The path less travelled

Enjoying a chilled evening on a small hidden beach.

I have always enjoyed the idea of exploring life off the beaten track, the prospect of adventure excites me and the idea of finding something new which few others have seen inspires me. I think it has alot to do with getting into God’s creation, learning about and enjoying the presence of our Creator in his creation. At times it is great to go at it yourself as there are no distractions, but at the end of the day it is always more enjoyable to share the experience, even if it is in silence, with another like-minded adventurer. This week I looked up and realised that I am surrounded by like-minded adventurers and friends.


Ship Life
I have moved onto ship for two weeks. A number of families have gone home, wherever that is for them, for the ship’s school summer holidays. This has left a number of free cabins and beds on ship. I have moved into a three birth cabin. This means there are three beds in this cabin. While this is spacious compared to a ten birth cabin, compared to my thirty square meter room back at the off ships team house, my four square meters of personal space is pretty cramped. I am enjoying life on ship. It is really nice not having to start and end the day with a manic drive through what is equivalent to the Durban beachfront on New Year’s day with taxis and mad motorcyclists thrown in.


Birthday Celebrations

I was surprised for my birthday by being seated in the middle of a restaurant and being sung to.

I was wondering what it would be like having my birthday on ship, away from my family and friends back home, and for that matter, anybody who has known me for more than two months. Being the type of guy who is pretty casual with birthdays (ask my family, it drives some of them crazy), I wasn’t expecting much. It turns out it was one of my most enjoyable birthdays ever. I opened my cabin door and someone had put balloons all around it. Another person had put a big Happy Birthday sign on the opposite and yet others had left cards and biscuits. I dodged the lunch time happy birthday song in the dining hall by doing some work at the team house, but got hit twice as hard that evening. We went to salsa dancing, as we normally do, but this night was different. Yes, in hindsight, it was pretty obvious that there would be a party there for me, but like I said I was not expecting the fuss. My Mercy Ships friends sat me in the middle of a busy restaurant and came in singing my praises and carrying a BIG birthday cake. It was a great evening.

She is Belgian and and she Loves Chocolate.

It was also really great to get a bunch of calls from back home in SA and great email and facebook messages. I felt very loved.
My dad used to joke that, when I turned four he was jumping up and down on my Mom’s stomach to try get Simone out on my birthday. She however decided the tenth of July would suit her better. So a few days after my birthday I called my sister for her birthday and was again chatting with family and a good friend who was there as well. It was a good week.

Going where no Mercy Shipper has gone before

While exploring driving through the bush to a beach I found this Chameleon.

My friend Lourens is a great guy. As he is South African, this goes without saying . One day while a bunch of people were lying around on the beach he took a Landrover and went driving. He headed down a dirt track, crossed soccer fields, forged rivers and squeezed through bushes. At the end of the track, which was pretty much a foot path, he and his Landy found a little known beach. On Saturday we loaded up two Landies and headed out to this beach. We dodged chameleons, flying firewood and rice paddies and parked on the beach. A fire was started and we spent the evening roasting sausages and stick bread, drinking warm coke, practicing 4x4 skills and swimming. It was a great chilled evening. A brilliant way to end a great week.

We parked the Landies on the beach and enjoyed a chilled evening braaiing, swimming  and just having a good time.

Generators, Incinerators, Tumours and Scar Tissue
Life is not all about sitting on beaches, catching chameleons and dancing. Believe it or not I also worked this last week. The generators at the HOPE (Hospital Out Patient Extension) centre have been giving problems and one of the things I have been doing is sourcing new parts. I have also been researching incinerator construction. While out and about on one of these trips a father gave me a picture of his little girl who had been badly burnt on her arm. The scar tissue had contracted, fusing her arm to her side. I was also given a photo of a man who has a huge tumour on his head. I took these two photos, amongst many others, to the doctors. They agreed to slot them in and it was surprisingly satisfying calling up the father and letting him know we could help his little girl.

This week has been a relaxed week of researching incinerators, generators and doing odd jobs

Small Group and Worship
When I first arrived on the ship I was a little concerned about my spiritual growth. I was not fellowshiping in a small group and was feeling a bit spiritually dry. I have, however, recently slotted into a home cell with a great bunch of guys who keep each other accountable. I am really glad about this as I find I always grow the most in a small group environment. I am also regularly meeting up with a bunch of people on the top deck of the ship, or on the key side to enjoy the sunset, worship, pray and relax together. We call it the sunset club. It’s a bit cheesy, but its great. I am looking forward to see how God grows me and these groups over the next few months.

Enjoying the sunset at the end of the quay.

Conclusions and prayer needs
It has been a fairly relaxed week work wise, but spiritually and personally I think it has been very productive. Please keep me in your prayers. Pray that God will daily guide and lead me. Pray for spiritual and physical protection over the ship and its crew and finally pray that what we are doing here will be continued and that our stay here will be a catalyst for revival that will continue long after the ship leaves the dock.

