Veloma Madagascar

I left the ship two days ago and it feels like I have gone on a day trip from the ship. In my mind I know that I am going home. Both don’t seem real on the one hand I feel like I will be back on the ship soon and on the other I know I am going to see my family soon. I think that once I see my family it will help this all set in. It was the same way when I arrived on the ship it wasn’t until I was onboard a couple days that reality set in. 

I knew that I had good friends onboard and that they meant a lot, but I never realized how much they had impacted my life. Relationships onboard develop quickly and you become so close, and then it was time to leave and I realized I love these people they mean the world to me. I got many letters, hugs, and words of encouragement and they care so much for me as I do for them. As you may read this it may sound absurd, you make question me on how I am able to feel such strong emotions for my group of friends in such a short time but when your family is absent you make your own. The letters that were given to me touched my heart and I will never forget how you all impacted my life. 

Saying the goodbyes were tough and when it all sets in it will be some adjusting for me, but I now have friends from all over the world that I must go see again! Everyone on the ship is in my thoughts and prayers. However in just 15 hours I get to see my family again which I am very much looking forward too. 

I left the ship on Saturday morning at 6:30am where I took an 11 hour bus ride to Tana it was a nice ride, Madagascar is so beautiful. The pictures I have taken don't even show half of the beauty! I spent the night in Tana and the next afternoon flew out of Tana to Johannesburg. When I arrived Johannesburg I was asked if I was willing to stay the night and collect 250 Pounds. I opted not stay the night as once I start travelling I just want to get it over and done with, especially as Madagascar is so far away. I have 25 hours of just straight flying, excluding the time for layovers. I was able to get on my flight to London, we took off almost an hour late that didn't bother me as it just took some time off my 12 hour layover in London. I debated whether I should go and explore London while I had the time, but then I heard it was 3 degrees with 15 km/h. Yes, I know that isn't that cold, but remember I am used to summer, and just the night before I had been shivering in my hoodie with 20 degree weather in Tana. It has been a nice time of relaxing, processing my trip, and catching up on some reading. 

These awesome people got up at 6am to see me off!

Tana Airport!

I now just have one more 10 hour fight home! 

A Fancy Pants Dinner

With just two nights left in my bunk, my bags half packed and good bye notes written you would think that it has set in I am leaving. Yes, I have moments where the reality sets in but then I am off running to dinner or sharing cheesecake with my roommates. On the other hand I have gone the motions of leaving so I would just like to leave and start the crazy long journey home! But, when I think on the past two days the great memories that I was still able to have with my friends was fantastic!

Fancy Pants Dinner - Dressed up in the fanciest clothes we had on the ship, we headed out for an amazing dinner off ship! It was a great night with friends, and the zebu was amazing. 

Willeke, one of my roommates, makes a cake whenever one of our roommates leaves and now it was my turn. Tonight, my cabin mates and I dug into this amazing cheesecake. We literally dug in as the graham was too thin so we couldn't scoop out of the pan! 

I know I need to go home and back to work! Exciting news I was accepted at UFV for a Business Degree in the fall although in the past couple of weeks I haven't felt like that is what I want or should study anymore. I don't know if that is because I am here and disconnected from life at home, or in actuality it is that I am no longer interested in that type of study. Either way September seem like months off but it is not at all. So going home will give me the chance to figure it out; for instance what I want to study or if I even want to still study. I feel like I will still end up studying as an education is never wasted, the question is just what am I going to study. This time away from home has allowed me to learn lessons that I would have never been open to learning home, now being without my security blanket I learned to just let myself feel, that it is ok not to be ok and let others help me through what I am going through. Opening doors to careers I never thought possible before.

I don't think that I can ever put into words how much this experience has impacted me. I want to thank everyone who encouraged, prayed, sent packages, cards, and donated giving me an opportunity to come here. Not only did I have the chance to in some small way to help the Malagasy people, but they changed me through their words and love. THANK YOU to whom ever you may be, I can never thank you enough for what you have done for me giving me this life changing experience!

