Update in pictures

Sorry-o (in Liberian English) for neglecting this poor blog so much..... sometimes the mountain seems too big to start.... Anyway: I decided that I will not wait anymore for the "enough amount of time" to write these perfect articles for that never seem to come - but rather put something on the blog regularly like once every week or two weeks to keep those of you informed with pictures and little (imperfect :-)) stories who are interested and had to wait too long.... again, sorry-o!


The quickest way to update you that I can think of is WITH PICTURES - so enjoy some impressions of the last few month (it is a shock to realize it has really been that long....) - and there is more to come! I promise!!! More detailed information in our newsletter (on request).

I (Andrea) and the kids got the chance to go home to Munich this summer - a big blessing!
Here you see us with my parents and one of my brothers

What was one of the things we will not have in Africa? Strawberries - all you can eat here!


David and Amy enjoying icecream and a great time at our dear friends in Hockenheim



Dear God, thank you soooo much for your provision and the great time in Germany! Thanks sooo much to ALL of you who blessed us in so many ways during our stay there!


Middle of August we came back to the ship, reunited as family ( poor Wolfgang couldn´t come to Germany with us for he had to stay and work) and you can see that we all were very happy about that! And our family increased - yessss, we have a baby.......


.... and her name is Lilli! David and Amy are great parents - well, some of the time at least!


Here you can see them practising "adult life" by baking a great cake with our dear friend Esther for a special occasion...


for no one gets younger! This is on my 34th birthday - I celebrated it this time on the ship and not on our flight to our new season in life leaving Germany with many questions.... I am very grateful to look back on the last year, and I can truly say I see God that God has been with us during this last intense year of my life!

For another occasion I myself baked a cake:


The teenage of our teeny group at the orphanage "God´s childrens home" came to visit us on the ship! They all wore their nicest outfit - jeans and t-shirt, and were soooo excited!



They enjoyed our kids toys on deck 7 .... and a movie for the first time in their lives: we watched part of a movie on the gospel of John (what we are reading together at the moment).

Since the orphanage moved, we have to drive out 45 minutes to get to the new place - on roads that cannot really be called roads! Here we got stuck in a mud hole - and it took us 3 girls 30 minutes and lots of prayer to get out again!


Do you want to know what is happening now?


David and Amy are shouting: "Daddy needs VACATION!!!!!!"
After a very intense year of work without a break Wolfgang was more than ready to have a break now...


..... so we had the opportunity to go to Ghana for 10 days, one of the more developed countries in Liberias neighbourhood.

For a few days we stayed at Youth with a Mission Ghana...



and for 6 days at a beautiful little Pension at the beach!


Ghana is in many respects "nicer" than Liberia even though it is still a developing West African country.... only the ships seem so much smaller than ours! Smile....


Back to Liberia....
..... another "car story":


Just this last weekend ago a group of us (including David and Amy and myself) went to Gbarnga, usually about 4 hours drive from Monrovia. We rented a car that wasn´t as good as it looked from the outside - we had everything from flat tire (the spare tire was one that was not fitting), boiling motor, etc..... up to a complete breakdown on our way back so that we had to be towed back to the ship! Quite adventuresome - and David learned more about (not-so-good) cars!
Anyway, the weekend in Gbarnga was really worth everything (thanks, family Elser and Simon!)


David and his friend George from Gbarnga - and his new toy that actually is a weapon: George gave him his catapult as a special gift, and David gave him his favourite ball! (Oh boy, the ball was for sure less dangerous...)


Also Amy liked George alot (is the man of her dreams now African...?)
Or more like Juan from the Dominican Rebublic...?


To end this entry I show you this picture from some roads we took near Gbarnga - and promise to continue to take you on a trip through our experiences here in Africa! (As long as you don´t expect it to be "perfect"!
"See" you later!

Visit Monrovia!

We wanted to take you on a little picture-journey and show you some impressions of this country - amazing, beautiful, poor, torn, fascinating, full of contrasts, interesting people and culture, heartbreaking wounds of a war, and so much more. I wish you could all see it "live", but I hope you get a glimpse by just seeing a few pictures how Liberia is....



Today I show you around Monrovia alittle bit - a city that cannot be captured in a million pictures...


Monrovia seen from the ruins of a former 4**** Hotel .... you are looking down on houses, than a big slum area.... and in the far back those of you with good eyes can detect "our" white ship!


Many houses are still quite destroyed from the war - and most people live in huts and slum housing for the money is missing to restore these houses or build new ones...


Want to get around in Monrovia? Well you can walk....


....or take a taxi! They just passed a law that not more than 6 people can be transported in a normal taxi.... before that they often cramped as many people into one taxi as possible...


