So work in the rehab test wouldn't really work without the assistance of our dayworkers - Jeremy, Anama, and Faya. Jeremy and Anama both started working for Mercy Ships when it was in Togo, their home country in 2010. Faya is a Guinea native.
Last Saturday I got to go play basketball with Anama, and along the way we passed where he lives. It was about a half hour walk from the ship, and he had found a patient from Togo who had a brother living in Conakry, so he shares the room with him. Likewise, Jeremy had to find a place to live in Conakry, so he sleeps in a nearby church with about 8 other Mercy Ships dayworkers. For the first few weeks he just slept on a pew, now however, he's got a mattress that gets hidden during the day, and a mosquito net (I think).
Without the translation help, plus the 100's of other things our dayworkers do throughout the course of a day, the rehab department would not exist like it does. We would probably see 1/2 the number of patients and spend a lot more time cleaning and running up/down to the ship. And all while loving and hugging on the kids that we make scream in terror, making balloons out of gloves, wearing hair nets to look silly, and playing pretend games.
So if you think the people that come and stay on the boat are cool, there's just as many awesome people staying off the ship getting paid very low amounts to serve God in their home continent, often still very far from home. Our dayworkers rock! :)
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