I have temporarily traded in my scrubs, stethoscope, and precious patients for dress pants/skirts, collared shirts, dress shoes, a laptop computer and bag, 2 cell phones (and I’ve never even owned one), business cards with my name on them, and daily appointments with business professionals. I am out of my comfort zone in so many ways! Just a few weeks ago I said good-bye to my floating home in Lomé, Togo and travelled to Conakry, Guinea, my new home and the anticipated location of my floating home, the Africa Mercy, mid-August 2012-June 2013.
I have been busy since I hit the ground. My weeks and days are filled with meeting government officials, medical directors, Engender Health workers, doctors, surgeons, NGO mangers, the first lady, ministry of health representatives, the Peace Corps volunteers, religious leaders, USAID workers, ambassadors, US Embassy staff, Sisters from Mother Teresa’s home & hospital here, hospital owners…you name it. I sit in small and big conference rooms and in big and small offices. Sometimes there is air-conditioning, most the time there isn’t, or the power goes off and on frequently throughout the meetings. As sweat runs down my back and perspiration trails make streaks down my face, I practice my posture and try to keep smiling.
I am in Conakry, Guinea trying to demonstrate to people here that Jesus hasn’t forgotten them- he is sending a ship their way that will offer free surgeries and demonstrate evidence of God’s love and healing! I am one of four crew members living on land in Guinea- May- September preparing for the ship’s arrival. Right now in the port, there is a berth space reserved for the Africa Mercy, but there is much to be done before that ocean parking space can be taken with by the Africa Mercy. Mercy Ships has a presidential invite to Guinea, but there are many hoops that need to be jumped through to still get the ship and her crew here.
I am the Ship’s Nurse- Medical/Hospital Liaison on land, in charge of setting up everything related to the hospital and the work Mercy Ships plans to do in Guinea September 2012-June 2013. Yikes! I am working closely with the minster of health, setting up screening sites, writing protocols, meeting new people, looking for and helping hire 200+ day volunteers (making sure they are TB free & that they speak English, a law required by the United Nations on our ship & an essential need in the translation process), working with local government and mission hospitals to find patients, meeting new people, coordinating local licensure for all of Mercy Ships’ medical crew, meeting new people, looking for opportunities for capacity building and training of local surgeons, working with the port authority & immigration to make sure we can import the medicines & supplies we need for surgeries, meeting new people, locating a local morgue to work with use if needed, meeting lots of people with fancy titles, making sure emergency medical evacuation services are available for our crew if needed, finding quality labs, pharmacies, and oxygen suppliers to use in country if our supplies or equipment fail us aboard, finding churches that will let us use their space for eye screening, and in case I failed to mention it, I am also meeting new people, among a million other tasks.
In each of my meetings as I prepare to meet “important people” scenes from the Princess Diaries movie flash through my mind and I try to coach myself, “don’t do this, don’t do that, cross your ankles, sit up straight, take small bites.” I think to myself, how in the heck did I end up here? I miss my patients like crazy. I miss the multi-cultural, ever changing, crammed, community living, of the ship. My heart is in an odd state of turmoil, homesick for my bedside nursing and patients, but yet incredibly full of thankfulness at the same time; knowing God is faithful and I am where He wants me for this season.
Although, I feel I was falling in love with the country of Togo, its people, the landscape, the language (Ewe & French), that I am some sort of a failure for leaving before the Togo 2012 outreach concluded, (like I didn’t finish what I started, that I was “missing graduation” because I have finished every other outreach in all the countries I have visited with the ship over the past four years), and it was seriously hard to leave my friends behind especially since I hadn’t seen some of them in four years as they just returned to volunteer at the same time I was scheduled to leave and fly to Guinea, and some of my best friends on the ship that have been there with me since 2008, will not be there when I connect with the ship again; I know I am in the right place and God is confirming that in my heart daily.
I contemplated volunteering at a land-based mission hospital in Togo (same hospital referred to in my Togo trip blogs from 2009) that I am very fond of while the ship is in ship yard, or I dreamed of a “break in the USA”, or time in a snow-bank somewhere to cool off, but I asked God for direction for my plans while the ship is in ship-yard and he directed me here, to Conakry, Guinea, West Africa. My heart has ached and the tears have fallen, but I am okay because I am in God’s hands.
I am an Ambassador for Mercy Ships, playing an important part in the ministry, just a very different role than I am used to. Each day when I put a skirt or collared shirt on that makes me feel claustrophobic and I wish I was putting on scrubs; God is reminding me my job isn’t merely temporal, but eternal. I am not only representing the interests of Mercy Ships and the hospital’s needs, but I have a greater job here in Guinea. I am in a foreign land, literally, and spiritually. As I meet with official ambassadors and listen to information on the work they are doing in Guinea, I work to translate my King’s message so that all will hopefully start to see that I am from the kingdom of God, and his policy is grace, exactly what Mercy Ships tries to show (concepts learned through Rick Warren’s book Better Together).
I am honored that my experience with the ship got me appointed to the position I am now in. My prayer is that I will be worthy of the calling God has placed upon me for the next few months. May I not be purely focused on my future patients, that I am starting to hear about and see around the community, those with obvious needs, (3-5 pound tumors hanging off their faces, crooked legs, or infection eating their faces), that I miss the people I meet daily, with more silent hurts and concerns. God use me to influence every person, no matter what their title, or political status. Help me not to become so busy or frustrated by the learning curve that I find myself in that I ignore the people currently in my path. Jesus I want to be your representative, when I am tired and missing the ship, when I am irritated by “office camping” (waiting outside of offices for hours, waiting to be seen), when I cannot handle closed- toed, dress shoes, politics, or when it takes me five minutes to send a simple text message. Help me to play my part in getting the ship in that reserved berth space in the port of Conakry, Guinea, so that Guinea knows YOU have not forgotten them!