Tuesday October 7

So the day brought EYES and plenty of them. I was a little rusty in places but rather like riding a bike, it all came back to me.

I worked for part of the time with Dr Glenn Strauss with whom I worked last time but spent the remainder of the time with an ophthalmologist from Oz. Even scrubbed for phaeco - so watch out when I come home workmates!!

I'm still meeting people whom I met last time one of whom really couldn't believe it was me. She was actually speechless.

The ship is "walking to Benin". In an effort to encourage fitness among the crew a map has been drawn up of the coast from Liberia to Benin. It's just over 900 miles and crew are encouraged to form teams of no more than 6 and then record the number of miles walked by the team. There is a measured distance. By walking from one end of the dock to the UN gates and back a distance of one mile is covered. So tonight I walked a mile, not far I know but I had a busy evening ahead.

The chaplins on the ship invite all new crew members round for a coffee after dinner one evening and just spend a social hour with the crew. It's quite fun and a good way to meet other new crew members.

Then there was a DVD to watch in the international lounge by a guy who has no arms and very little in the way of legs. He's an evangelist and visited the ship last week. I really enjoyed his DVD and he was actually speaking to a school group. Nonetheless his message was clear and very applicable to young people who often have their own doubts about understanding who they are. His point was that no matter what they thought of themselves or what problems they had, they did not need to walk through them alone, that they could walk with Christ.

Lastly I had to unpack - yes, my case has arrived and the purser very kindly went to pick it up for me from the airlines office in the city. Even more grateful as it was pouring with rain when he collected it. Perhaps what struck me more though was the way friends lent me clothes to keep me going in the interim. So tomorrow I have to decide which scrubs to wear......