Mosolo

When I met him back in October or November, I didn't know his name. I was just starting to venture off the ship and hadn't figure out how to communicate in Malagasy enough to say, "What is your name?"  But I remember that he was one of the very first patients I met at the Hope Center.

At the Hope Center with Mosolo and friends

That Sunday afternoon, when we first met, a gaggle of young boys was running around the Hope Center with nothing to do. Their energy level was off the charts, so I thought some outdoor games would be just the thing to keep them occupied (and give the rest of the patients and staff a little peace!). Without sharing a language, I couldn't explain the rules to any game, but I did manage to set up an obstacle course using a tree, an old chair, a large rock, and some lines drawn in the dirt.  The boys were so excited to show how fast they could complete the course while I timed them.


Monsolo (in the red shirt in the photo above) had severely bowed legs. I was impressed he could walk at all, let alone run through an obstacle course. But he did it with as much gusto as other boys. He wasn't as fast, but the fact that he didn't sit out or shy away from an activity which highlighted his disability is what impressed me the most.

After having surgery in November, Mosolo wore casts until February. Last time I was at the HOPE Center, I was delighted to get to snap a few shots of Mosolo showing off his stair climbing ability with fellow crew member Keith.

Now it is April and Mosolo has finally gotten to return home to his village. Surgery on the Africa Mercy may be free, but our patients still pay a large cost: the cost of being away from home and loved ones for many months, of missing work or school, and many days of difficult travel from remote areas of the country.

But what little I know of Mosolo from my visits to the Hope Center, I have a feeling that the cost was worth it and with his newly straightened legs and his indomitable spirit, he will go far in life.

A Day in the Life

I meant to write this blog post back in September, but I was experiencing way too many exciting and unique things to write a blog about a typical day. But after 8 full months on the ship, I've been here long enough to tell you about what an average day is like for me.

Breakfast in the Dining Room

6am - Alarm rings

6:10am - Get up and get ready for the day.

6:30am - Eat breakfast in the dining room which consists of oatmeal daily and depending on the day something else like scrambled eggs or pancakes.  

7am - Arrive in the Academy. My commute is a 2 minute walk from the dining room. Last minute lesson preparations.

7:45am - Teacher's Meeting

8am - School begins. The first 20 minutes are spent with the entire junior high/high school for devotions.

• Period 1 - Bible (7th/8th grade)
• Period 2 - Geometry
• Ship-wide Coffee Break (I love this midmorning break. People from all departments go down to the cafe to get coffee and chat for a few minutes. It helps me not get lost in my work. Sometimes I'm tempted to work through it, but I try really hard not to.)
• Period 3 - 6th Grade Math
• Period 4 - Algebra 1
• Lunch in the Dining Room or back in my classroom so I get work done
• Period 5 - Pre-Calculus
• Period 6 - Off Period
• Period 7 - Off Period

Eating lunch with friends

3:20pm - School day ends
5pm - Teacher work day ends.

In the evenings you might find me reading a book in my cabin, working late in my classroom, up on deck 8 swimming laps in the pool, eating dinner on the dock and watching the exotic fish that swim nearby, going to small group, reading bedtime stories to my favorite kids on the ship, attending the weekly ship-wide community meeting, shopping in the Boutique (the ship's free thrift store), or participating in the ship's Art Journaling group.

I'm not the only one who loves swimming!
(with Hannah, age 4)

On a typical weekend I usually need down time after such a busy week. My favorite way to spend Saturday mornings is sitting by the pool doing logic puzzles while listening to podcasts. They don't serve lunch on the weekends (although you can pack a sandwich at breakfast for yourself) so I often go out for lunch once on the weekend. It's a nice excuse to get off the ship and spend intentional time with friends (and Malagasy food is amazing!). I also get out on a bike ride at least once every weekend. One of my favorite things to do is ride to the beach and go swimming. On Sundays I sometimes attend church at the HOPE Center with our patients or the evening on-ship service for crew.

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Jean; Photo Credit: Justine Forrest

Meanwhile, while I'm teaching math, just a few decks below me, miracles are taking place everyday.

Miracles like Jean who received surgery for his bowed legs. And Serah, who will be able to walk because of the treatment she is receiving for her club feet.

Serah & her Mother; Photo Credit: Katie Keegan

The healing taking place every day is a reason to celebrate. Watch the video below and celebrate with Hasina. (I'll attempt to actually embed the video below, but if it's not working, you can see it here. Trust me - it's worth the extra click).

