Yesterday, we waved goodbye once again to Andy. He has returned to the Africa Mercy. Do pray for him as he has two exams on the 27th & 30th March. We just received word, that Sea Trials for the Africa Mercy are scheduled for 28th. These normally take just a couple of days so it should fit nicely between his two exams. These trials mean taking the ship out onto open water and testing all the main systems. This is so exciting after nearly 7 years with the Africa Mercy. Providing all goes well the ship will receive it's certification and be delivered back to Mercy Ships. We will then have to move the ship immediately out of the shipyard to the holding dock in Blythe. Here we anticipate the ship being berthed for about 4 weeks for loading and moving all crew still in Newcastle before sailing to Liberia beginning of May with an expected arrival of middle of May! We can hardly believe it. It is the culmination of so much work :-)
The other development is that in the two weeks prior to Andy's departure, we learnt of the unexpected departure of two Engine Hands from the Africa Mercy. Personal circumstances meant both men had to return to their home countries. You may remember that Steven did his BST (Basic Safety Training) last year - a requirement for Technical Crew sailing with the ship. He also spent 3 months over last summer working in Engineering. He asked to return with Andy to fill one of those critical needs in Engineering. Not only would this be a big help in that department it also means Steven can get to re-connect with his brother, Matt and some friends, before sailing with the ship back to Africa. This transfer was approved and so Steven worked his last day in CDS on Thursday last week and left with Andy last night. We decided not to tell Matt. I had a phone call from Andy this morning saying they had arrived safely back in the UK and that Andy was meeting up with Matt tonight and Steven would surprise him by turning up unannounced with his dad. I wish I could be there to see the look on his face. I have no doubt it will be a HUGE surprise and precious re-union.
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