pictures...finally!

This is the ship. looking toward the back. kind of a crappy day but oh well. there are nine decks. my cabin is on deck three along with the hospital. My walking commute to work is three minutes!

On deck six, next to the logo

On deck six again. Take notice of the cargo in the background. I guess its cheaper to keep them next to the dock than to ship them out. Its a little weird but it gives the ship a nice surrounding "fence" so to speak.

My cabin. There are six people including me living in it. our "rooms" are split with a curtain, so there are three rooms.

The bathroom lol. a shower on the left, toilet and sink. its cramped but i shouldn't complain because the water is hot! even though we are only allowed 2 min showers.

This is one of my cabin mates Jess. Shes from England. I have the top bunk which i hate. getting up in the morning already sucks and then to do extra work to walk down the latter sucks even more. but oh well, at least i have nice roomies :) (this isnt the exact room i live in, its one like it but i couldnt get a good picture of it)

This is taken from the Hope Center, this is a view of the downtown part of Freetown and part of the port.

The Hope Center is a building that Mercy Ships created for their patients to go to after they have been discharged to fully heal before they go home. It has two rooms that are air conditioned which is important for post op patients to prevent infection and speed along the healing process. This center is just a 5 minute walk from the ship, it over looks the ship and the ocean.

These men have both been patients and have been here for 1-2 months. This is my first time meeting them, after i have been here for a month or so, the patients i take care of in the ward on the ship will come here and i will be able to visit them even after they are discharged. which is pretty awesome, considering all the patients i discharged in the US i usually never see again...most i dont want to see again but there are a few that i would have liked to.

So i asked these guys their names and they told me and then i forgot! Sorry!

This is one of my new friends, Lynette. Shes from Ireland and man is another patient. I cant remember his name or what type of surgery he had.

I have had two days of orientation on the medical ward . There is a max/fax ward for the cleft lip/palate repairs and facial tumor repairs and a plastic ward for skin grafting and so forth. So when i worked i mostly packed scrotum and and other surgical sites. however, at present, there is no medical surgeon on the ship so most of the medical ward nurses are being pulled to the plastic ward because there are two plastic surgeons currently on board.

random stuff on the beach. Do you see the pig!?!?!?!

Theres also a lot of garbage everywhere which i guess is common in underdeveloped cities.

Im really embarrassed but i cant remember this kids name either. I know a little bit of his story though. He had bowed legs and and came to the ship to get their fixed and for whatever reason something went wrong with his right leg and they had to amputate it. This is the happiest kid ive ever seen. He loves life. Walking around in crutches doesn't seem to bother his at all, he still plays soccer and any other game children are playing.

One of the things we deal with on the ward is infection. It is not because we have bad technique when we change dressings or in the OR's. Most of these patients are malnourished or have malaria that inhibits a strong healing process. Also, if they felt sick before and they had money, they bought antibiotics. The problem with that is they take the medication until they feel better, not until the full dose and days of the antibiotics are complete. Therefore, they are resistant to many many types of drugs. fabulous.

These boys are brothers, a very sweet family. One reason why i do not have many pictures is because the people here do not like their pictures taken. Their civil ward ended about a decade ago but during those times many white people came and took pictures of them without asking. The next day they saw their pictures in the newspaper, etc. Everyone i take a picture with i have to ask and usually when i say "can i take a picture with you?" they say yes. Instead of oh im gonna take a picture of that person because they're different or weird looking.

We are not allowed to take pictures in the hospital either. We can sign up for a date to have the professional photographer come in and take pictures of us with the patients. I will do that once i have a good relationship with people.

This is Mourad, from Egypt. Hes our pharmacist. I love pharmacists! They are my favorite people! coughcough rachel williams! cough. They bring me drugs and tell me allll about them!