Welcome to Senegal

There is a lot that goes on during the ship's first month in a new country before we even welcome our first patients. Here is a snapshot of what's got us buzzing around like an beehive and asking ourselves, "Where have the last 30 days GONE??"

First of all, have you ever tried herding 416 cats and getting them all to look at a camera at the same time? Our Communications team has! Every couple of years they organize an all-crew photo. How'd they do?

We have hosted the First Lady of Senegal during the arrival ceremony, and two subsequent receptions to say thank you to all of our partners in-country who want to help Mercy Ships. Our guests included the company that will be delivering our fuel (payed for by the Senegalese government), the company processing our supply containers for free, the farm that will put our organic waste to good use (yay for compost!), the companies providing our SIM cards and supplemental internet service, the company that provides and services port-a-potties for the dockside waiting areas, hospitals that will partner with us for Capacity Building projects, the company that oversaw renovations of our HOPE Center and Dental sites, missions organizations who are praying for us, and many, many more. When I start to list them, I am always blown away at the amount of logistical support we receive in-country from so many places. We are feeling the love!

Our amazing setup team has erected 4 tents on the dock, plus multiple canopies that serve as waiting areas, a hand-washing tent, a sheltered prayer area for our Muslim patients and Day Crew, and workshop shelters. Our IT team worked like crazy to get a land-based internet connection added to our satellite connection, all while preparing SIM cards to distribute as soon as possible after arrival in country as quickly as humanly possible!

Two empty shipping containers ready to be picked up
and carried from our dock space by a "T Rex"

We have welcomed 260 new Senegalese Day Crew who now work side-by-side with the crew on board. There Day Crew all needed orientation in their respective departments, and there was a separate mass orientation for the many, many nurses (both new and alumni) that have flown in from all over the world as the hospital opens.

Supplies needed to be transported from container on the dock to the Dental Clinic and HOPE Center, and set up in time to welcome the first patients!

Vehicles lined up at the HOPE Center when a good chunk of the crew visited to pray over it--the drivers each took two trips!

... but we all got there eventually :). Here the crew is worshiping at the HOPE Center. After worship, we broke out for a prayer walk around the facility.

Some of the crew went back to the HOPE Center the next weekend to help put together beds.

Members of ship management were able to take a field trip to the Dental Clinic to pray over it and get a tour from our lead dentist (who is also from Minnesota!)

Phew! It's been a whirlwind. Good thing the start of the field service is also saturated in lots and lots of prayer. Last week wrapped up what is known as the "21-day setup plan", and with the receptions behind us, there is one more exciting beginning...

On Tuesday morning this past week, everyone paused where they were, leaned back, and rested their hands as Dr. Gary, a maxillo-facial surgeon who has volunteered with Mercy Ships for over 30 years, came on over the PA system and led the crew in prayer. This is our annual tradition to mark the start of the first surgeries.

May the healing work of the surgical teams be holistic and complete, in the powerful name of our resurrected King!

Last month, I posted a request for prayer that we would find a replacement for our Safe Surgery Course Coordinator after our first one had to cancel last minute--we found someone. Thank you to everyone that prayed!

One week of surgeries down. I'll keep you posted. Sending big hugs! :)

P.S. Below is a second-a-day from June through August--from departure in Guinea, time-off back in the States, and up through our arrival in Senegal. Some photos from weekend adventures in Dakar are also below.

P.P.S. If you are not currently on my email list but want to be (I send a message whenever I update my blog), just post a comment here or send me an email. :) Thanks for reading!

We fond our way to the beach below the lighthouse (on top of that hill)
It was the first time I had cooled off in the ocean since arrival, and it felt A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

"Bissap" (hibiscus juice) mixed with baobab juice. Both are more or less ubiquitous in West Africa. Yum!

The view from the Mamelles lighthouse, the highest point in Dakar. Our tour guide who took us to the top was fantastic!

Dakar here we come! (and my first VLOG)

Hello from the Atlantic Ocean! We are on course to arrive in Dakar on Wednesday, but I thought I'd try something new for an update--my first vlog! (Does it count as a vlog if it's just me talking to my phone?) I'll have to experiment to make these more exciting. A few more photos are below. Be blessed this week!

Home sweet office ^_^

The AFM in drydock

It's weird to see her soooo high up!

