Madagascar Life

We didn't really know what to expect coming to Madagascar, we knew it was part of Africa but somehow it was VERY different to the West Africa we had come to know.

At the beginning the crew spends some weeks getting orientated to a new country with a series of talks on various subjects with guest local speakers.  So armed with our very limited Malagasy terms "Salama Tompoko" (greeting), "Veloma" (goodbye) & "Misaotra" (thank you) and making sure we don't use Sharon's "greeting" that is specifically for her day crew friends that she knows well, we venture out.

When we walk out of the port gate we feel like we are being transported into Asia/Africa.  Yes it's still hot but the main thing you immediately hear is the call for you to come ride in the Pousse Pousse or the Tuk Tuk.  This is our main form of transport, it's actually kind of hard to find a taxi, and it is really good fun! There is a feeling of calm with no busy traffic jams.  

The TUK - TUK

(Cost: about $1-2 per journey)

The crew clubbed together to buy 2 "Mercy Ships Tuk-Tuk's" to run people to and from the port gates.  We all buy a monthly "travel" ticket which pays for fuel, a job for a local and the vehicle.   It can be a long walk for a 7 year olds legs!

The Bicycle Pousse Pousse (meaning push push)

(Cost: 80 cents/£0.50 per journey)

We feel guilty riding in these whilst somebody works so hard as we sit lounging in the back because we're too lazy to walk, but on the other hand we want to use them so they can earn a wage for their family.  These guys are tough and are very aware of how "fat" you look.  They will very freely refuse to take two people that are on the larger size!  To be honest we don't blame them especially when you have to push that bike around.  We took one (actually two, due to previous "fat" comment!), one day and didn't have a clue what "long" a distance we had to go to get to our destination.  They really earned their money and the poor guys decided to rest and wait for us to finish our visit and take us all the way back.  We even bought them water because we felt so bad for them.

The market is a pleasant calm experience, you don't need to jostle through the crowds to get that one thing you want to buy only to have to haggle for another half hour.  The stalls are filled with spices galore, vanilla pods are sold by bunches at such a cheap price that vanilla essence is just a waste of time when you can have the "real" thing.  

You can buy branches with fresh lychees in the right season and they are so good, nothing compared to the tinned type you've probably experienced in the local Chinese restaurant. 

 There is even a local chocolatier (http://www.chocolaterierobert.com/en/welcome) selling hand made chocolates, Tim has become quite the romantic, stopping by the shop if he has a meeting ashore, and producing them on arrival in the cabin.

We also had the chance to go to a local lemur park where many lemurs roam around you in the trees.

Chameleons

 

 little white frog

 

So that's a little of life here outside the ship.

Madagascar Screening

Where did December go? - sorry we've let the blog slip a little this past month, many reasons which we will share over a few posts/newsletters.

This last half of the year has been very different, after several location changes for our field of services, our advance team that goes ahead of us to prepare our visit had been very stretched.  This year they started making preparations for Guinea then Ebola hit and we knew there was no way we could cope with the scale that the outbreak became.  So they concentrated their efforts on Benin and just a month short of our arrival date, Ebola was starting to spread in the neighbouring country of Nigeria.  With that they packed up and un-did everything they had put together and flew over to Madagacar.  They are truly special people and had been through a lot.  Usually the team has about 4-5 months to get things ready, we gave them 6 weeks in Madagascar.  They did an amazing job but of course not everything could get done.  So these last months have been taken setting up things, renovating the buildings that will house our Hope Centre and Eye Clinic.  Waiting for container supplies to arrive that had been redirected from Benin.  On top of this we needed to get the patient selection process started.

Hope Centre Before Renovation

Hope Centre After Mercy Ships Renovation

Eye Clinic before

Eye Clinic After Mercy Ships Renovation

We aren't in the capital city, in fact all our crew that arrive at the airport have to be driven over to us on an 8 hour bus ride, so you can see the scale of the land we need to cover.  So we didn't want people walking for days only to be told we can't help you.  So Mercy Ships carried out several screening periods so many people had access.  We are also using technology by setting up a Facebook page and people can send their pictures in so we can assess if they are potentially suitable for surgery or sending info via cell phones.

In the first months we held screenings in Tamatave over several weeks, initially we were getting large numbers but only few were good candidates but gradually word starting getting around what we could and couldn't treat and so more numbers were accepted.

2 months on, things are now starting to flow, the Hope Centre container arrived at the end of December with all the patient beds (these had already travelled from Congo to Benin then to Madagascar!) and the wards are starting to fill up.  We also have screening teams reaching further out and have partnered with local cell phone companies to raise money through SMS to help pay for all the transport costs for these patients, some having to travel 2 days by bus.

We started off with Paediatric Orthopedic patients, dealing mainly with club feet & bowed legs.  Latex glove balloons were once again being tossed in the air to entertain them.  Before we know it these kids will be up and about running after a ball with a whole different life.

