In the morning we decided to go down to the ward service. This is where a group of people made up of crew and day workers put on an hour long service in the wards on the ship which the patients can go to. It was packed full, with all the chairs taken and people sitting on the beds. They started with some very lively singing, dancing and drumming (which they certainly know how to do well!). Then there was a short talk which was interpreted into 2 other languages. It ended with more singing, dancing and drumming. There was a great atmosphere and it was good to see the patients enjoying it and joining in. We couldn't take photos because of the patients being there. I would have loved to have taken a video of the singing and music as it sounded amazing.
After lunch we went and took some more last minute photos and Tim took us inside the ships funnels and right to the highest point on the ship where we took some more photos.
We had been trying to check in for our flight online since yesterday but it kept saying that there was no such flight! Slight panic having had it changed already! It did let us check in for our second flight from Brussels to Bristol, although we weren't sure if we would get that far!
We went and did our last few bits of packing and made our way to reception to meet up with the others who would be leaving on our flight. We said goodbye to the people who had come to see us off and got in the land rovers ready to drive to the airport. Tim was asked to lead the convoy. As we got closer to the airport we noticed there were alot of armed guards around (the ones with real bullets!). We weren't sure whether this was because of the recent riots or whether something else was going on. The road started to get more congested and as we reached the airport we discovered that the road leading to the airport had been closed with men with AK47's (proper big guns!) standing guard to make sure no-one got through. So we decided not to argue with them! Tim thought we could go round the roundabout and go in the other way but we soon discovered that that road had been closed too. We were then stuck in traffic which wasn't going anywhere. Tim radioed the other vehicles in our convoy to see if anyone spoke French enough to get out and ask a guard or police man what was going on and how we could get to the airport. Thankfully one of the men could speak enough French and managed to find out that the president was either leaving or arriving at the airport so had shut it and we found out later that all the flights had been cancelled! We had no idea how long it was going to be closed for. We parked up next to the exit of the airport to try and make a plan. Our man went and spoke to the guard on the exit gate, using the magic password "Mercy Ships" which seems to get you out of all sorts of trouble here!! He said they would let us in the exit on foot, so we got all our luggage out of the vehicles and made our way to the gate. He checked our passports and said that only the people travelling could go in and quickly tried ushering us through the gate. I had managed a quick hug with Sharon and Tim but I hadn't had chance to say goodbye to Nathanael and was being pushed through the gate. Dave was shouting for me to hurry up before we lost the others but I fought my way back saying "I haven't said goodbye to Nathanael" so managed a really quick, tearful goodbye, but I don't think he really knew what was going on. It was all a bit of a mad panic and a really horrible way to say goodbye. We eventually managed to get into the airport and check in straight away as there wasn't anyone else in the airport! It wasn't for about another hour that other people started to get in so we figured they must have re-opened the airport.
When Sharon and Tim managed to get back to the ship they checked the internet to try and find out what was happening and found out that the flight had been cancelled, so were half expecting to have to come and pick us up again. They phoned the airport and discovered that it was ok after all.
We watched our plane come in and all the activity of getting it ready for the return flight, unloading and re-loading of luggage, food, etc, cleaning, re-fuelling, etc.
Eventually we boarded the plane and began our long journey home. As the security in Africa isn't always the best, the airline staff checked our hand luggage again as we were about to board the plane! We left Guinea about 8.30pm with a handful of passengers and flew to Dakar in Senegal to pick up what seemed like a million people!! We were there for about an hour and a half and soon had a very full and noisy plane. We were supplied with food, drinks, earphones, blankets and pillows. There were individual screens in the back of every seat with on demand films, TV programmes, music, games and flight follower. This was an overnight flight and by about 1am I was getting tired and couldn't keep my eyes open enough to watch any more films but couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep. I was getting restless and didn't know what to do with myself - it was horrible. Then there was a bit of action which kept me awake for a bit - a lady had collapsed in one of the toilets (I think she had just fainted, so wasn't serious). Now, if you've ever been on a plane you'll know that the toilets aren't very big, so watching the stewardesses trying to sort her out was quite amusing (well, it doesn't take much to amuse me and I was tired!).
Eight hours after leaving Guinea we arrived in Brussels about 4.30am. We walked to immigration and waited in the huge queue. On the other side we said goodbye to the other Mercy Ships people we had been travelling with who were going on home to Cananda, America and Switzerland. We had a look in the shops in the airport and then went for a drink to try and stay awake! We then decided to get through security (yet again!) while it was quiet. We did a little experiment on those silly moving floors you find in airports to see if they actually are any good! It seemed pointless to me that you go on a moving floor but still walk - what's the point? So Dave walked at the side and I walked on the moving floor to see how much quicker it was (please remember I am easily amused and was very tired by this point!). I think I made about 2 metres, so not really worth it in my opinion!
I phoned work to let them know we wouldn't make it in to work because of the changes to our flight and we didn't know what time we would be home.
We eventually found our flight and made our way to the departure gate to wait and watched the snow falling! The temperature here was a bit different than what we had left in Guinea and was a bit of a shock to the system! When we got on the bus to take us to the plane we had to wait for ages in the cold.
When we got to the plane we had to wait for the de-icer vehicle to come and de-ice the plane. We took off just over an hour and a half late but at least we were on our way home. We were given more food and drink and arrived back at Bristol airport about 12 noon on Monday. Having collected our luggage, which had managed to make it back with us, we made our way to the bus to take us back to the car park where we picked up the car and piled on the warm coats we had left in it! It was snowing in Bristol too.
At last, we were on our way home. Or so we thought...
Just as we were approaching junction 22 to join the M5 there was a horrible noise from the car. We pulled into a layby, checked the car and discovered a large piece of metal stuck in one of the tyres.
We would have been on our way in no time if we could have changed the wheel but, of course, my car doesn't come with a spare wheel! Aaarrrggghh!
So, we had to phone the breakdown service and explain where we were to someone who didn't know the area. She said they would try and find a garage nearby who had a tyre and get us there. After several phone calls backwards and forwards she got back to us to say she couldn't find one the right size anywhere. She then phoned back to say she had found one locally. But her idea of locally was not the same as ours! She had found one about 50 miles away in the other direction. Not terribly helpful. We explained that we had been travelling all night, hadn't slept for 30 hours and just wanted to get home. We told her that we were only about 60 miles away from home so instead of taking us 50 miles in the wrong direction couldn't they just take us home. So, thankfully they agreed to do that. After an hour the flat bed truck arrived, put the car on the back, we got in the lovely warm cab of the truck and were driven home. Saved us driving home and the fuel money - bargain!
We arrived home about 4pm, phoned Sharon and Tim and my parents to let them know we had got home safely, unpacked, ate and went to bed for a well earned 12 hour sleep.
Life changing adventure complete!
We hope you have enjoyed reading our blog and have managed to get a sense of the amazing work Mercy Ships are doing. Please keep following this blog for more stories of Mercy Ships work in Africa. I will update when I receive more stories and information.
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