Monday, November 26, 2007

Bong Mine Ride - November 24th





6:30 am









Outskirts of Monrovia





Children ran to wave









We had a break when the train engine water cooling sprung a leak.











Remains of Bong mine.

The scrap metal is begin collected and carted back to Monrovia to be sold.



Look closely and you can see the Rover on the beach.

The lake was part of the strip mine before it was filled up with rain water.

The water was warm and clean - and most of all it was quite.


Climbing and then jumping off the rock.



Exploring further the road was another lake.





Rain




Making the best of the Bong mine junk yard and VW bugs.



Heading back







Home sweet home


Wednesday, November 21, 2007

The last few weeks in November


November has never been this warm for me. The rainy season ended over a month ago, and it's becoming warmer and warmer. The temperature reached 29C today, and the humidity made the air heavy.


This past Saturday, I was planning on going to the Bong Mine. It’s was a profitable iron ore mine before the civil war, and hasn’t operated since the conflict started. Our ship is next to the ore dock that loaded the ore on to freighters. A 80km rail line links the mine to the port. As has been done previously by many others on the ship, we drive to the train loading area and drive our Rover’s on to the train car. People can stay in the vehicle or sit outside, usually on top of the truck. Unfortunately, the train had broken down at the mine the previous day. Here more information on the Bong mine area. http://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/trains/liberia01.htm

A small group agreeing that we all need some time off the ship, so we visited the one million acre Firestone rubber plantation, Wuliku Farm, and finally Elwa beach.

A few pictures while driving around:




A gas station. There are a few modern fuel stations, however all around are stores as this. They sell the fuel in the small jars you see on the concrete.





There is lots of furniture for sale - it's usually made right behind the main street store front.


Wikipedia states:
Firestone Rubber Company
In 1923, the Firestone Rubber Company explored the possibilities of establishing a rubber plantation in Liberia. In fact, the conditions in Liberia are ideal for rubber trees. In 1926, the Firestone Rubber Company obtained a concession which gave it the right to lease up to 1 million acres (4,000 km²) for 99 years. With this leased land, Firestone created the world's largest plantation at Harbel, Liberia. Exportation of rubber from the new Firestone plantations began in 1934 and rubber quickly became the backbone of the Liberian economy. This was a great economic boon for Liberia due to the creation of 25,000 jobs.









Lunch break

I don't know how the plantation has changed through the years, I was told there are now 100,000 workers. The rubber from the trees drips into a bucket, much as maple syrup would. The Firestone plantations use a special bucket to hold the raw rubber. The bottom of the bucket has a dent rising upward. This is done to ‘mark’ the raw rubber chuck as property of Firestone and reduce stealing. It’s illegal in Liberia for any other plantations to use such a bucket. Oh, also the rubber in this raw form smells like rotting flesh.

Wuliku Farm

This animal farm, to us it’s a mini zoo.























Elwa beach This beach is a favourite beach among the crew. The currents are slow, and the water clean. The water was at least 80F.


Today I’m helping a crew member, Carl, build an orphanage. He and his wife have decided to live in Liberia and opening and then operate an orphanage. My first trip off the ship was to an orphanage. It is hard to see, talk, and interact with so many children that have no mother and father (we brought colouring book sheets and crayons to play with). To make matters worse, recently an investigation has been launched to close some orphanages that have been operated more to make money for the caretakers and staff, than use funds to provide food, shelter, care, and schooling. The UN estimates that there are thousands of orphans in Liberia, and during the civil war 20,000 child soldiers.

Quote from Mike Tidwell’s The Ponds of Kalambayi:
“Like most people who go overseas to do development work, I did so expecting to find out what it’s like to be poor… That’s not what happens. Instead you learn what it’s like to be rich, to be fabulously, incomprehensibly, bloated with wealth.”

I’d add that beyond the material and financial riches he is referring to, there is different wealth to be cherished in our alive and loving families, and thanks given to our forefathers for instilling firm beliefs of basic right and wrong. These are just two of many ideals to be thankful for this Thanksgiving .


This past Friday we had a Ceilidh - a Scottish barn dance. It was a hoot - everyone was there to have a great time.


Thursday, November 15, 2007

An afternoon watching surgeries

Yesterday afternoon I put on scrubs and spent a few amazing hours in the ship's OR. Here are a few things I watched:
- A surgeon carefully cut and stitch a 10 year old boys clift lip.
- Eye surgeries to remove tissue growth that obscures vision (the exact name of this escapes me right now, Pt...something). It's common that have this problem in West Africa.
- The straightening of lazy eyes of a lady. This is done by weakening or strenghtening the main eye muscles, which is under the white part of your eye. On one side the muscle was shortened, on the other it was stretched. Wikipedia says: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_surgery#Eye_muscle_surgery
Yes the patient is under anaesthesia.
- Removal of 5 teeth of a 65 year old man, which is old in Liberia where male the life expectancy is ~45. The 5 teeth came out easily since lymphoma cancer (based on the doctor's experience)has spread through his sinus and weakened is upper jaw.

Aids/HIV education is slow and difficult in Liberia. It's difficult for some to understand that a person can be infected with HIV and look healthy. The other day I heard that in some places, AIDS stands for American's Idea to Discourage Sex. There are public health billboards on the streets, I'll post a few pictures sometime.


On the lighter side, an anaesthesialogist has been taking picutes of Flat Stanley around the area. She's doing this for a friend's son, a school project perhaps. Here are a few Stanley pictures.







Tomorrow all hands in the engineering dept. will be working on warming, starting, and checking, the four main engines. (A post of the engine decks will come sometime). The whole crew is gearing up for the sail in a few weeks. The ship after sitting still for almost six months, needs some attention. We're all begining to do their daily work with the sail in mind - if I put the box up here, with it slide and fall when the ship lists? The decks are being cleared and containers secured. Soon the vehicles will be hoisted aboard and voyage to the Canary Islands will begin.








Monday, November 12, 2007

Monrovia, Liberia


On November 2 '07 I flew to Monrovia, Liberia. For seven months I hope to be serving on the the hospital ship Africa Mercy, helping my fellow man in war torn Liberia.

Sunset on the dock.



This picture is a number of months old. The ship on the left is Mercy ship's Anastasis which was recently retired.

http://www.mercyships.org

A big warm hello from west Africa!

I'll try to add stoires and events as they happen.

-Daniel-