guinea.

so much has happened since we arrived here in conakry, guinea a week and a half ago. i feel like we have been here for months already. i am already loving this beautiful place & the super friendly people here.

( a little piece of home as we pulled into the port in conakry, guinea)

this is the first time the africa mercy ship has come to the french speaking nation of guinea. it's been almost 20 years since mercy ship's last field service here in guinea via the anastasis ship.

things have been quite hectic in the HR department, as we have prepared for the arrival of many new nurses, doctors, & support staff we need to help keep the ship running & make this 10 month field service possible.

( lots of dolphins sightings from our sail from tenerife, canary islands to conakry, guinea)

i got to help with the planning of the day worker orientation as well. it was so such a nice surprise to see some familiar faces & a few of my dayworker friends from sierra leone & togo return.

 i did get a tremendous opportunity on tuesday of this past week to help with the dental team to clean/set up their clinic. which was so much fun! twas so cool to walk in & not really see a vision of how everything was going to work out. everything came together so swiftly and we had 9 dental chairs and lights set up in just a few hours time. last field service in togo, the dental team rendered a whopping 9,688 dental procedures! that was just in 6 months time. i'm excited to see how many more procedures we can complete & the abundance guinean folks we can help in our 10 months here. ( since it's rainy season here, i didn't want to chance taking my camera out, hence the lack of photos.)

Conakry, Guinea made the top 10 wettest cities in the world list with average precipitation amount being 170.91 inches per year. Sure is quite a change from the measly 15 to 20 inches of rain, good old Los Angeles receives per year.

( weekend adventures off the peninsula. if you look closely, you can spot a few waterfalls.)

and if you all thought that the info above was exciting, just wait till you hear that screening day is TOMORROW! despite the fact that i'll be up a few hours before the sun, i am so beyond ectatic about this & that i get to be a part of it this time. i'll be working one of the registration tables. where the patients who have been screened and have gotten the okay for surgery come & see our smiling HR faces. we fill out contact info, all that fun patient stuff, etc.

please keep us ( the africa mercy crew) in your prayers tomorrow, the potential patients we will be able to bring "hope and healing" to & also for the people we will sadly have to turn away and won't be able to help.

Thank you lots, i will update you on screening day soonish!