Wednesday 6th March

We had nothing planned for today as the funerals of some of the people killed in the violence were due to take place today. We later found out that they had been postponed until Thursday. We spent the morning by the pool. 
A local man arrived at the ship this afternoon with a car load of his paintings to sell to the crew. Some of them were lovely. He had different sizes and types. I liked one of the big ones but decided we didn't have anywhere to put it. A couple of the crew had commissioned him to do paintings for them so he had bought those too. Lots of his paintings are displayed around the ship, some of which are for sale and others belong to crew members. 
Also around the ship are lots of pictures, plaques and other art which different people, organisations etc from the different countries the ship has been to have given to the ship as a thank you for their help. Many of these have been hand made and are lovely.

When Nathanael got home from school we went to watch his swimming lesson. 
After dinner Nathanael gave me a drum lesson on my new drum. He is so good at it. He taught me how to hit it properly, the shape my hand needs to be in and some rhythms. He has been having lessons on the ship from an African man from Liberia. 

As we didn't do much today I thought I'd add some random little bits of information that I haven't yet written about. 

This is the money here in Guinea. Everything is done in thousands. I haven't seen any coins yet as everything is done with notes. 

When I went to the bank on the ship to change some money I came out looking like I'd just robbed a bank with the massive wad of money I came out with!! People don't tend to have purses and wallets here as you wouldn't fit the wads of notes in. This is a picture of the equivalent of £70!

There is an academy here on the ship. It follows the American schooling system. It goes from Kindergarten right through to 18 years old. In Nathanael's class there are only 3 children at the moment. Sounds great but it does have its challenges.

There are currently 31 nationalities on board which is amazing. Even though there are many cultural differences the ship works really well. The main nationality is American, but there are lots of English, Dutch, German, Canadian, West African etc.
Some of the day workers that they employ in the ports they go to then want to stay on the ship which is good. 

When you see the crew of about 400 people on the ship and how many of them are highly skilled it makes you think Wow! these people could be earning thousands and thousands of pounds doing this job at home but they choose to pay to be here doing this work instead. But when you get here and see the difference it makes to the lives of the people here and how grateful they are, you begin to understand why they do it.
We were told about a guy who owned his own plastic surgery business in America and he used to do surgery on people who, even after surgery, were never happy with how they looked. He has recently retired and sold his business and now regularly comes and works with Mercy Ships as a surgeon and helps people who are forever grateful for his skills and he is now making a real difference in people's lives. Now, you can't argue with that!