It's amazing what is possible when you apply a little bit of plaster, know-how and time to feet! For many babies throughout the world born with clubfoot, this has been the recipe for healing: the Ponseti method. Developed by Dr. Ignacio Ponseti in the 1950’s, doctors love the Ponseti method because it is cost-effective (especially useful in developing countries), non-invasive (allows great long-term outcomes) and has a 98 percent success rate (WHO). It is the best available treatment for clubfeet. 

So how does it work? The child’s foot is maneuvered into a more correct position and held there by a cast. This process is repeated until the foot is much improved. Often this is followed by a slight cut to the Achilles tendon to release tension. A brace is then used to maintain the foot or feet at the correct angle and prevent clubfoot from recurring. Thank you Dr. Ponseti for devising a way for us to help so many with clubfoot!

So you may be thinking, that's a lot of work for just 6 months.  Yes it is, but the great thing is:

1.  Many lives will be touched with the love of God

2.  Mercy Ships will return after the ship yard period in South Africa for another 10 months.

Well worth it!

Madagascar Arrival

Is that land I see?

We've always enjoyed the sailing part.  The bit where you can sit on the bow, watch the dolphins, special worship times, enjoy God's creation.  Somehow this has somewhat changed, or should I say for Nathanael and Sharon it changed.  Naturally, Tim is a sailor so for him being out on the water in any type of weather is fine.  On the last sail Nathanael and Sharon's minds soon forgot the "nice" bits and focused on the "rolling" bits and started to sound like little kids "are we nearly there" as our ship took another 30 degree roll.  Our trip from Cape Town to Madagascar wasn't the smoothest of sails.  The safest place for Nathanael and Sharon was staying put on their beds.  Many a nights we sat up listening to the different thuds and crashes in our cabin, taking regular cabin inspections to see what needed to be re-tighten or put back together in the wee small hours of the morning.

So after a week, we were ready for land and now we are here.  The land God has for us to minister to, Madagascar.  We have now un-packed our cabin that has been packed up since we left Congo in June!  We can smell the African air that is so familiar to us.  We can be a part of God's healing plan for others - how exciting!

We arrived in the morning with a tug boat putting on a fine welcome display for us.

click below to see a time lapse of our arrival.

As soon as we were tied up, the ship went into unpack mode to get the ship ready to receive the President and the Prime Minister of Madagascar 3 hours later.  Our arrival brought much media attention as our day of arrival coincided with the launch of Madagacar's "Year of the Volunteer" where the whole ceremony was broadcast live on TV.

Presidents Arrival

Managing Director, Roland Decorvet and Family

President Speech

Prime Minsters Speech

Dance Group Entertain the Crowds

The ceremony continued on into town where many volunteer organisations gathered at the town hall. It was kind of overwhelming to take in everything that was happening in a new country, where the faces and ways were very different to where we had been before.  However, we look forward to getting to know the Malagasy people and learning about their lives.

South Africa Tours

What do you mean tours? 

Yes we know in one of our posts we gave a good tour of Cape Town.  This is a different kind of tour.  It's been nice to have the support of one of our National Offices in South Africa and also for us to endorse the work that they do so well in their country to promote the work of Mercy Ships.  The South African office, led by John Rae, have done a huge amount of PR work whilst we were there.  The staff at the V&A waterfront were amazing and did all they could to help us during our time there, whether it was a free berth, setting up a booth in the middle of the V&A waterfront mall where many asked questions, signed up for Mercy Ships newsletters and some even interested in volunteering.  Plus the regularly showed our Congo video on their giant TV screen in the outdoor amphitheatre.

They also took many bookings for private tours of the ship and on the last weekend we opened our gangway to the general public.  In just 3 days we had 4211 people walk through our doors.

Our Communications team created an amazing "hospital experience" which had hospital staff and crew sharing stories and short films to show the work of Mercy Ships.

Our 1000th visitor presented with a Mercy Ships mug.

 Dr. Gary presents a mug to our 4000th visitor, moments after he had stood in the spot where Dr. Gary performs his surgeries.

Thank you John Rae and his staff for making our time in Cape Town very enjoyable, productive & a blessing.  Continue to follow them all here as they have an amazing eye program in South Africa.

Nathanael's School Photo's

The school photo's this year were very different to previous years as they weren't taken on the ship.  As we were in Gran Canaria the ship photographers took the opportunity to change the norm.  They scoped out a great park with plenty of blooming rose bushes which also had playground equipment to keep the kids entertained whilst waiting - perfect.

Nathanaels portrait

This is Nathanael's class, Grade 2.  They have a new teacher this year who joined the ship in August.  Miss Jessica is a missionary kid herself, having grown up in Dakar, Senegal so she is perfect to understand their needs.  Nathanael really enjoys her and her sense of humour.  We are so glad she is here and the influence she is having on our kids.

And this is the whole school from the nursery right up to the high schoolers.  What a great school, they are like brothers and sisters.

 and of course we always have to do a silly photo