One more week till Madagascar!

One week from today we will be in Madagascar!  We fly in to the capitol (Antananarivo), and will quickly get started with meetings for the Ponseti program.  We will spend a few days in the capitol before heading to the port city of Tamatave.

Where is Nick?
Nick is currently in Brisbane, Australia for a quick work related visit.  He left the summer camp by train last week, and flew to Australia from Paris the following morning.  I'm pretty jealous that he gets to catch up with our friends in Brisbane, but I'll have less jet lag when we arrive in Madagascar.  :)

Where is Suzanne?
I'm still here in the Provence region of France, helping out as a cleaning lady in the summer camp.  As much fun as it was to be around the kids as a camp counselor, being on a new team for these last two weeks is a good thing.  I have a bit more time during the day to prepare for next week's travels, and I also have many many opportunities to speak French with the other ladies on my team, who are really awesome to work with!  

We will meet back up in Antananarivo on August 18th  

(If all goes according to plan with our flights, we will arrive within a few hours of each other.)

Where is the Africa Mercy?
The ship is currently still in dry dock in Durban, South Africa.  Unfortunately, due to unexpected repairs, the departure date was delayed.  The original date to arrive in Madagascar was a few days ago, but there was some damage to the propellers that needed to be addressed.  Many arrival plans have been adjusted, but since our work is primarily off ship with the local clinic, we are able to go ahead and arrive on the same day as planned and get started, even though the ship won't be there just yet. The Advance Team (the volunteers who go ahead of the ship to prepare for its arrival) is there now, and they will help us with arrangements for where to stay.  

Other news from Madagascar:

The screening team is already in the country and hard at work finding patients for the ship!  Please pray that God will lead those who we can help to the screening sites!  The screening team is visiting cities all over the island, so that we can offer surgery even to those who are far from the port city.

Remember this blog post, with the before photo of the clinic where we will teach Ponseti?

Here it is now!  The team has been very hard at work over the summer months, and now there is a newly renovated Physical Therapy department to teach in!

Before:

After:

Here's an overview of all that was accomplished in the Mada Part One visit.  We are thrilled that we get to be part of Mada Part Two!  Please pray for us as we travel next week!