Sometimes a dance party is just what the doctor ordered. #MercyShips
Posted by Mercy Ships on Friday, January 29, 2016

Rarely does my daily routine as a math teacher intersect with what's happening in the hospital, but one day it did. It was just before morning break, when my principal came looking for me because one of our orthopedic surgeons had requested to see me. He was preparing for an upcoming surgery and was using trigonometry to calculate some of the angles required in the surgery.  He asked for my help working out the angles and of course I was delighted to oblige. I wonder if I can list Orthopedic Surgery Consultant on my resume now? After all, it's all in a day's work for a teacher on a hospital ship. 

Worthy of Love

I've noticed my blog posts tend to be very "doing" focused. I tell you about the places I go, the things I see, what's happening on the ship...

But there's so much more that's going on inside of me this year.  What I'm thinking about, how I'm growing, what God is teaching me; sometimes I feel like I could burst.  So, this blog is my attempt to start to sharing some of the deeper aspects of my life.

This story starts at the very beginning of my time on ship. Even though I tried not to be, I was so upset and jealous about the vast disparity in quality between cabins for singles and cabins for couples. It wasn't even that I was unhappy with my own cabin; I had great cabinmates and my cabin, though small, felt very cozy.  The real issue was that I felt "less." It seemed clear that the designers of the ship were sending a message: "Married people deserve a nicer living space than single people." I had already been struggling with being single for the last decade or more, so I'll admit, this was a sensitive area for me.

And here is what God said to me when I told him how angry I was.
               "You are worthy of love."
                                and
                  "I am pursuing you."
                                and
"If you knew all the good things I have in store for you, you wouldn't spend one second being upset about the size of your cabin."

After that, I felt a little bit better. But sometimes when God speaks to me, I doubt if it's really Him, or if I'm just making it up. Fast forward several days later, my small group was taking turns praying for each other.  The kind of listening prayer where everyone has paper and you write things down you think God might be saying for a specific person.  Maybe you can see where this is going...here's one of the papers I received that night:

                                             
This note was written by someone I had never met before that evening. She didn't know anything about me, let alone what kinds of issues I was struggling with. But God used her to let me know I really did hear Him correctly.

And so those words have become one of my themes this year. I am worthy of love, even if I am single every day of my life. The God of the universe is pursuing me. And I can trust Him...actually I'm still working on the trust thing, but that is a story for another blog post.

Reflecting on the New Year

A year ago, I knew it was time for a change.  I was hoping 2015 would be a year of new adventures. So when I spent New Year's Eve in a remote Malagasy village, a 12 km hike and an hour boat ride from the main road, dancing with the villagers young and old, under the light of a disco ball, powered by some mysterious power source since the village was without electricity or running water, I knew my wish had come true.

Living overseas has been an important life experience for me, pushing me out of the comfort zone of what I know.  At the same time, living on the ship is a very controlled environment, so I don't always feel like I'm really living in Africa, just on a ship that happens to be parked on the coast of Africa.  So over the Christmas holiday, my friends Jen, Michelle, and I set off to spend 4 days experiencing what Madagascar is really like.

Through this great Dutch non-profit, we were able to get connected with a local village who wanted to host us and with a local Malagasy guide.

After 2 bus rides and a boat ride, we hopped on a tractor that happened to be going up into the mountains. The road was so bumpy we could have walked almost as fast. (I wished we were walking as I was perched precariously on the very top of the mound of supplies and people and with every bump I thought I might be tossed from the tractor).

We joined at least 20 other people who piled into the back of this tractor.

But when we finally got off the tractor, we found ourselves in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

Although the village we stayed in was very poor, they were very excited to welcome us.  Most of the villagers grow rice.  A little bit of tourism can provide a much needed additional income source for the village. The kids were shy at first, but they warmed up once I started teaching them Frisbee. 

Our meals consisted of lots of rice. Breakfast was soft rice and coffee. Lunch might be rice and carrots. Dinner: rice and chicken.  

Breakfast!

The homes in the village were made of palm trees. 

The river where we swam every day.

One day we hiked to a beautiful waterfall.  The entire village accompanied us; it was like a processional or festival!

Me, Houssen (our guide), and Michelle

Having 100 people joining us at the waterfall just because we were "vazas" (white foreigners) was a little unnerving. Part of me was wishing for a quiet day of solitude in nature. But at the same time, I went on the trip hoping to connect with local Malagasy people and get to know a bit of their culture.  I realized that they were just as curious about us and our culture. So instead of being annoyed by the crowd, I just enjoyed it. Enjoyed the high-fives from the kids, the funny attempts to communicate, the awesome photo ops.

