Teamates, Translators, and Day workers

 The ship was an amazing place as on an average week there were 35 countries represented.

These were the nurses I worked with from around the world. We rotated all three shifts. We got to know one another as we worked together and cared for our patients on the maxillofacial ward.

This is a dear friend and coworker, Susanne, from Germany (on the left) and our team leader Rachel from England.

   
I had dear friends from Germany, Denmark, Great Britain Holland, Australia, New Zealand, and of course Canadians and Americans. English was the language of the ship but as you can imagine it was spoken with many different accents. Since Congo was a Belgian Colony, French was the language of the country alongside native tongues. Many of the nurses could speak their native language and also English and French. Oh that I had such gifts!

Many patients could be heard speaking French. I tried to brush up on my French with little success, but a neat thing was that everyone on board could access Rosetta Stone in French and I made it to level 3!


Our translators worked 12 hour shifts but often had to get up at 3:30 or 4 in the morning because it was a 2 hour commute for many. They took as many as three buses for some of them to arrive. If it had rained they needed to leave an hour earlier because of the pot holes in the road.

This was my farewell night. Everyone stands outside the ship to wave goodbye as we leave in the landrovers to the airport. Here I am standing with my translators from my max/fax unit.

 This was me thinking of taking a little girl home with me, but I decided I should leave her with her mother who was a patient on the unit....probably a smart choice ;-) Isn't she so cute?!