Ryan’s Rambles – June Newsletter

Standing on the dock. The ship is to the right of the photo, behind me are some of our Landrovers and on the left is our protective wall of containe

Sierra Leone: An Optimistic Future Despite the problems Sierra Leone has had in the past the potential for a bright future is huge. It contains some of the richest mineral resources in the world including diamonds, titanium, bauxite, gold, rutile and iron ore. It also has the third largest natural harbour in the world. In addition to its mining potential Sierra Leone has some of the best beaches in West Africa combined with stunning forested mountain scenery. The potential for tourism is huge. The ground in Sierra Leone is fertile and flat. Combined with a good climate, the potential for commercial farming is also huge. Regardless of its potential, Sierra Leone is one of the poorest nations in the world. The GDP per capita is $759 per year. This is 13 times less than that in South Africa. Many accredit the cause of the war to corruption. This problem can be seen on every street corner and is even happening right at the gates to Mercy Ships. Corruption is definitely one of the biggest challenges the post war Sierra Leonean government faces. Despite the challenges the Sierra Leonean people are incredibly joyous people. They are extremely friendly and require very little excuse for a party. They jump at every possibility of singing, dancing and celebrating life. It is common place to see traffic brought to a standstill as one or another organisation parades down the streets singing, dancing and playing drums.

Getting into the swing of things
I am settling in and getting into the swing of things. I am fitting in well socially and slotting into the team with my work duties. Another month has flown by and I got quite a shock when I realised that it’s that time of the month again when I must do all those wonderfully fun things like checking my budget and writing newsletters. This month has had its fair share of challenges such as having one of our team members, Armelle, resuscitated and medevac’d to South Africa. Her and her husband Frank are now back safely and have been reunited with their 18 month old daughter. Thank you very much to all who have held her in their prayers.


Work
I am enjoying work and there are several small projects which I have on the go or which are in the planning stage. These include repainting and maintenance of construction tools and equipment, research for constructing a new incinerator at the city’s main hospital, plans to repaint the eye care clinic and the preparations for the construction of a school/church latrine.

Preparations for Latrine Construction

Loading my bakkie with river sand  to be used for casting blocks for the school latrine. 

In mid-July there is a new team of long term Mercy Shippers heading out to Africa. Before they join the ship they will be carrying out a two week outreach project in one of the local communities. I will be joining them for one week to assist with the construction of a VIP toilet and casting a cement screed floor for a local school. So far this has involved collecting river sand (shown left) and the casting of 700 cement blocks. It has been really great getting out of the city and working with these community members. This has been the highlight of my month.

Plans for the Construction of a Medical Waste Incinerator

Medical waste is piling up in the open. We intend to construct an incinerator to dispose of it.

The threat of infected needles is very real around the Freetown hospitals as medical waste is being dumped in the open. These area are unrestricted and the ground is covered with used needles. In future I will not go back onto these hospital grounds without thick leather boots on. This waste is occasionally cleaned up by people in shorts and slops and dumped at the city dump where it is then combed and picked through by people looking for reusable goods. Medical waste has even been seen washed up on the local beaches by Mercy Shippers. Mercy Ships has been asked by the government to construct an incinerator so that these needles can be safely disposed of. I have been doing a bit of research trying to determine the best way to go about this.

Exploratory Assessment of Inland Hospitals

One of the Makeni ambulances spotted on our inland hospital evaluation.

Myself, Frank and Mark headed up to Bo and Makeni to have a preliminary view of the hospitals there. There is a team of engineers coming out in September to do a full assessment of some of the local hospitals. Mercy Ships has entered into a long term agreement with the government to help upgrade the health infrastructure. The idea is to build a data base of projects which have already been assessed and have government approval so that when somebody has the money Mercy Ships can inform them what the highest priority is. While on this trip we found out about Lassa fever which causes major internal bleeding. It is suspected to be spread by eating rodent meat, a local delicacy which we were planning on eating on the way home. A local ambulance used by Makeni Hospital


Off Ship Projects
The Agriculture Site

Jean Claude, Mark Palmer, Jean Abu and myself at the Ag Site

The Food For Life Agriculture Program is aimed at training local farmers in sustainable farming techniques, as well as nutrition. Working in conjunction with other long term NGOs Mercy Ships selects a number of people from various villages to be trained as trainers. These trainers will then return to their villages and NGOs and then show others the various methods. The methods used are those outlined in Farming Gods Way. Basically don’t slash and burn the land, cover the ground with mulch and don’t use commercial pesticides and fertilisers. The returns of this method are incredible and you can see the difference when comparing the Mercy Ships fields to the neighbouring fields.



To Conclude
This month has been a very productive month and I am settling well. We are in a real spiritual battle here and it has taken a while, but I have slotted in with a good bible study group and am taking part in small worship and prayer meetings. I would really appreciate your intercession though, so please keep us in your prayers.