Nous sommes arrive

Wow. Where to even start!

I suppose the beginning is as good a place as any, so here I am in Africa! After 37 hours, 26 of which were enroute, I landed with about ten other Mercy Shippers here in Cotonou, Benin! Sadly, I can't say the same for either of my bags. With any luck, they'll find them this week, but in the meantime people have been amazing here! All I had last night was my computer, a small supply of carry-on toiletries, a book, a water bottle, and ID. Actually, that's still all I have, but bunkmates and new friends have me well-supplied with shower stuff and clothes. Life is so much easier knowing I won't go stinky and grubby.

And speaking of stinky and grubby, I was certainly not the only one who had been up for an absurd number of hours (and flying internationally to boot) when we got in late last night. After our mini welcome (here's your room, here's some food, here's where you go), we were then sent to get ship ID's. And let me tell you how flattering those turned out. And this time, people are looking- your ID picture is brought up on a big computer screen at security each time you swipe in and out! It's no big deal, I just think it's amusing I guess :)

I share a six person room and one bathroom with five other girls. It is cramped, but maybe not how you'd expect. I'll get around to pictures eventually, but basically the room is partitioned into three sections, each with a bunkbed, desk, and wardrobe concealed by a black-out curtain from the hallway. Somehow I ended up on the bottom bunk (hooray!), and given my lack of luggage, the room seems probably bigger than it really is. I met my bunkmate briefly this morning as she was returning from work and I was leaving. She had left word for me last night to use what I needed and to extend a warm welcome- a very, very nice way to end a loooooong day! She very kindly lent me some clothes (fortunately we're about the same size!) and is now hopefully deep asleep! Good thing I don't need to unpack anything...

I can relate- I'm exhausted. Starting to recover but feeling a bit woozy. Of course, that could be the ship rocking... I don't have the energy (or mental capacity for that matter) to even begin describing the Africa Mercy right now- it's overwhelming! We took a tour of it this morning- eight decks, six OR's, a Starbucks (run by volunteers on the weekend), internet cafe, shipshop, forty student school, and a bazillion cabins (that's right, count them- one, two, three, bazillion!). There's even a pool for water aerobics on the eighth deck... right next to the jungle gym and kids' bikes.

We also took a brief tour of Cotonou today. Mainly we went to see the "hospitality center" where patients wait pre-op and sometimes stay after they've been discharged from the ship but need to stick around for checkups. The HC, as it's known, is a warehouse given by Benin to be converted and used by Mercy Ships, thereby allowing more room onboard for medically necessary patients. Our guide said the bathrooms were put up over a weekend, and the there are several rooms with rows of beds- an amazing use of space and resources. That's a recurring theme even so far- efficiency. As a Christian organization, the mission is to give hope and healing with the Africa Mercy. As a medical ship, that means providing the most care, most successfully, to the most people in need. Given that about a thousand volunteers will rotate through in the ship's ten month-ish stay in Benin, efficiency is key.

I really only saw Cotonou from the jeep today, so it's difficult to describe. The market area is loud and crowded, and the motorcycle taxis ("Jimmyjohns") are aggressive. We saw one accident where a motorcyclist was sprawled out and bloody in the road. It was shocking not to see the usual Western reaction- panic and an ambulance. At lights and when we were going slow, many people approach the jeep to sell things and ask for assistance. Kids dance along the streets smiling and waving, calling us "yovo," the term for a white person here apparently. I don't know how many people here know what Mercy Ships does, but a good number of them appear to understand and recognize the white jeeps.

Shoot, even I don't quite understand what we do here yet. But I do know that I'm going to go walk around on deck for a bit.