Garden Valley,
Texas
"Gumby survival suit" |
Impfondo, Congo
Discovering my lack of strength |
Battling the rusticles |
Pointe Noire, Congo
On March 22nd, we bid farewell to the smiling faces of new friends and the bright new playground and flew to Pointe Noire where we joined the Africa Mercy. Home sweet home.
Very handy stackable moving crates - thanks to Dr. Mark |
Mid-May, we began to
disassemble the clinic, and pack it all away in a container to be taken to our next country of service, Benin, where we will reassemble it once again.
disassemble the clinic, and pack it all away in a container to be taken to our next country of service, Benin, where we will reassemble it once again.
We sailed out of the Congo and began our two week
luxury cruise to the Canary islands. The memorable voyage included
crossing the equator at the prime meridian, pods of dolphins frolicking in the
waves off the bow, as well as the start of my new career – more on that
in a moment.
Las Palmas, Gran Canaria
We arrived on the Island of Gran Canaria at ‘Port du
la Luz’ in Las Palmas, on the northeast corner of the Island. Seeing as
our dental clinic is packed away in a 40 foot container, I'm not much use as a
dental assistant right now, so I decided to take up engineering!
Drastically different from the pristine halls of the hospital, this engineering
experience has opened my eyes to so many technical things that have to happen
behind the scenes during the dry-dock period, in order for the hospital to
function throughout the field service.
The ship now sits in dry-dock, grossly dissected and running on
limited power. The rudders,
propellers and bow-thrusters have been removed for maintenance, and a team of technical crew are bringing in new equipment and replacing the second half of the hospital floors (The first half of this project was completed last summer.) As the plumbing is being improved, we have the adventure of intermittent fresh water outages – which means no water for drinking, plumbing or laundry. Our air conditioning will also be turned off until the ship is back in the water.
propellers and bow-thrusters have been removed for maintenance, and a team of technical crew are bringing in new equipment and replacing the second half of the hospital floors (The first half of this project was completed last summer.) As the plumbing is being improved, we have the adventure of intermittent fresh water outages – which means no water for drinking, plumbing or laundry. Our air conditioning will also be turned off until the ship is back in the water.
At these times, we pretend that we are staying at the Africa Mercy
campground. Walking down the gangway and across the parking lot to use
the washroom is not the most convenient thing, but the bed I sleep in sure
beats any mattress that camping every offered!
I will continue to explore the fascinating world of marine engineering for 3 more weeks. During this time, I invite you along on my adventures - to see the ship in a whole new light. To you marine buffs - these entries may bore you to tears, but to all you regular folk, you may be just as fascinated as I was to watch the dismantling of the Africa Mercy.
Stay tuned...
I will continue to explore the fascinating world of marine engineering for 3 more weeks. During this time, I invite you along on my adventures - to see the ship in a whole new light. To you marine buffs - these entries may bore you to tears, but to all you regular folk, you may be just as fascinated as I was to watch the dismantling of the Africa Mercy.
Stay tuned...