Home on the waves

Having lived aboard the Peace Ark for a couple of months off and on, I have started thinking of it as home.

It's a huge vessel, but I know every cabin and where every corridor leads. More importantly, it's a safe and familiar place in strange countries, like traveling with a mobile hometown.

I accompanied dozens of medical staff as they took a launch back to the Peace Ark, exhausted after a long, hard day working on land. The electricity supply hasn't yet been restored in Tacloban, and we surged across the ocean in complete darkness. All the seats were taken, so I lay down on the deck and saw the most magnificent night sky I have witnessed. It seemed so close that I felt I could touch the stars, or maybe catch a shooting star before it fell into the sea.