August 30, 2015 - Clark

Sunday, August 30, 2015

2 Nephi 28:6  “Behold, hearken ye unto my precept; if they shall say there is a miracle wrought by the hand of the Lord, believe it not; for this day he is not a God of miracles; he hath done his work.”

Let me just tell you I am a witness of miracles from this past week and the day of miracles has not passed.  I reported last week that I had lost my wallet.  I had to take 4 different passengers to their homes on backstreets in Lubumbashi last Saturday night after dark.  The roads are like dirt roads leading to Willard Peak.  My wallet could have been anywhere.  Long story short, on Monday a member of the church called our translator and said they had found it in their church compound.  I had lost it on a road near the Plateau Church Building.  All the money was gone, but my identification information was returned intact.  Someone had found it in the road, taken the money but was kind enough to recognize it belonged to a member of the church and had traveled a couple of blocks and thrown it over the security wall at the church complex where it was found the following day.  Miracle number 1.

We have been working since December 2014 trying to make all necessary arrangements to receive wheelchairs.  The customs process is intentionally difficult so as many people as possible can be employed to extort money every step of the way.  There are so many things that can go wrong and usually do.  We had struggled for over 8 months trying to get all the appropriate signatures for tax exemption and a waiver of the import fees.  The church was donating hundreds of thousands of dollars in wheelchairs and vision equipment, but it seemed we had to pay and pay often in order to make a gift.  John and Marcia Dow are the wheelchair short-term specialists and we have been in touch with them almost daily for the past two weeks.  They informed us on Monday that unless the wheelchairs were released by Thursday, the flight for the trainers from the US would be cancelled and the project would be cancelled or at least postponed until after we were released.

Needless to say we spent the entire week working to secure the wheelchair release from customs.  I have recorded a separate journal with all the details probably only of interest to someone who endured the lowest lows and the highest highs associated with this challenge.  People who were supposed to help us started falling like flies.  Dr. Kitopi, chief of the cabinet for the Minister of Health told us he had done all he could do and It was in the hands of the customs officials.  Dr. Eric Sompwe, the consignee said he was only the medical inspector and not responsible for the customs issues and referred us to Marcel Tambwe.  Marcel Tambwe took us to CETA, a customs accommodator where we had to pay for their services and we could never determine whether he was friend or foe.  In the end, it was his birthday this week and he was AWOL and sent us to the customs wolves to deal with them directly.  The semi-truck containing the wheelchairs had been at the customs port since Saturday, August 15th.  We were afraid the drivers might abandon their commitment to wait it out.  It wasn’t until Tuesday night that we had exhausted all these other options and decided on Wednesday to go to the customs office.  

This was a daunting task since we didn’t know the protocol, the people or the language.  We had a CETA representative, Bosco, assigned to “help” us.  The first day we spent in waiting rooms and visited with people who told us it would be no problem only to find out in the end that the problem was our customs accommodation service, CETA.  They were delinquent in their fees to the customs office and we and our wheelchairs were being held hostage for collection of the CETA delinquent payments.  By the end of day two of being told not only no but H no to the release request, we were totally devastated and were on our way out of the main customs building with our tail between our legs.  Our only hope was for CETA to pay their back fees of around $18,500 or to provide a personal guarantee by the owner of CETA that it would be paid.  This had to be accomplished by the end of the day; no chance.  Mind you that the timing had to be within seconds from a two day travesty.  While exiting the building we met Iluta, a finance officer who had befriended us the day before.  He asked how things were going and we literally cried on his shoulder.  He said come with me and I will help you.  He took us to his office where we spent the next 4 hours while he orchestrated every action and required signature to secure the release of the chairs.  He is our champion,, so if any of you are looking for good names for new children, consider Iluta.  This isn’t the end of the miracle, but the most important element.  The Ministry of Health was surprised we had been successful and they had to scramble to find a suitable storage location for 361 boxes that took over 3 hours to unload in the dark.  We had to rely on CETA paying for at least the parking fees for 13 days while our truck waited for clearance.  On and on but enough already, we had the 216 wheelchairs and the project had been saved.  We told the world or at least all of those associated with the training and the flights were not cancelled, the Dows arrived, we successfully transferred 35 specifically designated chairs to the training center on Saturday.  The examination beds that were custom built were picked up and delivered to the training center.  The caterer who had been offended by the church security guards and vowed to never work with the church again, softened and we are a go for the meals for the week.  I’m sure there is much more I could tell, but suffice it to say this was not our doing, but miracle number 2 for the week.  

Another tender mercy occurred today.  The 4 trainers for wheelchairs arrived this afternoon without their luggage.  We received a phone call an hour later that their bags had arrived but had been opened by customs who found new tools in 6 of the bags.  They were going to be assessed $70 per bag.  We called Justin  Mukuna who works in the mission office.  He agreed to go with us to the airport and meet with Tom and the customs agent to determine what could be done.  We had told Elder Dow that ordering tools in country would be easier and save complications to their travel.  He decided to save money by buying the tools over the internet and bringing 6 duffle bags from Salt Lake; BAD IDEA.  

We decided if we had to return to the airport we could seek help with our vision equipment.  There are two vision shipments: (1) a $34,000 microscope that was shipped from Australia and arrived on July 17th but they wouldn’t release it until the second shipment arrived from the US.  That shipment has been delayed until the very last minute and will arrive September 5th, this Saturday. We figured as much trouble as we have had with the wheelchairs, there was a snowball’s chance of being able to clear customs for two shipments in a single afternoon, especially a Saturday afternoon when the vision training was scheduled to start on Monday morning at 8:00, September 7th.  Not only did Justin negotiate a reduced customs charge for the 6 bags of tools ($170) but he also explained to the customs agent our dilemma.  We got his name and contact information and he will call Justin tomorrow with directions for us regarding the Saturday arrangements.  Justin also agreed to go with us this Saturday to secure the vision equipment.  Justin is a stake president and took much of the afternoon to help the humanitarian effort.  These people are wonderful and we had our 3rd miracle in a single week. “And because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased?  Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men” Moroni 7:29.  We don’t have the vision equipment yet, but I would have given $170 of my own money to make it happen.  

We had dinner with our trainers, Chris Christensen, Phil Arnold, Tyler Huish and Steve Clark.  Mom did a fabulous job with her sweet and sour chicken, rice, carrots and chocolate chip cookies.  She was amazing after another marathon day of attending stake conference, 2 airport runs, assembling 8 wheelchairs at the stake center and preparing dinner for 8 on a Sunday evening.  One disappointment was missing the Tabernacle Choir broadcast.  We love looking forward to seeing Emily each Sunday evening.  Phil Arnold’s wife is also a new member of the Choir. (1st soprano)  Sorry to get this letter out late, but it has been a whirlwind week.  

One additional tender mercy is that Steve Mutombo told us this week he received approval to attend the temple in Johannesburg the week of October 5th.  Not all the arrangements have been made but we are hopeful of attending the temple with Steve and Matilda.  We will wait until Steve has finalized his plans before setting the time for our return.  We have always told Steve that he continues to be one of our most important humanitarian projects.  Have I told you how wonderful these people are lately?  We will really miss the fellowship of the saints and the goodness of the people. We are making arrangements with Bishop Taylor of the 18th Ward and our homecoming meeting will be either the 18th or 25th of October.  

Love, Dad (Elder Davis)