Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Night of Glamour

The Valleta Awards

A night of fun on board the Africa Mercy. We had our own Film Awards night. Watched 11 short films produced by various crew members and then gathered at the "town's square" for the award ceremony. I love that we have so many creative and funny people here. And tonight brought out some of their best.


Friday, September 26, 2008

Relaxing Getaway in the middle of a war torn country

This is a ridiculously nice place on the ocean about 2 hours away in a place called Robertsport. It's owned by a South African. I can picture this "camping" place being back home. Nice tents with double beds, breakfast and dinner cooked for you, a nice quiet beach, a bon fire at dusk, the gentle roar of the waves lulling you to sleep at night...
Needless to say, what a lovely weekend of laying on the beach and playing in the waves! A much needed rest. Came back with a nice red glow to my skin;) Liberia never ceases to surprise me.





a group of boys




What a fun week I've had! And who wouldn't with cutie patients like these? Playing and hugging with a little school work and nursing thrown in. They kept me busy trying to keep them busy! Imagine being confined to a ward all day. The highlight of the day is taking them outside onto the dock to get some fresh air and sun shine in the afternoons.
Most of these little guys had surgery to release their burn contractures. Living here, for most people, is like camping for us. No electricity, no running water, living in a basic structure, cooking over a small fire. Most commonly kids, while playing, trip and fall into these fires or pull hot oil off of a shelf onto their hands and arms. Over time the scars form. Depending on where the burn was, their fingers may look like they're melted together or arm is bent at the elbow. Making it very hard to function with everyday activities, especially trying to hold a pencil for school. So the surgeries performed consist of releasing the scar by cutting it and grafting new skin taken often from the thigh.
So these kids are relatively healthy, just here for wound care and dressing changes and good nutrition to help with the healing process. So with that said, very full of energy, just typical kids:) I loved going to work this week! But definately had to schedule a nap after my shift;)
How blessed am I.

Friday, September 19, 2008

All in a night's work

I had an exciting night shift the other night! One of my patients was a little boy who is here for burn contracture release. Anyway, anyone under age 15 needs to have a caregiver with them. His caregiver was his mother who happened to be 8months pregnant.
When I started my night shift, around 10pm, I had seen her walk to the bathroom and the thought quickly flashed in my mind "wouldn't it be cool if she had the baby on the ship" no sooner did it enter my brain it was gone and I didn't think of it again...
Well around 2am she came to me to tell me that she was having pain in her abdomen. I wanted to be clear about this so I grabbed a translator to make sure these pains where not what she felt when she gave birth before. No it was not, she said. Ok, gave her a warm pack and some Tylenol and tucked her back into bed. When I checked on her a little over an hour later she had just "wet the bed." Was it urine, I asked...Nope it wasn't. Oh, man, we're having a baby!
We called the doctor to come and also a midwife we just happen to have on board. Mandy, is a ward nurse but works as a midwife back at home. So we called her cabin around 4am to get her out of bed to come help deliver this baby!
We had no time to think of getting this woman moved anywhere because when Mandy checked her you could already see the baby's dark curly hair. So, I was able to assist Mandy in the delivery of this perfect, beautiful little girl.
It happened so fast that I was still in awe when I headed off to bed that morning. When I woke up that afternoon I just had to go and visit our new member to make sure I hadn't dreamt the whole thing.
I found the mother and baby well and happy and comfortable. Things couldn't have gone more smoothly. More evidence of God's provision (what are the chances of having a midwife on board?) and sovereignty.
Can you guess what the mother named her? Mercy. She said so that she will not forget us...I had to laugh because we will not be forgetting her any time soon either.









