We are back in Madagascar!!! Exciting times are ahead as our crew prepares for a big 10 months ahead of field service in Toamasina!
Our time in Durban was a busy time on the ship of annual maintenance, where they accomplished much work, upgrades, and certifications. The crew and contractors worked up until the last minute, but by God’s grace, we managed to finish the work in time for our departure from Durban on Feb 5th. We also began a new fundraising year, and are grateful for everyone who has already partnered with us in 2025. We’re a long way off our fundraising goal, so please consider supporting our mission with Mercy Ships Canada at our donation page.
Here are some pics of the ship during the AMP (Annual Maintenance Period)
During this construction time, the families, including ours, were not allowed on the ship for safety reasons. Dan spent the month of January commuting to the ship to work during the day while Rachel and the kids spent the time at the Riverside Hotel. The port area is very unsafe to be in so the commute was about 30 minutes to the hotel and Uber became a new way of travel as we were told it was the safest. We were thankful for this place to stay and the staff who were so lovely and accommodating to our group and kids. Spending a month in a hotel was lovely, but also we were very happy to be back to our home on board the Africa Mercy!
Durban was quite the contrast to Madagascar as it had malls and restaurants and quite wealthy areas of the city as well. We were warned many times to stay in safe areas and always in groups and always during the day. Thankfully, we were all kept safe and there were no incidents during our stay. We managed to visit a few sightseeing spots including Durban Botanical Gardens, Ushaka Marine World, Beechwood Mangroves Nature Reserve, and a few malls. As seafarers who arrived on a ship to Durban, we were limited to the Durban Metropolitan area as that was all our visas allowed. It was also hot hot there, but we managed to walk down by the Ocean and river a few times to stretch our legs and see more of the area.
Finally, we boarded the Africa Mercy and were so happy to be reunited with our ship family! We are so thankful for the wonderful people who we work and live alongside every day!
Our sail back to Madagascar was not as terrible as we anticipated despite one of our 4 engines deciding not to work! So with 3 engines, we sailed (a little slower than planned) back to Toamasina. Once close to our destination we soon realized we would not make it in time that day for a safe arrival in daylight so we went down to two engines and did many zig zags and circles to pass the time until morning. That was a rockier night, and we were up at 5:30 the next morning for our arrival! That was when we discovered our bow thrusters were not operating! Our engineering crew worked to get them working for a few hours, but they wouldn’t start. That was when the captain made a PA announcement that it was time to pray. In hindsight, we maybe should have started with prayer because just as they finished praying and walked back up into the bridge the bow thrusters came to life and worked again! phew!
We were then able to come into port and were greeted by the day crew, the crew that had to leave us in South Africa, the country engagement team, and friends just before lunchtime.
We are now a week into our arrival and it has been a huge flurry of activity of setting up, unpacking from the sail, cleaning, scheduling, people embarking, and much much more!
Rachel has started teaching a baking class to a few Jr High/High Schoolers on Friday afternoons and is working as the Admin Assistant to Hannah the HOPE Center Manager. This will keep her busy, along with making sure the kids’ homework is completed and all is well with the family.
The kids were back to school on the ship just before the sail and will be in school until mid-June when the school year ends.
Dan has a full IT Team of 7 plus himself that he is managing. Getting the ship network connected was a priority as we arrived. Now they are unpacking all of the network and computer equipment that enables the Pre-Op, Outpatient, Post-Op, and Hope Center teams to start working with patients. He was still engaged in contract negotiations with a new internet provider as we arrived. Dan is thankful that God answered prayer and he now has a full team to help prepare the ship for field service, which could begin on March 13th.
Please continue to pray for us as we get back into new routines. Pray for protection from illness as hundreds of volunteers and patients begin making their way to the ship in the next few weeks. We pray against any typhoons or tropical storms, that they would spare Madagascar and circle out to the Indian Ocean. Most of all, we pray for our patients, for safe travels to the ship, for successful surgeries, and for fast healing.
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