Thursday 7th March

Another quiet day planned as the funerals had been postponed until today for some reason. We spent the morning by the swimming pool again watching the world go by. Dave took Tim's binoculars up so he could have a look at things closer up. We saw the pelicans on one of the wrecks in the port, we watched the vultures circling above us (there are loads of them flying around all the time), the ships being unloaded, one of the smaller boats being put back on this ship with the crane and other boats coming and going. I took some photos and videos. 

Later on when Nathanael came home from school he got ready for a special swimming lesson. His usual teacher wasn't able to do his lesson today as she had mid-term exams so he had a lesson with Uncle Dave!

In the evening we went to the community meeting and enjoyed strawberry ice cream afterwards with various toppings! 
We found out that the funerals didn't take place again today! They are now scheduled for tomorrow and they are now burying 6 of the 8 killed, so either they have been waiting so they can bury as many as possible together or they are planning a big demonstration. 


As there's not much news again today, here are some statistics about Guinea

Why Guinea?

According to the last Human Development Index, Guinea is placed at 178, that's in the bottom 10 out of a total of 187 countries.  You can click here to see the latest stats for Guinea and click on each heading for stats

142 out of 1000 children die at birth

680 out of 100,000 women die in childbirth

Life expectancy is 54

43% of the population live below $1.25 per day

There are enormous needs for health care (check out Global Health Facts for more details):

Attendance of a skilled health worker at birth is 46%

1.3 per 10,000 health care workers per person (that includes Nurses, Midwives and Doctors)

3 hospital beds per 10,000 (UK-33/USA-30)

Here is a section from my sisters blog about the screening they did shortly after they arrived here in Guinea. At a screening, potential patients are seen by doctors and nurses to see if they are eligible for surgery or treatment by the Mercy Ships team. It's amazing how many people turn up to be seen and how far some of them have come.

Here are some pictures from the screening.

 People waiting to be seen

 Nearly all the crew are involved in the screening day, some give out water, others escort the patients, some help with security to keep the crowds controlled, others with the prayer team, there is so much to do.  The planning that is done by our hospital team is amazing and so organised that all the bases are covered.

 People come with many problems, some we can't help, others we can....at the end of day they feel like somebody has listened, cared and given them a hope in Jesus.

 Some are blessed with an appointment card and you always tell who they are by the BIG smiles! 

 Please pray for our time here as more are reach with the love of Jesus.