couple of hours so others can visit and have some food and fellowship. There were about 12-15 open cabins so it would have taken quite a challenge to visit them all. It was kind of difficult to plan on numbers as so many crew have gone home or are out enjoying Tenerife life. We did a chocolate fondue and pinacolada (without the "lada" bit....non alcoholic pineapple and coconut drink)...you missed out on a treat. We had about 60 come by our cabin which was nice. So that has been our life over the last few weeks and another reason for being quiet on the blog entries for while. Meanwhile we are enjoying Tenerife for a bit, visiting the parks and enjoying icecream whilst Tim is busy with the technical work that needs to be done on board the ship. It's been raining a lot over the last few days but it's a lot lighter than Liberian rain! May 2009 be a blessed year for you all.

Farewell Liberia

All Hail, Liberia Hail All Hail, Liberia Hail This glorious land of liberty shall long be ours Though new her name green be her fame And mighty be her power In joy and gladness with our hearts united We'll shout the freedom of a race benighted A home of glorious liberty by God's command

All Hail, Liberia Hail All Hail, Liberia Hail In union strong, success is sure We cannot fail With God above our rights to prove We will over all prevail With hearts and hands, our country's cause defending We'll meet the foe with valor unpretending

(Liberia National Anthem)

Our time here has come to an end.....farewell Liberia.

(Nathanael saying goodbye)

We also say farewell to many crew who have been with us throughout the outreach. Many line up on the dock and wave goodbye each afternoon.

Part of leaving comes with getting ready for sea. Anything that could fall off your shelves etc has to be put on the floor. As I write, I have boxes of crockery, TV, plants and toys scattered around the living room floor. 24 hour watches were patroling the decks looking out for any potential stowaways. Then of course emergency preparations. We all get many drills so we can practice mustering at our lifeboat stations and fitting our lifejackets. I think we all seem to have it down to a fine art by now.

After 6 1/2 days of sailing we have now arrived at Tenerife. The voyage was a bit rocky on some days with a lot layed low with sea sickness. Tim did a good job of getting us there.

This was the view from the sea at 1am this morning

And this is where we arrived this morning.

Towards the end of the trip we were informed that there wasn't a berth available for us as the Spanish Navy had taken it. Because the port give us a berth free of charge we can't complain too much, but they found us a space along the way where they usually load cement so it's quite messy round here. It's a bit further to walk to town so we will be investigating the buses and hopefully we will move over to the other side in the next few days.

Farewell Dayworkers

Whist in Liberia we provide some employment to help us with work on the ship. Applications and interviews are set up and over 100 dayworkers are employed. They become part of our daily lives around the ship, many are Christians, some are not and end up becoming one! So it is always sad to say farewell to them at the end of an outreach. We try and honour them for all that they have achieved with us and the other week we had a big celebration. These guys know how to party. Click on the video to hear them singing and dancing.....you never know, even you might be tapping your feet at the end of it.

Presidential Visits

(Tim & President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf)

Before leaving Liberia, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf requested a visit to the ship to give a thank you speech. It took a bit of arranging with many protocols and security but it was worth it. The dining room was transformed into a smart function room.

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has been a great support to Mercy Ships during our time here. Click play to hear her speech (I'm afraid it's in two parts as it was too long to upload the whole video onto You Tube)

thank you speech Part 1 thank you speech Part 2 If your speakers aren't loud enough to hear the speech you can download the transcript from here

Following that the Vice President wanted to hire the presidential caterer to come and cook a meal for the whole crew. This sounded like a good idea and he brought along many of his VIP friends who sat down and ate with the crew.

(Tim with the Vice President)

(Tim with the Minister of Health)

To show their appreciation they presented the ship with a beautiful handmade quilt, made by the people of Liberia. It is now hanging up in our cafe area.

Nathanael's Nursery Portraits

It's that time of year when the yearly school photo's come out. Fortunately on the ship we haven't got the high costs that go with it and and the dilemma of choosing which ones to have as our ship photographer does it for us and gives us all the digital photo's. Here are Nathanael's nursery photo's:

Book Night

During our time in Liberia we have been learning more and more of what has happened over the many years of civil war. We recently came across an art exhibition at a nearby hotel. Many of the paintings captivated us, but were not the sort you would hang on your wall in your living room. Most of the pictures depicted war and the atrocities that go with it. There were scenes of rebels with their guns, burning houses, people running for their lives and others to horrific to even mention here. For Liberians it was everyday life at one point, and it amazes us how people continue with their lives as they daily rub shoulders with former rebel soldiers, some who may have killed your family and the memories it must bring. There was a caption under one painting:

"You have to run for your life, the only way is in the river, you can't swim. In war there is no option"

