The "I'll believe it when I see it" day finally came! The Africa Mercy sailed into Liberia last Wednesday and pulled in to the dock right across from the Anastasis. The zodiac from the Anastasis came out to pick me up as the Africa Mercy was entering the port. Just as we passed the breakwater I jumped ship and sped around the port shooting video. Then I got off on the dock where the Anastasis crew was yelling, dancing and waving flags as the ship glided in. It was awesome because I was the only person cleared by immigration to be on the dock and on the ship so I could get video of all the festivities from both perspectives.
That was just the beginning of my chaos. Let's just say technical difficulties because I don't really understand bandwidth either. Something to do with squeezing a basketball through a straw. Basically everybody was shocked when what I said would happen happened, and I got the raw end of the deal. But let's not go there. I got the job done.
Saturday I took my chance to get off the ships for a while. I went with some friends into Monrovia to the Ducor Palace, once a five star hotel, recently home to hundreds of squatters and now empty. We climbed to the roof and explored some hallways. It was a weird feeling walking through a building that's seen such extremes and imagining what it was like in its previous lives. Then we went out to lunch, came back to the ships, I found some other friends, and we went out to dinner. It was good day.
The President of Liberia came to my ship today. It was a media frenzy. I had to elbow my way through the president's tour of the hospital deck and run all over the place trying to catch her coming up a stair or down a hall. It was kindof fun actually. There was a ton of security, but still I was so close to the president of a whole country. The first female president in Africa, in the poorest country in the world. She's a real person and someone I admire. Before the night was over the message of Mercy Ships was distributed to the masses again. Shoot, I make Mercy Ships look so good.
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