Sunday, March 30, 2008

The Africa Mercy in all her glory

Here are a few pics of the Africa Mercy.
This a view of the ship from the end of the dock.
The laundry. Pretty self-explanatory. Remember, though, that because of water restrictions we only got to do one load a week. It's hot and muddy in Liberia, which means your clothes get pretty dirty every time you walk off the gangway. That load also includes scrubs for work and any clothes you wear to work out. Thank goodness for Febreeze!


Mmmmmmmmm....Starbucks. It's closed in this pic, but still provides plenty of tables to hang out. There was always black coffee available in the dining hall 24 hr. a day. Another small thing to be grateful for.


The internet cafe. There was also wireless available in the midships lounge and the dining hall.
A portion of the midships lounge. This is sort of the family room of the ship. We used it for watching movies on laptops, emailing, reading, devotions, playing games, Bible studies and just hanging out.

This is the Africa Mercy on the right and the Anastasis on the left. The Ana sailed away about two weeks after I arrived. She was sailed to India and sold as scrap after many years of service. She was originally a beautiful cruise liner and then when she was old and worn out, she was rehabed to become a hospital ship for many more years. The ship has nearly 25 Land Rovers as well to navigate the roads and country side. I'll add some pics of the road another day. I'm proud to say that this picture was taken by a fellow crew member from Michigan.

The last 2 pictures are the berth I shared with Kassi, from Canada. I was on the bottom. Take not of the fact that this was all of the space the two of us could call our own. Really the only place each crew member could consider their own space was their bunk. Even then, mine was Kassi's stepstool to hers. Also note the fact that it's so small that I was standing against the far wall of the hallway in our cabin and still had to take 2 pics to get the whole space in b/c it was too small to get a full view in one shot. We each had one side of the closet.