October 05, 2014 - Clark

Sunday, October 05, 2014

Skip the first two paragraphs if you don’t want the history and only want the positive feedback for the week.  We have had some highs and some lows this week.  I don’t want to dwell on it but I’ll start with the lows so I can finish strong.  As humanitarian missionaries we are able to work on major initiatives and local area initiatives.  The major initiatives include: water, vision, wheelchairs, neo-natal, immunizations.  These projects are generally controlled by headquarters (SLC) who have to allocate budget and approve the projects.  When we first arrived in Johannesburg, they provided a budget allocation for DRCongo, Lubumbashi of $665,000 which we thought was great for the balance of the 2014 year.  Three major initiatives were included in our budget allotment: wheelchairs, water and immunizations.  Long story short, they changed the rules for water when we were here 1 month which shut down all water projects, our immunization money was spent by Kinshasa before we arrived and in 2012 the wheelchair project here had not completed their reporting, so we were told they would not approve another. We had lost approximately 90% of our budget.

Not to worry, they told us that we could just start lining up local area initiatives and they would arrange to transfer budget dollars from major to local initiatives and we would remain engaged.  What happened is that everyone did the same thing and before long the pipeline was full.  We had a new area presidency and they were overwhelmed, so they sent out a proclamation stating that not more than 5 local projects could be open at any one time.  This meant before any new projects could be approved, the existing ones had to be completed and closed.  Everyone complained but we went on.  Well this last week we received the ultimate notice: “we assured you there would be sufficient money for local projects but we have now been notified that we cannot transfer funds and NO ADDITIONAL LOCAL PROJECTS WILL BE  APPROVED UNTIL 2015”  This was devastating for us as we now had all our eggs in the “local area initiative” basket.  The church is true but the bureaucracy is crazy.  Enough said, we will be creative and stay engaged in humanitarian services requiring no money.  It seems so odd because the Southeast Africa humanitarian budget for 2013 was $12 million and they only spent $9.  When we received our original training, they said in their history no project had been denied and we needed to spend our entire 2014 allotment or the area was in danger of losing their allocation.  Stay tuned.

This was an eventful week as we were hosting John and Marcia Dow.  They are what is referred to as “short-term specialists” from headquarters specializing in wheelchairs.  They are from San Diego and first started their missionary service in 2005 as country directors in Mozambique.  Since that time they have been short-term wheelchair specialists.  They have visited Southeast Africa 5 times this year already, staying for 3-5 weeks each time they come.  They made four wheelchair location visits this trip.  They spent Monday through Friday with us.  We had requested they come.  We are still hopeful we can have a wheelchair project approved with 2014 budgetary funds.  The church had planned on 14 wheelchair projects in our area for this year and they only have 5 budgeted for next year.

We visited with government officials, hospitals, clinicians, technicians, handicapped organizations and former recipients of chairs.  They worked extremely hard and we were along for the training indoctrination.  Our hope is to import a container of chairs (about 300), conduct a weeklong training course for the clinicians and technicians.  They will be instructed in how to make a proper assessment of the type and size of wheelchair and make all the proper adjustment to fit it properly to the recipient.  The government helps us in allowing the waiver of fees and taxes because it is a charitable donation to the Congolese people.  Sounds easy enough but you wouldn’t believe the legalese and red tape required to make this all happen.  We spent a lot of time on contracts, reports and division of financial responsibilities.  It was difficult not to detract from the focus of the project.  They were wonderful in every way and we learned a great deal about wheelchairs this past week.  Flavien, our translator had been here for the last project and they said he is the best translator they work with bar none.

Other news from the week included a new office and a new truck.  We have not had our own vehicle since arriving May 17, 2014.  We were so grateful to finally receive our new white Toyota Hilux diesel pickup.  We actually would have preferred an old beater.  The driving here can be insane and most vehicles show the wear and tear with scratches, dents, broken lamps, you get the idea.  We’ll do our best to return it in good condition.  The timing was close because the Atkinsons, who have been our chauffeurs are leaving on Tuesday and their truck is being returned to the construction department.  Another positive from the week was no additional police stops.

We have been in limbo regarding an office.  The Drapers were given our old office and we have been in the open reception area for the past few weeks.  They decided to make two offices out of the sister trainers’ apartment (formerly known as Bunker’s Bunker).  Dr. and Sister Mikesell will occupy one room and the bathroom and Shelley and I will occupy the other room.  They have had the painter at the mission home this past few weeks to repaint in the mission home and then repaint our new office rooms.  Sister Mikesell is very persistent and she is working on upgrading the internet in our offices.  We’re grateful but no results as of yet.  We spent Saturday moving some furniture and cleaning the new offices.  

Our paths have crossed with Kennedy again this week.  He is a 26-year old returned missionary who speaks excellent English.  We had consider hiring him as a translator but neither of us had a car, so we relied on Flavien.  Kennedy had asked us to buy him a camera in South Africa because he could get a better camera for the money.  We made arrangements for Sister Thomas to purchase one for $200 dollars but Kennedy could only produce $160 for payment.  We made a list of candid photos he could work on to pay the difference.  Kennedy has a BA in chemistry and finally found a job near Kolwezi this past week with a mining company as a metallurgist.  His fiancé, Naomi, received her mission call a day after he secured his job.  They’ll now wait another 19 months before they marry.

Brent and Celeste Atkinson are returning home this Tuesday.  They have been our neighbors in the apartment complex.  We have spent a lot of time together because they have been our transportation.  When Clawson returned home, I had to start driving more, but until then everywhere we went it was with the Atkinsons.  Brent doesn’t love to socialize, but we went for lots of walks, attended church together, worked on pump repairs and coordinated the construction project for rebuilding the market place that was burned down.  We’re closer to them than anyone else mainly because of the amount of time we have spent together.  We will miss them terribly but we’re happy for them.  We had a going away dinner for them at the mission home last night.  It was typical of events here.  It was scheduled for 5:00.  Justin was supposed to bring the pizza at the request of the Atkinsons.  Justin is a stake president and got caught up negotiating the bride price for one of his members and didn’t arrive until 7:00, but he arrived without the pizza.  We ended up eating at 8:00 after President and Sister Thomas made a pizza run to latte-licious.  

The weather has been hot this week and we don’t have the luxury of air conditioning in our bedroom.  The temperature has ranged from 74-97 and it is hard to recover from the heat.  We understand that September and October are the hottest months and we’re hoping that’s true.  The rainy season is supposed to start around the end of October.  Our neighborhood has received a newly-paved road.  When we arrived, the ruts and potholes were so deep, it would have reminded you of a Lagoon ride, but with new pavement, it has now become the preferred raceway for the local transport vans.  It has been good to see construction equipment in our neighborhood and the infrastructure improvements that are being made.  The road to the airport has also been improved dramatically.  The driving here is challenging but the saving grace is the speeds are not as great as at home.  Most drivers are defensive drivers but the first one to blink is lost.  

We enjoyed the week and they do seem to fly by although the days never end.  I love my companion and I’ve discovered how strong she really is.  She looks like a pushover but her strength of character is amazing.  I always wondered why senior missionaries called their wife “Sister”; well it’s their title or calling similar to “Elder”.  It had never dawned on me before and frankly it’s still not natural for me.  Mom is stronger than I ever imagined and living here one needs to be.  President McMullin may have said it best when he said, “Elder Davis, every day is hard”.  I might just amend that by saying every day can be meaningful and we can do hard things.  Doing hard things together is bringing mom and I closer than we have ever been.  We love you, have a “hard” week.

Love, Dad (Elder Davis)

P.S.  We’re missing conference, conference cookies and conference visits!