But don´t be mischiefed by how good these taxis look from afar - looking closer will shock you in what desolate state most of these cars are .....


.... the most extreme we saw is this taxi... driving around with only 3 wheels!!! (want to have a ride?)

New: there are some busses now driving around in Monrovia! Not in a very good state either, but an alternative... you just never know when a bus would come and how long it takes to get you to a place, especially now in raining season...



Want to go shopping?

There are some shops you can visit - nothing compared to what you are used to...


The most common place to shop is the market - there you will find anything and nothing - all on wheelbarrels and wooden stands with the ground turning into a mudbath around you in raining season...


Oh, I guess I need a new bra... how convenient, there are some!


If you want to buy other clothes you either find it second hand on some wheelbarrel (donations from America sold there????) or you buy some material (your key word that you need to know is " I want a lappa!) and find a taylor that makes you your custom made dress - it takes you about 3-4 times to go back to that taylor until it finally fits in a way that you want to wear it....



Got hungry after all this shopping?

Why don´t you stop at the food section at the market and spoil yourself with some real delicacies... fresh snails!


Now you wonder how you take all your new goodies and possessions home to the ship? Well, try the african way...


Enjoy trying!

Next time we will leave Monrovia and discover the beauty of the country as soon as you leave this big loud smelly city!

Princess - is now with the king!

I wanted to share the story of Princess with you - a beautiful name fitting to a lovely, precious 9-year-old girl that God allowed us to meet!


Wolfgang saw Princess the first time about 2,5 months ago in a hospital he sometimes goes to because he can help big time with his skills in ultrasound - making better diagnosics possible and helping many children and grown-ups to get the right treatment, often life-saving!
Wolfgang would love to see not only as many patients as possible being helped through his skills but also to train others to use it, for there are about 3 ultrasound machines in this country. Standing in the corner and collecting dust for no one in Liberia knows how to use it!


Princess was in the hospital because of severe weight loss and excrutiating abdominal pain - and Wolfgang "found" a huge tumor in her liver, hoping it would be the fast growing kind - a so-called burkitts-lymphoma - for that is the only kind of malign tumor that can be treated with chemo here in this country. They started the treatment without biopsy hoping it would make a difference, and knowing that medically speaking that was her only chance anyway.

Princess came to the ship about a month later and Wolfgang did an ultasound again - hoping so much that the tumor would have gotten smaller as a sign of being burkitts`....


The tumor was the same size - and Princess´s belly had the size of a watermelon now - but her arms and legs were thin like sticks. Her aunt brought her to the ship for her mother had abandoned her, not able to cope with this suffering. She left and went to a different african country, trying to run away from her inability to deal with the situation of her daughter.


We were all struck by the realisation that medically there was no hope for Princess - that we will have to see her die unless a miracle would happen.
We see many miracles happen here - children that are expected not to live through the night and get well after praying for them ... we believe that God is doing so much in the lives of these people, so much that exceeds our limited possibilities by far!
We don´t have answers to why we can sometimes experience God´s intervention in a miraculous way and at other times we don´t see it or experience in the way we would want it. But miracles are so much more than healings: For me it was a miracle to see her Aunt take such wonderful care for this abandoned child, telling me about the deep love she suddenly feels for Princess and that she is even able to forgive Princess´s mom despite the anger and even hatred she felt in the beginning...
The biggest miracle for me was to be able to pray with Princess and see her put her trust in Jesus, asking him to come into her life and becoming the daughter and princess of the king of kings! It was nothing I imposed on her - she wanted it!!! She felt that there is more than just us and our short time on this earth...


I was able to go and visit her a week later at her Auntie´s house and her Aunt told me how much Princess changed after that: Even though her physical status got worse, she had so much peace in her, was smiling often despite the pain and said that all her fear is gone!

Last week Princess died.


Someone from the ship was able to be there when she passed away - and told us that right before she died , her face lit up and was suddenly shining, and she lifted her weak arm and pointed to the ceiling as if there was something incredibly beautiful - well, not visible to our human eyes... She died very peacefully and we know that she is with Jesus. You might not believe in Jesus and trust him with all the important questions in life - but let me tell you: when you experience something like the life of Princess, you stop asking why she had to undergo such sickness - you are amazed to see that obviously there is a better life waiting for us when we place our trust in the only one that can give us this peace, this life in his presence that is so much better than anything awesome we could ever have on this earth. Oh, how much would we have loved to see Princess be healed. But we know that she is doing so well now, not having any pain or need, and experiencing the fullness of the goodness of God - something that we can get a glimpse of here already and don´t want those moments to pass.
Can you read what truth this taxidriver wrote on his old, beat-up car?


Better days ahead!!!

Let me tell you, we learn sooo much ourselves by being here! I hope we can let you be a tiny part of that by sharing our experiences....

