A visit to the Babies home

Last Friday, 6 September, I went with a group of people from the ship to the Nou Nou babies home in Pointe Noire. The home caters for babies and children from birth to about 5 years old who have been abandoned. There were three lovely ladies on staff looking after about 16 children, the majority of which were under 18 months old. Sadly, there were three really little ones, less than a month old.

I wasn't really sure why I went. If I'm honest, part of the reason was because I had to participate in three different sites as part of the course requirements from Texas. And this particular Ministry site fitted in with my schedule.

However, I did kind of wonder what I was doing as we drove there.  I had to psych up to prepare actually and there was a fair amount of silent prayer in the car. What would I find? How would I react? What was I supposed to do? Notice all the i's. Of course, it wasn't about me at all. All I needed to do was be obedient, go and be present. So that's what I did.

Well, the babies and carers were mainly in two rooms within a complex.  The little ones held up their arms straight away ready to be picked up and cuddled.  The little guy who jumped into my arms was called Owen. He spent the first few minutes snuggled in like a baby koala.  My doubts melted away as I cuddled him back. I discovered he was seriously ticklish and had a huge smile. He also loved to play with the foam blocks and balls we brought with us.  I had a little bit of playtime with the other children as Owen stayed steadfastly on my lap or snuggled into my shoulder. I wondered what I had to offer him for these few hours? I'm not sure how he ended up at Nou Nou as I didn't ask. Somehow it didn't seem important or as important as just loving him for the time that we were there. Interestingly, when we went outside to play on the slide, Owen detached himself and started playing with the other kids and visitors on the slide. Perhaps that was all he needed - a cuddle and a few games on the floor. Is that why I was brought here?

Little Owen and I

I think it is easy anywhere to get caught up in worrying about the future all the time. We are always looking ahead - trying to plan our lives down to the last detail, making the most of our time. What if, making the most of my time that day was holding that little guy and showing him that he is loved? Was that good use of my time? Absolutely.  It reminds me of the story of the starfish by Loren Eiseley:


"While wandering a deserted beach at dawn, stagnant in my work, I saw a man in the distance bending and throwing as he walked the endless stretch toward me. As he came near, I could see that he was throwing starfish, abandoned on the sand by the tide, back into the sea. When he was close enough I asked him why he was working so hard at this strange task. He said that the sun would dry the starfish and they would die. I said to him that I thought he was foolish. there were thousands of starfish on miles and miles of beach. One man alone could never make a difference. He smiled as he picked up the next starfish. Hurling it far into the sea he said, "It makes a difference for this one." I abandoned my writing and spent the morning throwing starfish.” 


I think it made a difference to Owen.

Jack Bennett's Questions - Patient Selection Day

The son of one of our supporters asked a few questions last week so rather than just sending him back an email I thought I’d add the answers into a blog. So Jack Bennett, son of Paul Bennett, here are the answers to some of your questions.

Do we carry a team of doctors?

We have several long-term crew who are doctors. One of these is designated the crew doctor and his primary role is catering for the health and medical needs of the crew. He does however assist in such events as patient selection, which happened last week. Also amongst the long-term crew is the Chief Medical Officer – Dr Gary Parker (pictured below on the left during patient selection) – who came to Mercy Ships 26 years ago for three months and never left. He is a maxillofacial surgeon.

The head dentist is also a long-term crewmember and leads the Dental team during Outreach. We also have a couple of long term Optometrists and lots of nurses. The majority of the Doctors (Surgeons, Anaesthetists, Ophthalmologists) and Dentists serve as short term crew and come for anywhere from a couple of weeks to many months. Patients are selected during patient selection to match the availability and skills of the surgeons onboard at various times during the Outreach.

Does the whole ships company get involved in the medical effort?

Yes they do. The biggest day of the Outreach is Patient Selection or Patient Screening Day (called different things in different countries to cater for cultural sensitivities). This happened last week and involved all crew who could be spared, including students from the Academy from Grades 6 and above.

Screening days can attract many thousands of people some who are desperate to be seen for what might be their only chance ever of life saving or life changing surgery. So there is a requirement for security, drivers, patient escorts, food and water providers, people to run kids programs, medical screeners, data collectors and the hardest job of all, people to pray with those we cannot help. The ship specializes in certain surgeries and there are some patients who we just cannot treat due to the nature of their conditions or diseases. This is a heart breaking task and in my opinion the team who sit with these people and pray with and for them have the hardest job of the day. Some of the surgeries that the ship does specialise in are maxillofacial surgeries, burn contractures, cleft lips, vesicovaginal fistulas, clubbed hands and clubbed feet, cataracts and correction of cross eyedness. Some potential candidates for surgery are pictured below.

The dental and eye clinics will have regular screening days through the Outreach and there may be secondary general medical screening days in outlying regions. Our son Jack (aged 12) attended Patient Selection and handed out water all day. In 12 hours 4236 potential patients were selected for either further testing or surgery from an estimated 7354 that lined up.

As an engineer I got to help set up the pneumatic air distribution for the dental clinic where up to nine dentists can work at once. The Chief Electrician also set up a back up generator to the town supply for the dental clinic. And of course now the surgeries have started this week everyone onboard has a role in keeping the hospital running, whether it is the engineers keeping all the services running or the teachers educating the children of long-term crew so their parents can carry out critical roles onboard. The ship is like a body with many parts all of which are important to it functioning correctly.

Did we have to have special training?

We do have some special training but not much. All merchant navy deck and engineer officers have to do a one-week Proficiency in First Aid Course and the Chief Officer (XO in Navy lingo) and Master (Captain) do an additional Advanced First Aid course. However on this ship we are the least likely mariners ever to have to use these skills. There would be at least 50 more experienced and competent people than me to stitch up a wound on this ship before I was asked to have a go! Mercy Ships does teach a half day Crowd Management course to all long term crew which helps in managing screening/selection day. And all long term crew (those staying longer than 24 months) undertake a five week training course in Texas at the Mercy Ships International Operations Center to prepare them for serving onboard.