Last Day in the Galley

As per galley tradition on your last day water is dumped on you. Yesterday, all day I knew what was going to happen it was just a matter of when. I am the only crew girl on the team so with 5 guy crew I could easily be over powered by them, so there was no chance for me to fight this fate I just had to accept. Around 4:30, I was washing the tilt skillets and all the crew and day crew seemed to have disappear so I knew they were all plotting against me. One of the day crew asked me if they could take a picture with me and I knew it was going downhill from here! Emma took a picture and then Joel took my hat, shoved an egg on my head and then dumped water on me. Ben, my team leader acted all surprised like he hadn't planned this at all, and it was disgusting that they put and egg in my hair. Ben asked if we could help carry the white compost buckets down to the dock, but there wasn't one for me to carry. Joel was like just come along anyway it will be nice, as we are walking down the gangway he puts his arm around me and says how much he's going to miss me. One second he is telling me how sad he is to see me go and then next he is dumping flour on my head, and Belinda is pouring water on me. The entire galley team gets to the bottom of the gang way and Robbie gives me a hug or so I thought but he was actually holding me so I wouldn't run away. Next thing I know they have opened the compost buckets that they have filled with water and dump 5 of them on me and then some more flour. It was a great send off from the galley! Everyone on the dock was just staring because I don't think they know the galley tradition so they were all a little confused. After being egged and floured I then had to climb the gang way and walk through the dining room I looked hilarious bits of egg shells stuck in my hair! Even after I showered and used more than my allotted 2 minute shower time I still found flour and egg and stuck in my hair!

I loved working in the galley! The crew and day crew is was what made the job so bearable on the awful days and filled it will fun, joy, and great memories! I couldn't have asked for a better team to work with! I will never forget you all!

How About a Reality Check?

"Marlayna, you're leaving."

"What do you mean? Of course, I am leaving I can't be here forever."

"No, you're leaving in just a few days, less than a week!"

This is the conversations that I have had with many people as well as in my head on a daily basis.

I am leaving the Africa Mercy in just a handful of days. I don't want to say back to reality, or back to normal as I have found normal here. Being on the ship really secludes you from the rest of the world I couldn't tell you what is happening at home or anywhere else in the world. I am in a community of people who can relate what I am going through and spend my days with. I am so looking forward to seeing my family in the airpot and giving them all a hug.

What about all my friends here? I am so sad to leave them here and even if I don't see them again they needed to be in my life through this experience. They helped me learn many lessons, helped and encouraged me through the bad days and most of all loved and laughed with me. I have such an amazing group of people here I was able to share this journey with. So even if they were just a part of my life for these short months I will treasure their friendship and the memories that we made together.

Surgery

This past week I had the opportunity to observe a tumour removed from a patients throat! It was an incredible experience as I stood right next to the surgeon as he operated. He answered any questions and explained the procedure as it he went. The tumour that was removed was the size of baseball, there was a bulge in the patients neck but the tumour didn't look that large until after it had been removed. The surgeon was surprised at the size of the tumour, as they kept finding more of it. Being allowed to have the chance to observe this surgery has been a highlight of my trip, as being in the galley you sometimes forget about what is happening 3 decks below you. I can get so focused on preparing dinner and stressing because our shipment didn't come in so I have to try make a salad with eggplant and celery root. Now stepping back observing this surgery it brings everything back into perspective again. Everyone on the ship has an essential role that without the surgeons couldn't operate and change lives. I may be a couple decks above in the galley but I still am helping contribute  to those life changing experiences. So even on the tough days in the galley it was all worth it because of what was happening in the operating rooms. 

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

9 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.  10For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.

This verses speaks about teamwork and Mercy Ships is a team because without the doctors we couldn't operate, without the nurses who would care for the patients, and without the day crew who would translate. These are just a few examples but we needed!  

A Touching Moment

A moment that touched my heart!

Every afternoon the patients that are able go up to Deck 7. They get the chance to run around, play and get some fresh air. Yesterday, I just happened to be leaving the crew galley as the patients were coming down the stairs. One adorable girl came running down the stairs and seeing me rushed over to me and wrapped her arms around me in a huge hug! She let go, gave me quick grin and went down the rest of the stairs to the hospital. This little girl was probably about 4, I had never visited her down on the ward before but she gave me this awesome hug. This quick hug from her in the hallway meant so much! I don't know whether she mistook me for someone else, but either way that was the highlight of my day! I am going to go see if I can find her on the ward, even if I don't it was moment that filled me with joy.

