The major event of this week was the screening days; we spent 2 days at a local stadium about 20 minutes from the ship and screened everybody to see if we were able to help them.
They queued up all down the road outside the stadium, some of the guys on security had to get there at 3:30 in the morning to start ‘crowd control’ trying to work out a queue system that people might try and follow, people had travelled from miles and stayed overnight to be there.
It is a long process, and on the first day we screened just fewer than 2000 patients. Basically each patient has to go through certain stages... First there is a pre-screening outside the stadium, where they try and immediately spot people who we can’t help, for example we can’t help any patients with cancer as we have no way of doing any follow up, and there are certain types of surgery we don’t have the ability to do. We also have separate screenings for eye patients, so the eye patients were sent off with information about those. Those who got through the pre-screening then went inside the stadium, where they were registered, then waited in line to have their history taken, they would then be send to the appropriate queue to see a surgeon, whether it be orthopaedics, max-fax, plastics, general surgery or VVF etc. Once they had seen the surgeon, if it was decided that surgery was to go ahead, they would have a physical done, and then they would wait to have an appointment made either for surgery or for x-rays and other scans on the ship...they would then be sent to either have bloods taken or to the pharmacy area to get vitamins etc to make sure they were fit for surgery.... finally a picture was taken of them as a ‘before’ photo and they then got there appointment card!
It was an immense process and once inside the stadium the patients were queuing for hours... everyone there was helping out in different areas, such as giving out water to make sure no one was dehydrated or escorting the patients to make sure they went in the right queue next. We also set up a play area in the middle for kids where we entertained them for the day!
There were obviously people that we couldn’t help, which was tough...but we also had prayer stations where if the patients wanted prayer before they went people prayed with them.
I absolutely loved both days and it really inspired me a lot, it was sometimes tough escorting people off the premises because we couldn’t help them... but I saw some amazing people. I’ve been thinking a lot recently how it was quite scary that I pretty much have the next 7 years of my life accounted for in terms of being in medical school, but in the last few days I have had a new found inspiration and maybe one day I’ll get to come back and work with these people from the hospital side of things!
I’m sorry there are no photos at the moment, we weren’t allowed to take photos at the screening but the communications team did so I’ll try and find some of theirs and put them up when I can.
Much Love
Jen
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
We've Arrived!!!!
I’m in Africa!!!!
We finally arrived in Benin on Tuesday! After 9 days of sailing we were in sight of the port when something went wrong with the engines, because of the nature of the dock the captain didn’t want to sail in without the ship in full working order so the engineers worked all night to fix the engines so we could sail in safely.
Mercy ships has been to Benin 3 times before, and each time there have been difficulties with the docking, last time in 2004 the ship crashed into the dock, before that we hit another ship and took out all the life boats on the starboard side... so it was pretty important that everything was working before we tried to dock! However we were a day late and we missed our own arrival ceremony! There are some pictures below of the dock when we did arrive though!
The Ship from along the beach
Us waiting to dock...
The Gangway coming down
The people waiting for us to arrive on the Dock
I haven’t been to West Africa before, but a lot of people here that have say that they can’t believe how clean it is here. When we walk along the street we get called ‘Yovo, yovo’ which basically means ‘white person’ 
These shanty towns are literally on the beach next to the port...
We finally arrived in Benin on Tuesday! After 9 days of sailing we were in sight of the port when something went wrong with the engines, because of the nature of the dock the captain didn’t want to sail in without the ship in full working order so the engineers worked all night to fix the engines so we could sail in safely.
Mercy ships has been to Benin 3 times before, and each time there have been difficulties with the docking, last time in 2004 the ship crashed into the dock, before that we hit another ship and took out all the life boats on the starboard side... so it was pretty important that everything was working before we tried to dock! However we were a day late and we missed our own arrival ceremony! There are some pictures below of the dock when we did arrive though!
The Ship from along the beach
Us waiting to dock...
