The last days

It's already December and that means that (for now) it's time for my last update about my life on board the Africa Mercy. On the 11th of November I came back to the Netherlands. That was ten days before my initial departure date, so I was able to surprise my family. More about that later, but first: let me share some more stories from my time on board! 

Work and more
Of course the work on board continued as normal. I still worked in the dining room, but at the beginning of the month I switched teams. This was because of the longer-term staffing plan. My first team stayed quite stable, while in the other team everyone was new, including the team leader. I worked with this other team for two weeks, to help give them a bit more experience and help them get things running. At times, that was hard and exhausting, because a lot of things were done differently and I couldn't lean on the Dutch team leader I'd had before. Nevertheless, we had a good time together and had some fun too!
On my days off I stayed busy too. One Friday afternoon I helped Harry, our baker, a bit. With his guidance and instructions, I made baguettes for that evening's dinner and they were delicious! We also did a try-out with making pretzels, which was new to Harry too.

Setting fire and sleeping outside

Don't worry, I didn't really start a fire! On the ship we're often dependent on ourselves if, for example, there is a fire or medical emergency. Therefore, we have our own fireteams and other so called emergency teams. To make sure everyone knows what to do in case of an emergency, not just the emergency teams, but all crew really, we often practice. In Guinea we had fire drills every other week during which we had to evacuate ship, but now during the maintenance period they added a "small" drill for just part of the teams in the other weeks. A big drill isn't complete without victims. Earlier I had the chance to play a victim with a broken leg and I really wanted to be a victim again. For my last big fire drill, I got that opportunity and this time we also used make-up to make our injuries look more real! The story was that Adam (our head chef) and I had set fire to one of the containers in the hold and fell down as we were trying to run away. Adam had a big head wound and I had a broken collarbone. We had a lot of fun trying to come up with reasons as to why we had started the fire and sat in the smoke, waiting for the fire teams. Besides the fun fire drills sometimes bring, we also see that our practices help a lot. At some point the fire alarm went off on a Friday evening and everyone was at their station within no time. Thankfully it ended up being a false alarm and there wasn't a fire, but it did show us how well trained everyone is.

Every once in a while, we have people on the ship with fun, crazy ideas. One of my friends suggested we would sleep outside in hammocks with some friends, during my last weekend on board (and for her birthday). Now I already had the feeling we wouldn't sleep that much and half of our group had to work the next day in either the galley or dining room, so I wasn't sure how good of an idea that was. But on the other hand, it sounded like an adventure and when I would go home, I could sleep as much as I wanted, so of course I said yes! We put up our hammocks, wrapped ourselves to be warm and tried to sleep. I have to say, it was much better than I'd expected! I woke up a few times because a patch of my hammock wasn't covered with a blanket and the cold wind came through, but other than that I slept well for at least 5 hours. The next day I didn't get tired until noon, so after my lunch shift, I slept a bit, but it was a great adventure!

Back to the Netherlands
Way to soon came the day I wasn't looking forward to, my departure date. I left on Wednesday morning and thankfully got the day off on Tuesday. I filled up that day completely with small "dates" with my favorite people and of course packing my bags. Then came the much-dreaded moment of saying goodbye. On the ship, we have our own goodbye rituals and I'll be happy to share those with you! Last year, for example, everyone would come down to the dock to say goodbye and wave goodbye as we drove off, but that has moved to the cafe on the ship, as we don't have a closed off dock space and cars and truck drive past all the time. A lot of people came and many hugs and last words later, someone announced that my taxi was there. Someone prayed over me and then it was my time to go through "the tunnel". Everyone stands in two rows with their hands up (not touching, because COVID ;-)) and you can run through, towards reception and the gangway. A few of my friends went down to the taxi with me, to help with my luggage and say goodbye one more time. The rest of the people who were at the cafe, went up to deck 7. From there everyone waved goodbye and as we drove off, they sounded the ship's horn. A special ending of another wonderful time on board!

Even before I left the ship, I'd heard that my flight was delayed by two and a half hours. When we finally left, we flew straight over the ship and as we turned, I could see the AFM in the distance. One of my friends on the ship spotted us as we flew over. Late at night I arrived in Amsterdam, where my uncle was waiting to pick me up. He drove me home, so I could surprise the rest of my family. It was already past midnight, so everyone was asleep, but luckily my aunt and uncle had picked up a spare key at my grandparents. I sneaked into our house (I felt a bit like a criminal...) and went to sleep in my own bed. The next moment I woke up from my parents, who had noticed that my bedroom door was closed right away and I was able to surprise my siblings as they came down for breakfast that morning.

 

Now I've been at home for almost a month already. I haven't done much, because my brother tested positive on COVID a week after I came home and my sister also tested positive a week later. We have been in quarantine for over two weeks, but as of today we're finally allowed to go out again! The upcoming months I will stay in the Netherlands to get some things done and sorted out here. In February I will finally get my permanent teeth implants, so that treatment will take a while. During the time I'm here, I want to finally start driving lessons and hopefully get my driver’s license and I will try to find a job in a while, to save up some money. After I finish my implant treatment, I really want to return to Mercy Ships to serve on board. Of what ship? I don't know yet, maybe I'll end up on the Global Mercy! Haven't you heard about our new, custom made ship that's currently being built yet? Check out this video, in which we'll introduce her to you!

Announcing the Global Mercy - YouTube

 

That's it for now when it comes to updates from my time on board in Tenerife. This is also where I'll stop the monthly blogs for a bit, although I may post a little update every once in a while. Thanks for following along and I already want to wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

 

Blessings,

Rimke