Ship Struggles

The entire time I have been in Madagascar I haven't figured out how to make this experience relatable to everyone back home. I mainly have posted about the highlights of the week, adventures, or amazing experiences what I haven't mentioned are the days where I questioned myself as to why I came here, if the stress of the day worth it, if I should have made this trek across the world. The days of stress, homesickness, regret and questioning where all worth it now as I can look back, what makes this experience so challenging is that your security system that I have in place at home is gone. I have made my own security system here will my friends, and they have filled the place of my family for a short while.

Respect Mercy Ships Core Values in their service and employment.

• Love God,

• Love and serve others,

• Be people of integrity, and.

• Be people of excellence in all we say and do.

These core values were good reminders for me not only on the good days where it easy to remember why I was here, but on the days when I really questioned what I was doing on a ship in Madagascar! A lot of this trip was being out of my comfort zone and when making decisions not thinking about much it terrified me to go even though I knew would enjoy it. For me making the first step couple steps where the hardest, but once I made the first few steps it would too late to turn back so I would have to put my fears and concerns behind me and just enjoy it! 

One of the toughest parts of being here is saying goodbye to someone you have become close with, and the next day the new arrivals are here trying to make friends and fit in. I really struggled with this at the beginning of January. I said goodbye to one of my really good friends, and he had just been gone 24 hours and someone new is trying to be my friend. In my mind I'm thinking I haven't even had the chance to process that he's gone, just leave me alone please, I don't want to be your friend. However this new arrival is trying so hard to fit in and feel welcome, and confused as to why I am being stand offish. To this day I struggle to be friendly to this new guy, because in my heart it feels like he's intruding on the memory of my old friend, but in reality he's just trying to feel at home. It has been over a month and half and on a daily basis I have to remind myself to include him, be friendly, and make a point to have a conversation with him. It isn't this guys' fault that my friend left and he arrived the next day, it just the circumstances and part of ship life. 

I don't know how to put this into words or explain it well, my bunkmate posted about the same thing and is letting me leave the link to her blog. She does a much better job of putting into words the experience of people coming and going! So check out her post! Locks and Locks of Love

Cultural Differences, Good Byes, and a Snap Shots of the Week

It's a Cultural Thing:

On the Africa Mercy, 30 plus nationalities come together. Coming with there own points of view and ideas. As you get to know people the cultural differences become apparent. For instance physical contact. some of my friends give me a hug every time they see me even if it was just an hour ago, and there is others who shy away from hugs.

After Christmas Willeke, was feeling like she had eaten way to much, she was debating if she should go on a diet. Then a couple days later one of the Malagasy day crew came up to her and said you look fat. Willeke decided yes she needed to go on this diet. So a few weeks into this diet, yet again one of the day crew told her she looks fat yet again, and here she had been eating salads, and passing up on pasta and sweets. Later on, what we learned was that telling someone that they are fat is a compliment. We chatted with some other ladies on the ship they had also heard this comment and were also asked how they were becoming fat. This idea is just crazy for us from the western world as we try to stay in shape, slim down and not gain extra weight.


Veloma - Good Bye

In less than 3 weeks I will have said hugged, cried, waved goodbye, drove 8 hours, spent the night in Tana, boarded multiple flights, arrived in frigid Vancouver, hugged my family, and slept in my own bed for the first time in months. My time in Madagascar is quickly coming to an end the past 3 months have flown by and the next 2.5 weeks are going to pass in a flash. With so little time left I feel like I am already starting to say goodbye as I know that somethings I am doing will be for the last time.

Am I sad to leave? Hmm...a couple weeks ago I was honestly considering staying longer as  I was not ready to say good bye. Whether I leave at my original departure date or extend 2 months either way I have to say good bye. Sunday evening, I FaceTimed my family and realized it is time for me to come home. Being on this ship tucked away off the coast of Madagascar you are totally separated from the rest of the world, so when I chatted with my family I realized time for me to come home and connect with my family and the rest of the world. Now I am not focusing on saying goodbye to my Mercy Ship Family, but seeing my family's faces in the airpot.

