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The Africa Mercy arrives this Sunday in Sierra Leone. It is the fifth time Mercy Ships visit the West Africa country whose eleven-year civil war ended in 2002. Sierra Leone ranks 158 by the United Nations human index. The Africa Mercy will be docked in Free Town, the capital of the country ten months. The Africa Mercy leaving Cape Town

The Africa Mercy set sail yesterday for Sierra Leone after more than four months of retrofitting in the Southern Africa Shipyard in Durban. Four new 5L21/31 type MAN generators have replaced the old diesel generators. Mercy Ships expects the new generators to increase productivity by 32%, reduce CO2 emissions by 20% and reduce fuel-running costs by more than 600 US dollar per year. Between February and December this year, the Africa Mercy plans to support the Sierra Leone health care system by providing more than 3000 direct surgical services to the poor as well as building capacity in the local healthcare community

It was a hectic week, as usual. In five days last week, twenty students experienced through the Basic Safety Training the thrill that few seasoned seaman experience in a lifetime. To make the exercises real, the weather provided rain, ice and snow to the mix.

Six inch of snow fell in East Texas Friday morning. Even though we are not prepare snow at all I manager to go to work for the last day of the BST. Here are few pictures.

Twenty students eagerly waited for the pool exercise at the Cain Center in Athens, Texas. The unusual weather that brought sub-zero temperatures during the fire fighting exercises on Wednesday, this time brought six inch of snow to North and East Texas. The students will have to wait until tomorrow when the roads should be drivable.