Meet the new surgeon!

Are you interested to yome and experience the "OR" - Operating room here on the Africa Mercy with me? The British call it "theatre" - sounds quite fun. Well, I don´t think "fun" is the right word for what I was able to experience and see on my observing day down in the OR, I would rather use the words "fascinating", "amazing", "impressive"-- and very touching to know how single lives can be changed forever by very professional work!

Excellent work done by people that come here to invest their time and skills not only for free, but actually pay their way to serve people here in Liberia. Like the two orthopedic surgeons on these pictures that came from California for two weeks and changed many lives of grown-ups, or children like this boy born with a club foot.
Well, this boy can be happy that the "new surgeon" on this picture was only observing... smile! What a difference to see all the structures in the foot threedimensional and not only on a picture in a anatomy book!

After the surgery he got a fancy cast that he will have to wear for a few weeks before it will be taken off and therapy starts (and I guess that´s something I am better in than doing a surgery...) along with wearing a splint for a year. It´s so awesome to know that he will be able to run around just like any other child soon!

Ready to come with me to the next OR? Here you can see our friend Mark who is just about to do surgery on a young woman with a huge goiter, taking half of it out. You can´t take it all out here in Liberia for they would need to take substitutional hormones for the rest of their lives - something you can´t buy here! Wow, we really live in a country with so many limitations...


I want you to meet little Amachin - or at least look at his pictures like I did just a few days ago... and I think these pictures speak more than hundred words. It is a priviledge to be part of this ministry where lives can be changed - not only outwardly, but also inwardly by showing them how much God cares for each one of them..... we are the feet, the hands, the mouth of Jesus to these people!

So here you can see Amachin before the surgery.....


... and a changed Amachin after surgery! When the wounds have healed, he will look like a normal child. How amazing!

VIP's on the ship

We as Mercy Ships are the largest NGO working in this country - and get alot of VIP visitors here if you want to call it like that - the president, various people of the government (that Wolfgang often gets to treat for there is nowhere else to go for them, and many more).




But to tell you the truth, I don't really care how "important" people seem to be... when I chat with one of the crew members who is a very rich business man in his home country but comes here to SERVE in the dining room washing dishes.... or seeing Gary Parker who could earn millions of dollars at home as a maxillo-facial surgeon but chooses to live here with his family for 23 years now and being supported by friends and churches just like everyone else.... actually EACH person here giving up alot and serving here on the ship shows me the real VIP's here!!! Not talking about for example the parents of a little boy carrying him for days just to bring him to the ship where he could get helped with his disfiguring two clubfeet - something that make it impossible for him to walk himself... and now he can walk and run like any other child!


Anyway, there was a special "VIP" event not too long ago when the German Embassador came for a tour on the ship and visited with us Germans here on board, and I got some nice pictures from her visit and want to share them with you:




The German Embassador greeting each one of us Germans individually ...

What is one of the greatest treat for Germans? I guess fresh German (dark) bread, bread rolls, pretzels, croissants etc! Being here in Liberia and on the ship has his many challenges, but at the moment we are extremely spoiled to have a retired German baker on board who was looking for a way he could serve after the death of his wife.... and comes here every year now being a huge blessing to all of us. (To all of you who are retired: what a great way to invest yourself in whatever capacity!)

Another treat next to talking to a very nice and interested Embassador: Albert's German Apple Cake (the biggest miracle: where did he get the apples from..? that's what I, Andrea, probably miss the most here foodwise.... smile!)

And here a picture of most of us Germans being on board at the moment - a great bunch of wonderful people! Lots of VIP's so to say... smile!

our little artists

Our computer is back to life again! And I can keep you posted...



Today I like to take you to an amazing arts exhibition .... guess what, held in Monrovia, Liberia! The artworks were done by young promising artists from all over the world, shown in the exquisite Galery in a very unique location - a ship! Which wellknown artist today can recall such a start of his career?!?


Here are two of these promising young artists, they showed us around, graciosly gave interviews, and were extremely proud of their works. We don´t want you to miss out on them:


Preschool (David´s class) did fine art studies on the five senses... and here is a little quiz for you:


Are you able to guess it? Here is the solution, very clear:


Nursery also presented amazing works, even though the quiz here is not as easy as David´s one:


Can you guess the animal the young artist drew here? Well, take a peak under the the flap....


Amy seems to have understood the definition of "modern art" quite well .... smile!


Every class presented their art works and also songs, plays and other artistic skills. It was a fun evening that made all of us parents very proud and very thankful for the great input and care our kids receive here by their awesome teachers and also from so many people on the ship.

Enjoy some other amazing art works done by young students in first and second grade - quite amazing: