It seems a long time since Jubilee Hope left the Clyde on the 22nd January 2014  to set sail on the first leg of her journey to Mombasa in Kenya.  A lot of hard work and preparation has gone into making the ship ready for its long voyage of over 8,500 miles.  I remember going to look at the ship  before we bought it when it was the Dunster I think it was at Goole in 2010. I was commissioned to take pictures. I remember rowing around the ship in a rubber dingy taking shots of the ship to send to our marine advisor.

 Since then the vessel has been in Gibralter for some alterations. Once again I had the opportunity to visit the ship when it was in dry dock in Gibralter having alternations carried out by Jibrock. Here is a picture of the workforce in March 2012 under the eagle eye of Captain Peter Hall. if you look closely you can see Willie hiding in the background. 

 Most recently had its refurbishment completed on the Clyde at the end of 2013. The ship is a former fleet tender built in 1970 but has been altered to be used as a medical ship on Lake Victoria. What you see below is the ship dismantled for the long road journey.

After 100 days at sea  she successfully reached Mombasa where she was dismantled and prepared for her long overland voyage of some 750 kilometres. We always knew it wouldn’t be an easy journey across land. Who in their right mind would want to be stuck behind a huge trailer carrying a ship that is around 5 metres high? Well the traffic got held up at  Kibingoti yesterday. 

The convoy had travelled 631 Kilometres from Mombasa and was heading for Kisumu when the driver refused to drive under the power lines unless the power was switched off.

Eventually the power was switched off and the load made its way through the power lines. the ship is scheduled to reach Kisumu on the shores of Lake Victoria sometime on  18th August. the ship will be re-assembled and relaunched and then continue its voyage on the Lake to Mwanza Tanzania where it will operate as a medical ship taking health care to some of the most disadvantaged people in the world. I'm looking forward to my trip at the beginning of October to see the ship being commissioned and commencing its life giving work on the Lake.