7 days into our 9 day voyage to Benin!

We have rounded the coast of Ghana in the M/V Africa Mercy. When we left Tenerife I was wearing a turtleneck and sweater. Now it is very hot and humid, though we have a breeze from the ocean while we are still moving. Our speed is 11.5 knots or less than 13 mph. We travel night and day non-stop and the seas have become calm.

We plan to arrive on Monday, February 9, about 10 a.m. (GMT +1). Most people reading this blog will be sound asleep when we dock.

I have completed my second full week for work, getting the hospital ready to receive patients from an administrative side. We will be screening patients as soon as all the beds and surgeries are unleashed from the bungee cords during sailing-mode, sterilized and ready to go. We expect thousands to be in the queue coming from all over the country of Benin for a variety of treatments, prosthetics, plastic surgeries, tumor removal, maxillofacial, cataract, dental works, on and on.

There is an advance team from Mercy

Ships already in Cotonou setting up a Hospitality Center for the care, feeding and oftentimes sleeping of family of patients that have travelled far from home to reach the big, white hospital ship.

My camera went on the blitz yesterday—the mechanism that opens and closes it has malfunctioned, so please pray for someone to be able to repair (or that it would be “healed” ) as I don’t expect another will be easy to come by in Cotonou. I will borrow other’s cameras and photos until then.

Today is Saturday and though we work long hours even during the sail, we have joyfully seen whales, dolphins and flying fish. Otherwise there is water on all sides of us as the coast is too far away to be visible.