June 14, 2015 - Clark

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Several items this week are a follow-up from last week.  Our Tuesday appointment with the Minister of Health was a bust because he is sick and is taking 10 days off.  We were involved in the polio immunization campaign by taking photos of the truck being loaded for Kamina (about 500 km away).  They had to haul their own fuel because the roads are so isolated and fuel is not always available.  We also spent time in correspondence with Salt Lake in finalizing the paperwork and obtaining funding for the project.  Everyone helped and it all went smoothly and relatively fast for a change.

We had a chance to speak with Phillip this week about the Tabacongo Well Development project we have been working on since November.  Working with Enoch at the MOH and Dr. Kabila, they commissioned a research study to identify potential well location sites within the city boundaries.  Dr. Pascal prioritized 115 potential sites and we selected 3 in the Tabacongo quartier.  We had three contractors submit competitive proposals, had Kenneth visit the site.  The MOH agreed to contribute the obligatory 10% which was revised to have the residents contribute 5% and the MOH 5%.  The Kampemba Health Zone has organized 3 water committees and a supervisory committee, conducted sanitation training and adopted bylaws as well as conducted fund raising.  With the changes in the church water program, Salt Lake City decided that Lubumbashi would only have a single water project for 2015 (Regideso) and Kenneth wouldn’t even consider submitting Tabacongo as a proposed project.  After hearing our story, Phillip said we could do the project if we would forward the PDW, send the bank deposit information and tell them how money would be collected and deposited from the sale of water after completion of the project.  Phillip was the hero this week.  We meet with Enoch and the Kampemba Health Zone representatives tomorrow to obtain the requested information and documentation.

In our staff meeting on Tuesday, President Thomas spoke about the growth of the church in our mission and the goal of converting existing districts to stakes.  He outlined the statistical requirements to become a stake:

1. 1900 members
2. 5 units in the district
3. 15 Melchizedek priesthood holders per unit paying a full tithe
4. 24 additional MP full tithe payers for staffing the stake
5. In total this makes close to 100 MP who are full tithe payers

We have four districts currently (Likasi, Kolwezi, Mbuji-Mayi, Mwene Ditu) and in addition the three stakes in Lubumbashi have enough members to consider creation of a new stake here as well.  President Thomas said we could potentially have several new stakes in the next year.  Lubumbashi is considered a center of strength.  We basically supply most of the missionaries for the Kinshasa Mission and they supply the missionaries for the Lubumbashi Mission.  Kinshasa has 8 stakes and they have announced a temple in Kinshasa.  President Thomas offered his opinion that we could become as strong as Kinshasa and potentially qualify for our own temple in the future.  The fact that we are considered a center of strength for church membership is one reason we are hopeful that we will receive a replacement humanitarian couple.  The new convert baptisms are over 2,500 for the past 10 months.  President Thomas has called 4 assistants.  His goal is to do training on retention and coordinate training with the priesthood leadership in the districts.  

The Thomas’s son Zack is visiting for the next few weeks.  He just completed his first year of medical school at Midwestern University in Glendale, Arizona.   He is 27, single and usually sports a beard and long hair.  He shaved his beard but wore his hair in a man-bun in order to keep it.  His mother was alibiing for him as most mothers would but he was unphased.  We had been requested to line up some hospitals to visit that are typical of the care people receive here.  We went to the Kisanga General Hospital where Dr. Anaclet is the director.  He has become an ally of the church.  The Kisanga 2nd Ward is cleaning the hospital every Saturday until August and we did a small humanitarian project with one of their local health centers. (Kilima Simba)  The General Hospital serves 200-300,000 people and the accommodations are antiquated.  They only have running water in the mornings with no water storage; other than that they have a shallow hand-dug well where you have to pull the water out one bidon at a time.  It makes it tough for maternity and for toilets.  They had some lockers for corpses but had no electricity to the refrigeration units.  One of the big selling points for any hospital here is to have a morgue co-located on the same property.  

Our next stop was a small maternity clinic.  They had 30+ expectant mothers waiting in the lobby but took us right in.  There were six of us and the patients seemed to have no privacy rights.  They took us on a tour of the facility and we visited the labor room, birthing room and recovery rooms.  These were all occupied.  One thing I would say is that everywhere we went, the rooms were kept as clean as possible considering the conditions.  

Next stop was Kilima Simba, where have donated beds and mattresses with their construction of a new room onto the health center.  They did it by collecting a single brick from each of the 24,000 residents who use the facility.  We even contributed 5 bricks so we could be part of the construction project.  We have not yet donated medical equipment that was requested because they have no electricity (can you imagine?).  We have been promised they will have electricity but not yet.  They are located right beneath some very large power lines.  It could remind you of 5th West in Brigham.

Our last stop was a hospital run by a doctor named Silvia.  They practice traditional medicine.  They had several patients and their family there to provide testimonials.  We saw the storage room   where the plants and herbs are stored and even met the woman who prepares the medicines from scratch.   Mom was trying to look her healthiest in order to avoid a prolonged visit here.  

Zack had visited the most modern facility in Lubumbashi the day before with Dr. Mikesell.  I asked him if he saw any patients.  Usually the locals cannot afford the more expensive hospitals but he saw plenty of patients in his 4 visits with us on Friday.  His mother accompanied us and she really seemed to have a good time.

The last activity of the week I want to report on is Steve and Matilda’s dote meeting.  This is where the bride price is paid.  We attended the pre-dote meeting where Steve presented himself and his proposal for marriage to Matilda’s family.  The girl’s father then establishes a listing of requests setting the bride price.  In Steve’s case it took another couple of weeks following the pre-dote meeting before he received the listing of requests.  The members of the church here have been counseled to abide by the gospel culture and not the local culture when it comes to this custom.  The problem is that Matilda’s parents are not church members.  Other members of the family counseled with her parents and asked the father to keep the price affordable so the marriage would be possible.  

Steve’s price was $1,000, fabrics for making dresses for the mother, $300 for a suit and shoes for the father, an extremely large metal bowl, a 50 pound bag of salt, a bidon of palm oil and two goats.  The goats are symbolic of the bride’s virginity.  Matilda comes from a family of 15 daughters and 1 son.  Two of the daughter have died and Matilda is one of the youngest daughters.  I believe 8 of her sisters and her brother were present.  I have become the resident photographer.  Everyone wants a copy of their picture immediately.  I would be even more popular if I had unlimited Polaroid photo materials for instant delivery.  As it is I told them I would provide all of the digital files to Steve and they could review them on his computer and choose which ones they wanted.  

They served a meal for all visitors and Sister Davis is becoming local.  She ate everything on her plate, even tried a little dried Tilapia which had been reconstituted.  They made us feel like to guests of honor and it is hard to stay out of the limelight.  Even though our language isn’t all that improved and we can’t converse fluently with anyone in French, we felt like we belonged and it has been good to have been adopted by these two families.  

Have a wonderful week.

Love,

Dad (Elder Davis)