Never a dull moment

Who said been a misso in Africa was hard work ?



How is a two hour trip NOT a 2hr trip? And a relaxing weekend not such a relaxing weekend?
TIA- This Is Africa!!!!
Destination Grand Popo, Benin.
9am we catch a ride 9 in a van sitting on fold up chairs to the local petrol station/taxi rank.
9:30 waiting waiting- no Taxi’s much- perhaps because the roundabout is so congested they can’t get to us- Why? Cause in Togo the cars on the roundabout must give way to those wanting to enter the roundabout- yep you got it a complete stand still more often than not. Lanes? What are they? 4 cars and trucks wide on a simple roundabout- no problem- except no one is going anywhere!!!
10:00 we get a cab- mmm 11 ppl in one car with luggage too. Some in one anothers laps sitting, the middle row is four adults scewed sideways to fit and the back seat-4 little ppl me included- 3 semi seated and one laying across our laps- ok car loaded.
Encounter the roundabout- a standstill- and who’s beside us but a filthy black smoke blowing truck- mmm fresh air to the max- Did I mention it’s over 40 degrees and 100% humidity? Were dripping wet and haven’t even rounded the first bend on the roundabout.
Freedom- were moving- no were not- the cabbie parks- what???? Oh he needs a ticket to cross the border into Benin- off he goes on a moto taxi. We wait- oh bless the fan milk (ice cream) vendor who walks past in perfect timing...



The beach at Grand Popo- notice the slant of the beach- rip tides galore. Typical of beaches in West Africa.

On the road again- massive congestion throughout the port- the cause – two large trucks parked right across the main highway- no problem- just a little cross country driving through the muddy gardens beside the road.
Out of Lome and the taxi stops- why? Hard to tell with the language barrier- oh He’s doing his grocery shopping at the market throwing the bread into the car with us- Mate were paying you and you might have all day but seriously!!!
Stop again- 4 of us are ordered out of the car- why? Mm anyones guess- ahead was a police check – we figure 11 in a car wasn’t legal- even by African standards. Our 4 fellow travellers follow in another cab- which fails to stop at another police check. Our driver seeks permission to cross the border- an argument follows and he parks the car – leaving 6 Yovo girls on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere while without saying a word he goes off in another car- with the keys to our car....mmm .By this time were praying for a safe outcome. An English speaker comes by and explains the other driver was supposed to stop and as he didn’t we weren’t able to pass either. An hour later our friends in the other car arrive back on moto-taxis with our driver....onward we go.


A tall skinny African man I met on route....This one didnt try and proposition me- ah there is a first :)

At the border things went super smoothly- aside from been asked for one of the girls for a bride nothing to report- aside from arriving at the immunisation check point without our yellow fever cards- since when do you need yellow fever cards in West Africa- doesn’t it all have Yellow fever anyway?? No- problem “You Pay”- yep $1:30 to pay my way out of the check point. I may have felt guilty expect I had had the vaccine so I wasn’t putting anyone at risk....

Finally we come into Grand Popo and give our driver the name of our hotel. He say no he’s not taking us there cause he’s already passed it.....He gets out of the car and says he’s got all day to wait. 1/2hr into the stand-off we pay him half the fare and decide we’ll find our own way (an idea I wasn’t too convinced of. 6 white girls wandering down the road aimlessly in Africa-mmm). He refuses the money but grabs one of the girls bags as we wander off refusing to let go. An argument follows and a couple of guys got out of the car to settle it. Before long some of the villagers gathered- and an argument continues- in ‘Ewe’ this time so no one knew what was going on or understood a word. Finally one guy who spoke broken English told the driver to stop been unfair and to take us (at least that was the gist of it -we think). Thank God for the locals who stood up for us- a few prayers were said along the way.
Our taxi driver chucked a U turn- in much the manner of a spoilt brat who didn’t get his own way. How far away was our hotel? Not more than 300-500 mtrs- we didn’t know that or we’d have walked instead of put up with the drama.
Destination reached- a peaceful oasis with the most delightful African staff and comfy bungalows. The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing by a beautiful beach watching the local fishing villagers go about their days laying and hauling in nets.

