A Day's Work.

Storing up for the sail.

We all work together. 

I am so glad to be here in Africa and am really pleased with the steward position I have in the ship's galley. Great people to work with, a busy atmosphere, numerous smells and many tiny tastes of food all throughout the day. But, with the preparing of so much food also comes the cleanup. And cleaning up, wherever you find it, can be a tedious task -- this ship is no exception. Nevertheless, we all pitch in, and surprisingly it's amazing how fast the galley can transform from disaster to spotlessness. 


When it came time to clean up after a long day of work I piled my arms high with smashed boxes. In hindsight, I should have made multiple smaller trips rather than those few horrific ones. But I was intent to finish as soon as possible. Any thought of calmness, or sense seemed far, far away from my mind. Confidently I set off down the first flight of stairs, nudging away the growing fear that my load was continuously "gaining weight". By the time I arrived at the gangway my courage and strength had waned drastically.
                                                                                                           All I had left was determination and pride, and so of course, I struggled onwards. It certainly didn't help having that large group of crew standing just outside the door, all curiously observing my plight as I made my way towards them. One of them kindly opened the door for me. Nevertheless, it was still quite a challenge getting both myself and my boxes out the door without mishap. A few of the most rebellious pieces escaped. Once outside, and with growing concern, I navigated past the crowd, gripped my armload of boxes tightly and started down the ever-lengthening gangway. 

It was a windy day. Very windy!! Recognizing this fact instantly the boxes billowed themselves out from my arms like giant sails. The resulting situation was me propelling down the gangway with great velocity, desperately clinging to my newfangled "sails". Nevertheless, though somewhat terrifying, the speed of descent was a blessing in disguise -- my arms were about ready to let both me and my load down, so, the faster I made it to the dumpster the better. 

It wasn't just the boxes causing trouble -- looking back, things were clearly headed downhill when my trusty apron started to turn on me, thrashing angrily for escape the moment I stepped outside. And then to end with, I knew I'd lost the plot completely when my faithful hat took flight. It went with all swiftness, sailing right off my head and speeding away towards the ocean... A sudden dash in the right direction, combined with a couple urgent grasps, and the hat was retrieved...  but, I knew the time had come to call it a day. :) 


"Seize life! Eat bread with gusto... Each day is God's gift. It's all you get in exchange For the hard work of staying alive. Make the most of each one! Whatever turns up, grab it and do it. And heartily!" Ecclesiastes 9.  

Bunkering day.

A LITTLE TERRIFYING TO SEE A SHIP HEADED STRAIGHT THROUGH THE WATER TOWARDS YOU BUT COME TO FIND OUT THIS IS PART OF THE BUNKERING PROCESS. REFUELING THE SHIP'S OIL SUPPLY.

A REALLY NEAT SHIP. METICULOUSLY CLEAN AND PAINTED IN BRILLIANT COLOURS.

BUNKERING TOOK MANY HOURS!!

LARGE TIRES WERE ATTACHED TO THE SHIP'S SIDE. IT WAS LIKE A GIANT GAME OF BUMPER BOATS ALL DAY LONG. 

CARGO SHIP. ONE OF OUR NEIGHBORS. LOTS OF THESE SHIPS IN PORT.

DOWNTOWN DURBAN ACROSS THE HARBOR.

HUGE ROPES IN THE SHIPYARD. I SAW ONE OF THESE STRETCHING PAST MY ROOM'S PORTHOLE AND UPON INVESTIGATION FOUND  IT CONNECTING THE BUNKERING SHIP TO OUR SHIP... I THINK. ;) 

LIFEBOAT TESTING.

THIS WAS BEFORE ALL THE LAND-ROVERS WERE LIFTED ONBOARD BY CRANE A COUPLE DAYS AGO.

The Drill

 

Bright and early this morning the ship alarms all started, followed by the captain's commanding voice declaring, 

"This is a drill, this is a drill, this is a drill -- This is an 'at sea' fire drill. Emergency crews report to your stations immediately!" 