The teenage boys showing off for the camera

Relaxing after the day at the waterfall

Touring the local graphite mine which employs about 40 people from the village.
We got to see first hand how it works from start to finish.

I wish I could have a dog on the ship!

The 12 km hike down the mountains on the last day was one of my favorite parts of the trip. The scenery was breath-taking. And I was so glad not to be on a bumpy, crowded tractor.

On the way home, I was sitting in a crowded taxi-brousse (the bus system here consists of 20-25 people squished into a 15 passenger van), hoping not to get car-sick, wishing I was anywhere else in the world at that moment, when I had an epiphany.  2015 was the year of external change: changing my job, where I lived, the people I see every day.  I changed almost every external factor of my life in the past year. And I am happier for it.  Every day I am glad I made those changes. But the hard work still remains: working on the inner change I want to see in my life.  Being able to find contentment no matter what my circumstances are. Because it doesn't matter how "cool" my life looks on Facebook, I can still only find happiness from within.  

There are things I wish for that I don't have.  But my prayer for 2016 is that I won't miss them because I am wrapped up in what I do have and in what God is doing in my life. God has been faithful to me through all the changes of the past year; He deserves my trust for the coming year and beyond. 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to my friends far and near! Christmas is a joyous season on the ship with many fun activities to celebrate. Here is a glimpse of some of them:

The Academy Staff Christmas Party

The Junior High/High School Team.
Front Row: Myriam (French), Floor (P.E./Computers), Kim (English), Robert (Science)
Back Row: David (Principal), Me (Math)

I decorated my classroom door for Christmas, complete with a Christmas Math
 Challenge based on the 12 Days of Christmas.

Decorating cookies at the Academy Christmas party

Running the Jingle Bell Dash - a 2k run from our dock to the port gate and back.
 This is Maya, my running partner. She is an excellent pace-setter!

Christmas Carols by Candlelight - led by our Australian crew

 (complete with a few special Aussie carols and a blow up kangaroo)

Making treats for a Christmas party

Me and my bunkmate, Tam. They don't have white Christmasses in Madagascar!

My family sent my stocking from home! They are amazing because they had to send
it by August for it to get here in time! This is the window in my cabin.

The ship tradition is to put your shoe outside your cabin on Christmas Eve.
Then everyone goes around leaving little gifts and candy in each other's shoes. 

Gingerbread House Making

I'll close this post with a poem that sparked my interest this Advent. May the joy of Emmanuel - God with us - fill your life this year.

                          O Adonai

Unsayable, you chose to speak one tongue,

Unseeable, you gave yourself away,

The Adonai, the Tetragramaton

Grew by a wayside in the light of day.

O you who dared to be a tribal God,

To own a language, people and a place,

Who chose to be exploited and betrayed,

If so you might be met with face to face,

Come to us here, who would not find you there,

Who chose to know the skin and not the pith,

Who heard no more than thunder in the air,

Who marked the mere events and not the myth.

Touch the bare branches of our unbelief

And blaze again like fire in every leaf.

       

~Malcolm Guite

Analalava Forest

One of the adventures I have been here in Mada is to the Analalava Forest. It is a small nature reserve with 26 different species of palm trees.  The nearest city, Foulpoint is about 90 minutes from Tamatave, but you have to walk the last 7 km to the reserve because the taxi-brousse doesn't go that far.

The plan was to leave Friday after work and head to the local bus station.  There we hopped on a taxi-brousse (think 10-15 passenger van, but filled with 18-20 people). About 10 minutes into the trip, we had to stop because the lights on the van weren't working. After waiting around for awhile, with no replacement bus in sight, we walked back to the station to get another bus. We finally made it successfully to Foulpoint (after some very bumpy roads) and, for about $8 each, stayed in a small bungalow near the beach.

Saturday morning we walked the 7 km to Analalava and spent the afternoon hiking in the reserve.

The road from Foulpoint to Analalava

Scenery on the walk to Analalava

My travel companions: Robert, Fred, Floor, and Alex

Some of the palm trees were huge!

Some of the palm trees in the reserve can be found no where else in the world!

I've never seen anything like this before.

We saw Flying Foxes: a species of bat that have furry bodies like a fox.