When you give a kid your camera..

...you end up with pictures like this,
and like this,and like this,
Kids here get really excited about pictures: having their picture taken, having their picture taken with you, taking pictures, taking pictures of really random things and then laughing really hard at what pops onto the camera screen. Adults are very similar too, actually (aside from the "taking pictures of random things" bit)-- many have never gotten their photo taken before, or seen what they look like in picture-form.

So when a bunch of friendly, overly happy yovos (and one yellow person) are riding with you in an ambulance, I guess it makes sense to take advantage of the time you have to play with a camera. By "ambulance", I mean a Mercy Ships jeep designated as a shuttle between the ship and the Hospitality Center about two miles away. Technically, I think the ambulance is only supposed to be for patients, but we've never had a problem hitching a ride to the Hospitality Center whenever the jeep is waiting at the end of the gangway. The Hospitality Center is a Mercy Ships run compound about 2 miles away from the ship. Many of our patients come from incredible distances to seek medical care on the ship-- some travel five, ten, twenty hours, some travel across country lines. The Hospitality Center houses both pre-op and post-op patients (and their caretakers) who don't need immediate medical attention on the ship but who still need to come back for follow up visits.

I love spending time at the hospitality center-- it's just a really cool place, to see the amazing results of the work being done in the hospital ship that we live in, to be able to sit down and hear the stories of some of the patients. The kids are so incredibly happy too, despite the pain that they've been through. On a more personal note, every visit to the Hospitality Center has just been such a blessing to me; I know I've said this before, but when you're in a non-hospital department, it's very easy to get caught up in the day-to-day of ship life and lose focus of the bigger picture, of why we're all here. The Hospitality Center gives you a big helping dose of reminder, and then some.

Plus, it works as a pretty good pick-me-up; you can't help but have a fantastic time when little kids in casts-- little kids who will soon be healed-- are putting stickers all over your face.