Togo

Welcome to Togo! or in French 'Bienvenue au Togo'
The ship arrived in Lome, Togo on Thursday January 5th.
Togo is a French speaking country officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east, and Burkina Faso to the north.

Togo, a narrow strip of land on Africa's west coast, has for years been the target of criticism over its human rights record and political governance. Tensions spilled over into deadly violence when its strong-arm, veteran leader died in 2005 and a succession crisis followed. Political reconciliation remains elusive.

It has a population of 6.8 million (UN 2010), the capital is Lome. Togo's religions are primarily their indigenous beliefs, along with Christianity and Islam.

Mercy Ships was here in 2010 for 6 months, and we are back for another 6 months to follow on from then. Please pray for this country and that we may be a light of hope to them.
It is a beautiful country, especially the beaches, they line the road all the way into town. The only problem is that we cannot swim here; the currents are too strong, and it's not recommended to even walk on the beach especially at night. Muggings happen alot on the beach, it's a shame as they are gorgeous! But fortunately there are plenty of other places to go. There are hotels where we can use their swimming pools, this is good for time off the ship and relaxing. Can't wait to go and explore more of Togo while we are here, and hopefully my french will improve!!!

Screening for new patients start the 1st of February. This takes a lot of preparation and prayer. Last year they had problems in Sierra Leone on the first day of screening, we are hoping and praying for a better one this year. Once the screening days are over the hospital will start surgeries. I can't wait for this as it has been too long without nursing!

This picture was taken on my birthday. We all went out to one of the many restaurants in Lome. It was lovely pizza!! It was nice to be able to celebrate it with the many friends I have made on the ship!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to my blog followers!
Hope you all had a great time at Christmas with friends and family, and that your new year has started well!

I can't believe it has been 2 weeks since my last post! I don't know where the time goes! I spent Christmas and New Years on the ship, there were alot of things going on on the ship throughout the time. Christmas was a difficult time as I was missing my family and friends back at home, but it was good to spend it with friends on the ship. The day started well as they had a brunch for us, it was great food - we had turkey! Then a group of us played games all afternoon. The rest of the day was fairly quiet.
On the Tuesday after Christmas my friend and I went to Cape Coast. We managed to get a local mini-bus and 3 hours later, after being squashed in, we made it there. Our first stop was the Cape Coast Castle. This use to be used for the slave trade, we had a tour and the tour guide with very well spoken English showed us where the slaves were kept and the conditions they were in, it really was an eye opener! After the castle we headed to our hotel. We had chosen a nice hotel to get away from the ship and to relax, and that is what we got. As we chilled at the pool, walked on the beach and took our time to unwind :)
We met some more Mercy shippers at the hotel and we all decided to go to the rain forest to do the canopy walk together. The 6 of us (this did include 2 children) squeeze in a taxi and an hour later we arrived at the rain forest. We get our tickets and headed up the hill to get on to the canopy walk. The canopy walk is a rope bridge high between the trees! Some of you may know I do not do well with heights, this was high! But I am pleased to say I managed to do the 7 bridges! I could have chickened out and only do 3 but I could not let myself down, so by gripping the rope with dear life and with encouragement from friends I did it!!!!!
It was a great view of the trees and the rainforest, unfortunetly we did not see any monkeys, ohh.
After the walk we headed back to Tema (where the ship is docked) this time it took us 4 and half hours, due to traffic, but it was better as it was not at as squashed.
It was great to get away from the ship, even though it was only one night, it made a difference. It was back to work then for me, but during the days off and evenings I have been able to see a bit of Ghana, which I am finding to like a lot.
Work has started properly again, so it's cleaning toilets and floors daily again! I will be back at the hospital in 2 weeks, I am finding it can't come quick enough!
Tomorrow we sail to Togo, so another new country to get to know. I am looking forward to this, please pray that the sail goes well and we settle in. Also pray for the new crew joining us. During the Christmas period we were low in numbers but now crew have started arriving for the new field service, pray that they will settle in well to ship life as it is very different and can be very daunting.
That is all from me for now.