The past few days have been pretty busy. Operation Mercy Wrap was a huge success,we had a lot of people on the mess deck with needles and thread, from the Commodore on down. I was surprised how people got into it. They had media up there filming and doing interviews. It was great to see everyone getting involved, even our partner nations, Australia, India and Canada pitched in and sewed up towels for blankets and shirt sleeves for hats. One pharmacist brought her really nice sewing machine and made some very nicely done bath bags. She also brought a lot of fleece and made about 14 blankets out it. The hard part now is getting them back up to the clinic up in the mountains where they are needed. Roads are practically non-existent and it takes several hours up a mountainside to get there. A lot of other places could use them but we want them to go where the need was noticed first.
Got to go to Mass at a Catholic Church in Dili on Sunday. Went with a group of about 30 people, it's the first time I've been off the ship since opening ceremony. It was very nice, and interesting. It's the first time I've ever gone to church and saw a soldier (Aus) with a semi-automatic rifle hanging off his shoulder as he was doing the standing, sitting, kneeling that we do in Mass. The congregation was large and international with the UN Peacekeeping Force still there. It was all in English and the choir was wonderful. I liked the chiming bells they ring at communion, just like it was when I was a kid. The priest asked everyone from the Mercy to raise their hands and the congregation applauded, it seemed they were happy to have us there.
Got my first helicopter ride today and it was awesome! I thought it would be more rough, but it was so smooth, we even had the doors open so I got some videos and pictures. When we landed these kids came up to greet us and there was this wonderful elderly lady who was just smiling, I asked if I could take her picture, she nodded yes and just as I pressed the shutter she reached out her hand in greeting. I shook her hand and she just hugged me and kissed me on both cheeks, she was so happy to see us. We went to a clinic (Clinic Timor)run by the coffee cooperative. They grow coffee for places like Starbucks. It is apparently run by some Cuban doctors. I met a nice young man from Cuba who was translating for us. They even had coffee and buns for us in one of the rooms. People were lined up outside the fence and the waiting room was filled. It is a beautiful area, in the not too far distance there were these very tall trees with a big canopy, just lovely. The coffee cooperatives and the cattle cooperatives are helping to fight the pervasive poverty in that area. Hard job to do for a whole country, but I think it is being done, little by little.
We picked up a young man to take back to the ship for cleft lip/palate surgery. He's 15 and he didn't have anyone with him. Imagine being whisked away by some large caucasians, probably never had been in a car much, only to be flown away to a white ship in the middle of the ocean, then having your first ride in an elevator! Can't imagine what is going through his mind. Operation Smile from Australia is doing the surgery, they've done some incredible work on this mission. The sad part of this mission is seeing the disease states in 20 and 30 year olds that we were seeing in 60 and 70 year olds in the Philippines. The result of years of instability. Hopefully that will change with some persistence and international collaboration.
Only a few more days before all of this part ends and I will be off the ship. Then the next phase of this, taking it all back to San Diego, begins. So many stories, so little bandwidth! Just tried to post pictures of all of this and can't so will do when I can.
Take care all.
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