I am at peace about leaving as my adventure here is ending, and for a new one will start back home.


The Past Week

Typically I have been posting about twice a week, but I realize that it has been more than a week since wrote about visiting the Hope Centre. Since I have been lacking I will give you a recap of my last week, mostly in picture form.

Last week Wednesday, I had a bad day so I got two of my roommates to join me while I made cookies, it was a great way to end a bad day. It was nice to have there company we made these white chocolate chip cookies, and then passed them out to our roommates and people we just met in the hallway. People love fresh cookies, you can buy cookies in the Ship Shop but they have been sitting in a container for far to long and are a tad stale! 

Shanna proving she is Canadian strong!

I just happened to run into Pedro as he was on duty for the evening, he gave me his hard hat and pager. I have now switched departments to deck, well just for 20 minutes. :) I was surprised how quickly he handed over his pager and hard hat, I guess being on duty for the night you are more than happy to pass the pager to someone else.

These are all my roommates! Yes, there is 10 of us! Katrin, on the bottom left left on Saturday so that was another sad goodbye. People come and go here so quickly but the goodbyes don't get any easier.

I spent Saturday at Ocean 501 with 3 of my friends. I however didn't go swimming as my past beach adventures have ended up with terrible sunburns. Instead I slathered myself in sunscreen and sat in the sand with my book. It was great to get off the ship for the day grab some pizza at a local restaurant, relax on the beach with a book, and visit the local markets. 

Sunday, I worked for Willeke it was one of the best days of work I have had here. Fredric made a cloth into a smiling face, he refused to be in the picture. 

In the picture above, I am a "prisoner". Gino locked me in the dish pit he made a wall with jugs of soap and trolley, he told me I was not allowed to leave until all the dishes in the galley had been cleaned. If I finished washing all the dishes before he was back from the market I could start scrubbing the floor with a tooth brush. Moments like these are what break up the day, and the day crew are just a joy to work with, and help the time to pass quickly!

Eunice (left) and Shanna (right) where going on a biking adventure in the downpour last night. Shanna happens to be from Chilliwack and lives just 10 mins away from me. What are the chances that we would meet in Africa and not only that be end up in the same room as bunk mates! 

Just a glimpse of my life the past few days! Life on the ship is never dull, and there is always people milling around inviting you to join in on there fun. I am sorry if you find this post a little to all over the map, but I thought I would give you an update on what my life has been like the past week.

A Day Full of Joy

This afternoon I visited the Hope Centre with Luke and Will, it was a great way to spend my afternoon. The Hope Centre is the out patient faculty that allows patients to grow stronger before they travel home or before surgery. I had one of the patients on my back and he wouldn't let go, every time I tried to put him down he just held on tighter. We played some board games, pass the ball and even soccer. The kids just love you hanging all over you, holding your hand, hugging you, and so happy that it just brightened my day.

Preparing dinner for the Hope Centre.

Luke asked me to take a picture of him with these boys and they were super excited to see the picture that was taken of them. Just a few minutes before they were tackling Luke to the ground and now attentively looking at a picture.

This evening we had a bonfire on the beach as one of my roommates is leaving this weekend. 

Luke built this great fire but then realized that if the fire got any bigger we would catch one of the huts on the beach on fire. So rather than burning down someones home we moved down the beach.

We managed to get our car stuck in the sand.

What an amazing evening it started to rain soon after we arrived! After standing in the rain for an hour it was time to head in as the fire wasn't fighting off the cold. I know that by Canadian standards it wasn't cold at all, but I have acclimated to this humid heat so yes I was shivering. 

Pineapple Wars!?!

So working in the galley...

The galley is a crazy place to work for example we like to serve lots of fresh fruit! Last week we received a huge shipment of pineapples in and wanted to serve them for dinner, but when we serve fruit we want to have enough for everyone on the ship. This means that large amounts of pineapple, papaya, banana, soursop, watermelon and passion fruit must be set out. Otherwise the people who come early to dinner get all the fruit and the late comers don't get any, which isn't fair.

