Christmas on the ANA

This photo was taken in front of the Christmas tree on board ANA (though our big family dwarfs the tree!!) Notice all the family dressed in clothes made from local fabrics.
It is so great to have Andy here with us in Ghana over the holidays till at least mid January.

We pray for you a Blessed and Joyous Christmas and that as you reflect on the wonder of the season and why we celebrate the coming of Jesus that you will have new and fresh sense of His love and the sacrifice made for our Salvation.

Andy being presented with the Merchant Navy Gold Medal Award

Tuesday 5th December - Andy travelled down to London with his parents and sister Laura and also the Africa Mercy Executive Director Ken Berry & his wife Ann to be presented with the Merchant Navy Gold Medal award.

This was a great honour. There were 10 recipients of various awards. Andy had been nominated (we don't know how or by whom) to receive this award for his Service to Mercy Ships.

The other nominees received their awards for:

• Service to Merchant Seafarers
• Service to Dive Support Vessels
• Service to Offshore Oil & Gas Standby Vessels
• Service to Cruise Liner Design
• Service to Cruise Liners
• Service to Commercial Dredging
• Service to Engineer Cadet Education
• Service to RMT Union for Merchant Seafarers
• Service to Retired Seafarers

There are more photos to be viewed by clicking on the photo link above.

Wherever Josh is.....there the children follow!!

There was an African village right next to where we stayed. Josh has a way of attracting the local children and makes friends very quickly. They just love him. What's not to love :-)

A Weekend Away in ADAH

This last weekend was spectacular. We went and stayed in some beach huts in Adah, about an hour and a half Tro Tro ride away from the ship. The huts were basic, but the location was just stunning ans the sunsets were breathtaking. We had a very restful time, just laying in the sun, jumping the waves in the ocean and dipping and bathing in the river. Steven had been before and described this place as "Paradise" - he was right!
We stayed two nights, on the Saturday afternoon we walked 20 - 25 minutes down the beach to a local hotel and used their pool facilities.


On the walk there an back we saw turtles and hundreds of crabs and even a dead puffer fish!! The local villagers were out pulling in the nets containing the days catch. The nets were huge and it seemed to be a whole community event as you'll see. Just click on the photo link above.

The Lame Walk!

Mohammed had sad eyes, he often screamed at those around him, we never heard him talk. He suffered from Polio and therefore when we first came was unable to walk, instead he used to shuffle along on his bottom. He is 4 years old.

We arranged for a physical therapist from the ship to come along with us one week and she did some excercises with Mohammed and trained one of the teenage girls at the orphanage how to do the excercises with Mohammed.

We then arranged for our physical thereapist to take Mohammed to a clinic in Accra where he had moulds taken of his legs and measurements were taken to fit him with special braces in the hope that we could get him on his feet and learning to walk.

6 weeks later and Mohammed is walking unaided, very unsteady, faltering steps, but nevertheless walking. Last week when we arrived he walked the full width of the room.

The most wonderful thing is to see the transformation in Mohammeds face. His eyes are bright and he smiles. Last week when I was painting some of the girls nails, Mohammed walked over to me and climbed up on my knee and held out his hands to me and said "I like it!!" So I painted his nails too and we played tickle games and his laughter filled the room it was just so cool to see.

A Precious Gift

Yesterday I had the privilege of being able to give a life saving gift of blood to one of our patients during a complicated maxillo-facial suregery. She was an 18 year girl, who is now doing well. I will go and meet her today and hope to have a photo to add to the blog later on. Where else would you get to meet the person you donated blood to and see them doing well. It creates a special bond and is wonderful to know you helped save a life.

Academy Field Trip - Learning to make a Batik!

The 'Save Them Young' Orphanage that we visit regularly, runs a number of micro-enterprise projects to help raise funds to cover their own running costs. These projects include:

• A small hair & beauty salon
• Sign making
• Hat making
• Tie dying
• Batiks

The children from the Ship Academy (Josh's class)recently visited and were taught how to make a Batik. They helped with the design which was then cut out of a piece of foam. The foam is then dipped in boiling wax and printed onto the fabric. When set, the fabric is then dipped in very hot dye and the excess wax melts off leaving the pattern in tact. See more photos on the photo link.