The Gangway coming down
The people waiting for us to arrive on the Dock
Benin is a crazy place! Hundreds of motor bikes everywhere, they call them dzemi-djans and apparently there are traffic laws but no one takes any notice, and I’ve already seen 2 crashes on the road! Crossing the road is also pretty interesting!
There are some pictures below of Cotonou which is the city that we are docked in. Yesterday I went to do a little exploring with some friends and we reached the main market. It’s absolutely massive and totally crazy, absolutely everything and anything is sold...and there are so many people it’s unreal.
I haven’t been to West Africa before, but a lot of people here that have say that they can’t believe how clean it is here. When we walk along the street we get called ‘Yovo, yovo’ which basically means ‘white person’
These shanty towns are literally on the beach next to the port...
We are right next to a fishing dock, and they sail out at all times throughout the day and night...
From the market
As for work on the ship we’ve been busier lately, we had a media and civic reception on Friday, there were about 150 people here and we set up food and drinks for them, it was actually quite exciting, we were all dressed in our uniform looking smart! I also had my first evening of being on duty for arrivals, we had 20 people coming in, and they didn’t arrive on board until about 11pm, it was a bit hectic, and we weren’t finished until about half midnight! So Friday was a busy day!
I’m absolutely loving being here, exploring a new country is amazing, I’ve never been to Africa either so the first time off the ship was pretty exciting, I’m hoping to do some more travelling to the neighbouring countries, probably Togo, Nigeria and Ghana... which will be really exciting!
The screening for the patients is on Thursday and Friday, where we will all be going to the local sports stadium and a few thousand people will come to see if they can have surgery, this is going to be an amazing day, I’m told the things we will see will be shocking and it can be emotionally draining to say the least.
On Friday night they had an open house in the hospital to allow the crew to see everything down there. It was so much fun and there was such a buzz, the surgeries start the day after the screenings finish so I think everyone is getting pretty excited to finally start the ministry that we came here to do.
Below is an extract from a humanitarian news website...
COTONOU, 12 February 2009 (IRIN) - The 150m-long mobile hospital called “Africa Mercy” has docked in Benin’s economic capital Cotonou and is expected to provide free surgeries and other medical care until December.......
As of 2004 there was approximately one doctor to cover every 27,000 residents and 12 dentists for the country of more than eight million, according to the government. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends at least one doctor per 10,000 residents to ensure basic care. Mercy Ships is expected to set up a dental clinic in Akpakpa, on the outskirts of Cotonou, equipped to provide up to 20,000 procedures. Health screenings will be held in Cotonou on 19 February, required for patients seeking care from Mercy Ships....
to read more click here: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82905
The article gives a good outline of what we are trying to achieve while we are here.
So that was a pretty long blog! And just for anyone who is interested I’m going to be updating it at least once a week to try and keep to up to date...
Hope England or wherever you are is smashing..... Oh yes and the other piece of exciting information this week... Kathryn got engaged!! So this was genuinely one of the most exciting weeks of my life!!
Massive Love
Jen 
I’m absolutely loving being here, exploring a new country is amazing, I’ve never been to Africa either so the first time off the ship was pretty exciting, I’m hoping to do some more travelling to the neighbouring countries, probably Togo, Nigeria and Ghana... which will be really exciting!
The screening for the patients is on Thursday and Friday, where we will all be going to the local sports stadium and a few thousand people will come to see if they can have surgery, this is going to be an amazing day, I’m told the things we will see will be shocking and it can be emotionally draining to say the least.
On Friday night they had an open house in the hospital to allow the crew to see everything down there. It was so much fun and there was such a buzz, the surgeries start the day after the screenings finish so I think everyone is getting pretty excited to finally start the ministry that we came here to do.
Below is an extract from a humanitarian news website...
COTONOU, 12 February 2009 (IRIN) - The 150m-long mobile hospital called “Africa Mercy” has docked in Benin’s economic capital Cotonou and is expected to provide free surgeries and other medical care until December.......