Back to the pineapple, we had just gotten a large shipment of pineapple in and needed it cut for dinner. Will and Nash both work cold side with me, and we started cutting pineapple. Soon Nash began struggling, the pineapple was not cooperating for him at all and it was stressing him out. A couple minutes later he launches into a story about how he shouldn't have to cut pineapple after what he had to endure in the Pineapple War of '08. Will and I curious as what had actually happened and a tad bemused began to question him. Nash said that the pineapples led a revolution and took him captive as an example for the rest of his state. When we asked more about this war, Nash responded that he was to traumatized to speak more about it. He also thought this was good enough reason to be exempt from cutting pineapple. Sadly this tale did nothing to sway the decision that he had to cut pineapple, instead it became mandatory counselling so he could over come this tragic experience. By the end day he had "defeated" his fears and was on the road to recovery.

The galley can be a very stressful place to work, because strangely people want to eat dinner every night and on time. On a typical day we are 10 steps behind rushing to get everything done, but some days we are 30 steps behind scrambling to get things done. Somehow not matter if our shipment arrived  2 hours late, the salad didn't turn out, we ran out of mozzarella cheese for the pizzas, or the ovens don't work we manage to get the meal out. So moments like the one above break up the day but working in the galley is a very rewarding job.

Where the Adventurous Heart Leads!

 I have spent way to much time on ship in the past little while. Yes, I have been off ship in the evenings but I wanted the chance to explore Tamatave. I wanted an adventure! On Friday night, I was chatting with some friends and we were trying to figure out what to do the next day. We all agreed that we wanted to do something adventurous. The plan was to meet at 8:30 in the dining room after we had eaten breakfast. The next morning 8:30 rolls around and only half of our group is together keep in mind that this is Africa, so we run on laid back schedule. Before we could even leave Nash and Will bailed on the trip as they were sick. By the time we left it was 9 o'clock we walked to the port gate and grapped a tuk-tuk to the Pangalanes Canals Pier.

We wanted to take a boat downstream for a couple hours, spend the day in a local village, and catch a boat back to Tamatave. Pedro and Eunice practiced there French skills with the locals bargaining for our boat. We soon learned that there would be no returning boat later in the afternoon, but we could possibly walk back if we wanted. After talking it over we decided to travel two hours down the canal to what they called an oasis and would figure out a way home later. 

Eunice, Shanna, and I. Shanna just happens to be hairdresser onboard and is from Chilliwack! What are the chances, that would not only end up in the same cabin but as bunkies! 

Since we had some time to kill before the boat would leave, decided to go to the local market. 

The meat in the markets is disgusting, surrounded by flies and sitting in the hot Malagasy sun!

Eunice was hungry so tried some Malagasy noodles and soup, it was delicious.

The local kids were fascinated with us, we took pictures and then would show them and they loved it. However, when Pedro tried to talk to the kids they were scared because they are told that if they don't go to the sleep the "vazaha" or white man will come and take them. When Pedro even looks in the direction of the young children they will start crying. 

Off we go! Loading the boat, the engine of course didn't work right away so we just floated down the river for awhile. Every time they would get the engine running it would just stall again, after 10 mins of working on the engine we were finally off. No, this does not mean we were moving fast at all, but we were moving. 

Two hours later, we arrived in the village of Tapaklia. 

We wanted to make sure that we had a way home, so we chatted with some of the locals. They told us that there would be no boats coming until Sunday morning, and drew a map of the path we could take  walking back.

If you look closely at this picture, on the right hand side of the page you might see a cluster of white right above the ocean that is the Tamatave Port.

We spent an hour enjoying the ocean it was amazing after the trip down the canal it was super refreshing. We just started walking down the beach with no real plan in mind except to head towards the ship. We walked down the beach for two hours it was amazing we don't really know how far we walked, but we think at least 12 kms. 

When we reached the outskirts of Tamatave we grabbed a pousse-pousse and headed towards the boat. 

This wasn't one of our pousse-pousses that we were taking back, but it was just sitting along the side of the road.

On the ride back to the port Eunice fell asleep she managed to get out of the pousse-pousse before falling back asleep, while we waited for Shanna and Pedro.

We are home!

I am so glad that I got off the ship and went on this adventure!