South Africa to Benin - by Rachel

The Africa Mercy has been our home for a month now and much has happened!  4 days after we arrived on the ship in Durban, we set sail for Cape Town: a 3-day sail that was a bit bumpy as we went around the cape.  The seas weren't that rough, the ship just had a bad attitude (she was built as a rail-ferry, not for the open sea). Here's a link to a great video that Miguel, one of our On Boarding team members and ship's photographer created.  It focuses on our 2-week field practice in Winterton, and has some great footage of the sail to Cape Town too:  https://vimeo.com/179564686

We had a lovely 4 days in Cape Town, where we got to catch up with good friends from Cape Town and Worcester!  We also hiked Lion's Head, the mountain between Table Mountain and Signal Hill, with amazing views of Table Bay and the ship:

On the lovely 11-day sail from Cape Town to Benin, all the remaining pollywogs on board became shellbacks as we crossed the Equator, complete with line-dancing and a tug-of war (you can see our 3 in the foreground):

This was the view from our cabin.  Not bad, eh?

And here we are arriving in Benin, West Africa, where we will be spending the next 10 months:

We were welcomed in true West African style with music and dancing, and the First Lady even came to welcome us.

Here's the new view from our cabin, where we get to see container ships coming in every day to dock in the space behind us, off-loading cars and containers:

We are now 3 weeks into the school year, and the kids are finding their feet in the Africa Mercy Academy.  It really is a huge bonus to have such a high quality school on board the ship.  Their goal is that the crew's children's education will not suffer from their parents serving on board, which we really appreciate!   Here's Daniel and his 6th-grade class and home room teacher:

Zaden probably has the biggest adjustment to make, as due to the differences in the South African school system's ages and standards, he essentially missed most of 3rd grade and all of 4th grade.  Here he is with his fellow 5th-graders on the right, with the two 4th graders in his class on the left:

And Ashani is loving her kindergarten class:

One big surprise of arriving in Benin was to find that we have been given a HUGE enclosed dock space.  The soccer, ultimate frisbee and volley ball fans on board lost no time in putting it to good use:  (Daniel is out there, in a blue and orange T-shirt.)

And the "after" photo: 

Kevin is speaking to the community tonight to help them prepare for this 10 months in Benin, the birth place of Voodoo which is practiced by 40-60% of the population.  "This is for keeps, a life and death fight to the finish against the devil and all his angels." Eph 6 (the Message).  We need not be afraid, but we need to be aware, and committed to fight with the weapons of hope, faith and love...and fight to win.

Thank you for your support and prayers.