Sunday June 12

Probably the youngest patient we have had in the eye rooms turned up unannounced on Thursday morning at 8.00am. No eye surgeries were planned for Thursday as friday was a ships's holiday. However the surgeon, anaesthetist and nurses were all available and so we operated on the child's bilateral cataract eyes. Operating this young gives the child ths best chance of seeing his mother for the rest of his life rather than relying on touch, hearing and smell.

I have spent time this week on the anaesthetic team and sorting through some of the equipment we have. Often people bring bits of equipment with them, some more useful than others. The work for the week has continued with VVF. This is the surgery for ladies who develop holes between the bladder and vagina and as a consequence continually dribble urine, or as the local people describe it "are wet" all the time. Approximately 100 people have hopefully had sight restored as the eye surgeries continue and cleft palattes and lips have been repaired. This next week will see just eye surgery and VVF surgery as the surgeons change over.

The arrival of an english anaesthetist who was here 2 years ago when I first arrived has enabled me to practice skills learned last year. Having looked ahead I see there are yet more english anaesthetists coming that I worked with last year so I look forward to their arrival too. Working with staff from different countries always brings challenges, not necessarily a bad thing as it widens horizons and can demonstrate other ways of doing things but it is easier when "in house" jokes are shared.

Of course the week has seen the start of the world cup football and this has been marked throughout the ship. many of our day volunteers who come from the surrounding areas are mad keen on football and yesterday evening match between US and England saw the largest crowd ever for a football match in the midships lounge with flags, decorated cakes and decorated faces. Football shirts aplenty were worn and of the 1-1result one person commented"just shows that God loves us all equally!"

The week as seen much rain, since it is the rainy season it is to be expected but of course it affects our patients who may then find it difficult to reach the ship with roads becoming impassable. It does however help to cool temperatures down and makes running more pleasant. I have resumed my running with friends that I ran with on my last trip and on Friday morning we actually were given a lift to the Ghanian border and then ran back to the ship, a distance of 6 miles. For one of the group it was several years since she had run that distance so was really pleased to complete it in a very respecatable time.

The photo shows one view from the ship which looks idyllic but sadly is an area where there are bandits and therefore we are strongly advised not to go there. The ghurkhas who supply our security staff were very sure to make sure I understood that as we stood together looking over the rail.



As I look forward to the week and know that I will see some of the young patients that I saw at the eye clinic 10 days ago my prayer is simply that they will see Father through my actions and interactions with them.