….Abandon ship fire drill, AAR and ANZAC day….
ANZAC day dawn service - Africa Mercy [Madagascar 2024]
So… weeks 15 & 16 were the lowest I’ve been on this ship, silver lining it did end my boss and I going away for a few days rest. When I was applying for Mercy ships I remember a conversation with my now boss, she said “it will be the hardest job you will love, there will be tears but there will also be joy”. No truer words have been spoken.
Sunday was spent trying to catch up on typing the minutes from the previous week’s incident meetings.
Monday morning started with an abandon ship evacuation drill, the difference with this drill, however, was that it included the port fire engines and ambulance. Unfortunately for us all it was raining! The drill was meant to be a surprise for the crew, however, with kids onboard not much stays secret on this ship….so with time to prepare I was armed with a chair, raincoat and a dear friend lent me an umbrella. It turned out to be a welcome break from work.
Tuesday was the official AAR [After Action Review] for the incident with our crew member from the previous fortnight. It was another 1.5-hour meeting. While I was able to type some notes during this meeting, I unfortunately spent the rest of the week working on the minutes between the hours of 21:00 and 00:00 each night. I find it too hard to concentrate during the days here with the constant interruptions.
Wednesday, we farewelled a beautiful woman who has been instrumental in helping to set up the preoperative team. It is one of the things I could do without on this ship…the continual farewells.
Friday morning, I had a lightbulb moment as to why I had been crying for no reason all week. My professional armchair diagnosis…. each night before going to bed, the last thing I had been doing was “sitting in” everyone else’s trauma from the event [typing up the minutes from all the debriefs]. Delving into all the things that had gone wrong, the blame everyone had been placing on themselves for not being able to do more. The questions around why decisions had been made etc. So, I made the call to work the whole weekend so I could finish everything and not need to go through it again.
Friday also marked the 38 days to surgery point. The countdown is on….a literal countdown is at the bottom of the stairs - I have to admit it is something I have stopped looking at….I’d rather stick my head in the sand when it comes to the number of days we have left to get everything done. I know that must sound crazy given how long we have actually been here, but there just seems to be a never ending list of tasks to complete.
This board with its countdown now sits at the bottom of the stairs on deck 3 [Hospital entrance]
The following week was another one filled with trying to at least tick a few items off my ever growing to do list [it has become longer than my body I swear!] I also agreed [because I seem to have the inability to say no to some of these things here] to organise the ANZAC day dawn service and facilitate a visit to the hospital by one of our youngest crew members [he is in preschool].
I admit to being very jealous! Our sole preschooler gets to spend all day with one of my favourite women on this ship and has had the opportunity to visit every department for his own version of “work experience”. For his trip to the hospital, he wore scrubs and a white coat. One of the nurses set up a teddy bear as a patient in a ward bed and put the monitor on her own finger so it looked like he had a heart rate. So cute! It’s moments like this that remind you how special this place is. Now we just need to get actual patients in the beds!
Thursday morning 05:30am a group of Aussies and Kiwis climbed to deck 8 and held a dawn service for ANZAC day. I had arranged for the Academy [school] to colour in poppies for us to wear. During the service I had the opportunity to read the ode of remembrance, with a Kiwi woman translating to Mauri and although it was only using my very small speaker the sound of the last post filling the silence gave me chills. Past serving members from other countries were also invited to attend. Our Ship Security Officer and a few of the deck hands came in their whites and the Gurkhas in their uniform, it was very emotional being up there. At the end we made our way back down to the café. A jar of golden syrup had travelled from Scotland that week just in time for some of the Aussies to make ANZAC bikkies and a welcome surprise was the addition of home made lamingtons!
Thursday night I packed as much as my belongings as I could. While the timing is off, I have been offered a new cabin with a window!!!! So I roped some incredible women to help move me to a new cabin! This means I should have a space with a window for the remainder of my time with Mercy Ships!!
Friday morning 03:15 Merryl and I made our way to the dock for our long-awaited trip to Sainte Marie. I’m going to leave Sainte Marie for my next blog! But suffice it to say it was a beautiful place to take a few days to take a long-anticipated break! And the photos…well you’ll see!
Observations from week 15 & 16:
Mums bring the best snacks to abandon ship fire drills!
I still haven’t mastered the trick of not getting emotionally involved in my work.
Tip to Aussies – if you plan to be on the ship during ANZAC day bring golden syrup in your suitcase!
If you want your poppies to be extra special, ask a group of kids to colour them in for you! They turned out perfect and we may or may not have given them ANZAC bikkies in payment.
You have no idea how much a small thing as being able to see sunlight/natural light is on this ship. My office has no windows and my cubicle doesn’t either. I’m lucky to see sunlight or get any fresh air during the week at all at the moment.
There isn’t enough coffee in the world to make it okay to be up at 03:15am!