Brenda's VIP Guests

It was a great honour to recently host on board the Archbishop of West Africa - Most Reverend Justice Akrofi and his wife Dr. Maria Akrofi who is an Anaesthesiologist. Brenda's two sisters Gill & Heather got to know Maria at the Royal Liverpool Hospital where she has worked on and off many times over the last 10 years. They are from Ghana and Maria recently returned to Ghana after her most recent visit to Liverpool. Gill told her about her sister working on the Mercy Ship in Ghana and so we arranged to meet. They both came on board and met the Head Chaplain - Henry Gwani, our Programs Director - Udo Kronester and our Executive Director - Solfrid Quist.
After a very pleasant & informative meeting in which they shared their hearts and vision for Medical missions in their country & we also shared about the work of Mercy Ships, I took them on a tour of the ship.
Maria is returning on 3rd November with a team of 17 which includes visiting Eye Doctors and Nurses from the UK and some local volunteers working in local village clinics.

Orphanage visits

As a family we are regularly involved with the "Save them Young" Orphanage. We have had some lovey times, playing games with the children, talking to them and the staff and my boys enjoy playing football with the young boys. Each time we have gone I have enjoyed sitting with the girls and talking to them and painting their nails. It is such a lovely opportunity to just sit with them and hopefully make them feel special, and take some time one on one. They are such precious children and relish the individual attention.

Sights along the road side

Whenever we go anywhere in Africa, we don't have the usual question that kids love to ask...."Are we there yet?" The reason is that there is always so much to see and take in here. The pictures below are just a couple of the sights we have seen on the roads this week. There's always things being sold at every junction. There's always a precarious load involving goods or people or both!!

Open night in the Mercy Ships Academy

The Academy opened it's doors tonight for parents and any other interested crew to go in, take a look around, talk to teachers and children about their work. It was a lovely opportunity to see how and where the children spend their days. They are all doing really well and are thoroughly enjoying school. Kids don't usually admit to this, but believe it or not they will tell you it's true!


Chris with some of his classmates Left > Right: Chris, Jason, Enoch, Stephan & Chelsea.

Our Missing Bag arrived!!

After six weeks of anxious waiting and much prayer, our missing bag did arrive on Satruday 7th October. The bag had been stuck in Dakar - Senegal the entire time. It's retrieval happened after many hours of frustrating phone calls to B.A.
This bag was our "Fun" bag and therefore was very precious to the whole family. It contained our entire Music and DVD collection, the children's playstation and a mini music stereo system amongst other things. Although the bag had been opened and rifled through, with items missing, all the essential and major items were in tact. Praise the Lord! The picture above was taken on the way back from the airport after collecting the bag. We stopped for Pizza and a coke to celebrate :-)

THE IRONY OF THE LABEL - ON THE BAG THAT TOOK 6 WEEKS TO ARRIVE!!

Africa is home!

Check out the difference in our cabin now, after a few visits to various craft markets to make us feel more at home here in Africa.

Fire Team during drill

From top down - 1) Chief Officer - Ian Crossley in radio contact with the Team. 2) Captain Jonhard Joensen with 3rd Officer Ruth Denton. 3) Finding the source of the fire. 4) Our wonderful Fire Team.

Fire Drill this week

One of the important aspects of ship life is fire and safety drills. These occur once every couple of weeks.
At the sound of the fire bell - one long continuous loud alarm bell, all crew must report to their in-port muster station which is located on the dock side. The idea is you go the the station holding high the board bearing the first initial of your surname.
Here are some photos of us at our A - D muster station and a few of the actual fire team drill. See more by clicking the the 'Photo' link.

Our kids visit a local Orphanage

Playing with the new toys The Academy organised a performance of Peter Pan. As we arrived when rehearsals were well underway, only Josh was involved and he had just a small part. He played the tick tock Croc!

This was performed for crew and tickets were sold for $2 per ticket. The money raised, a total of over $300, went towards toys which all the kids from the ship were able to go out and purchase and then gave to the children at the Orphange. It was a special day.

Ashaiman - Living Bread Mission Church - Sunday 3rd September

We had a great introduction to African Church for the family (though the service was rather long) It was a special children's celebration day and so we had the pleasure of watching a new baby dedication, and some of the children dancing a couple of routines. It was very loud and very lively but we enjoyed being there.

Emma - made a new friend. This little girl sat on Emma's knee for about 10 minutes and for the most part just stared at Emma, fascinated!

