Mental Health Program - Weekend in Abomey

Mercy Ships runs a Mental Health Program which is led by Dr. Lyn Westman. Last weekend Lyn asked me to accompany her up north (4 hours drive away) to Abomey where she is in the middle of a 16 week (2 days per week), training program with Church Leaders in the area. The topic of the training is "Healing the Wounds of Trauma". The training will really help the Church Leaders here as they counsel their people and deal with situations they face daily. Unlike Liberia, the people of Benin do not suffer from the aftermath of war, but do however deal with many difficult situations resulting from extreme poverty, sickness including HIV and AIDS etc..

The training topics covered during the two days I was involved included:

• If God loves us, why do we suffer
• How can the wounds of our hearts be healed
• What happens when someone is grieving

My role was somewhat limited, but I did help with reading scripture, (remember all communication has to be done through a translator in French). In addition to that, I helped with an impromptu role-play involving a counsellor and a counsellee. It was done in two parts: 1. How NOT to counsel someone 2. How TO counsel someone. I played the part of the counsellee.

In the first picture I am sharing my fictional story with "my counsellor". In the second picture one of the training participants was giving feedback on the role-play.

During the 2 days in Abomey we stayed in a local Children's Home started and run by an ex-Mercy Shipper. Approx 35 children live in the home. We were there from the Sunday evening just till the Tuesday evening. I had my own room, very simply furnished with just a bed (complete with mosquito net), table and chair and toilet & shower. From 9am till 4pm were were at a local church were the training sessions took place and then we travelled back to the children's home for our evening meal, enjoyed time with the children before going to our rooms which were pitch dark until the generators come on.

It was a very successful two days and I appreciated the opportunity to be involved in something very different.
I am pictured here dressed in one of my African dresses with Dr. Lyn Westman and Arlette. Arlette is the leader of the children's home in which we stayed and was also one of the training participants. Many of the children in her care had a traumatic early start in life.

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Tomorrow, once again I will be going out for my regular visitations with the Palliative Care Team. We have some very sad cases, but it is a privilege to have the opportunity to visit and show the love of Jesus and His care and compassion to people in the midst of their serious sicknesses and final days.

Ganvie Stilt Village

There is a village 18 kilometers outside of Cotonou which is situated on a river that runs inland from the port. The entire village is built on the river and is therefore built on stilts raising the buildings above the water level.

The pictures show the boat we travelled in, and some of the sites along the way, including a riverside market.

We left the ship at 8:30 on Saturday morning and met with the rest of our group at a local hotel that provides a boat service to Ganvie. The boat ride along the river takes about an hour and half.

We saw some interesting sites along the way.
The staple diet here in Benin is FISH. We therefore passed many fishermen in their boats and also fishing farms, netted and with basket traps for crabs and other shell fish displayed in the pic below.

The village of Ganvie is a fascinating insight into African village life. All of this village life takes place on the water, not only with the fishing done predominantly by the men and children but also the market place is also situated on the water. This local woman is preparing her canoe and loading her produce to sell along the way. This pic below shows part of the market.

Canoe is the only mode of transport in this village.These are some of the homes we saw as we travelled by boat around the village.

The picture below shows a line of canoes waiting to collect fresh water from the local water pump station.
The people of Ganvie are hard working people who have grown accustomed to visitors to their village. They have a number of local craft stores along the way which sell local print fabrics, wood carvings and jewellry as well as an assortment of voodoo amulets and masks.

Zemidjan Madness

Here in Benin, travelling by motorbike, known here as by Zemidjan (pronounced zimmyjon) is the most common mode of transport. However it is also the most dangerous. The zemidjan drivers weave recklessly in and out of the traffic and lane discipline and rules of the road as we know them, seem to be non-existent. There are many accidents daily. Mercy Ships crew are strongly advised against using them, however these zemidjans provide the taxi service here and are very inexpensive.



















It is very common to see whole family's travelling on one zemidjan - small child on the handle bars, dad driving, child in the middle, mum on the back with a baby strapped to her back.

Some of the biggest and most dangerous loads witnessed on a zemidjan include a full sized fridge freezer, another crew member tells of a full 5 piece garden set - table and 4 chairs. The above photos are some of the amusing sites we see. My personal favourite is the one at the top of this post showing the goat travelling piggy back style! Some of these photo's are borrowed from our fellow crew members.

Click on the Flickr grid (left) for more similar pics.