Sally at work

Here are some great photos of Sally working with max-fax patients on how to use their lips, mouths and throats properly so they can talk, eat and swallow again after reconstructive facial surgery. Olly

Another swine flu joke

I phoned the swine flu hotline and all I got was crackling. And a joke that has nothing to do with swine flu: Hedgehogs - why can't they just share the hedge? Thanks to Anne Barker in Wales for these. Olly

Fishing port

Here's another great photo taken by Anthea from the bridge of the Africa Mercy of Cotonou's Port de Pêche. Click on photo to enlarge. Olly

Have you lost a sock?

Thought you might appreciate this rather comical photo taken by Anthea of odd-socks waiting to be reunited with their partners, in the Africa Mercy laundry. Olly

Keeping the SBC Mercy Team busy

Here are just a few of the things the Mercy Team have been doing since their arrival last Sunday. Photos by Anthea Cowen.

Below: visiting the Africa Mercy's construction project.

Below: Derek & Tony helping in the stock-take for the Africa Mercy's ship shop.

Below: Jenny & Deirdre stock-taking.

Below: Charis, Anthea and Kristen carpet cleaning.

Below: Charis, Anthea and Sally about to watch surgery.

Below: Anthea shopping at the craft market.

Below: Derek at the Peniel Clinic he helped to build with Mission Challenge in 2001.

Below: the whole SBC Mercy Team (and us) at Peniel Clinic.

Below: packed lunch on the beach at Ouidah.

Below: Deirdre at the Africa Mercy's agriculture site.

The end. Olly

Charles Taylor: "UK Orchestrated Liberia's Invasion"

Former Liberian President, Charles Taylor has accused Great Britain of orchestrating the invasion of Liberia in 2000 by Liberian Dissidents. Yeah, right. For full article, click here. Olly

SBC Mercy Team are here

A Mercy Team from Stopsley Baptist Church (our home church in the UK) are here with us right now. Much like the Mission Challenge that I joined in 2002 which started our time in missions, these guys are living off-ship but travel to the Africa Mercy daily to work with the crew, and they also spend some time ashore visiting orphanages, construction projects etc. Last night we had the team plus staff for dessert - from left to right clockwise Tony, Sally, Charis, Libby, Derek, Joy, Nari, Kristen, Dierdre, and Jenny. (Anthea missing from photo). Visitors from our home church are a real blessing to us; they bring us encouragement and news of church life, and we really enjoy their company. We still have four more working days and an action planned weekend ahead of us.

More photos later. Olly

Recognise this?

Sorry it's a bit grainy. It's a trimmed jpeg image taken on a digital camera of a pdf image on a computer screen of a scanned newspaper article...If anyone has a better quality photo (or others) I'd love to see them. Click on photo to enlarge. Olly

Sister ships

OK. So you know the Anastasis was built as the Victoria in the early 1950s as one of several ships that were to replace the Italian merchant navy, most of which had been lost in World War Two? Here are some pictures of the Anastasis/Victoria and her sisters...

Below, the Anastasis:

The Oceana:

The Neptuna:

The Europa:

The Australia:

The Africa:

The Asia:

...which was later converted into the livestock carrier M/V Persia:

When these ships were constructed, the Italians included reinforcement for anti-aircraft guns on each bridge wing and on one of the cargo hatches. You could see the reinforcements until the day each ship was scrapped. Olly

Dredger arrives

The dredger Argonaut I arrived here in Cotonou today to begin dredging the port. Hurray. I guess that's why we had appalling visibility during today's dive. Olly

Another old Anastasis photo

I just found this old photo of the Anastasis sailing whilst browsing t'interweb. Brings back many happy memories. Olly

Great photo #1

Taken by DJ, one of our Dutch crew. Olly

Click on photo to enlarge.

Great photo #2

Click on photo to enlarge.

Great photo #3

Click on photo to enlarge.

Africa Mercy conversion photos

I found these photos on the ship's computer, showing Deck 3 when it was still a railway station, and of Deck 4 being installed. Fascinating, don't you think? Olly

Fire Drill

As you can see, the victims in our most recent Fire Drill had quite realistic injuries. Click on photo to enlarge (and see the liberal use of tomato ketchup) Olly

Welcome Baby Becker

Daniel Layne Becker has been born to our good friends and Anastasis and Africa Mercy crewmates Josh (Bosun's Mate) & Sarah (Nurse), in Pennsylvania. Congratulations, Josh and Sarah.

