November 9, 2014 - Clark

Sunday, November 09, 2014

Steve has served faithfully as our new translator.  We had an organizational meeting for correlating our activities on Monday and identified things to work on during the week.  I told Steve, his responsibility was to plan our daily schedule and make appointments in advance so we made the best use of our time.  He went right to work and made sure our schedule was full each and every day.  Here many do not eat a meal at lunchtime but only eat breakfast and dinner.  We aren’t local in that sense and rely on a mid-day break.  Steve worked us through lunch both Tuesday and Wednesday and we ate at 3:00 and 4:00 in the afternoon or not at all.  Looking back it’s hard to remember our accomplishments but I’m going to share 3 events:

1. We have had 2 projects that were stalled and not moving at all.  We were afraid we would have to close them without completing the approved project; probably not a bad idea if conditions for continuation are not met, but we cannot start any new projects until 1/1/2015.
1. We had an ultrasound purchase approved for Luputa, a city of 300,000 but we were required to obtain a waiver of taxes and fees from the government.  We have worked on this from a distance of 500- miles and 5 hours for the last 3 months but nothing has been granted.  Phillip Moatlhodi, the Area Welfare Manager called on Wednesday and said he would proceed with purchasing the equipment in Johannesburg and we should bring an empty computer bag to our conference in January to personally carry it on the plane for delivery to Luputa.  Hooray, a voice of reason.
2. Maisha-Karavia is a school that has completed 10 new classrooms this past year with the assistance of a $50,000 grant from the Governor but they were unable to purchase the 400 desks required to furnish the classrooms.  Although they don’t normally qualify as poorest of the poor, we felt their example in the principles of self-reliance were reason enough for us to recommend a 50/50 participation in buying new desks.  The area office had never had a 50/50 participation project, so it was a big deal and they have watched this one.  Long story short, neither the principal, the parents, nor the Catholic Church has raised their 50% match.  Phillip Moatlhodi gave us full discretion to negotiate a lower participation percentage or to use the funds on other more needy schools as we saw fit.  This is autonomy we have never had, but we appreciated his phone call so much.
2. Yesterday we took Sister Anthony and Elder and   Sister Mikesell downtown shopping.  We parked in the Jambo parking lot and walked to the vendor souvenir booths across from the Park Hotel.  We were in crowed pedestrian conditions and Elder Mikesell was carrying his wallet in a shoulder bag with a zipper.  You guessed it, he lost his wallet.  That isn’t the story worth telling.  We went into a shop selling fabric and we were discussing the loss of his identification materials.  The clerk asked how much money he had lost and we said the money wasn’t the primary concern but the personal items in his wallet.  We left the store and I waited on the sidewalk across the street while Shelley and sister Anthony shopped in a small strip mall while the Mikesells traveled to another store a couple of blocks away on foot.  In about 20 minutes, a young man in a blue shirt came running across the street and handed me Elder Mikesell’s wallet.  The money changers nearby gave me a thumbs up signal and I thanked the young man for the return of the wallet before he quickly disappeared.  When the Mikesells returned, we returned to the fabric store and gave the clerk a small reward for her role in putting out the word through her local network and finding the wallet and its contents, excluding the money of course.  It restored our faith in the people and Elder Mikesell was definitely relieved.  
3. Yesterday, Steve, our translator invited us to his pre-dot meeting with his family and the family of his fiancée, Matilda.  The bride price tradition in Africa is discussed by Elder Oaks in the March 2012 Ensign in an article called, “The Gospel Culture”.  Both families join together, the father of the fiancée conducts, welcomes and is to provide a list of items required of the potential groom in order to gain his daughter’s hand in marriage. The list was not provided and will be in a matter of days.  The potential groom brings a token of his interest in the form of 5 cases of Fanta orange and money in an envelope.  Steve had his cousin talk for him.  His Bishop was supposed to come as a negotiator, but he was not there.  I asked Steve beforehand if I could say anything in his behalf and I was granted time.  I showed 25 slides of Steve and Matilda serving together in Operation Smile and Steve’s other activities as our translator for humanitarian services.  I gave a brief endorsement to both of them.  We were served soda, popcorn and nuts.  The TV remained on during the entire meeting and very little was said.  Steve and Matilda had to act serious and humble while the adults (mostly her father) conducted the meeting.  I’m not sure what was accomplished but her father’s acceptance of the token gifts is symbolic of his acceptance of Steve and the negotiations will continue in subsequent meetings.  The 45-minute meeting took 4-5 hours to assemble everyone on time and deliver them back to their homes.  I asked Steve what his family would do on a Saturday night.  He said this night would be devoted to making fun of Steve and every word of the meeting would be pantomimed and rehearsed as all family members teased him mercilessly.

When Phillip Moatlhodi, our Area Welfare Manager called, he asked if we were having a project celebration soon.  We told him we had already scheduled one at the Notre Dame School for Girls on December 6th.  He asked if we would have the School write a letter of invitation to him because he would like to attend.  Phillip is coming December 3-7 to visit Lubumbashi.  This is a big deal because he is over about 20 countries.  I suspect Elder cook’s meeting from the previous week may have had something to do with Phillip’s particular attention to us this past week.    Elder Cook asked some informal questions and I shared some of our frustrations with the bureaucracy of the humanitarian work.  We did mention Phillip had always had a direct line to us and had given us encouragement.  His encouragement and attention was definitely a highlight of this past week.  

I don’t want to end a whining note but I do want to record these feelings for my own reflections.

1. It remains difficult to be quarantined in our own apartment 13-14 hours a day.  We’re not supposed to go out at night and sunset and sunrise are around 6:15.
2. It’s emotionally difficult to send senior missionaries home who have become your friends and you rely upon for mentoring and support
3. Every day is Groundhog Day because of no change in seasons other than hot and hot and wet.  My pillow is wet every night, not from tears but from perspiration.  

Despite these and other setbacks, Shelley and I often wonder what we will do for excitement when we return home.  Every day seems to have a new adventure.  We have been so happy with our assignment because we get out among the people and have a personal tour guide with us almost every day.  Flavien and Steve have helped us to better understand the people, the community and the culture in a way that would be impossible on your own.  We take pictures every week and our biggest challenge will be cataloging them all. We hope to be able to capture these memories for the time when Alzheimer’s sets in.  We’re trying to share several of them with you on the photo stream or in Shelley’s photos.  We love the Gospel and each other.  We’re gaining a greater love for the Congolese every week as we serve.  Have a great week.

Love, Dad (Elder Davis)

P.S.  I have to add one last breakthrough.  We have been waiting for the official signatures of the wheelchair memorandum of understanding spelling out both parties’ responsibilities.  It required the approval of the Minister of Health and his chief Deputy Dr. Kitopi, who also serves as his legal advisor.  We have been working on this since Elder and Sister Dows visit over a month ago.  On Friday at 5:00 pm we finally received the signed agreements along with the estimate of costs.  This was a minor miracle and an answer to prayer.