Another day!

Just finished work again today and had some time to load some photos and write.
Today was tough.. We saw a case that we could not help the person as they had such a bad infection and we did not have the right setting to treat them. We ended up having to refer them to the hospital. Please pray that the patient will be ok.
Today I used several French words and was so proud of myself! :) Mostly because the patients responded in  way that I understood and didn't have to try and figure out what they said to me..
It's hard when you ask a simple question like "How are you?" and then they respond with something besides Ca Va Bein(which pretty much means.. I'm good). If they say anything besides that, I'm lost and wondering if I should just smile and nod or try to figure out what they said.. Because it would make me seem heartless if they just told me they were having a horrible day or their dog died or something and I was just smiling and saying "good good".. 

Ship life is very interesting as I am living in a mini city with many cultures combined. I have to say I really enjoy the community living. Having people everywhere is awesome!
My room has 8 people in it now with the potential to have 2 more. We have two bathrooms                  (thank goodness) and one outside the door if we need more. It's rare to have everyone in the room at the same time also. We all work different shifts so we don't fight over the bathroom in the morning either.
Lately my routine has been to skip breakfast and just go to our meetings.. Breakfast ends at 7:30.. So for the sake of sleeping in.. I skip! For now.. I'm running out of granola bars soon. Then I'll have to go because I'll never survive. Everyone for dental team has to be on the dock at the land rovers at 8:00. Right now I have an assigned job of getting the distilled water from the OR. MY FAVORITE thing to do.
Ugh* Picture lugging a HUGE container of water up and down many stairs. I guess it's good for working on my muscles. :)
So, once we get to the clinic we start with devotions and singing. It's usually pretty loud and nice! :)
We all eventually will take turns leading devotions. Soo.. I need to start thinking of something to share on my designated day. :)  Here is a a photo of us working. :)

 

 Some of the girls I'm working with at the clinic. This is right outside the front door. :)

At the beach next to the Gorge with some friends! :)

The Atlantic!

First week at the Dental Clinic!

I finished my first week at the dental clinic! Our air conditioning has been working since Wednesday!
In a few days we saw so many patients and I assisted with some serious cases. We saw several people with swellings that we had to treat and then we saw a sad case of Osteomylitis(sp?). We did start out our week doing several fillings which was nice because I love when we can save a tooth versus extracting it.
But then it mostly was all extractions the rest of the week. Many people come in with a lot of areas of badly decayed teeth and we can not possibly save the tooth unless we were to do major work with root canals,build ups and crowns.

 The area of the clinic I'm working in. :)

We have fabulous day workers working in the clinic with us. A Day worker is a Congolese person that works for Mercy Ships alongside us translating and doing various duties. The day worker, working with me is excellent and has been trained to be a dental assistant also.

Been trying to use my very little French that I know with the patients. Most of the time they do not respond when I say anything. My translator said it's because the patients think we only speak English so they don't listen to things we are saying.
I've learned a few important words in French and their native Language.. Like close your mouth.. Open.. Thank you.. Your welcome.
I'm taking the survival French lessons and need to be practicing. Bonjour is my favorite word!
I would really like to be able to communicate with our patients more. I would love to tell them I like their shoes or something like that.
The woman patients always come in to the clinic very nicely dressed and their hair is always very nicely done. Puts us to shame sometimes.

So, once our work week was over.. I was able to have an AMAZING weekend. Congo is VERY beautiful.
My friends and I went to a nearby gorge that just happened to be so pretty and right next to the ocean! So after hiking through the gorge(we felt like we were in the bush of Africa) we jumped into the ocean with our clothes on. And got some amazing photos!

I'll post more photos later. :)
Ship life is keeping me very busy when I'm not working. There is always someone wanting to do something.. Lots of game playing in the evening and lots of laughter. We have a community meeting on Thursday in our International lounge where we sing and have a speaker. Our speaker this week was the president of Compassion International. And it was such an amazing testimony!! It was hard to sit there listening and not cry. God is up to some amazing things through that organization!

Now I'm off to bed. Another busy week ahead of us! 

Made it to Congo!

I had some adventure on the way to the ship in Congo! My flight had a 14 hour layover in Paris, France. I landed at 9:00am and was able to get out into town somehow without using a map.. I can just see one of my favorite travel buddies(you know who you are ;-) )  cringing at home because the reason I did not use a map.. Well..She was not with me! I asked pretty much everyone I saw in the street or train to point me in the right direction and then I was able to make it to my destination.
My destination? Church!  Where I met some fellow Americans and they invited me to March with them in "The March for Life" parade(maybe called Pro-life parade in the states?). Not sure what the name was in French. But it was so exciting to be a part of it! Over 40,000 people showed up to march in the streets of Paris.

So that was my day in Paris, marching and saw a few beautiful churches along the way. Then headed back to the airport and waited for the final leg of the trip. Ugh* Nothing like sleeping two nights in a row on a plane..

My plane arrived in Pointe Noire,Congo at 7:30am Monday the 20th!
Met up with my ride and was escorted to the ship, where the first thing they do is give you  5 million papers to sign(not really) and then snap a photo of you looking all lovely from travel. No time to even go brush my hair..
This time around I have been put into a room with 9 other people. And I have to say it's WAYYYY better than the 6 berth I was in the time before. So much room.. We have 2 bathrooms 2 sinks, a couch and the best part... WE HAVE WINDOWS!! Whoohoo! Nothing like waking up and seeing the water
and sunshine from my room. And my roommates are lovely people from various places around the world and some from the states.

So today was my first day at the clinic. It's about 10 kilometers from the ship but the ride can take up to 45 minutes due to crazy traffic.  This morning was not so bad maybe took 20 minutes.
We were informed last night that the AC was out at the dental clinic. And this morning.. yes it still was.
So it was a pretty warm day inside. And  we ended up only working a half day.
One of the dentists I worked with last time I was with Mercy Ships is here and we are once again a team as we see to the patients!
Our building is real nice and all on the same floor unlike our building in Togo which was 3 stories.
Some of the same people I worked with last time are still here so it's been nice  to see them all.
I have not taken photos yet of our working space but I'll post soon. :)

It's driving me crazy that I don't speak French. I am really wanting to communicate with our patients.. Even if I could just tell someone they have a beautiful hat or whatever I would be happy!
So.. Survival French lessons start tonight!!!  I will be there!