When I come to write-up
a new blog I am always surprised how long it's been since we posted our last. Right now we are on holiday for a week in
Senegal south of Dakar on the banks of a Sine Saloum Delta near the coast. It’s
a wonderful place. An opportunity to relax. We both need this especially Lynne who
has been working almost non stop since our time in the UK at home over
Christmas.
So what has been
going on to bring us to this point? Our last blog was from Las Palmas on Gran
Canaria as the Africa Mercy was in the first phase of a two part refit. She was
in dry dock having major sections of the hull cut out and refitted and the replacing
of over 100 windows, flooring repairs and firemain reconfiguration. When she
went back in the water we sailed back to Tenerife to prepare for our return to Senegal.
The craziness of
maintenance period was quickly replaced by the craziness of field service
preparation. New crew were starting to arrive, the hospital needed a deep
clean, senior management on board was in a state of change. All the while our ability to take any time
ashore was severely restricted due to COVID and immigration issues.
We sailed from Tenerife and arrived in Dakar on 1st February, yet
more crew were arriving via quarantine in a hotel off ship hotel and this
needed detailed planning by Lynne and coordination with different departments on-board.
New crew also needed to understand the restrictions in place on board, facemasks
must be worn at all times, only sit three to a table, no singing during our on-board
services, no visits to the hospital to see patients, limited shore leave,
extended meal times to ensure we could all get fed in the limited seating in
the dining room. Some of this news came
as a surprise to crew who had served before and were clearly not happy. We also
needed to implement regular COVID testing and set aside isolation cabins for positive
cases and close contacts. Add to that
the normal day to day problems faced by HR such as " I don’t like my cabin”, "I’m stuck in an airport and can't use
cash" , I would like a different
job now". All that has led to a
very tired HR Director.
For me we have needed to reconfigure cabins to provide a dedicated COVID testing room, reconfiguration of cabins by moving beds to provide optimum isolation, installation of perspex screens around workspaces.
Add to that there is an apparent pandemic of raised desks on-board, we made one for a very tall crew member and suddenly everybody has a bad back. Then as more new crew arrive they start breaking stuff, all needing to be fixed. Fortunately both Lynne and I have had the support of good teams and we are pleased to be working once again with many of our day crew who were with us two years ago before COVID sent us away.
Some of the Deck Crew and Deck Day Crew
Our children at home remain the focus of our love and we miss them dearly. Hannah is with Nick in Cardiff and they appear to be enjoying the challenges of work and study. Zoe is still at home and beginning to make a life for herself that may involve moving out in the not too distant future and Matthew continues his studying at university in Lincoln. He appears to be making some good friends and connections up there.
Hannah, Zoe and Matthew at Christmas
So what next? At the end of this year
this field service in Senegal ends and so does
our current commitment to Mercy Ships as the Africa Mercy returns to Tenerife
for maintenance. What we do after that is not clear, for
certain we want to complete our commitment to Mercy Ships, finish well and then
have a longer break back home. There are a lot of unknowns and some big
decisions to be made, what do we do if we stay at home? What do we do with our
house? Will we still need to work? Could we, should we, extend with Mercy Ships?
We remain ever
grateful for the love and support of all our family and friends and to our
wider church family at home.
'He has told you, O man, what is good: and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God.' Micah 6:8