Off stomped the Name Callers, The Muster Takers, The Lifejacket Crews, The Stairwell Helpers, The Cabin Checkers, The Medical Teams, and many others. Some went upstairs, some went down. 

Putting on my socks and sneakers and savoring the flavours of my one last sour plum, I waited impatiently to hear the second alarm signaling the rest of the crew to evacuate to deck seven. Before long there it was -- loud and long, piercing the muggy air with its urgency. 

Flying from my top bunk I took off out the door, slid round the corners and zoomed up the stairs. A few days ago I was told to map out two escape routes. Well, today I found my first plan of escape had been blocked fast by a huge watertight door. Spinning around I reverted to plan B... and escape I did!! There are many routes to deck seven. Relief was sudden and pleasant as the blast of stinky dock fumes flooded over me as I emerged onto the open upper deck. :) I found my muster station with no trouble and scrambled into the enormous yet snug life jacket. I was just preparing to dive of the railing into the brown waters below when I decided a lifeboat might be the better option. 

... Alright, alright, that was exaggerating slightly, sorry people. ;) Fact is, I waited calmly until the drill was over. 

Another day in Durban

With each passing hour this ship is getting smaller and smaller. No doubt this has a lot to do with me not getting lost quite as much. ;) Nah... seriously though, I'm discovering that the ship really isn't that big. While quite sufficient for the purpose of a hospital, I've been told that it appears dwarfed when docked beside cruise ships.

So, this morning I was on deck 6 in the galley, today both galley crews worked together. We were all cleaning up for an inspection that should take place quite soon. I'm very well acquainted with the floor drains now and what they like to collect. yuck. Also got some great exercise going down tiny, steep, staircases and all the way down the gangway taking loads of stuff out to the dumpsters.

Anyhow, it's been a really good day. The air conditioning on a few decks, our cabin included, is back on -- a long-awaited blessing for the crew that never moved off the ship -- For the past months they've been trying not to sink the ship with their sweat... but now, well it looks like we're making up for all that time. The system works VERY WELL while the blankets on the other hand aren't keeping up with the A/C's efficiency!! My cabin is cold. Right now I'm on a deck that is hot hot hot... so, it all depends where you are. :)

This evening I attended the mandatory safety orientation to the ship... I know now exactly what I'm to do if someone falls overboard and how to try not to fall off myself.

For interest's sake -- the following is a bit of info about what type of a vessel this is...

Built differently than a regular passenger ship, the m/v Africa Mercy was first used as a rail ferry to transport train cars in Denmark. Since purchasing this ship there have been many vast renovations done in order to transform the old ferry into this incredible hospital community. Nevertheless, the basic shape of the ship remains the same. So, what's the shape? Well, in order to float as best as possibly with such heavy cargo the ship was built with a very flat base. I'm told this is unlike what you'd find underneath a passenger/cruise ship, whose primary goal is stability and calmness. Therefore the result of a having a flat base is a ship that sits sort of low in the water and won't tip over very easy. That being said, it also is a ship that "goes" with the waves, as opposed to "slicing" through them -- I'm sure it'll be an interesting ride to Sierra Leone. In such a small place, it is surprising how many things other than a hospital this ship includes... we have a library, laundry, bank, computer cafe, swimming pool, lounge, crew kitchen in addition to the galley kitchen, dining room, ship shop, academy and 126 cabins. I wish you could see it!! I'd take you for a tour... we might even not get lost this time!!

Moving Onboard!!

It has been quite awhile since my last post and for that I do apologize. I'm sure you've all been waiting with bated breath right??... haha, or not. Actually the reason for my absence stems from the other week when lightning struck some important internet connection somewhere at Appelsbosch, downing the system... since that day a lot has changed. The biggest change has been moving onboard the Africa Mercy. A huge process that came to an end in one big finale yesterday as we drove away for one last time from Appelsbosch. I am very happy to be onboard finally and looking forward to the hope of leaving port soon. But honestly, in some respects I'll miss the peace, spaciousness and all the intriguing nature that was found at Appelsbosch too. Here's a bit of what our moving day looked like...

