First Day Onboard the Africa Mercy

 

Today has been a full day and it is my first day on board the M/V Africa Mercy.  I arrived late last night, and after a brief orientation of where to find my room, the bathroom, the dining room, etc., I headed to bed.  Despite the time changes and travel, I slept quite well and was up at 06:17.  It feels especially strange, considering that when I woke up, everyone back home was probably going to bed!  God has been so gracious through all my travels, especially in giving me rest.

I have gotten lost on the ship more than once, so I have not explored very far yet.  Currently, I am most familiar with the hallways down to my room.  My room is on Deck 2, which is the second "floor" from the bottom of the ship.  Our deck is technically underwater and there are no portholes on this deck.  There are three other girls sharing my room.  They are from the United States, Scotland, and Switzerland.  We are a multinational group!  My bunk is the top right in the first photo.

Our room does not have a bathroom.  That is one of the downsides to living on Deck 2.  The perk to not having a bathroom in our room, however, is we do not need to buy toilet paper, and we do not have to clean our own bathroom.  This task is taken care of by the housekeepers on the ship.  In order to get to the bathrooms, I take a right, then a left, then a right , and another right down the hallway.  It sounds complicated, but is pretty simple.

Unfortunately, due to my lack of sleep over the past few days, I left my open water bottle on the bed this morning.  It is very humid in Benin near the coast, and even with the air conditioning on the ship, very humid down on Deck 2.  This means I have been trying to dry my bed ever since the morning. (:


In terms of closet space, I have one of the large upright closets (locker shaped), and in the large dresser, I have four drawers.  I also have two shelves beside the mirror.  It has been nice to spread out and get more settled.  I always find a place starts to feel like home when I do not have to live out of a suitcase.

All of my roommates are nurses, so sleeping while we are on shift work and have night shifts may be a challenge.  Thankfully we will understand what each other is going through, but it may still be difficult to get proper rest.  Deck 2 once again is unique, as our room does not have curtains for privacy on the bunks, and we are in one large room, whereas the rooms on other decks have soundproof/blackout curtains.  I think we will be okay with our earplugs, eye covers, and by hanging sheets for curtains.

We had our general ship orientation today, so you can officially call me a Mercy Ships crew member!  I even have the water bottle to prove it!  After orientation, we spent most of the day in a nursing-specific orientation.  It was long, but definitely necessary to prepare to work in the hospital.  We also toured the hospital wards/units and I am so excited to start!  I also am hoping to improve my French immensely on this trip.  Please pray God will use me in spite of my shortcomings!



This is the view from the starboard (right) side of the ship, beside the dining room.  It is actually supper time right now, so after a bit of Bible reading, I will head upstairs (to Deck 5) to eat.  Bon appetit!