I Arrived!!!

Freetown, Sierra Leone: 4 March, 2011.



Hello everyone! Yes, I have arrived safely! I apologize for the delayed message. Because the ship got into port so late (on the 27th- the day before I arrived), the hospital preparations on deck 3 have been maddeningly intense! The morning after I arrived (or you could say the morning I arrived, since it was at 1am), I started working with our team of ward nurses double bleaching/deep cleaning every inch of the wards (floors, ceilings, cupboards, pipes-you name it). Needless to say, tonight, after a week of that cleaning, all I can smell is pool and my yellow nails are cracking as I type this message. However, the good news is we have 2 wards set up that actually look like wards! Yaaayyy!!!! We had to unload all of the beds, equipment, and supplies out of shipyard containers, store them, clean them, and then sort them to their appropriate locations. We have about 30 ward nurses here already, and we all have been busy all week bleaching, bleaching, and bleaching. The challenges of pulling out equipment and supplies from 6 month storage on a ship meant things like locating all of your suction canister pieces from 3 separate locations, finding and replacing broken items, and even finding an entire container flooded and full of 6-month old moldy supplies. Very unique challenges to say the least!




Once again, I am blessed by the variety of cultures on the ship- nurses and staff from Switzerland, Holland, Germany, England, U.S., Canada, Benin, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Japan, Scotland, Australia, and New Zealand to name a few. SO fantastic and fun getting to know so many people. I will admit I’ve felt a bit burned out from the craziness of this past year as I’m coming into this outreach, but I know that it puts me in a place of deep need before God, realizing that it needs to be His strength working through me, or I’m not going to make it. For those of you who don’t know as well, I’ve accepted a position here as a charge nurse, something I would never do at home, but felt God leading me to step into this outreach. To be honest, I’m scared to death and feel so inadequate for the position, but I know, once again, that God will be my strength and wisdom.



Different from the Togo Outreach of 2010, we will be doing one mass screening day to attempt to go through everyone in Sierra Leone and assess and schedule those in who will receive surgery during this outreach. We had multiple small screening days last year that I helped with once, but this outreach it will be an all-or-nothing event! All crew members are involved, and we are planning to see thousands of people that day! I’m not sure what to expect, but will for sure be bringing plenty of water and sunscreen. Screening day is March 7th (this coming Monday), so prayers for God’s provision and direction in bringing the right patients to us, would be fantastic.

Praise God, I had a safe flight and arrival to the ship with all of my luggage and belongings (minus a couple items I randomly left in the UK during my trip. I had a FABUOLOUS time during my interim trip to the UK seeing beautiful sights, cities, and people. A few of my favorite pics from the trip:


A shot of me in Manchester, England.


The 2010 Harriman Lodge UK staff reunion.


The Roman baths in Bath, England.


Edinburgh Castle, Scotland (my favorite city in all of the UK). :)

I was incredibly blessed to be able to spend the time in the UK I did visiting friends and experiencing wonderful hospitality of so many people. THANK YOU!!! It was a great way to get over jet-lag and have a bit of a break before arriving for my 4-6 month outreach in Sierra Leone. I’m hoping to get out and see a bit of Freetown tomorrow with a group of friends, and am SO excited to get out into the culture! Blessings to you all in your snow-filled days! (Not sure if you’d be wishing for the 90+ F temperatures and humidity here). Lots of love and HUGS.