Travels With A Duck: Bringing hope and healing in Togo!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Bringing hope and healing in Togo!

Duckie is currently visiting Vangie Austin, a crewmember onboard the Africa Mercy in Lomé, Togo in West Africa.

The Africa Mercy

Mercy Ships is an international charity that was founded in 1978 and currently operates the largest non-governmental hospital ship in the world, providing free health care, community development projects, community health education, mental health programs, agriculture projects, and palliative care for terminally ill patients.

Mercy Ships has operated in more than 70 developing nations around the world, with a current focus on the countries of West Africa.

Getting ready to go onboard!

Getting a pat down from security!

Exploring the ship!

Catching some rays!

And making friends!

Getting ready for a night out!

Lebanese food!

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Friendly Floatees

During a Pacific storm on January 10, 1992, three 40-foot containers holding 29,000 Friendly Floatees plastic bath toys from a Chinese factory were washed off a ship. Two-thirds of the ducks floated south and landed three months later on the shores of Indonesia, Australia, and South America. The remaining 10,000 ducks headed north to Alaska and then completed a full circle back near Japan, caught up in the North Pacific Gyre current as the so called Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Many of the ducks then entered the Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia and were trapped in the Arctic ice. They moved through the ice at a rate of one mile per day, and in 2000 they were sighted in the North Atlantic. The movement of the ducks had been monitored by American oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer.

Frequency

I will put some things "up," so to speak, on some days, and on other days, I will not put things up. Whether or not I put things up will depend largely on whether, on a particular day, the duck is traveling. For example, let's say that on Monday I have something which I want to put up. On that day, I will put that thing up. On Tuesday, though, I might not have anything to put up. I will worry for a moment about not having anything to put up. "Oh no," I might say, "another day has come, and I have nothing to put up. What will happen if someone visits this site and there is nothing new to look at? Will people be angry?" But then I will realize that, chances are, people will not be angry -- that, chances are, people will understand. Most people are pretty understanding. Then again....