….start of patient selection, onboarding and halfway to 90 party….
The hallway outside my cabin
So…thanks for your patience it’s been a busy month!! I’m behind in my blogs, but will be current by the end of this week, promise! Weeks 9 &10 were special for a few reasons. My 45th birthday landed right in the middle of both weeks and week 10 marked some big personal challenges but also some very special moments.
Monday marked the soft start of registrations with our Patient selection teams. This is the first step patients need to pass during the selection process. We have teams in 12 regions in Madagascar for the next 3 weeks and potential patients have an initial assessment when providing their details. Unfortunately, there are some people we just cannot help, as we have limited places across the 6 specialties that we offer [General, General pediatrics, Ortho, reconstructive plastics, Maxillofacial and eyes]. I’m very glad that I’m not in a position that has to say no to someone, I don’t think my heart could take it! I am so thankful for the group of volunteers we do have that need to make these difficult decisions.
On Wednesday of week 9 I joined the start of a small group [“Honouring our bodies” - a 6-week program] run by one of the dieticians onboard the ship. An incredible woman who has become a vital person on this ship for me. She is passionate about how women view their bodies, the stories we tell ourselves and nutrition… it’s become a group therapy session of sorts!
Thursday was notable for a few reasons. In the morning the inner circle/personal team of the First Lady of Madagascar came on board and toured the hospital, two of her sisters also joined the tour. In the afternoon we were advised that the Minister for Health was coming for a visit. Unfortunately, due to reasons far above my pay grade, the visit didn’t go ahead, but we did get to stand on the dock in the sun with our day crew for a few hours…..in the interest of self-preservation I will leave this story here.
Some of our wonderful day crew!
Friday was international women’s day! I got the opportunity to join our Hospital Director [my boss Merryl] and our Managing Director and his EA at the HOPE center, which is still being renovated for our needs. The HOPE [Hospital Outpatient extension] center provides accommodation for approx. 200 of our patients & carers. Patients will, depending on their surgery, only stay a few days onboard. The rest of their time will be in the HOPE center or visit our dockside set up for pre-op / post-op / rehab and eye appointments. [I’ll explain this better when it’s set up in a few weeks and can provide some pics – it’s pretty amazing!!] Friday after the hospital team went out for ice-cream! It's amazing how much work went into protecting that hour so the team could leave the ship!
The weekend consisted of work [sadly] and some overdue life admin including facing the dreaded laundry room…haha who knew doing my washing would turn into a task to be avoided as long as possible!
Monday of week marked the start of on-boarding [a 3-week course that every crew member staying for longer than 12 months needs to complete]. Most do this at Mercy Ships Texas office, however, they decided to trial a hybrid style course this time and so 28 of the Africa Mercy crew stayed on the ship. This meant however, to align with Texas time we started at 1pm and went till 9pm at night. We had 2 facilitators fly over to the ship and they ran the sessions between 1pm and 4pm, dinner was at 4pm and then from 5pm to 9pm we joined Texas via teams.
I’m writing this in the future, so I have the wonderful perspective of time, but I have to admit that first day was difficult. I had been advised by one of the facilitators that onboarding relied on everyone’s full participation and sharing of life experiences. Whilst I knew going in, I was going to be the only Caucasian on the course, it was still quite a moment walking in and hearing the stories behind their journeys to Mercy ships. My difficulty came while trying to work out where my life experience crossed paths with theirs.
One of the big reasons I volunteer is due to the fact that I am very aware I was afforded opportunities that many aren’t purely because I was born in Australia.
The rest of the week improved exponentially and by the end of the week, one of the women in my small group gave me one of the biggest compliments! “You’re a black woman trapped in a white woman’s body” I love it!!
Friday night after a rather eventful 30mins where my bag was misplaced [I won’t relive that trauma for you…let’s just say there were tears] I made it off the ship and checked in to the Calypso hotel. My birthday present to myself. Waking up in a double bed with a shower longer than 2 mins!
Saturday 16th March, my 45th Birthday. I indulged in a sleep-in [the bed was amazing], a bath, shower and a massage! At 3pm I walked to another hotel where a friend of mine had offered to share a room for 2 nights. Much to my dismay I was pressured to wear a sash and birthday princess crown for the night [I’m hoping to burn all photos!!]
View from breakfast on my birthday!
32 crew mates joined me for dinner to celebrate. Happy birthday was sung in English, Dutch and then the “black version” [a crew mates’ words not mine!] a dessert with candles and a sparkler were brought out to another round of happy birthday. Saturday night at the hotel also happened to be karaoke night. What a treat when you have singers and dancers in the group! They even convinced me to sing – first time I’ve sung solo in public in 20+ years!! Overall, it turned out to be one of the best birthdays I have ever had. I felt very loved!
Observations from week 9&10:
A 03:30am 911 page [that comes over every speaker on the ship] is a very disorientating way to wake up!
Our EMT team are so impressive, that 15 people turned up [where they were supposed to] within a few minutes of the page at 03:30am!!
I’ve impressed myself with how well I’ve adapted to “community life” after mostly living by myself since I was in my mid-20s.
It’s amazing how much the little luxuries become such a big thing when you don’t have them…like sleeping in a double bed, a shower longer than 2 minutes and having a bath!
I can highly recommend having your birthday as a crew member with Mercy Ships!
I’ve managed to keep my streak going of not working on my birthday!