Ann's-Mercy-Africa-Service-Trip

The end of the coming week will make 6 weeks here in Madagascar-the halfway point of my trip. There is much about this adventure that has been fun, and definitely some challenging things.

I posted a video of pictures that my I-phone put together. Everyone posted good thoughts about how wonderful it is that I’m having such a wonderful time. Much has been good but it is not all wonderful all of the time.

Living on the ship is a mixture of being with people all the time and at the same time being pretty lonely. There are people around all of the time. People are very friendly and generally kind. I can always find someone to eat dinner with. At the same time I am spending a lot of time by myself. I had connected with one of the nurses that I travelled here with, but she has gone home to Australia. I have had one roommate since my first week here. She is young nurse, is really nice, and has been on Mercy ships several times. She also has LOTS of friends so is out and about with them all of the time, and her work schedule is different than mine. I had a second roommate for the last 3 weeks. She left yesterday. She was not in the room much, spending a lot of time in the sewing room. Today I am gaining 3 more roommates. I’m hopeful that at least one of them might be someone that I really click with.

Another thing that contributes to feeling less connected is the form of Christianity on the ship. I go to a pretty liberal Presbyterian church. When we used to say the “our Father” prayer we began it with “Our Maker, our Mother, our Father who art in heaven”. We see the bible as being a book of questions and Paradox. Mercy ships is more of an evangelical organization on the more conservative end of the spectrum. It is very clear that there are rules about how Christianity is practiced and that anyone who does not follow those rules is not “doing it right. They see the bible as literally God’s words. Every day begins with prayer or people giving their testimony of when the accepted Jesus. It is just a lot for me, all of the time. I knew this going into the trip. I just did not understand that it would make me feel so isolated and like an imposter. I put myself here, so I am trying to make the best of things. I don’t want to rock the boat (metaphorically). I’m not here to tell anyone else how to believe.

The physical therapy has been rewarding and challenging. It is kind of fun to be doing hospital based PT again (Getting people out of beds and moving around). I have also been having lots of fun being silly with the pediatric patients. And, I am seeing lots of kids who have been burned in the past who undergo surgical release of scar tissue and new skin grafts. This is not care that I have ever done in the past. So, despite all of my years of experience, I am and feel like a novice. Luckily I also see outpatients- people working on the ship who need PT. This is something that I’m pretty comfortable with.

Madagascar is kind of heartbreaking, much like Haiti. The people are lovely, full of strong faith. The patients are very happy and grateful that they have been chosen to have surgery. It is also very much of place where most of the people have limited opportunities. The health care is poor. The education system appears to be all private and thus costs money. there are many people living and begging on the streets. There are some nice facilities but mostly a lot of burned out or dilapidated buildings. It is very much a place of the “have” and “have nots”.

So, those are my ramblings this week. Just putting some reality to go with all of the happy pictures on Facebook and Instagram. Here are some pictures from my past couple of weeks… It is me on the beach with some of the folks that I arrived with, a Boabab tree and vials of antibiotics for sale in the Bazaar!