The streets of Cotonou

Here are a load of photos I found (also on the ship's transfer drive) of motorcycles, cars & trucks on the streets of Cotonou, with their heavy loads. Look out for the guy carrying furniture and another guy carrying a fridge/freezer, both on the back of their motorbikes. Olly

Ouch

Here are some photos I found (on the ship's transfer drive) of a couple of patients receiving surgery for nasty looking tumours. Ouch. They'll be glad to have got rid of them! Olly

Construction project finished: Agriculture centre opens

The Africa Mercy's main construction project has just been completed: the agriculture training school, which will be run by Bethany, a local Christian NGO, was opened in a ceremony on Thursday (10th September). The centre includes sleeping accommodation for 25 students and a classroom, and is surrounded by sufficient land to allow each student to have his own plot to experiment and learn with. Photos of the construction site when I visited in early June, and during the opening ceremony last week. Olly

Dredger STILL here!

Sunday 13th September: This morning it took 30 men (engineers, deckies, linesmen and a pilot) and two tugs over three hours to shift the Africa Mercy 200 metres along the dock, so the dredger Argonaut I could dredge in our usual berth...we had scarcely re-opened the gangway in our new position when a message came back from the dredging company that their survey ship reckoned our berth was deep enough and didn't need dredging after all! (I could have told them that! I know precisely how deep the water is under our ship)...anyway, we're schduled to move back to our original berth in the next couple of hours. A very pleasant way to spend a Sunday, eh? Olly

Eye eye

The Africa Mercy's eye team has recently been fitting prosthetic eyes, which are (so I gather) more like giant contact lenses that cover the patient's dead eye (not completely artificial eyeballs), as the photos show. I understand the benefit is that the prosthetic cover and dead eye beneath can still move with the good eye. Olly

Liberian president in Benin

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia is here visiting President Yayi Boni of Benin. Yesterday one of her sons came to the Africa Mercy. Today I saw her high-spead convoy heading towards the airport, surrounding by Beninoise police and army, past Liberia and Benin flags hanging from the street lights. Its a pity she couldn't find the time to visit us on the ship. Photo of both presidents on Boni's visit to Liberia in 2007. Olly

Happy Birthday Anna

Anna is 8 today! We had a party for her on Saturday night (with games, a cake and a movie), and another cake today. Olly

Wanna buy a car?

I blogged a while ago that every month 30,000 used vehicles come into Benin from Europe and North America. They are sold from massive vehicle "parks" which are run by Lebanese, for use in Benin and neighbouring West African countries. Here are some photos you might find interesting. I saw every kind of modern car and van; big trucks, dump trucks, cement trucks, break-down trucks, garbage trucks, mobile cranes, diggers, excavators, road-rollers and skip trucks...everything, in fact, except snow ploughs. I even saw a handful of ex-British army trucks. Olly

North Koreans

Today we met some North Korean seamen, who were from the bulk carrier Jip Sam, importing cement into Benin. I've met plenty of South Koreans before, but never any North Koreans; in fact I was astonished that they were even allowed out of North Korea such is the image of the country as we see it on the news. They were nice guys and we had a chat; they said they were happy with their president Kim Jong-il who is the commander of the fourth largest army in the world (5,995,000 soldiers) and just a wee bit scary if you're from South Korea (with 5,210,000 soldiers). Olly

Another thing we do for free:

Provide eye glasses. Olly

Nice photo of Sal & me

Taken by Anthea Cowen. Olly

Dredger still with us

Day after day, night after night, the dredger Argonaut I continues to dredge the port here in Cotonou. Her routine must be mind-numbingly boring for her crew: suck up mud, dump it out at sea, repeat process 1000 times. Being the navigator of a dredger must surely be one of the most uninteresting jobs in the world. Photo of her and her survey boat taken from our window. Fascinating. Olly

D'oh!

Today a truck fell off the dock into the port. D'oh. Photos of before and during recovery. Olly

Little ferries

Thought you might appreciate this photo taken from the Africa Mercy's bridge, showing the little ferries moored by our bow. The one on the left and the one of the right carry hundreds of passengers and tons of cargo between Benin and Gabon, on the west coast of central Africa. I doubt either of them are seaworthy by our standards (certainly their sewage systems aren't, for this is where most of the raw sewage in the port comes from!) The ship in the middle is mostly abandoned with only a handful of unpaid Nigerian seamen keeping watch. All the passengers must climb from one ship to the other to get ashore, and only last week a passenger fell between the ships and died. Click on photo to enlarge. Olly

Musu - an Amazing Woman

Our good friend and old crew-mate Karen Ecklund wrote this about Musu: "Part of the way that our family survives here in Liberia is with the help of Musu. We can't imagine life without her - she has become like a Grandma to the children and a friend and helper to me. Without Musu I wouldn't be able to do all that I do in assisting the Liberian people and homeschooling Kaitlyn and Kaleb. I realize I haven't really had a chance to "introduce" you to this family member and hope that you'll allow me time to do so. Most of what I will share is what Musu has told me . . . but other aspects have been shared by her family members as Musu is much too humble.

