Just another man in the market

Sometimes something hit you, something that really makes you stop and think. It stops being a coincidence and starts becoming a life lesson.



Last week I spent my Saturday walking round the market with some friends. This has become one of my favourite pastimes for the weekend. Not only because the way the market is set up, winding through a couple neighbourhoods of streets, but also because I get a chance to see Africa in motion. The 'Mercy Box' can quite quickly becomes that.. a box..

But back to my story..
As we were walking along a man stepped up to us asking: 'Mercy Ship? You are Mercy Ship?'
Firstly being far too small, not made of metal and no where near buoyant enough we were perosnally quite obviously not a mercy ship, but I let the grammatical hiccup slide. Secondly everybody knows we're in town, so anybody trying to sell something or wanting something will use the generic 'Mercy Ship' call signal to get our attention.
But when we stopped and said hello to this guy it turned out to be something a bit more special. He had been one of our patients. In Benin he had had a large goiter removed (huge neck tumor for us laymen). He asked us how we were, how the ship was doing and we responded and asked how he was and what he was doing in Togo. A 2 minute conversation, a handshake (including the snapping of fingers) and he was on his way again.

And as he walked away my eyes were drawn to the insignificant yet still cleary visible scar on his neck, the reminder of where his tumor previously was.

He walked away into the busyness of the market.. nobody took a second look at him.. nobody stopped and stared.. nobody pointed or avoided him..
He was incognito, regular, mundane..

Funny coming from a society where being noticed is such a big deal, yet the biggest gift we could, and did, give this man was the gift of being able to go around unseen.

I gave me a full appreciation again that we don't just fix people, we give them the opportunity to live normal lives. You want 2 hands of the Gospel? Words & works? I would be hard pushed to give you a better example of our calling and our mission.

God bless.