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

The Cafe & Atrium

The Academy - some classroom shots

The Hospital - Recovery Room & Operating Theatre

My Trip to Ghana

The Anastasis arrived in the Port of Tema, Ghana on 2nd June. I arrived on the 4th June for 3 weeks. Over this time the majority of the Anastasis Crew were disembarking after many years of faithful service and almost an entire new crew were arriving - all those who have been faithfully waiting for the Africa Mercy. It was as you can imagine an incredibly busy time from an HR (Human Resources) processing point of view.

This was at a time when the Anastasis HR Manager was leaving. I was involved in the training of the new Manager and also one other new staff member. Below is a picture of Shannon(left) who I worked with and also Patti (right)who handles all the HR processing for our Marine Technical crew.

Medical Screening Day

Many people stood under Africa’s broiling sun for hours, waiting for Mercy Ships surgeons to examine them. According to the Mercy Ships crowd control team, by 8 a.m., 2,000 people were already in line for the medical screening.

Patients screened will fill a large part of the floating hospital’s surgical calendar. A second screening is scheduled for early July in the city of Takoradi in Southwestern Ghana.
Throughout the day Mercy Ships doctors examined patients with stigmatizing conditions; medical problems that often leave them outcasts of society.

“We see a lot of people with very desperate conditions; people who live in shame; people who have never been to the (city) because they’ve basically been living in hiding,” said Programs Director Chris Guillebeau as he worked crowd control. “They have large tumors on their faces. They have disfigurements and things that cause (them) to be removed from society most of the time.”

Mercy Ships offers hope and healing to these social outcasts. Free surgical appointments were made today for patients with cleft-lip and cleft pallet, disfiguring and debilitating burns, blinding cataracts and crossed eyes, clubbed feet and other orthopaedic conditions, as well as the removal of the outsized benign tumors that are frighteningly common throughout Africa.

Screening day is a challenging, but rewarding experience for the crew. About half of the ship’s compliment of more than 300 laid aside their normal duties to help with the mass triage. They volunteered for tasks that range from crowd control to a counseling and prayer station for patients who can’t be helped medically.

Prayer Station

It was very moving to be able to pray with those who we are not able to physically help. We can however show them compassion at their time of hurt and disappointment and something of the Love of our Lord Jesus. My first encounter after I arrived was of a distraught young woman whose baby boy (1 year) had died right there in her arms before she could be seen. He had a tumour on his head which he had had since he was born. It's so hard in situations like that to believe that you can say or do anything to help, but Jesus can... and His love embraced her.

Those we can help, receiving their appointment cards

Dr. Gary Parker examines a patient.

These eye patients leave very happy with an appointment card to return to the ship for surgery.