Five Walls at Sea: Another Day, Another Time to Wear a Suit

When we preparing to come to Guinea, my (John's) predecessor told me to bring a suit as I would be required to wear one often. I laughed a little. After working at a coal mine for the last three plus years I had worn a suit only for my wedding and the yearly adventure of going to the Diamonds and Spurs Rotary event (otherwise known as the Craig Ball, an outright blast every year). A dress up day for me at the mine was wearing anything with a collar. So, since I have gotten to the Africa Mercy I have actually lost count of the number of times I have had to put on my suit, no really. It has been at least 10 times, but for me that feels like a hundred. I wear it for some meetings with the Bank or with the fuel people or when we host government ministers or embassy staff, to take out the trash, or whatever.

Last Thursday, in the midst of pretty busy and rough day, an announcement: “SMT (senior management team) please report to the international lounge for an important meeting in 5 minutes.” Uh oh. Turns out the president of Guinea, Professor Alpha Conde decided to come on by and gave us all of about 2 hours notice. (The good part is we didn’t have to have multiple meetings to prepare for his arrival.) I quickly shaved and threw on the suit which is becoming old hat by now. I was privileged to be a part of the group that met him just as he came on board. I was introduced as Directeur de Financier. “Bonjour, Mr. President,” speaking about 25% of the French words that I know as I shook his hand. He smiled. Turns out I should have said Bonsoir, since it was afternoon, so I even fouled that up. Still a pretty cool thing to be a part of.

The President took a tour of the hospital spending time in each of the wards and taking longer than those around him probably would have liked. He then came to the International Lounge where we hold all of our large group gatherings. After a presentation by our Managing Director, he gave a very gracious speech. The best part came after the speech though. He decided he wanted to walk the room and shake all the hands of every crew member who was in the room. (Yes, that means I shook the president’s hand twice in the same afternoon, Go me!) He was warm and sincere as he did this despite it not being part of the plan. At one point, someone mentioned the time he was taking or something like that and he said something to the effect of “I have plenty of time for people who have given so generously to our country.”

View of the president out our window. He is the one in tan at the front of the line. Note the security on either side holding hands to keep anyone from getting close.

The whole event was something special to be a part of even if I messed up the greeting. Sometimes I am never quite sure what someone in politics is aiming for when they do something. That doesn’t change whether I am in the States or here. Is he coming for political gain or is he genuinely interested? I didn’t know then and still don’t know. Others here had similar feelings. What I could see is this is someone who, despite signing the papers to allow us to come, didn’t really know all that goes in inside our little white box (very much like me when I got here). He was genuinely moved by his time in the ward and we on board were moved by having him here. Maybe he came to find out what we are all about or maybe just wanted a good photo op, but in the end his emotions were stirred and he encouraged us. So no matter the agenda when he came, God used the time to lift us up as a crew and hopefully him as a President leading his people.

It’s pretty fun here when we are reminded of all that is going on. It’s so easy for me to get wrapped up in the details of my role with cash management, payroll, journal entries and the other boring stuff that accountants do and lose sight of what God has called us to be a part of here. So cool when God uses things here and there to remind Tracey and me of the big picture. Whether that is a quick walk in the hospital to see the patients or having the President come for an impromptu visit to the ship. Variety is a cool thing and all that variety helps us see the big picture and know our God is always at work and wants us to be a part.

Coming soon, how Monday Night Football taught us a lesson here in Guinea……

And, of course, (unrelated) pictures from our week!!

(we took 100 pictures since last post due to birthdays, etc so we will post some more on the next post)