An African Celebration!

Celebrate with Mercy Ships (www.mercyships.org) plastics patients as they spontaneously break out into a celebration of song and dance while waiting their turn to be seen at the Plastic Reconstructive Surgeries screening on the dock in Lomé, Togo.

If you cannot see the video, click HERE!

Perfectly Timed Photos

I was recently reminded of a neat little website called perfectly timed photos where people upload, well, photos that were perfectly timed! :-)

To launch the high quality TV channel TNT in Belgium they placed a big red push button on an average Flemish square of an average Flemish town. A sign with the text "Push to add drama" invited people to use the button. And then they waited...

If you cannot see the video below... click HERE!

Concrete Boardwalk!

Yay, we are getting concrete walkways! The strip of offices my office is located in is called the Boardwalk and had this very old and warped wooden walkway forming a 'porch' on both sides of the building. It was becoming dangerous and I have witnessed many people tripping and falling over popped out nails or warped boards.

Here is the process in pictures! A HUGE THANK YOU for the maintenance team for this Herculean task!

Mercy Ships Assists with African Congo-Brazzaville Explosion Disaster Response

Mercy Ships has teamed up with the German disaster response organization Humedica to assist with critically needed surgical Mercy Ships Responds to Brazzaville disaster and medical support following a catastrophic explosion in an African weapons depot in the Republic of Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville. The explosion occurred the first week of March in the capital city of Brazzaville. Initial reports estimate more than 200 are dead, approximately 2300 people are wounded, and thousands more are left homeless.

Local news reported that the series of explosions was so powerful that shocks caused neighboring buildings to fall to the ground, and windows were blown out in neighboring Kinshasa, on the other side of the Congo River. According to official figures, an electrical short circuit triggered the huge explosion.

Mercy Ships President/Founder Don Stephens and Swiss governmental liaison Pierre Christ were in the city just days after the explosion, meeting with President Denis Sassou Nguesso, members of the Ministry of Health, and other government officials regarding a future involvement of Mercy Ships within the nation.

Mercy Ships Responds to Brazzaville disaster“Upon learning of the explosion, I phoned Wolfgang Gross, Chairman of Humedica and Chairman of Mercy Ships Germany, with a request that Humedica consider sending emergency medical teams, as this fits their core competency of emergency response. The Berlin government responded by funding €50,000 for the initial team. This is a good example of organizational collaboration on an international scale,” said Stephens.

Mercy Ships volunteer anesthetist Dr. Annette Frick of Balingen, Germany, has joined a Humedica team of seven experienced physicians and surgeons. The team left from Germany just days after the explosion, and they are working alongside local social workers and doctors from Medecins Sans Frontieres and the Red Cross to carry out surgeries and wound care. The European team was sent with medical supplies for the initial treatment of 3000 patients.

Justin Flom's Tribute!

A Veterans tribute with just a pack of cards and a beautiful ending.

http://www.justinflom.com/

Circle of Service

African Student’s Circle of Service on the Mercy Ship

Women’s obstetric health highlighted on International Women’s Day

Garden Valley, TX, 06 March 2012 – Recently, a young Sierra Leonean woman made a trip back to the African country of her birth to volunteer onboard a floating hospital, the Africa Mercy, which is operated by Mercy Ships. She is alive today, thanks to a Mercy Ships medical intervention two decades ago. This year on International Women’s Day, the global nonprofit highlights her inspiring story as an example of the lives of women and children being saved every day through improved maternal health. 

Despite progress in Millennium Development Goal 5, pregnancy remains a major health risk for women in Africa. According to the World Health Organization (WHO)1, only 42% of births in Africa are attended by skilled personnel. Many mothers and children in developing countries suffer serious injury, disability or death due to complications that would be preventable or treatable in developed nations. For the past 20 years, Mercy Ships has been addressing women’s and children’s health issues in West African nations through the deployment of their state-of-the art hospital ships.

“Put simply, it is thanks to Mercy Ships that both my mother and I are alive today. That alone makes me want to give something back,” says 18-year-old Tina Regina Conteh, now from Australia thanks to the nation’s refugee resettlement program.

Back in the early 1990s at the start of Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war, Tina Regina’s parents, Catherine and Augustine Conteh, awaited the birth of their first child. As Catherine’s labor continued for a number of days, the family’s apprehension grew. Although they took Catherine to the local hospital, they did not have the money to pay for a Caesarean section. This situation is all too common in West Africa. In many cases both the mother and child die. If the mother does survive, she often suffers an injury – called an obstetric fistula – from the pressure of the baby’s head on the pelvic bone. The tissue is torn, usually leaving the mother incontinent and unable to bear additional children. Sadly, the poor woman is often abandoned by friends and family – left without any means of support.

The Contehs were not aware that a Mercy Ship was docked a few kilometers away in the port of Freetown. The ship’s British anesthetist Keith Thomson happened to be touring the hospital that day and noticed Catherine’s distress. When he learned that the family could not afford $100 (the equivalent of about six months’ wages) for the necessary operation, Thomson decided to pay the fee himself. And the story had a very happy ending – Catherine was saved and a healthy baby girl, Tina Regina Conteh, was born.

This incident, along with a number of other issues in the years following, converged to contribute to the initial development of the Mercy Ships vesicovaginal fistula (VVF) and rectovaginal fistula (RVF) program, which began more than ten years ago. Now the surgical program onboard the Africa Mercy not only repairs obstetric fistula but also provides specialized surgical training for African surgeons, thus increasing awareness of the condition in their nations.

