Monday Fun-day!

Yesterday, a fellow nurse deemed the day “Monday Fun-day.” So all of us D ward nurses and dayworkers wore colorful scrub tops to brighten the ward. Around 10 am the Hospital Chaplaincy team filled the ward with music and patients started clapping, singing and dancing around. I joined in the dancing with my six year old patient tied on my back (African style) while singing African worship songs.

Shift Change with patients and all the nurses and dayworkers wearing fun scrubs!

Although it was a typical day with getting patients ready for surgery and caring for others post-operatively, it was also a very special day. We celebrated as one of our patients walked off the ship after being in the hospital these last five months. He, like many of our patients, has not had an easy life and has suffered for many years. Many of our patients are ridiculed and shunned because others believe they are cursed or have an evil spirit for things related to birth-defects, infections, or tumors.  

The thing about this young guy that inspires me is his perseverance. He had many complications related to his spinal surgery which confined him to lying on his stomach for many weeks to months. He is now on a long road to recovery and rehabilitation with regaining his strength, mobility, and fine motor skills after being bed bound for so many months. Even in the midst of all the challenges he faces, he still has a genuine smile that has touched so many people. It reminds me of the verse about our Christian life: “Let us run with endurance the race set before us.” (Hebrews 12:2)

 

After celebrating his departure, we ended the shift with singing “God’s love never fails, it never gives, it never runs out on me.” How amazing to be on this ship where at handover (shift change) we always start with prayer and sometimes singing! It places the focus on what we are doing here on the Africa Mercy which is to display the love of Jesus to our patients.  

 

Out on the deck a couple of weeks before his depature!