Wow time is zipping by- and yes I am still alive- just not so good this year at blogging- sorry. I’ll try and give you a pictorial update of the past few week.

One patient story to start- there are so many but this little girl has attitude or maybe you’d call it spunk- but coming from her background it’s impressive and understandable. I have heard the saying very often that ‘when she was good she was very very good and when she was bad she was horrid’- her doctor is the first to admit it. She came to the ship from Cameroon with her uncle and a local missionary doctor- Sarah who has been a great friend. Abandoned at birth by her father and then as a 4 yr old by her mother she was brought up in the care of her grandmother in a remote village. She became sick and developed noma- often referred to as the the face dissolving disease- for the very reason that within days it can devour your face. It is fatal in 90% of cases- she came to a missionary hospital- 6yrs old and weighing only 10kgs and they prevented the spread of the Noma. She then came to Mercy Ships in Togo to have her face reconstructed. To show you the before photo’s would be to confronting- though her face I would liken to a building that had had one side blow out by a bomb and then had scarred in the healing process. She left the ship with a new face on Thursday- it was bitter sweet to see them go- good friends get made and then disappear- but thats how it works here.
Her pictures tell of the fun times and discovery of her skin grafts- only the nurses can tell of the mischief this determined little miss got up to in between.

TOO Cute! Aissa sporting the stunning headdress adorning most of the maxillo facial patients.
The green bike- which all told was not to be shared without a war :)

Celebrating Togo independance day on the ward

Entertainment on the ward during the recovery. A doctor in the making maybe.....
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Aissa inspecting her new face

Well from feral we ladies have become feminine since our Ghana trip. Below: we frocked up for the annual Mercy ships film night. It was lots of fun and laughs as we enjoyed home made films put together by the crew- kids and adults alike.

I have been visiting local orphanages and a special needs school for disabled children. We play games, tell bible stories and have a lot of fun. Both the special needs school and the orphanage were impressive- they both had the most loving caring gentle teachers and such well behaved kids I was blown away. The kids are so gentle and caring of one another too- it is beautiful to see.



We must be suspicious as we have been surrounded by naval vessels for weeks. Last week we had a French navy ship sharing our dock- gun pointed our direction. But they were a very friendly bunch- took our crew on board for tours and visa versa. The French navy guys had these pristine white sailor suits with bright red pom poms on their hats- quite a sight to see. The Togolese navy ship- all two of them are our regular neighbours.



Well thats more than enough for one reading- Next time i'll tell you of the crazy and somewhat eventful night in the lab.
It can't be a month between blog entries this time as I shall be home in close to a month. Im getting excited!

Stunning Ghana

So this weekend I spent in Ghana.
It started off as nothing short of a typical African adventure!
We left the ship after work on Friday, passed the Togo- Ghana border smoothly without any of the immigration horror stories you here of. Straight after the border crossing is the taxi rank- choas as everyone wants to take the 8 white yovo's girls with them. Hassled we actually walk straight past our actual taxi drive and continue to ignore him until we arrive at the Green van we are looking for and discover the guy following us is legitimately our taxi driver- opps. So we all pile in the the apparent 3 hrs taxi ride to Northern Ghana.Stopping at a money exhange- nothing more than a man on the side of the road with great wads of money- how he never gets mugged i'll never know- then again maybe he does.
By now it is dark and a few hours in we stop to pick up some random African travellers- not unusual to pick a few extra seat fillers here. The night progresses and we get 4,5 and then 6 hrs into the journey only occasionally seeing a sign indicating we might be headed the right way. Midnight strikes and we pick a 3 locals in a village along the way- By this stage I am saying my prayers and wondering what on earth we have got ourselves in for (Grandma if your reading fear not we are all alive and well!). 8 white girls travelling down a horrid dirt road at midnight with 4 African men-mmmm not so relaxed. We travel through the town we are to stay in and a large crowd is gathered singing, dancing and beating drums- unbeknowns to us it is to go on all night and for a number of days as it is the funeral ritual for 2 deceased villagers. Finally though praise God we arrived at our hotel high in the mountains- I was rather relieved to have the guard open the gate and show us to nice secure rooms 4 a room and 2 a bed but perfectly compfy.Sometimes I do wonder why we get ourselves into these adventures... but they are worth while as my pictures below will attest.Sleep was a novelty- I thought the mourners singing and beating drums outside our hotel might have adjourned for the night- particually when I heard a tune I know- 'Abide with me'. Indeed the singing and procession could still be heard at the top of the mountain some kilometres away the next day.

Below are some village pictures of HoHoe where we stayed- it turned out to be a lovely small village with the most friendly people and children- most who spoke English which made for easy communications.






So to all those who asked me to bring them back an African baby- you nearly got one- accidently. The darling girl above came up to me and wanted me to come meet her Mama-so off we toddle. Her mamma spoke broken English and offered me some lunch- hard to say what it was- something traditional. Her Mamma chatted away- by which time a friend of mine came over. Better of hearing then me apparently Alana informed me my polite nod of yes meant I had just agreed to take her daughter as my own- OOPS- how'd I manage that so easily- indeed without even knowing. After some serious back tracking I assured her Mamma she was happy in the village and really wouldnt want to come with me- I'm still not sure what motivated this Mamma to want to give her daughter away so easily- guess I will never know.

Below some of the village kids came around to play chasies and be swung around for fun.


After some charming Roosters woke us at 4am in the morning I resolved to have chicken for dinner in the hope he'd be on my plate along with his other rooster mates- unfortunately the next morning quickly revealed he wasn't my dinner- but Mr Rooster seemed a little more considerate- perhaps he knew he might just be dinner the following night if he pushed it!.

Now for what we came to see- the stunning Wli waterfalls- the Longest waterfall in all West Africa. Located just outside the village we stayed in the water falls are surrounded by stunning mountains. How nice it was to be back in green scenery, mountain gorges and the smell or rain- just like lovely Armidale. Thinking I was initially doing the 45 minute hike I soon discovered it was the 7.5 hr hike- butit was totally worth the effort - the pictures below don't do the countryside justice- absolutely stunning. Not sure why it was I jokingly said at the start 'Oh so were going to hike right to the top of the range' - You guessed it that is exactly what we did and then we came down again alongside the waterfall- oft times on the seat of our pants in the mud as the terrain was super steep.

Enjoy the spectacular pictures of God's creation below:

The Village in the background is where we came from- the mountain range was our climb!