Rumour has it that Daniel was born already chewing on a toothpick, and he already has a pair of steel toed boots and a hard hat. Olly

Fride in Africa

Fride (pronounced Frieda) is Anna's 7 year old friend from Norway. A Norwegian TV company is recording a kids TV series called "Fride in Africa", about her life on the Africa Mercy and ashore. Today we went with Fride's family to Babs Dock, so the TV crew could record Anna and Fride playing together. Enjoy the photos. Olly

Benoni Urey: "Liberia needs modern gymnasium"

MONROVIA -- The chairman of the Lone Star Cell Communication, Benoni Urey, says Liberia needs a modern gymnasium and that the current President of Liberia, Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, should not leave office until one is built in the country. Urey made this pledge: "My company, Lone Star Communications Corporation, and myself personally will help in any way we can to ensure that a new gymnasium is built in Liberia." For full article click here.

Your comments please, dear reader. Olly

Congratulations Mr & Mrs Gray

Congratulations to Oscar & Corinna, who tied the knot on Saturday in Germany. Oscar, a Liberian, was my translator, fixer and bodyguard when we first arrived in Monrovia on the Anastasis in early 2005. He became a crew member in 2006. Corinna, from Germany, joined the Anastasis in 2004 and travelled off-ship everyday in Benin and Liberia as part of the ship's Church Empowerment team. They are a great couple, and I wish them every happiness together. See you both soon, Oscar & Corinna. Olly

School begins again

After 9 weeks of summer vacation, the ship's Academy opened again for business today. All three of our kids bounded out of bed early in anticipation and even said things over breakfast like "I can't wait for school to start". All three have different teachers from last year: Libby has Miss Estelle, Anna has Miss Amy and Noah has Miss Hayley (who only flew in last night). We are all excited about the academic year ahead (which is so different from the way I used to feel about school when I was a kid). Olly

Our Dining Room Staff

These wonderful guys and gals are one half of our Dining Room Staff. They work two days on, two days off, with another team, and they've got one of the less-than-glamorous jobs on the ship which also involves very early starts and very long days. God bless 'em all! My parents and my niece Alex have all worked in this team for two weeks. Olly

How to get into the water without using the ladder

Diving again

Today's dive was my dirtiest ever. The gap between the ship and the dock was full of floating garbage and oil - and we had to swim right through it. The photo shows what I looked like when I had just surfaced. Even now, 4 hours later, I can still taste the diesel. Olly

Here's another nice photo of Libby taken last weekend by our new photo-journalist. Olly

How wide is Togo?

I heard a story this morning that a crew member travelling from Ghana to Benin learnt that Togo (the country between Ghana and Benin) was 50m wide. She misunderstood 50m to mean 50 meters instead of 50 miles, and consequently was 3 hours late arriving at the Togo/Benin border because she had to hire a taxi and travel the distance, instead of taking a leisurely walk through what she thought was the narrowest country in the world (which is actually The Gambia, at 48km wide). Olly

Happy Independence Day Benin

Benin celebrated 49 years of independence on Saturday, 1st August. Happy birthday Benin! Olly

Another trip to the Sisters of Charity

The kids visited the Sisters of Charity orphanage again recently. Here are some lovely photos...

Above, our niece Alex holding baby Xavier.

Above, Libby voluntarily holding hands with a couple of girls. She needed no encouragement, and they walked around for ages hand in hand. Very sweet.

Above, Anna feeding a baby.

Sally, Alex, Anna & Libby (and even Noah) have all got their favorite babies at the Sisters of Charity orphange. Every time they come back they ask if we can adopt one. I don't think so. Olly

The end of Summer Program

With only one week left of the summer holidays, the kids Summer Program has come to an end. Thank you so much, Mr Sam & Margo (& Matt & Micah), Michelle, Miss Sam, Holly & Bethany. The kids all had a wonderful time; you entertained them well, and didn't damage or lose a single one of them! We will miss you all when you've gone! See you next year?

Above, Libby playing silly games with water on Deck 8. (If only we'd trained her in the ways of a real Liberian girl, by now she'd be carrying water on her head without spilling a drop of it!). Olly