As of 2004 there was approximately one doctor to cover every 27,000 residents and 12 dentists for the country of more than eight million, according to the government. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends at least one doctor per 10,000 residents to ensure basic care. Mercy Ships is expected to set up a dental clinic in Akpakpa, on the outskirts of Cotonou, equipped to provide up to 20,000 procedures. Health screenings will be held in Cotonou on 19 February, required for patients seeking care from Mercy Ships....
to read more click here: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82905
The article gives a good outline of what we are trying to achieve while we are here.
So that was a pretty long blog! And just for anyone who is interested I’m going to be updating it at least once a week to try and keep to up to date...
Hope England or wherever you are is smashing..... Oh yes and the other piece of exciting information this week... Kathryn got engaged!! So this was genuinely one of the most exciting weeks of my life!!
Massive Love
Jen
Here is a picture of my room-mates and I Barbara on the left is from Germany and is the pharmacist, next is Sarah, from California and she is the hair dresser. Then Lauren who works in HR is also from California...San Francisco, and finally me! This is us on the last day of the sail watching the beautiful sunset below...
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Sailing...
Leaving Tenerife...
The Bridge
Today is the last day of the Sail... Last night I slept outside, under the stars, on the jungle gym! It was so hot and humid!! It was a wierd feeling to sleep out side and not wake up freezing cold like I'm on D of E or something! I'm not gonna lie...we didn't actually sleep that much, but it was still pretty cool!!
I can't wait to get to Benin! It's going to be crazily busy but I'm so excited for all the new experiences, if not a little apprehensive,
Dolphins from the bow of the ship
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Leaving Tenerife...
Here are some photo's of us leaving the port....
We’re spending each morning this week having briefings about Benin and what type of things will be going on when we get there...as well as learning about other cultures and living in the community without going insane!
We’ve been seeing pictures of the city and country; there is currently a team of people from Mercy Ships who has been there already for about 10 weeks getting everything ready. The screenings for the patients take place pretty soon after we arrive which should be exciting but there is a lot to get ready for, as well as the hospital on the ship they’re using a massive warehouse to see all the eye patients and do all the physical therapy.
I can’t wait to get there, I’m a little apprehensive but more excited! Because Benin is not a very wide country there may be opportunities to go to neighbouring Nigera and Togo and possibly Ghana as well which would be sweet!
Not too much to report really...however I have seen some of the most amazing sun rises, sun sets and stars on the sail, which were pretty inspiring! We have also seen loads of Dolphins around the ship which was pretty cool!
This guy played the trumpet as we left the port!
Rainbow - The day before we left Tenerife
The harbour we left behind...
So we reached the midpoint of our sail today, and the air is noticeably more humid! The air conditioning is also on and the ship is pretty cold inside...but we’ve been able to have more time this week to sunbathe as there has not been too much work to do... we spend a lot of time baking at the mo...I’ve never made so many cakes in my life! Once we get to Benin we will be having a lot of formal functions, the President of Benin is coming on board for one of them as well a some other dignitaries I think, which is why we are baking so much!
We’re spending each morning this week having briefings about Benin and what type of things will be going on when we get there...as well as learning about other cultures and living in the community without going insane!
We’ve been seeing pictures of the city and country; there is currently a team of people from Mercy Ships who has been there already for about 10 weeks getting everything ready. The screenings for the patients take place pretty soon after we arrive which should be exciting but there is a lot to get ready for, as well as the hospital on the ship they’re using a massive warehouse to see all the eye patients and do all the physical therapy.
I can’t wait to get there, I’m a little apprehensive but more excited! Because Benin is not a very wide country there may be opportunities to go to neighbouring Nigera and Togo and possibly Ghana as well which would be sweet!
Not too much to report really...however I have seen some of the most amazing sun rises, sun sets and stars on the sail, which were pretty inspiring! We have also seen loads of Dolphins around the ship which was pretty cool!
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