Christmas Break in Ghana

It has been strange to spend Christmas in Ghana, I have gotten used to the weather in Newcastle. It is very strange to wake up and to know the air con is working to keep the ship cool as the temperature outside was about 28^oc. The strangest part is not going for breakfast and seeing Réka for the day. Réka had flown home on Sunday to be with her family, something that was planned before I came on board and we became engaged.

I got to spend the day with a few friends in their cabin and celebrate Christmas with them and their kids. It reminded me of spending Christmas day with Drew and Tammy the other year.

Not a lot has been happening here in Ghana due to the fact we are only here for a rest before we head out to Togo to start a new field service for 2012. I have managed to get out a couple of times to see a few things like the Cedi Beads Factory and just to see a few different things. Then again Ghana is not like Sierra Leone, here is much more like any western city, maintained roads and shops with fixed prices. It is strange to be able to see a price and know what you are paying for something.

Baboon

Some of the country side

The sign at the Bead Factory

The Beads being polished

I found these guys on the roof



The sail

The cool thing about a ship being a hospital ship is that when its the end of a field service instead of having to pack everything down into containers and have them shipped to the next place and the expense of all the staff going home just to come back again, is that the ship can hold all of the staff and equipment and simply move. This week we sailed from Freetown Sierra Leone to Téma Ghana and we made here without any issues.

 First Night of the sail on the bow during sunset

The Cross on the Bow

 Dolphins just off the Bow - How cool???

 A quick (12hours) stop for fuel in the Atlantic Ocean

 Land Ho - Téma Port, Ghana

 The Welcome party from the Advance team

Along the way we had a few interesting things to see like flying fish, whales and dolphins it was also a time of reflection. Along with a time of learning as Réka and I spent a lot of time together both planning the wedding and completing our marriage counselling in preparation of out new life together.

 The best book store front I've seen todate

The first day that we could leave the ship was on Friday so Réka and I went into Accra to sort out some visa stuff that needed to be done for Réka for her return from holiday over christmas and we saw this book store on the drive back, while we were in Accra after sorting the visa stuff we went to look at a few rings for our wedding to get an idea of design and prices. When we saw the ring below we both knew this was the ring that we wanted for our wedding.

The ring has 3 bands of gold, 1 rose gold to represent Réka , 1 white gold to represent God and 1 of yellow gold to represent me. We both have the same ring design to represent unity in our commitment to God and Marriage.

Good Bye Sierra Leone

This was the last week in Sierra Leone for the crew and the Africa Mercy, the week has been a week where we are all very busy with securing for sail.

This small ship with her crew here to provide medical care to the worlds forgotten poor, yet here in free town this ship represented so much more. This was Hope and is hope.

A look back at the part of the field service I became a part of:

Some of the local money (approx £.070p)

Local Language 

The Hope Centre

Friends

Réka my lovely Fiancée

 The Birth

 This is Freetown I promise

To a great place to be and the wonderful people I have had the pleasure to work with over the last few months, as we leave now and head out to Ghana for a break before the next field service in Togo with the help of Papa God.