A Day in the Life of an OR Sterilizer

Hi people,

I have been too busy to update you all but now I will tell you why.

I work Monday through Friday from 10am until 7pm down on deck 3 of the ship in the OR sterilizing room. I like it a lot actually, plus I have weekends of:)

Here's how it works. When the surgeon is finishing up in any of the ORs, which are down the hall from us, the nurse brings us the trays of equipment that were just used. We take them and clean the blood off to get them ready to go in a special washing machine. Once we have run a full load in there we take them out, dry them off, reassemble each surgical tray by making sure all the needed instruments are there, wrap them in layers of cloth like a present, and put them in the sterilizer. After they come out of there each tray and instrument is now sterile amd ready to be used when needed. It is a very detailed and time consuming process. I like it.

I am very impressed with how well run the Africa Mercy is. Somehow, really by the grace of God, the people here have managed to make a hospital, a bank, a school, a restaurant, a hotel, and a ship all operate smoothly together with people from 33 different nationalities onboard coming and going each week. And all this is done from a different country every year! As you can imagine it is no small task but like I said I am impressed. In the midst of all this the focus is still on God. He is the only one who could pull all that together and turn it into something that glorifies Him.

I have not had much opportunity yet to leave the ship. I walked around town last saturday and on sunday went to a wonderful church called Word of Faith. I love worship in Africa! Tomorrow I am going to a chimpanzee sanctuary which should be interesting. I just want to be outside. The one downside of where I work is that it has no windows and neither does my cabin. I ate my dinner outside on deck 7 tonight and the sun was so bright on the water it hurt to look at it. Still it was beautiful.

I will let you all now how the chimps are:)

Isimbi Johanna

My boy Nqobisitha

This afternoon I hung 4 pictures up above my little bed. There were 2 pictures of my siblings and I, which I find very supporting when I am feeling lonely, a picture of Silivia my baby girl in Uganda laughing, which just makes me happy to look at, and a picture Nqobisitha sitting on the ground in Zimbabwe, which is a particularly acute motivator when I am feeling tired. I stood there looking at them afterwards and I realized that he, Nqobisitha, is a big reason a came back here to Africa.

I think about this little boy almost every single day. He is one of 2 people that I cry about the most when I think of them. He would be about 10-years old now and most likely still has no mother. I am not completely sure why but God has laid Nqobi on my heart so intensely that sometimes I feel nearly as if I am grieving over my lost son when I think about him. Right now I can't feed him, or wash him, or make sure he is happy and not hurt so instead I came here to the Africa Mercy where at least in the long run I am helping kids like him.

I don't know if I made much of an impact on Nqobisitha; I spent a few nights feeding him, holding him in my arms while he fell asleep, and whispering prayers in his ear that he would grow up healthy and strong and loving God. He ,however, has certainly made an impact on me. It is this I find that I am thinking the most my first week back here in Africa.

I finally have an opportunity to go off the ship today and see Freetown. I was starting to feel trapped onboard here so I called my parents earlier and told them about it and they said they would be praying for me. An hour later I walked out of my cabin and immediately got an invitation to go to the market:) Thanks parents! It is an encouraging reminder to me of how my heavenly Father cares for me.

Next time I will have to tell you about cleaning surgical instruments all day! Talk to you later!

Isimbi Johanna

Africa Baby

I was speaking with an elderly man from Nigeria recently who yelled out "Africa!" as I walked by him. This was because I have talked with him about Africa before. I went over to him and he took my hand and called me an "Africa baby."

I suppose that is as good a description of me as any other. In a funny way I feel almost as if I grew up in Africa. Certainly as a Christian at least. In many ways it feels almost like going home when I return there but in many other ways I am glad it is not. The truth is that when my immune system can no longer fight back and when I am immensely saddened to hold another sick or dying child that I can do so little for I always have the option of America. To step back and take a break from grinding poverty is a luxury that the majority of Africans never know.

I am going back to Africa tomorrow; specifically to Sierra Leone. I miss the wet, earthy smell of Africa that hits you the second you step of the plane, the graceful women walking along the road with tremendous loads on their heads, and the beautiful malnourished children who smile with such joy it makes me think they must have been playing with Jesus Himself.

More than anything else I miss the intensely up close and personal way I encounter my Lord God in Africa. Africa strips away your comfort and complacency and challenges you to make a decision: there is either a loving God of the Bible or there isn't. It makes sense to me to conclude that there is because who else but a God like Him could enable people to live with such beauty surrounded by such suffering. I miss seeing God like that. I have realized that Africa equips me to serve people better in America.

By Monday evening I will have arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone to begin 3 months working as an OR sterilizer with Mercy Ships. That will be good but mostly I am excited to spend time with God in Africa again:)

Talk to you all from the ship!
Isimbi Johanna