Salama Tompoko!

Salama Tompoko (hello), and welcome to Madagascar! The past few days have been exciting ones, as Saturday morning we completed our sail and docked in Tamatave right on schedule. The leaders of the country are very happy to have us and showed it extravagantly, welcoming us with water cannons and hosting a formal celebration on the dock. The President and Prime Minister of Madagascar both attended the celebration, gave formal speeches, and then toured the ship. During the tour, the President's wife was so impressed that we offer all these services for free. She essentially asked our director four times in a row "For FREE? So, this is all free? Surgeries are free?". There is a lot of mistrust of outsiders here, and I think the fact that we have come solely to provide a service and not take anything from the Malagasy is a new experience. The Malagasy people have a complicated history with everyone trying to get a piece of their country, the English, French, and even pirates! Our reputation as an international service, and not an aid group that is associated with one specific country, is a true benefit to us in this way. While giving his speech, the President mentioned that even there are already people from all over the country staying in relatives' homes in Tamatave, waiting for screening and surgery... waiting for healing. It is truly humbling to think that our patients are already here, waiting for us to arrive. We have a lot of work to do!

Here are some pictures from the arrival celebration, courtesy of our communications team!

Leading us into port with water cannons.

The President and his wife waving to us on the upper deck as they entered the celebration.

Dancers and drummers for the welcome celebration!

Hopefully I will have more pictures of the country to share soon, and write a more detailed post about the culture and lifestyle here. A little bit to start though... Madagscar is a beautiful country, with beautiful people. We arrived to palm trees and white sand beaches. The people are friendly and very kind. The island has influences from West Africa as well as Arabic and Polynesian countries. The Polynesian influence is especially notable in the language, music, and dancing.  After our fantastic day of celebration, we ventured out into the town to explore. While out to lunch, we met Miss Vivian who cooked us up some delicious Malagasy food and gave us some cultural lessons. We saw motoped races in the street. People sitting on the beach, sipping out of straws in coconuts. It's truly amazing. But there's also a dark side here, which comes out as soon as the sun goes down. Miss Vivian warned us all to get home as soon as it gets dark, as we would not be safe in town. I've learned that sexual tourism is huge in all of Madagascar, especially in this city. 1 out of every 7 women in the country works as a prostitute. There are restaurants that are known as places to pick someone up, and they are often filled with European men who come here specifically for that reason. It breaks my heart to see young girls on the street, and know that their parents are serving them out to help support the family, or to support other habits. I am often reminded of a verse from Psalm 147:3 "He heals the brokenhearted and binds their wounds". I think all of us would love to represent a safe place, where we address not only the physical issues these people have, but also the emotional brokenness by showing kindness and love to every single one of our patients. It's a small thing to do, but hopefully it will make a big difference for the local day crew who work with us, and for our patients.

For the next two weeks, we will be setting up the hospital and getting ready to start screening patients! This morning has been filled with scrubbing floors, mattresses, and bed frames. As we opened up the closed cabinets toys for our patients spilled out, shuffled around during the sail. There are sheets to wash, items to sanitize. It is so exciting to see everything start coming together and to finally prepare for our patients! All of the nurses are very eager to get to work, as we spent most of the sail in lecture and orientation while the rest of the crew worked diligently to keep us safe and get us to our destination. Now it's our turn! More updates to come soon!