"Good-Bye Durban..."

Well, yet another bitter sweet day...we have had quite a few of those lately! 

On Thursday we left the Durban harbour.  For a normal ship this would really mean nothing.  But for us, it means God's hand was working even into the wee hours of the morning.  As many people know, we have been going through a major overhaul on the ship these last few months. 

When we arrive in Durban on September 1st, the crew of the Africa Mercy embarked on a journey that would run new cables through the ship, fix up the galley, replace the generators and add a new A/C system and many more fixes that I don't remember.

Our technical team worked thousands of hours in hot humid conditions to accomplish this task.  Needless to say, our leaving Durban on Thursday, was a tribute to the effort and hours that they put in to the refit of the ship.  Without their efforts we would still be sitting in Durban...Thanks Technical team!!

So, what does this mean...it means we are on our way to Sierra Leone.  Our advance team has been working extremely hard these last few months to prepare the way for us.

So we are on our way...

 Some of the kids waiting for the lifeboat drill to end...

The tug pulling us away from the dock...

Linde and Alisia...

Bendik and Joshua...

Good-bye Durban...

The berth where the Africa Mercy has spent the last five months (less the time in dry dock)...

The helicopter the took the pilot off of the ship...