Musu on the Ecklund's back porch

Musu has been a widow for over 10 years. Her husband died of dysentery shortly after the war in Liberia started. When he died, his family abandoned them and would no longer allow them to live in the family home. Once the fighting reached their area she knew she had to flee with her 7 children - the youngest was under 2 years old. They walked with their few belongings for 1 week until they reached Gbarnga. During that time she took in children who had lost their parents along the way and by the time she reached Gbarnga she had 20 children who were dependent on her. Although she never knew how she'd feed them their next meal . . . somehow they all survived. She has told me of how she would go into the forest to look for special greens that were edible and then she'd cook them for the children. Sometimes rebel troops would see the smoke and before she could feed her children they would take all of her food. On one occasion she watched and prayed as a soldier put a gun to her son's head and then amazingly the man stopped and turned away.
Eventually, she managed to get enough money together to transport her family to Ivory Coast where they waited for the war to end. When they returned to Liberia they had nothing - everything was gone. Musu would go into the forest and cut down wood, then sell it and would buy food with the money to feed her children. Many times she would go without eating so that the children would have enough. When she was reunited with her father's family she asked if they would help her with the many children that she now had living with her. They told her that those children weren't her responsibility and she should just abandon them. She refused and continued working hard in order to allow all of her "children" a chance to survive. Whenever Musu speaks of this time it is not with bitterness but thanksgiving to God for helping her survive difficult times!
Musu is a giver and gives of her resources until she has nothing left for herself. Even when I give her money for food she takes out some of the money and divides it among her neighbors so that they too can have some food to eat. Musu has worked for us for over a year now and is amazingly patient, gentle and kind with the children. They all adore her and we can't and don't want to imagine life without her. We do what we can to support her and her family - but don't have the resources to help with everything. Musu now has 15 grandchildren and 10 of those children are living with her. Their mothers are single and uneducated due to the war. Last year we assisted several children with their school fees but this year we don't know what to do. Of the 10 children living with her, 7 are school age and would like to attend school. I know that this will not happen unless we provide the funds for these children. As Kreig and I have deliberated over this situation we have felt strongly that we can't sit back and watch these precious children go uneducated for lack of funds. So . . . I'd like to ask you if you can pray and ask God if this is something that you would like to support. I have attached pictures of each of the children that are hoping to attend school. In faith, we have filled out all of their paperwork, had their medical exams done and they have all taken their entrance exams. School starts on September 1st but the school has given us until the end of the month to find funding. We are now praying that God will provide sponsors for these children - within the next three weeks. In no way do we want you to feel forced or guilted into this . . . but if this is something that God lays on your heart then please let us know. And if there are others that you know of that would like to sponsor a child in school please forward on this email.
Below are pictures of each child and a little bit about their lives:

Kumasa (11), Garnet (13) and Reuben (8) all share the same mother, but Reuben has a different father. Six years ago their mother, Musu's oldest daughter, died in childbirth. When this happened all three children came to live with Musu. After a year, Kumasa and Garnets' father decided he didn't want them living with Musu so he came and took them away. Sadly, he was only wanting to make money off of his children. Kumasa was used as payment for a $2.00 piece of fabric that her father had stolen. Musu discovered this a year later when she saw her walking with a stranger. When she questioned the lady she explained the situation and so Musu paid the debt of $2.00 and took Kumasa home to live with her once again. Sadly she has never had the opportunity of attending school and will enter Kindergarten this year. Garnet was "sold" to a shoe cobbler as "slave labor" and after being poorly treated he ran away and lived on the streets in Downtown Monrovia for over a year. Musu just found him a few months ago - he was homeless, dirty, hungry and uneducated. She took him home, cleaned him up and has been showering him with love. Sadly, he has never had the opportunity to attend school and will be entering Kindergarten this year. Reuben was only 2 years old when his mother died and he has lived with Musu ever since. He has had the opportunity of going to school and will now be going into first grade.

Chris (11) - He has lived with Musu since he was 6 months old. Her son and his girlfriend were unable to care for the baby while they were still trying to go to school. Fortunately, Chris has been able to attend school and will now be entering into the fourth grade.

Tennyson (12) is Musu's nephew. When Musu's brother died, 2 years ago, his mother brought him into town to live with Musu. She hoped that this would offer him the opportunity of getting an education. He completed Kindergarten last year and hopes to go into first grade this year.

Blessing (10) and Samuel (9) are brothers and have lived with Musu for one year. Their father is engaged to Musu's daughter, Kelly. Both boys have been out of school for the last two years due to lack of finances and sickness. Just this year we found out that both boys have Sickle Cell Anemia Disease. Both boys hope that they can attend school this next year - we are waiting on their test results to see what grades they will enter.
Although Musu has had 12 biological children, only 5 of them remain alive today! But as you have read . . . she has been a mother to many. And as any mother loves her children and wants the best for them . . . that is her prayer for these children.
We continue to be challenged by this verse in Deuteronomy: "There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land." Deut. 15:11"
Can you help support Musu and her family? Can you help send these kids to school? If so, please contact karen@ecklund.net or visit http://www.ecklund.net/ for more about their work in Liberia. Olly

Dental Team at Refugee Camp

Here are some photos of the Africa Mercy's dental team in action at a UN run refugee camp here in Benin. The refugees mostly left neighbouring Togo during periods of political and military instability, and haven't yet returned for one reason or another - maybe living conditions in the camp are better than those back home, or maybe their lives would be at risk if they returned to Togo. I have to say that looking at the photos, the living conditions are way better than those of the majority of people in Liberia - the camp has security, electricity, running water & latrines, a playground, food provided by UNHCR and medical care for the kids provided by UNICEF. Olly