Dr. Lauri Romanzi, Clinical Associate Professor of Urology at New York University’s Langone Medical Center Division of Female Pelvic Medicine will be one of the surgeons volunteering onboard the Africa Mercy this spring.

Within Mercy Ships goal of helping to close the gaps in maternal health in the ports served by the ship, Dr. Romanzi will mentor two Togolese surgeons in aspects of obstetric fistula repair during her six-week stint onboard in April and May. Previously she has done VVF surgery in Niger, Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, Somaliland and Tanzania. Between 60-70 women have been accepted for fistula surgery during the Mercy Ships visit in the port of Lomé.

“When you take care of the women, you take care of the men, you take care of the children, you take care of the village; you contribute to the possibility of a solid foundation for the future of a country. Women suffering obstetric fistula are among the most desperately underserved, impoverished women on earth, suffering shocking degrees of disenfranchisement that require the deepest capacities of human resilience. These women are heroes. It is a privilege to know them and an honor to care for them,” stated Dr. Romanzi.

Similarly, Tina Regina is creating a circle of service as she aspires to become a registered nurse and to dedicate her life to helping others, even serving a short while onboard the Africa Mercy. When she finishes her nursing degree, she will continue to make a contribution to the lives of women – helping to create happy endings to their stories.

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ABOUT INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY: The 2012 theme of International Women’s Day is: Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures. Each year around the world, International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8. Thousands of events occur not just on this day but throughout March to mark the economic, political and social achievements of women.  http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

ABOUT MERCY SHIPS: Mercy Ships uses hospital ships to deliver free, world-class health care services, capacity building and sustainable development to those without access in the developing world. Founded in 1978 by Don and Deyon Stephens, Mercy Ships has worked in more than 70 countries providing services valued at more than $1 billion, with more than 2.35 million direct beneficiaries. Each year Mercy Ships has more than 1,200 volunteers from over 40 nations. Professionals including surgeons, dentists, nurses, health care trainers, teachers, cooks, seamen, engineers, and agriculturalists donate their time and skills to the effort. Mercy Ships seeks to become the face of love in action, bringing hope and healing to the poor. For more information click on www.mercyships.org


1.    http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/90/2/11-101410/en/


Watch one woman’s story of healing from obstetric fistula here:
Matu from Liberia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4hGJ6Gb6e8

Photos:  Regina in front of ship
             Dr. Lauri Romanzi, VVF Surgeon  

Hanging with BB King!

This weekend I had the incredible honor of experiencing BB King live in a concert! What a legend!

Riley B. King (born September 16, 1925), known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No.3 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. King is widely regarded as one of the most influential blues guitarists of all time, inspiring countless other electric blues and blues-rock guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Peter Green, Derek Trucks, Duane Allman, Elmore James and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Famous for introducing a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending and shimmering vibrato that would influence virtually every electric blues guitarist that followed.

In 2001, King signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a non-profit organization that provides free musical instruments and instruction to children in underprivileged public schools throughout the US. He sits on LKR's Honorary Board of Directors.

Over a period of 62 years, B.B. King has played in excess of 15,000 performances!

CULTURAL OBSERVATION 892: Mardi Gras!

So, a group of us celebrated Mardi Gras this past weekend at a friends house. The term "Mardi Gras" in English, refer to events, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday.

Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday, referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season, which begins on Ash Wednesday; in English the day is sometimes referred to as Shrove Tuesday, from the word shrive, meaning "confess." Related popular practices are associated with celebrations before the fasting and religious obligations associated with the penitential season of Lent.

Popular practices include wearing masks and costumes, overturning social conventions, dancing, parades, etc. Similar expressions to Mardi Gras appear in other European languages sharing the Christian tradition. In English, the day is called Shrove Tuesday, associated with the religious requirement for confession before Lent begins.

While not observed nationally throughout the United States, a number of traditionally ethnic French cities and regions in the country have notable celebrations. In the rural Acadiana area, many Cajuns celebrate with the Courir de Mardi Gras, a tradition that dates to medieval celebrations in France. Which gave the perfectly good reason to gorge ourselves on good ol' Cajun food, like Gumbo, Jambalaya, meat pies etc.

Another interesting thing was King Cake. The cake has a small trinket (often a small plastic baby, said to represent Baby Jesus) inside (or sometimes placed underneath), and the person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket has various privileges and obligations, if he does not die from swallowing and having the trinket lodge in a mayor airway of course...

The "king cake" takes its name from the biblical three kings. The season for king cake extends from the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Twelfth Night and Epiphany Day), up until Mardi Gras, or "Fat Tuesday;" the day before the start of Lent. Some organizations or groups of friends may have "king cake parties" every week through the Carnival season.

February Connections!

In the February 2012 edition of Connections, Mercy Ships (http://www.MercyShips.org) arrives in Togo,West Africa. Watch scenes from the arrival and Grant MacLean, Mercy Ships International Programs Director, talks about why Mercy Ships came back to Togo and expectations of the upcoming field service.

If you cannot see the video below, click HERE

The Same Love - Paul Baloche

A concept video inspired by the Paul Baloche song "The Same Love". Filmed and edited by David Baloche.

How beautiful! If you cannot see the video below, please click HERE!