The days leading up to leaving Appelsbosch were filled with lots of eating. We were very busy in the galley diving into the food storage and cooking it up. A vitally tasty and important task as we needed to use up the fresh food -- much of the fresh stuff wouldn't make the hot, long drive back down through the mountains.

When I heard that a truck was taking the luggage I did not have this in mind, as it turned out though, by the time everything was loaded the truck was full!! We have a lot of stuff!! 

The landrovers were driven back the ship by the families while the rest of us rode in two buses.  

Much excitement filled the buses as everyone was really happy to be moving back onboard. By the time we arrived at the shipyard our excitement had wilted somewhat -- the afternoon sun flooded through the windows as the bus desperately climbed over and down the hills. Even though the landrovers left almost an hour after us many of them caught up and passed us.    

Almost "home" ;)

Absolutely everything had to be lugged up this gangway!!! Certainly brought a bit of meaning to the saying "Many hands make light work" ... but even so... yeah, it was still heavy!!

The view outside has changed quite drastically from that at Appelsbosch.

And now to find my white duvet amongst all the other white duvets... this took awhile. 

The cafe area was jam packed with our stuff. Amazing how quickly a tidy location can become such a disaster. But within a few hours it was back to normal, surprisingly. 

So, this is it -- my home sweet home, the one and only ten-berth cabin, I'll be here for the remainder of my stay. It's actually quite nice and has two portholes to see out of, whereas many cabins have none... so I'm really happy!




...But that was all yesterday. Today is Sunday and I've just spent the whole afternoon acquainting myself with the ship's galley and trying to make myself useful in the process -- probably appearing quite bewildered and lost looking to be honest. The galley here is quite different actually than the one we just left. Though drastically smaller it is very functional. A long, hot, low-ceilinged room filled to the brim all sorts of kitchen stuff. It's going to take some time to get used to the layout, but I'm sure the time to do so will be found in abundance. 

A hike up the hill.

Surprisingly the rain seems rather distant this week, making for a lovely day to hike up the hill behind Appelsbosch yesterday. Well, if the truth be told I was a bit hessitant to hike through the grass and rocks, and did so while instinctively listening for rattles. That of course was silly, in my mind I knew that if a deadly snake came my way there would be no rattles at all. But habits are hard to break, so I kept listening. It was a beautiful day. On the top of the hill we came across some cows that were staked out in the grass eating for all they were worth.

 The bugs are incredible. The one above was huge and looked like an oversized yellow wasp. They were jumping all throughout the grass. We also came across some fairly smooth boulders (or so I thought), but a closer look revealed that they were actually homes to busy communities of ants swarming everywhere.



The view from the top of the hill was lovely, truly a birdseye view of the surrounding area. Many many farms. Pretty much all the roads up here in the mountains are dirt ones, most people walk everywhere. The pace of life is therefore quite relaxed, a lot of singing can be heard as people walk from place to place so it's a happy place. 



 



SA Shipyard

Spent the day away from the galley at the one and only South Africa Shipyard, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning... and exploring a bit.



A neighboring little boat, incredible to see all sorts of boats and ships in the shipyard... it is a huge place!! Three entire warehouses devoted to the export locations for sugar sugar and sugar. Not to mention all the other warehouses scattered everywhere. It's a rather stinky place, salty fuel fumes fill the humid air.  





Not going anywhere!!




April (my roommate), Selvanus (the new chef) and I took our day off from work to work. An hours drive away from Appelsbosch found us on the ship doing just that, working. We totally cleaned and moved the HR offices from floors to ceilings and lugged file cabinets from deck to deck.




This wall was sparkling clean by the time I was done attacking it with clorox.





All the signs I've seen so far have running people on them (Hmm, what is this supposed to mean?). 





Trucks parked up on top of the ship.






Lifeboats, all ready for us.

 


Every deck is extremely full and busy with people getting the ship ready for sail, there's an amazing amount of work needing completion but everyone is on the same page and working together as fast as possible to make it happen.