Is the world always Black and White?

Interesting picture, don't you think? I love this picture. I went to a Bead Factory in Accra, Ghana a few weekends ago, They gave this amazing demonstration about how they make all their beads from hand. We got to this station in the demonstration, and as I took this picture, it was such a perfect picture of my world. The beads are made from all colours of glass - green, yellow, white, blue, red - crushed together to make a powder, then the 'designer' intricately decides which colour will go into a handmade mold, turning out a beautifully crafted bead.

As consumers, we rarely think about those who 'produce' the goods we buy. This part of West Africa is reknowned for its bead making. The workmanship is amazing; the craftmanship is handed down generation after generation.

My world over the last seven years has been focused on doing my part to help the poor and needy of this world. I've stopped seeing the world as 'black' and 'white'. Instead, it's all blurred together. I now see people who need God, people who are hurting, people who want acceptance in spite of their colour or want others to see beyond their deformity. The part we play may often
seem insignificant. I've done this long enough where I recognize that it's HUGE! No matter how small a part - if it touches someone else life, what more can we offer! To give of yourself, that's all God asks us to do. Whether it's giving blood (I even made it through the fact that the person drawing my blood - well, it was her FIRST time). It hurt some - but the rewards were GREAT. The blood was for Mohammed - a little six year old boy who was having a facial tumour removed. Mohammed has since left the ship holding his head up high, not afraid of the stares that once were a constant part of his life. What an amazing journey I have had! And you all get to be a part of it just by reading this. I hope it encourages you to see how you can impact someone (maybe not in Africa, but perhaps in England, California, Texas, Colorado, Oregon, Florida, New York, Massachusetts, South Africa, Singapore, Thailand, Hawaii (just a few places where I know some of you are located!). I appreciate all of you.

Miracles Do Happen !!!

The Anastasis maintains a 'walking blood bank' on board. All crew are invited to donate blood if they so desire. All they have to do is sign up at the Lab, and a list is posted as to who has which blood type. Late one night (last week), we had an emergency when one of the patients (pictured on the far right) who'd had a grapefruit-sized goiter removed began bleeding out. Goiters grow in the neck, very close to the arteries, and her Thyroid Artery had burst, and was spraying arterial blood. They rushed her to the OR to save her life. Soon we began to hear various pages being called over our emergency system...it didn't take too long before we all knew we had an emergency onboard. Soon we began to hear pages for those whose blood type matched hers. When it was obvious they weren't getting enough blood fast enough, they simply paged, '"all those who have blood type A+, please come to the lab immediately". The lab was an interesting picture of donors lying down as soon as the bed was free. They were so short of room, they ran out of bed space, and our cook, who lives down the hall from the lab, was woken up so they could use his bed to draw blood. The patient, Eunice, was saved, despite losing an incredible amount of blood! Eight liters is the amount of blood the human body has and eleven pints were used on her, so suffice it to say, Eunice lost all of her blood, and is now walking around with the blood a dozen Mercy Shippers. Eunice is alive and well, thanking God for her good fortune. It was another one of those times when we could sense God's presence as we experienced another miracle, and a reminder of 'who's' in charge!

My head is spinning. I've been in Ghana, West Africa (the city of Tema) and in some ways, it feels like forever. The sights, the smells...all of it is coming back to me as I walk into the market place. The stalls, the raw meat, the creative carvings and outfits, the dirt, the signs - it's the culture of a 'typical' African country. And yet, Ghana is considerably more developed than other areas I have been.

I've been here a week. I've returned to an 'old home' - the m/v Anastasis. The ship looks the best I've ever seen it. I can tell many people have put in many hours to make her look so well cared for. As I walk the decks, everything is clean, painted, and shiny - a place that is obviously much loved. I feel privileged to be here before she is retired.

Today I spent the morning in an Orphanage. From the time I stepped foot out of the Landrover, I gave a bit of my heart away. The children were so excited to see everyone. Hugs came frequently, and the more comfortable the children became with me, the more I received smiles, hugs, climbing onto my lap. I didn't care how dirty their hands were (although the children were well kept, they are still children!) .

Doreen, the 'mother' of these 35 children is an amazing woman! I spent some time in the 'kitchen' which is outside, with one area covered by a few pieces of wood where they have kettles on an open fire cooking their soup made of palm nuts (from Palm trees). I wish I could accurately describe the process to give you a good picture. My words are probably inadequate, but they start with the plain dirty nuts, then they boil them for about 10 minutes. They are then pounded down in a 'concrete' kind of small bowl with a long pole until it looks like soft straw. The 'straw' is then taken by hand and dipped in water until all of the juices, color, nuts, etc, are extracted from the 'straw', and then put in to a strainer - the end result is a big bowl of pumpkin coloured soup. They then add things like tomatoes, meat, etc to it. They use it throughout the week to feed the children.

They were also taking mini snails (long and narrow), chopping off the ends of them, then they boil them and suck the meat out (I didn't try it, though!!).

Wow... an all day process for their one meal of the day. Like I said, this woman, Doreen is amazing. The orphanage was clean, but sparse. The classroom desks were old and shabby, but I could tell they were being put to good use. I lost a bit of my heart today as I watched those children - so happy to see us - so happy to receive a bit of our attention and love. I am truly blessed and humbled.