Well nothing like ending on a memorable final cross country African adventure- I’ll be on home soil in less than 2wks. I am really looking forward to it!!
Below is Australia- on a World map at our hotel- what have they been teaching me in school- maybe my geography isn't as bad as most of you think. Check out the shape!! Perhaps it's Tassie- afterall isnt that the biggest state in OZ :)

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!

How great is our God

Sometimes it just feels like surgery goes on around us daily, sometimes I am struck at how once horrifying cases can become a normal sight in the ward- at times I sense a desensitization as I go about my work- as the cases I share below which would arouse horror in the setting of home become standard in my week here. Don't get me wrong at many times tears well- and need to be supressed til later when I am off the job. Immence joy flows to as you see a patients recovery. I said it when I came back from Benin- I was shocked to find that aid agencies and missionaries really didn't show the worst photo's to grab your attention- rather they showed the everyday. Well i'd like to share some of the everyday here with you. Some of the photo's will grieve you but my hope is that rather you can rejoice in what a great God we have that gives people amazing hearts to help others and skills to perform life changing surgery.

Before and After surgery- This little guy below should have his casts off soon. Can you imagine how life changing his surgery will be- Praise God for our amazing ortho surgeons. This is the boy I referred to some weeks back who essentially had his legs on backwards- in my not so medical terms :).



Remember Lawson - How amazing is his face! Now that the swelling has gone it is even more remarkable than the earlier photo's I blogged about.





The tumor destroyed his life, separating him from everyone and everything he loved. The people in his village would not sell him food because they said he was a devil. His wife left him, leaving behind their three children. Without work or food, he could not provide for his family.

So, Lawson, once one of Ghana's most prominent football (soccer) players, now hid inside his house.

Lawson was literally at the brink of death as the tumor slowly suffocated him. He was immediately admitted to the hospital ship, with surgery the next day. It took three doctors eight hours to remove the benign growth and repair his nose, upper lip, and cheek. The large amount of blood required during surgery was donated by crew members.

Lawson was overjoyed when he touched the bandages on his cheek ? the tumor was gone! There will be more surgeries within the next year to complete the reconstruction of his face, but the immediate result saved and restored his life.


Above: Ama before surgery shortly after surgery with several weeks of recovery to go.For three years, a tumor had been relentlessly growing and devastating her life.Her husband abandoned her and her ten-year-old daughter. Like so many patients the physical healing is only the start-only God can heal the emotional pain and needs.




Kossin arrived at my first day of screening. Sixteen-year-old, Kossin Delou, spent four years of his life sheltered by his family and kept out of the public eye due to an enormous tumor that dominated the left side of his face. When the tumor first appeared, Kossin visited local hospitals in Lomé, Togo. But his family could not afford the necessary surgery.

Kossin's recovery time


It truelly is remarkable how little scarring is left- notice the but lines follow the facial lines and the scars sit somewhat hidden in the creases of the face- under Kossin's eye and along the side of his nose and lip.

Kossin with his proud father 3 weeks post op.

Its about time

Wow- has it really been 5 wks since I have written- It feels more like one.
Busy is an understatement in describing the past few weeks. Praise God we now have a third lab tech who is taking some of the pressure off. We came here to work and it is great to see so many people helped- but I was wondering how sustainable the pace was going to be so was relieved when a third lab person arrived.

As usual TIA as we say or ‘This is Africa” so there is never a dull moment and many happenings over the past 5wks. I’ll fill you in on a couple to bring you up to date- and I’ll work on blogging more regularly so I know what to write…

Not long after I last wrote a little baby we helped in Benin last year and who I had the pleasure of spending many hours playing with when she was on the infant feeding program came back to us- sadly she died which was a huge blow to many. But she is in a better place and better care than we could ever give her.



