Bye bye Benin!

Hi, guys!

This is a quick update for you on what’s going on and what’s coming next!

The hospital on the ship has been closed since last week after completing 1.957 surgeries this Field service in Benin. Yay!
For our statistic lovers … our dental team treated 6.942 Patients, the palliative care team tended to 26 patients, 20 children received Ponseti Treatment for Clubfeet and our Hospital Chaplaincy had 1.589 sessions. Our medical capacity building team trained 1.874 local healthcare professionals in different courses and we had 88 participants, most of them visiting the OR on the ship, in the MCB Mentoring program.
There was so much more going on, but I don’t want to get into details at this point – if you do want to know more about some of the other departments (for Example the prison visits of Mercy Ministries, showing of the Jesus Film, Bible handout etc. or what the Agriculture site has been up to), just pop me a message and I will get back to you!

It was a fantastic time here, very exhausting and challenging, but also very fruitful. I will miss a lot of precious people whom I became friends with here in Benin, most of them being a part of our Day Crew, working with us side by side every single day.
But I also found a church in this time with amazing, kind and loving people, that I got to call my home. Pastor Roguy is a gifted teacher of God’s word and a great and faithful servant with a big heart for people. We jokingly called his church (whose real name is “Back to the Word Ministries”) the “Mercy Ships church” because crew always felt welcome there and a lot of us became regulars.
Be sure to check out Roguys church if you are ever in Cotonou!

*A day at the beach with picnic (yes, we also had a lot of fun outside of the official church building) with pastor Roguy (2nd from left) and some Mercy Ships “repeat-offenders” 🙂*

As we are packing up the ship (everything has to be secured and tied down for the sail), it is a time of reflection and also ongoing and seemingly never-ending good-byes.
Those of you that are on Facebook have read my sentimental posts concerning all the people leaving that have become a part of my daily life. It’s especially hard when families leave and when people leave that are strong pillars of the community and have invested so much love, time and effort into our community and individuals. At the end of this field service all of this is true. Shiplife without the Cash family will be very different, and as I am typing, I am thinking of others that are leaving where I feel similar. So this is painful, although I am excited for all of them to be entering a new phase in their journey.
And then there is a whole lot of people that are leaving or have already left for their summer break to get some rest, whom I will see in two months (golly, that sounds like such a long time!). So of course I will also miss them during this time (you know who you are!) but am very happy for them to have some well – deserved rest and spend time with their families and friends.

*A normal morning in OR 2, ready to start*

*One of the ORs packed up, secured and (almost) ready for sail – securing the monitor on the right is on today’s to-do-list*

So for the rest of us staying aboard, the motto is “let’s wrap this baby up and set sail for the Canary Islands!” Trust me, there are worse destinations for a dry dock – ship maintenance period – I am already envisioning palm trees, sandy beaches and ocean breeze 🙂 .
Our trip will take us approximately two weeks and we will set sail this weekend. Unfortunately the departure details are top secret and highly confidential due to security reasons, so I can’t give you any more information than this 🙂 .

But I can tell you that we will stay in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, to get the ship maintained until the beginning of August, when we will again set sail and head to Douala, Cameroon.

Packed up and ready to sail! This is OR2 – the same OR as pictured above – the cages are secured to bars mounted on the floor, the anesthesia machine is wrapped up and secured to the wall with hooks and ratchet-straps and all cupboards and drawers are secured

Important notice – during the sail we will only have the Satellite Internet running, which will be used primarily for business purposes. This satellite stream has the capacity of approximately one tenth of our current internet speed rate, so basically you could say “sail speed = snail speed”. And the more users are online, the slower the internet speed gets. To keep the traffic down, our IS department will completely shut down a lot of internet communication channels, such as Facebook, Skype etc., especially during business hours. Also any viewing and/or download of photos or videos will not be possible. Which basically means “no internet”.

So if you don’t hear from me these next two weeks, don’t be surprised – just taking a little “sail-break”. If you need to get in touch with me, you can write me an Email (without attachments) or phone the ship if it’s an absolute emergency (+1 954.538.6110 is the ship Reception’s number, they will be able to re-direct your call).

*The Africa Mercy vehicles sit waiting for action while sailing to Benin*

As for the sail itself, I have no idea what to expect. I’ll either be somewhere in the cabin near the bathroom eating my food backwards, because this ferry rocks like a milk carton on high seas or I’ll be out on the bow looking for whales, turtles and dolphins playing around our ship and enjoying the breeze in my hair during free time. Personally, I vote for the bow option 🙂
Also to mention, I will be working during the sail time and during the whole shipyard (for those who had hoped this would be a holiday for me). But I will take a break and fly to Germany / Switzerland on July 14 (Hannover) and return to the ship on July 28 (from Basel) to catch up with some friends and family.

Since the hospital will not be operating, my job will look very different during the sail and in shipyard. There is a lot of administrative work to be done for our Anesthesia department (such as updating SOP’s, reviewing pre-arrival information paperwork for our volunteers, creating and updating departmental checklists etc. etc.) and I will be helping out wherever needed, in – and outside of the hospital.

Another big part of my responsibility during shipyard will be the assistance of implementing the OMNICELL system in the OR, which is a central pharmacy and supply automation system and will provide us in the OR with computerized anesthetic carts. The wards will also receive OMNICELL modules. As in any hospital environment, a major change like this presents with a whole lot of challenges and obstacles in the implementation phase, but I will give everything to make it work and help the implementation process to run smoothly. Especially because my Boss isn’t around and I’m keeping up the fort and want him to be proud when he comes back :). So if you don’t hear from me, I might also be buried in this project (not literally I hope, since the Omnicells are rather heavy).

Ok, so far for my quick update! I love to hear from you!
Hasta luego and many greetings from Ruben and me!