A week in the Lab

Dusk in Port Cotonou.

Wow how quickly week one has flown.....and how tired am I!!! The ship has been pretty rocky this week...shaving ones legs in the shower can be a dangerous occupation if you pick the wrong time. The below phot illustrates what taking a photo's from our top deck (of a ship in dock behind us) produces when were moving....it's a little unique. The squigles are port street lights. Not to mention that for the most part you have to wait a couple of minutes until the condensation on the camera lense disappears...gotto love humidity! I think for the most part i'm getting used to moving. Guess what exciting news I have....contrary to first thought I get to sail with the ship...we have to move docks for a weekend and move back after to allow another ship to unload.

The lab has been fun. I think i've missed my calling in life...i'm really loving the microbiology that I don't get to do back in Armidale. Below are some pictures of the lab.

We had a firedrill on Thurs......they just got the couple of hundred of us who work on ship during the day on the dock at our muster stations and down came the rain..gotto love tropical wet seasons! It is still raining today which is a shame as every Friday night we go into a village on present a movie of the gospel in the local dialect. It's quite a crowd drawer.

There are quite a few Aussies on board at present. Here's a pic for those who know some of us.

I had the privilage of attending a VVF (Fistula) dress ceremony for patients who are healed. It's was fantastic and brought many tears of mixed emotions. One lady was fortunate to have had a live baby and a husband who stuck by her (a rare occurance), another had had a fistula for 13yrs and had crawled around but had now learnt to walk and was dancing around the ward. Theybreak into singing praise to God at every chance giving thanks for their healing. In two surgeries the remains of foetal skulls were found...a huge reminder of the suffering and loss these women endure. The hope in the eyes of those healed and the longing yet cheerful celebration of the sucess of others in evident in the women still waiting to become 'dry'.

I have an adopted patient . She is 28yo from Porto Novo, Benin. She is in for a fistula repair. At the moment her recovery to become dry is taking longer than hoped and she is feeling a bit sad about it. She had been in hospital for 2wks and speaks Fon (a local dialect) with a little English...thank goodness for translators.

Benin is the origin of the Voodoo religion. Evil spirits feature on the local currency the CFA. Voodoo teaches that having your photo taken steels your soul so i'm really unsure about when I can and can't use a camera. I've taken to asking if it's ok in my broken French as I have heard some interesting stories of what happens when you don't ask....getting chased down the street etc.

Tomorrow I am going to do ministry in a Psyciatric home. Many of these patients are abandoned by family and as such have no visitors. I don't know exactly what we will be doing yet but will fill you in later.

A trip to a true African church with one of our day workers is scheduled as well as a trip to the material markets weather permiting.

Sleep is calling so until next time....