The theme of "no option" rings out as we read the recently published book, "Redemption Road" by Liberian Author Elma Shaw. In a recent radio interview Elma says that the book portrays different characters from all walks of life, representing all the different people in Liberia, each of them struggling with something and all searching for their own redemption. The stories and the characters are not necessarily the story of one person, but lots of stories mixed up -- attitudes and thoughts and everything -- several of them given to one character so that we can see the essence of who Liberians are. The stories that she ended up portraying in the book were the stories that she had heard most often. Everyone wanted to tell what had happened to them, and what had gone on. And the ones that kept repeating from different people, from different places -- the incidents that kept repeating -- were the ones that made it into the book. We had the privilege of having Elma on board for an evening where she did a book reading and signing. She was interesting to listen to and was very open to questions from the crew. If you ever come across the book, read it and learn of some of things that went on here and what people are dealing with now.

Yabba Dabba Doo

Recently we had a costume party on board, a time for crew to let their hair down for a bit and have some fun. Of course we couldn't miss an opportunity like this to take a part. Everybody had to dress up in a film or storybook character. There were some amazing costumes like Spongebob, Narnia Ice Queen, Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz and even Cruella, who got boo'ed off the stage because she was so good as she looked just like her!

So here are the Tretheways as the Flintstone family (although we have Bam Bam instead of pebbles!)....and guess what....we won!

Jesus Film & Church Dedication

This is Pastor Jomah Kollie.

Wow! what an amazing man, a man we have all come to know and love here in Liberia. Pastor Jomah has a heart to see people changed by the power of God and has been going out with our Jesus film team 2-3 times week. It has been great to have this man come alongside our teams and for us to know that any seeds that are sown and any lives that have been committed to Christ, that he will be there to follow up. In our time here it has been estimated that 30,000 have seen the Jesus film and 20,000 have made a commitment in some way.

Pastor Jomah has a muslim background and was the first in his family to become a christian and so his family disowned him and left him to fend for himself. In the war he was with some friends when they encountered rebels. He stood and watched as the rebels shot his friends one by one, but decided to let him go. As he ran for his life, they opened fire, amazingly only one bullet got him in his hand. As a result he lost the lower part of this left arm.

How would you feel if, many years down the road, you suddenly came face to face with that killer? This is what happened to Pastor Jomah. He decided to approach the killer and forgave him and continued to witness the love of Christ to him week by week. Now this man is part of Jomah's ministry in church planting and the Jesus film. Amazing what can be done in the name of Jesus. A couple of weeks ago we had the pleasure of attending a new church plant in one of the villages where the Jesus film has been shown.

We started off with baptism's at a small stream about 2 miles away. That was a bit of a shock as we hadn't thought about embarking on a 2 mile hike through the bush and also our shoes hadn't either!....our 1st African Top Tip, next time go prepared, strappy sandals just don't work!.....2nd Top Tip, we need to buy a toddler backpack so we can carry Nathanael on our backs!.......3rd Top Tip, a good foot soak helps nine blisters!

Click play to hear the celebration start with African singing:

After the baptism, we had the church dedication. The village had amazingly built this mud church in 3 weeks, they even borrowed the tin roof as they couldn't afford to pay for it yet.

(A new church)

(Mud walls)

Many came to be a part of this occasion and under the mud exterior it was surprisingly cooler than outside. Many church leaders from the surrounding area attended and even somebody from the Salvation army came, along with his hat which looked fun against his african shirt.

Sunday Post 2nd Article

Click below to see the second article that appeared in the Sunday Post (Scottish Paper, UK), written by a journalist who was visiting as part of a vision trip.

Tim is featured in this article!

Sunday Post Article 2

Visitors

During our time here we get many visitors that we take a part in hosting. It can range from UN Troops, School kids, Vision Trips to Ambassadors or Presidents. Many come with the expectation of a little ship doing a few surgeries and are often surprised at the size of the ship and go away touched by God in some way.

Recently we have been hosting a lot of vision trips. These are groups of people who have an interest in the work that we do and can either be potential donors or can be a great advocate in getting people involved and getting the word out about Mercy Ships, or on another scale they might already be involved with the work, yet they have never experienced it in reality and visiting the ship gives them a better understanding and touches them in a way that maybe pictures or words can't convey. These trips are really worthwhile as they can come and be a part of community life and see the work Mercy Ships do, face to face. They see the work out in the field, they can sit in on a surgery, they visit in the ward and brush shoulders with the crew at dinner time or in the cafe area.

Recently we had a Sunday Post journalist (Scottish Paper, UK) on board as part of a vision trip, Click here to read his first article on his trip, we look forward to reading the next!

