The 23 Day Quarantine…
Its been a while, but I’m going back in time because I don’t want to forget these wild chapters of my life. For many “Mercy Shippers” their stories of the Global Mercy started decades ago. My story started in May of 2021. I had been onboard the Africa Mercy for almost two months after waiting two years to board, and that's when I was told I’d be documenting the Delivery Voyage. My focus shifted from getting the AFM Comms office up and running to getting the AFM Comms office closed and finalizing projects before our July 6th departure date. First, we were required to do a 14-day quarantine before flying to Singapore. By mid-June, Singapore had changed its requirements to 21 days, but a 21-day quarantine became easier to swallow when we found out we could interact with each other. The “Singapore Six” is what we were called - Dani, Brian, Maria, Heather, Benji, and myself.
The GLM was early, and disembarkation was pushed up by four days. During a weekly Community Gathering on our last night on the Africa Mercy, our chaplain,Dr. Andrew Clark invited the Singapore Six up to the front. He asked those who were praying for our journey to come up and stand behind us. Almost the entire crew stood up and walked behind us. I think that was the moment I realized that this was a big deal—I was a part of something WAY bigger than myself. Only three months into my commitment with Mercy Ships, this Delivery Voyage was a new concept, but in that moment, I think it hit me how long this had been coming. I felt the Africa Mercy behind me—physically and emotionally. I was standing, looking over an almost empty room, knowing dozens of people were behind me with hands outstretched praying for us. In that moment, we had NO idea it would be as complex as it ended up being.
The next morning, we said our goodbyes, ran through the tunnel of arms, and walked down the dry-dock staircase and out the gate. Once in the taxi, we were all smiling and excited. Last night was lovely. We ate, drank, laughed, and said our last goodbyes to the world outside. Benji and I danced to live music outside the hotel till exactly 11:59 p.m. I wanted to know I enjoyed every ounce of freedom in a city, because it would be two months before I would be in Belgium. We spent mornings having coffee at Heather's, celebrated Maria's birthday party, movie nights, etc. I spent A LOT of time catching up with friends and family I hadn’t had long conversations with for a while, and started three virtual book clubs with friends. This season was trying. I spend most evenings on my bathroom floor where the wifi was strongest to call friends and family around the world… It was more a mental challenge than a physical one. The fear of getting stuck started to creep up. I was weary of waiting… I had waited for two years, and two months in, I felt like I was right back in 2020.
On day 16, the delays began. Delay on top of delay threatened to double our 21-day quarantine. We were all frustrated, but there wasn’t anyone to be mad at. Who could have predicted a typhoon?! The ship was trapped with all the other ships trying to exit the Yellow Sea. On quarantine day 19 (July 18th), it was official, we were now flying out of Las Palmas August 8th...at the earliest. Disheartened, we got on a call to talk about options. “We want to get you out of quarantine as fast as possible. We know we are asking the impossible from you.” I remember being told I could tap out if I needed to at any point, but there was just no way. We had made it this far, and I was determined to finish this journey! That's when Sri Lanka came into the mix. I have no idea the hours and hours of calls, paperwork, and strategizing it took to pull off this plan, but all I can say is THANK YOU to those behind the scenes.
On day 23 of quarantine, we got THE email. Heather, Dani, and I had caved and started our Harry Potter marathon. In the middle of the movie, our founds sounded. We were allowed to leave quarantine!! Sri Lanka was a go, and they did not require a quarantine beforehand. I ran back to my room, AND PUT ON SHOES. I remember stepping out on the same Las Palmas street I had stared at from the balcony for weeks. It wasn’t freedom the way I wanted, but it felt so good. We laughed a lot over the next couple of weeks. The only way to handle this kind of change is through humor, I think. I started to see friends from the AFM that I had said goodbye to—again the only way through is to laugh. While exciting, it was also hard to know we were signing up for another hard goodbye... I ate a the restaurant right below my hotel balcony - I had stared at the pasta and pizza for weeks. I tried the Venezuelan place on below Maria’s balcony (it was always busy). Life was strange. We had so much free time, but it didn’t take the stress away. We all just wanted to get there and start.
