africa again, the first week

I’m back in Africa! Because of the delays with the generator replacement, the ship is still docked in Durban, South Africa and I am living with many of the crew at an unused teacher’s college called Appelsbosch about an hour and a half drive from the ship. We are still unsure of when we will return to the ship and when we will sail towards Sierra Leone. This means many of us who are generally in the hospital, which is closed until we get to Sierra Leone, have been involved in cleaning the ship in preparation for the crew to return and also moved to different jobs at Appelsbosch. I spent my first few days after arriving taking it easy so as to get over the upper respiratory infection and jet lag. Tuesday after I arrived was my first journey back to the ship with all the cleaning crew. It was so good to see “home” even if I’m not yet living there. And then, the fun began =) Tuesday and Wednesday I was on cleaning crews working throughout the ship doing various fun jobs such as washing the walls, wiping down chairs, stripping and waxing floors. It was a hot, dirty and smelly job. And the start and end of each day involved the 90 minute drive back and forth from the campus. And unfortunately, my motion sickness isn’t relegated just to sailing so each day started and finished with some motion sickness. Because the work was progressing well for the cleaning crews on ship, my boss moved me to the dining room crew at the campus so I could miss out on the 3 hour transit/motion sickness time. So, for our time here at Appelsboch, I will be working in the dining room.

I have always known it was a hard job but have a new respect for both the dining room crew and galley crew. Imagine getting up at minimum an hour before the rest of the crew arrives for breakfast to set out food and fill water/juice/milk tanks. When the crew arrives, then you have to keep the food topped off, dishes washed, water/juice/milk filled, check on the coffee and tea supplies, check on the condiments. Now the crew leaves for work and the galley crew arrives to start getting ready for lunch as the dining room crew continues to clean up after breakfast—wipe down all surfaces for food, wipe down tables, clean toaster, restock water/juice, sweep and begin the mopping process that will take all week to get through the entire dining room. Then, the dining room crew gets an hour break before coming back and setting up lunch that the galley crew has been putting together. It’s lunchtime, and now time to repeat the keeping food topped up, dishes washed, etc. Lunch is over, clean up again. This time there is a 3 hour break before dinner and then the fun begins all over. The galley staff has been working this whole time to prepare food for the evening and often end up cooking through the dinner time and just eating as they go. Although I got several thank you’s because it isn’t my normal job, I know it is often a thankless job—people who don’t like what has been cooked complain, dishes don’t get washed fast enough and someone has to wait on a clean plate, or food isn’t quite ready because of the way the crew comes in spurts and someone has to wait. The staff become part of the furnishings—crew drop off their plates for washing up without even noticing there is a person in the room. So, my hats off to the dining room and galley staff. I have gained a new respect for how hard you work and will enjoy my brief sojourn here in this department.

There are pictures around somewhere of the hard work but I don’t have them yet. Hopefully I’ll be able to add some later on so you can appreciate the work in photos.