Sunday Post Article 1

Last week we had the US Ambassador and her entourage visiting for the afternoon. They took a real interest in all that went on here and even chose to sit and have dinner in our dining room amongst the crew. It is really good to have the support of people like this, it makes our work a little easier. (Tim showing the bridge to the US Ambassador)

(US Ambassador with some of the Africa Mercy Leadership)

Harvest Thanksgiving

Today we had Thanksgiving Day. As we have a number of crew from different nationalities we joined Liberia in celebrating it today. We had a nice BIG meal followed by a celebration harvest/thanksgiving service. The display of local fruits and vegetables was amazing. - For part of the service the school presented a "Living Cornucopia" where all the children dressed up as fruit and vegetables. As Nathanael is part of the nursery it was the first production that he has been able to take part in. He looked so cute in his costume.

(Nathanael as a pea in a pod with his "carrot" friend, Estevam)

Click play to see Nathanael modeling his costume

Click play to hear the school singing.

Remember, Remember.....

Remember, remember the 5th of November.

For most Brits this is a big tradition in the UK when the 5th of November comes along and everybody ventures out with their hats and scarfs, eating hotdogs and waving sparklers for Bonfire night.

So when you're in Africa there are certain things that the Brits miss, so we all huddled together on the dock around a pretend bonfire eating custard creams. The fireworks flashed in the sky (actually it was lightning, but it worked just aswell) and we did the customary ooooh's and aaaah's that we all do when watching fireworks in the UK.

Transformation

In a country without adequate health care your survival beyond the age of 5 makes you one of the "lucky ones". You've overcome the odds. Then one day at 16 years old, you discover a small button tumour on your face. It grows rapidly over the next 8 years. You are helpless because there is nothing you can do and no one can help you.

This is the story of Alimou Camara from Conokry, the capital of Guinea in West Africa. Alimou was born in 1984 and schooled in a catholic mission, despite his Muslim background. His parents died when he was young, and he was left with his 3 brothers and 2 sisters. Today only two of his brothers are alive and both are married.

At 16, Alimou had to stop school as the tumour grew in size and became an unsightly spectacle. His siblings supported him, but his friends abandoned him. People just laughed and rejected him.

Soon he was unable to work or eat, and he began losing weight. His nephews and nieces grew afraid of him, his sister-in-law feared contamination and ordered her children not to drink from the same cup. He began to seclude himself, hiding away from a judgmental world.

After 8 years his tumour, which hung from his lower jaw, had grown to the size of his head and had become a strain on his neck. His bottom teeth became embedded and displaced as the mass enlarged. He experienced headaches and a continuous watering of his eyes. Puss would seep from his mouth where the tumour protruded. Alimou would wipe it away, but the smell was overpowering. For the last several years he was unable to chew and forced to push the food to the back of his throat to swallow. Without medical attention benign tumours will slowly cut off a persons airway as they grow, and in many cases prevent the passage of food through the mouth. In hope, Alimou was not willing to settle began going out in public to various hospitals seeking help. Wherever he tried, no one was able to help him. In a last desperate attempt he sought help at Radio Familial, a local station known for it's humanitarian work. From there he was refered to John Erickson, a chaplain in the town of N'Zau who worked at the hope clinic. John told him about Mercy Ships that was currently in Liberia and a screening team was due in Guinea 1 week later and he was welcome to stay until then.

The Mercy Ships team determined that he was an ideal candidate for maxillo-facial surgery and he was able to fly (his first time!) to Liberia for free, thanks to the world food program. The 8 hours surgery involved removing the 3kg (6.6lb) tumour, his lower jaw and all his lower teeth. The surgeons removed the tumour and fitted Alimou with a titanium lower jaw. It was like dismantling a malfunctioning machine then reshaping it together to make it whole.

The hour finally came when Aimou was conscious, without a mass on his face for the first time he was handed a small mirror, he examined his face quietly, in awe, tears slid down his cheeks, he was unable to speak due to the tracheotomy, but actions spoke louder than any words. He was amazed.

He spent 10 days recovering on the ward and he summed up his thoughts on the care of the nurses, doctors and the surgery itself "It was Jesus who helped me because He is here". He still had no lower teeth or chin and had to continue to keep his food very soft. The remaining skin that stretched over his tumour needed time to shrink back and so he was booked for a return surgery later on in the year to have bones taken from his hip and placed around his prosthetic lower jaw to form a chin. These will naturally graft to the titanium jaw, the swelling will recede and he will be able to function better than he has in the last 8 years. His plans now: he wants to go back to school for accounting, he is also interested in economics. Given the obstacles he has already overcome in his life, we're sure he'll achieve his goal. Praise God for Alimou's life and pray for him as he returns and gets used to what normal life is like.