Steve at work in the Dining Room

Steve started work today in the Dining Room. It's a great place to work as there are lots of younger crew working in this department and he is making new friends.

Pool Deck

The kids have really enjoyed cooling off in the pool and making new friends.

Cole's Cabin on the 'ANA'

We made it......and this is home!!

The kid's bunks

Emma, Chris & Josh enjoyed making their bedroom their very own space!

The Coles Leave Newcastle

The day has arrived and we are picked up by AFM crew members Terry & Pat Barrett in the Mercy Ships Landrover complete with Trailor. We load up with 12 main bags plus our hand luggage.
This photo was taken just as we left the house at 4:30am. Matt came with us to the airport to see us off. It was a very emotional farewell.

PREPARATIONS & COUNTDOWN

It has been a very special last few weeks as we have visited with many friends and family. We had the privilege of speaking at Andy's parents church - St. Michael's, Boldmere at two of the morning services on Sunday 30th July. We showed a power point presentation and enjoyed chatting aftwerwards.

On the weekend of 13th August we visited Brenda's family in Liverpool and on the Sunday had an extended time of sharing with the church, which is our home & sending church. It was a very special time. We showed a power point presentation, were prayed out again and then Andy shared a short message from the Scriptures.

Good-byes are never easy and these times were no exception. The children have each had 4 - 5 friends invited for sleep overs in the last week. These were fun times, with lots of Pizza eaten, visits to the movies and VERY late nights!!
The biggest development is that on Saturday 19th August we moved Matthew into his new place. He has a HUGE room at Seth & Helen's place.

Matt's new address is:
Bethel, 1 Gosforth Street, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, NE10 9LS

Mobile #:07706 026916

We would REALLY appreciate your prayers for Matt as he remains in the UK, and for us as we fly out to Ghana this coming Friday 25th August.

Andy returns to the UK on 16th September and will return to the house we were living in. He will be joined by other Mercy Ships crew moving into the property.

Other prayer requests:

• For the family during time of separation
• For the children and Brenda to quickly settle and adjust to community & ship board life
• For Andy as he continues to work on board AFM and as he studies to complete his Chief Engineer's license.

The Cole Family is on the Move!

Breaking News - Cole Family to Transfer to Anastasis

We fly to Ghana on Friday 25th August.

Below is the statement from our Executive Director - Ken Berry announcing to Africa Mercy crew, our transfer to the Anastasis:

Dear Crew,

As we continue to work towards completion of the Africa Mercy, additional personnel transfers will take place between the Africa Mercy and the Anastasis. Some will take place because of essential needs for personnel at either location. Others may take place because it helps both the individuals involved and the ministry.

One upcoming transfer will ‘look’ different than most of the others because part of one family will remain here on the Africa Mercy, and the rest will transfer to the Anastasis. The idea of this split was initiated by the family involved and after careful consideration by the ED’s of both the AFM and the ANA, and the VP of Operations and VP of Human Resources at the IOC, the proposed temporary arrangement has been approved.

Towards the end of August, Brenda Cole and her 3 younger children will transfer to the Anastasis. There she will direct the overall activities of the HR departments on both ships and her 3 children will begin the school year in the Anastasis Academy. Andy will remain as Second Engineer on the AFM and will continue his studies leading to his Chief Engineer’s Certification. Depending on the length of delay in seeing the AFM come into service, Andy will have opportunity to visit Brenda and children on the Anastasis; not unlike the routine experienced by professional mariner’s families and to which Brenda and Andy were accustomed to before joining Mercy Ships. This is a workable plan for this unusual season that both the Cole family and Mercy Ships finds themselves in.

Thanks,

Ken

Steven has also now decided to come with me and the younger 3 children to the Anastasis.

Matt will remain in Newcastle. He will move out of our house the week before we travel and become independent. This means for the first few months he will have his dad around to help him with this big transition. The Lord has been so faithful in providing him with a great place to live. The daughter and son-in-law of one of our crew members have converted an old pub into housing for young people making the transition to independence and they see this as their ministry. Matthew is looking forward to this move, though the goodbyes will be extremely difficult for us all.

Please pray for us during this time.

Welcome on Board the Africa Mercy

Reception Area - Scroll down and see the progress!

Inside a Family Cabin

The Dining Room