Monday, September 15, 2008

VVF Patients all dressed up

I have loved the past 6 weeks caring for the VVF patients! These ladies touched my heart and always made me smile.
We have a dress ceremony for the patients after they recover from their surgery. It's a time of worship, telling their testimony, and receiving a new dress to celebrate the beginning of their new dry life!
Here's some pictures of my dear ladies in their new dresses:)






Sadly, not everyone is healed after surgery. Here's a patient that broke my heart. Every time I would come into "A" Ward she would call me over and tell me to "pray for her real hard" because she was still leaking. She let me take this photo of her on the day she was discharged so that every time I looked at it I would be reminded to pray for her. Please pray for her as well.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

The guts of the Ship

Here's some random pictures of the lower decks of the ship where all our engines and water and power come from. It's not every day you get to see what's inside the belly of a big ship!

There are a few of these gigantic engines to make this vessel move. But only 2 are needed to run all of the electricity and whatnot while the ship is docked. A few million $$$ in fuel per year...


So hot and LOUD! I'm grateful for the crew who works here and helps provide a comfortable living for us all and keeps the hospital running.

Helping Haiti

Surely you have been following the news on the recent hurricanes, especially since they are affecting our homes. But they are also devastating other countries south of the States particularly Haiti. I had received an email (that I've posted below) from a friend who has been a missionary in Haiti for the past 30 years. The people of Haiti are in desperate need of help after bearing through these horrific storms. Please read it and contact them if you think there is a way YOU could help.

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Dear fellow ministries, ministers, servants and friends, September 8, 2008

Haiti was visited by Hurricane Hanna last week. I was there to witness first hand the intensity of the winds and rain. I can honestly say that I’ve never seen this much widespread destruction in the 30 years I have been involved there.
On Monday September 1, the skies were overcast and moving in from the Northwest, very unusual for Haiti. I brought up a weather site on the internet and saw this huge tropical storm mass covering the whole country. This mass I was looking at would become Hurricane Hanna.
The rain started late afternoon and continued unabated for 30 hours. Every river, creek and dry gulch became a torrential flood by midnight. By the time the rains took a break my property was holding 4 feet of water in the low, walled in corners. Many of the poorly built block walls of my neighboring friends were washed out. Kalico Hotel took the brunt of the deluge and sustained structural damage in the kitchen and dining area.
Wednesday morning the calls started coming in. There were critical disasters everywhere in our service area (see map http://emergency.glowmi.org/index.html). Flooding and high winds were damaging houses and taking lives.
This was not a secluded incident in a remote area of Haiti as so many of these disasters are. This was nationwide. While most of the media are reporting mainly on Gonieves, multitudes all over Haiti are eating misery for breakfast this morning.
The majority, unfortunately, are isolated in the rural mountain villages between Cabaret and St. Marc. These will be the most difficult to serve, there are no roads leading to their villages. The two track routes we usually use to visit these rural areas are surely washed out.
To top it off Hurricane Ike skirted Northern Haiti over the weekend and dumped even more floods upon the saturated land.
It is our duty as Christians to care about these unfortunate ones.
GLOW Ministries International in Haiti has already launched relief efforts. We are first responders when disaster strikes. We have people in all of these areas taking inventory and sharing resources with those who have the greatest needs. We have delivered almost $8,000.00 to this effort, all that we had in account for disaster relief.
This will be a unique relief effort due to the fact that all of the bridges from Port au Prince to the North are washed out. Another reason is that much of what will have to be delivered will have to be delivered on foot, horses or donkeys.
We don’t have a minute to spare getting geared up to respond. We need to ask for help now so we know how we can respond.
Here’s how you can help!
Pray! Pray! Pray! Prayer moves mountains!
$$$ - money makes everything else move. Designate your donation to disaster.
Logistics – how can we get a container of relief goods: food, water, baby formula, tarps, to St. Marc, Haiti yesterday?
Visit our website for more information and to donate: http://emergency.glowmi.org/index.html
Donate via check to: GLOW P.O. Box 123 Zeeland, MI 49464 or stop in at the office.
E-mail me at: http://us.mc562.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=phil@glowmi.org or call me at 616.437.4030

Thank you,

Phil Snyder
President, GLOW Ministries International