November 2016 - Benin

We have now been in Benin for 14 weeks and life has normalised. Plastics has finished for the moment and Orthopaedics has started. This means our good friends Frank and Kathleen Hayden from Colorado are onboard for 5 weeks. The torrential rain of October has passed and November has been quite dry.

Tammy chose to finish up in Supply after almost two years and has been helping with a stocktake in Hospital Supply before doing a few special projects for the Ops Director. Her intensive French course at Institute Français is almost done and she has made great progress.And we got a new hairdresser onboard!

Mick has been very busy as Second Engineer, particularly as no new Third Engineer has arrived yet. During the month the ship bunkered 200,000 litres of fuel again and thankfully the fuel company brought a better pump so it only took 10 hours this time. He dived only once this month but led the dive due to the team leader dropping out on the morning of the dive with a cold.  All went well though the baskets (Bangkok strainers) were pretty dirty. We also conducted two main propulsion tests both of which went well with only a few minor issues to be corrected.

As part of our Thursday Community meetings, we have the opportunity every second week to make a donation towards a charity or cause. Mick proposed the École Clément Magnenat - a local school for impoverished children - which he had visited and it was approved. So two weeks ago he gave a presentation on this and the crew donated over $2000. We are planning to try and visit the school as a family with a few friends in the next month or so.

Mick has continued to ride his bikes on the weekends when he can. There is a bakery somewhere on the road to Ouidah about 18 km from the ship so he has taken to riding there and buying baguettes from the women beside the road. They are far cheaper here (100 CFA each - about 20 cents - and fresher). One of his cycling buddies - Courtney from Milwaukee - left this month which was a downer.

We had a great weekend stay at Bab's Dock. Mick rode out and back on his bike and the rest of the family took a taxi. The little sailing boat was serviceable and so Mick took all three boys out. He spent 5 hours sailing over the two days with both Harry and Mark having multiple turns, practicing steering and controlling the main sheet. We were blessed to have two great couples also staying there - Nick & Susan and Harmen & Andrea.

A highlight for Jack was the arrival of his new quadcopter which is huge. He had a mini quadcopter which he could fly very well and literally land on a drink coaster. The skill has translated well and he has had several successful flights. Next he is looking for a First Person View (FPV) camera to mount on it.

An additional highlight this month was the (non-resident) Australian Ambassador to Benin, who is also the High Commissioner to Nigeria, coming to visit the ship. This was the first time we have had an Australian Ambassador or High Commissioner for a country we are serving in, able to visit. With almost 50 Australians onboard, we are actually the largest single group of Australians in the 5 West African countries he covers and the second largest nationality serving in the ship too after the Americans. More awesome was that he had some discretionary Australian aid money that he was able to use to sponsor the ponseti (club foot) program, gave much needed blood in the 4 hours he was here (B+) and is formerly from AUSAID - so he has a heart for Humanitarian work.  And he is also the non resident Ambassador to Cameroon, our next country. It was a fantastic blessing for the Aussies onboard and we were lucky enough to be invited to the lunch held in his honour - with pavlova for dessert!

We are currently committed to serve until December 2017 when we need to make some decisions about extending or coming "home". Jack will be about to start Years 11 and 12 back home in 2018 which he needs to do in one location. However at present all three boys are very settled in the school and life onboard. And sometime in 2018 Mercy Ships will commission the new ship however transition plans for the Academy are not yet known. Plus there are several long term crew benefits that are linked to us extending beyond 2017. Please pray for clarity in making the wise choice.

Please also pray for Tammy to see clearly for direction to choose where to work onboard. She has many opportunities but needs to choose something that both energises her but also allows her to prioritise our family.

That was November.

Cheers, and Blessings,

Mick, Tammy, Jack, Mark and Harry