The OR staff always have fun- you can see their picture from a crazy dress sense day- it really lightens everyones spirit in the busyness.
We have had a never ending flow of dignitories. First Senetor Gomer from the USA and his wife- a lovely friendly couple who spent Easter with us. The President of Togo and his officials came on board and addressed us- he was greatly moved by the experience and said with respect to Mercy ships “that there are some things that are beyond politics”. A humble politician admitting some things are beyond him- oh my I was surprised!
The past vice president of the Republic of Congo was also on board for Easter- an interesting man with incredible stories of survival during the war and of exile in various countries. He wants the ship to come to Congo- not sure how cause if my geography serves me well (which it rarely does) Congo is inland.



Above: The hospitality centre- pre op and post op care facility run on land by Mercy Ships. The shell of this building was present and Mercy Ships finished it beautifully- inside is a hospital with many wards and offices etc. When we leave it will become a maternity hospital.Yesterday I went with a team to the hospitality centre to entertain the kids. We sang, read a bible story- tranlated 3 times over, colored, played with bubbles and played ball. Now playing ball is paramount and most of these kids had a least one leg and often two legs in full plaster casts post surgery- the older kids have crutches and play ball well. The younger kids have old peices of tyres tied to the bottom of their casts to make them into little shows so they can walk around- they are amazing one their feet- and super cute. No more bowed leggies once the casts are off.


Easter was a spectacular feast- the kitchen cooked up a storm with various goodies from different countries. It was so weird been away from the material world- I forgot we even had Hot Cross buns until they came out at lunch- can you imagine forgetting hot cross buns or Easter eggs with all the advertising back home. Church was a very challenging message- not the typical Easter message rather a challenge- “Yes Jesus is risen- so what are you going to do in light of that?”.

I have a lovely little lung which has been causing me no end of pain for the past month- not entirely sure what is wrong but they suspect I have inflammation of the lining of the lung- very painful and somewhat tiresome. Prayer that it would heal quickly or that we’d find out what is really wrong would be great. In typical community lifestyle I have been picking up every bug going around the ship- perhaps cause I am not getting much sleep in between work. We practically had a ward set up just for crew a few weeks back cause so many we very ill with malaria, gasto…. you name it.

Togo isn’t proving as safe as we’d like with about 7-10 muggings in the past months happening right outside the port gate. The aim is robbery it seems- armed with machetes who can argue- it seems that word is getting around that the ships crew yield goods. They aren’t picky- on occassion it has been large groups of our men who have been robbed. Prayer for safety would be great.


I have included some non hospital pictures for you this time. It has bee frequent that one might assume peeping tom is absailing past you window these last weeks- but fear not it is all above board as our painters paint the sides of the ship. The divers clean the water intakes regularly.

How cute is this baby boy!! He is 4 mths old and has a cleft lip and palate. He initially came when we first arrived and needed some fattening- and fat he came back after some help from the infant feeding team. He had a deviated trachea on top of his other complications and arrested on the OR table. Praise God he was revived though still struggling it looked as though he would need ventilation and a trachea to help him breath. He deteriorated rapidly and so they prepared to intubate his tiny body. The surgeon and anaesthetist stopped to pray before trying this difficult task made worse by his deviated trachea. At this stage his stats were at 60%- risky business for his little brain. You may not believe in a God who does miracles but our ICU staff do as 5 minutes later this little one was breathing properly and had stats at 100%- the following day he was off his C-PAP machine and now he is back in the general ward. Praise God for his remarkable recovery- there are some things mans medicine can’t explain.

Well I shall leave you with that thought….and shall endeavour to blog sooner this time.
Au revior

Thoughtless Thursday - The patients

Ok so I know it's Friday- but it's been a busy week and I figure it is close enough for a thoughtless Thursday - Enjoy








Giving the Very Important people a run down of the laboratory



Before surgery



Above: Awaiting swelling to go down post surgery

The kids- too too cute







Above: Premie twin bub mentioned in previous blogs. Such tiny little casts

Below: Screening days





Me trying to create or keep order during screening