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A Hospital Open Celebration!
Our Malagasy clothes
Hospital open day for crew had some fun activities. eg above is operation on an apple
Our CET scanner is one of the few in the country
Jon - In May we saw several key issues resolved which enabled surgeries to commence on May27th. There was a lot of prayer and celebration around the hospital opening. An official ceremony was attended by a significant number of Toamasina officials and community leaders.
Prior to the surgery start non-medical crew enjoyed an hospital "open day" where we got to see all the departments and what they do.
They had some fun activities setup to make it more interesting. It was good to see places like hospital sterilisation and the pathology lab which I had never been in before.
Coinciding with the opening of the hospital was the opening of the Hope Centre. That is a renovated building in Toamasina hospital complex that is the base for paitents before and after surgery if they need to stay nearby and they come from elsewhere. It has about 200 beds for patients and caregivers. Patients and caregivers have their travel and meals provided for by Mercy Ships. There is a team of Malagsy day crew who act as Chaplains for the patients.
Speaking of day crew, the number of local day crew engaged has increased to almost 240. Keeping me busy paying them a stipend every two weeks. Another challenge this month was going to the bank to collect the cash to replenish the crew bank with local currency. After a two hours, the armed convoy escorted us back to the ship with three suitcases of low value notes. It was an experience.
Ruth - The Academy has had challenges with staffing due to sickness like Covid. There are no relief teachers to be called on so if any teacher is unwell then others have to stretch to fill the roles. Please pray for this over the next few weeks as we are down a few teachers for the next 10 days. I had a visit to a local international school a few weeks ago - it was fun for students to mix with others their age and play. I enjoyed sitting on grass, seeing trees and breathing fresh air.
We had a two nights away during the month. We went 50kms to Foulpointe but it took nearly 4 hours as the roads were bad. Constant potholes. It was great to get away from our cabin and to sleep somewhere different. Four photos from the Foulpointe trip follow.
50kms took 4 hours!
Foulpointe Fort - it has old canons all around the fort
Beach at Foulpointe
Foulpointe Hospital
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