Watching the ship come out of drydock.

From Las Palmas to Tenerife (yay, no more shipyard!)

Deck 7 with the hospital team leads.

On a hike while exploring Tenerife, we walked through a huge banana plantation.

Dirty, sweaty, happy!

Catching one last sunrise in Spain.

Just a piece of the puzzle

The Tactical Management Team on board is reading When Helping Hurts together. Since I sit in on their meeting to take the minutes, I get to read along with them, and be there for the discussions at the end of each chapter.

This is a book that I can't recommend highly enough. It is my third time reading it, and it is still transforming my definition of poverty.

The video on this page gives a concise summary of the main thesis in the book. Poverty is not just a lack of materials--it goes far beyond that. Poverty is the result of broken relationships with God, with ourselves, with others, and with the world around us. Their point being, by this definition, we are all living in poverty in one way or another.

Not that material poverty does not deserve our special attention, but it's important to understand that when it comes to needing help, we are all standing on the same side of the counter, and it's Jesus who stands on the other side, offering the one thing we all really need.

Screening in the city of Kankan. Yes, life in West Africa is always this colorful! Photo: Shawn Thompson

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. --Colossians 1:19-20

Here's what's been on my mind as we work our way through the book. We often hear people who have just completed a service experience, and who are riding a fantastic spiritual high, saying, "I thought I was going to (insert country here) to serve, but I feel like I received so much more!"

This is not an inherently bad thing to say, and what I'm about to share is by no means the case for everyone, but I hesitate to say this because, after hearing it said in so many contexts, in my own mouth it tastes kind of like a generic platitude.

Words, words, words.

If I do say this, I want to make sure the underlying message is not, "I feel great because I served." Because by default that's what "serving" does: it confirms my belief that I am a good person, and believing that you're a good person feels, well, great!

What does "serving" look like for me? This week I laughed with another crew member over a shared struggle--we have so many photos of  what goes on when we're NOT working that go with tantalizingly fun stories, and conversely so few photos that illustrate what we actually do for a job! Is it surprising to hear that the photo above is a pretty accurate representation of my day-to-day work on board?

How do I prefer to describe this experience? Take Kate out of the subject line.

As the nation of Guinea works towards a future where healthcare is safe, timely, and affordable for everyone, Mercy Ships is just a piece (although a pretty complicated piece) of the puzzle. If my role as Executive Assistant is just one of the many, many, jobs it takes to make this piece work a little bit more smoothly, praise God!

As an organization, in addition to performing surgery, we have the ability to provide training and mentoring programs to support Guinean healthcare professionals who choose to stay in Guinea and are eagerly striving towards a better health system for their people--often despite the major difficulties of accessing training and resources compared to their peers from "western" nations.

Dr. Rafiou Diallo, one of the the participants in Mercy Ships' surgical mentoring program, is one example of this. From 2013-2018 (between visits from Mercy Ships) he made a dramatic dent in the number of Guineans living with cleft lip.

Dr. Rafiou Diallo, performing surgery on the Africa Mercy next to Dr. Gary Parker on March 27, 2019. (Photo:  Caleb Brumley)

The days when I feel closest to God are the ones where I realize how how small I am compared to how big He is.

I recently hung on the wall next to my bed a printout of a poem that gives me a deep sense of peace. It's called "Prophets of a Future Not Our Own", or simply "Archboshop Romero's Prayer".

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view. 

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent

enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of

saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.

No prayer fully expresses our faith.

No confession brings perfection.

No pastoral visit brings wholeness.

No program accomplishes the Church's mission.

No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.

We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an

opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master

builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own. 

Be at peace this week, dear friends. :)

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." --Ephesians 3:20

Keep reading for some February/March highlights!

I got a deluxe tour of the engine room on my birthday!

...and someone (I have my suspicions) decorated my office :)

Captain Milan spoiled us one evening by opening up the bow, which usually only happens when we sail!

Goodnight, AFM

In many places, seeing this many zeros on a dinner bill (that's 255,000 GNF) would be eye-popping! In reality, this is dinner for 2 for ~$27. I still get confused moving that many decimal places!

The nearby "Iles de Los" are a  very popular among the crew as a weekend getaway. If you're ever in Conakry, I can recommend a boat driver!