September 6, 2015
When we pray for patience, a good attitude, humility, etc., I’m sure that the Lord sends us opportunities to develop those qualities. This last week makes me certain that this is true! I thought about writing a list of high’s and low’s for the week – but after looking at the list, I decided that it probably wasn’t a good idea! haha
There is one obvious change to the format of my letter this week, and that is that there are no pictures. It’s too bad because I have some really great ones! ☺ But that leads me to the #1 “less high” thing on my list – and that is that my computer was stolen. I’m consigned to write on Clark’s Dell computer, which is quite unfamiliar to me – and it doesn’t have iphoto! ☹ You’ll just have to slosh through my news in words only.
John and Marcia Dow from San Diego, CA, came for the long-awaited wheelchair project. Before our mission, I was totally unaware that there are so many church members who are involved in international humanitarian projects. But there are lots! Many professionals travel to other countries to volunteer their services – doctors, dentists, physical therapists, etc. And others have church callings as Short Term Specialists, such as the Dows, who come to supervise large projects that are organized by the in-country welfare missionaries (that’s us). The Dows served in a position like ours in Mozambique. Then they were called as STS’s in the area of wheelchairs. Now they come to Africa about every other month. Typically they will stay a couple of weeks and help in two or three countries for several days at a time. They have been doing this for FIVE YEARS! And there are several others who do the same thing in different types of projects and in different parts of the world. The wheelchair training was held at the Seminary and Institute Building in the Lubumbashi Stake and lasted for four days.
The four trainers who came with the Dows are volunteers. These men are all from Utah. Two of them are retired, and two are men with families who take time off of work 3 or 4 times a year to help for a week or so in various parts of the world. Steve Clark and Chris Christensen taught technicians from 14 local hospitals how to properly assemble and adjust wheelchairs. Then they spent a day with 15 people from the handicapped community – showing them how to repair their own wheelchairs – possibly giving them a marketable skill to repair chairs for other people.
Phil Arnold and Tyler Huish are physiotherapists who spent this week with clinicians from those same hospitals showing them how to properly assess handicapped patients so that they can be given a prescription for a chair that fits their needs. I had no idea that getting a wheelchair was such a complicated thing – but I learned that a poorly fitting chair can actually cause further damage to a person. All of these men have been to Africa several times, as well as to other parts of the world. We hired a translator for each of them. It was so wonderful to see how they could not only communicate their skills, but be funny and cute with those who attended.
During the course of the week, 15 disabled people were fit for wheelchairs – most of them victims of polio. It was more than humbling to see the handicapped people arriving – many of them crawling. They had been chosen by the board from the disabled community that I described in last week’s letter. But several others heard we were “giving away” free chairs and just showed up at the church building where the training was held. You can imagine how difficult it was to tell those not on the list that they would have to go to a local hospital to be assessed starting next week in order to get a chair. Travel is difficult for an able-bodied person here because very few people have cars and have to rely on public transportation. But that difficulty is magnified a thousand times by someone who can’t walk and doesn’t have money for transport!
We hired a local TV station to cover the event. It will be aired twice over the next few days. One reason for doing this was to make disabled people aware that they can receive a chair by going to a local hospital – and that the chair is free, thus reducing the chance that they would be charged for the chair at the hospital. The coverage was great, BUT yesterday we were downtown and were approached by two disabled people who had seen us on TV. I think they wanted us to give them chairs on the spot, and it was hard for them to understand that we didn’t actually have wheelchairs in the back of our truck that we were just passing out like candy.
Last week I told about storing the 360 boxes of wheelchairs at Sendwe Hospital. Well, late Tuesday night (the day I lost my computer), we got a text from our translator that said he saw on the news that Sendwe Hospital was ON FIRE! I just couldn’t imagine that one more thing could go wrong with that day. Here’s where the lessons on humility come.
We went to Sendwe Hospital the next morning to assess the damage. The chairs had been stored in two rooms in a wing of about 5 rooms that is separated from the main building. I sure wish I could show the pictures here, but the fire totally destroyed three of the five rooms – and stopped right before the rooms containing the chairs! I’ve heard stories like this before, but I can personally testify of the truthfulness of this because I witnessed it with my own eyes! There wasn’t even smoke or water damage in those rooms! About 5% of the chairs were damaged because the boxes had been chucked out of the rooms with reckless abandon as the fire approached those rooms. When we arrived, workers were sorting out the boxes and stacking them according to type. Since that time, they have been sent to a different location for storage. Even though the LDS Church bought the chairs, they were actually given to the partner organization (in our case, the Ministry of Health). So thankfully it wasn’t our responsibility to figure out what to do. But I am once again reminded and humbled to know that this is the Lord’s work. We have seen miracles with this project, and our son Spencer reminded us that the miracles were for the Congolese handicapped community, and of course, he’s right. It’s been our privilege to once again be a witness to it.
Now we are preparing for another STS who is coming this next week with a vision project. Dr. Jesse Hunsaker (an ophthomologist from the US) and Dr. Kilangalanga from Kinshasa are coming to teach doctors from three local hospitals about cataract removal. The LDS Church is donating more than $100,000 worth of equipment, also. Well, more lessons to be learned. We just returned from spending two days at the customs office AGAIN so that we had the proper signatures – only to find that the plane containing the equipment has been delayed in Kinshasa. Possibly it will arrive Monday afternoon (AFTER the first day of training). Patience, patience, PATIENCE!!!!
Well, I really didn’t mean to write a whiny letter. I have to admit that it’s been a hard week, but my companion and I decided that we did everything we knew how to do, so we can’t feel too bad about that. We have absolutely learned that the Lord is in charge. I just want to comment on how much the prayers, emails, texts, etc.,that we receive from you helps us. They give us strength to move on in spite of set-backs and remind us that we aren’t alone or forgotten. Thank you so much! Much love, Mom/G-ma D./Soeur Davis
p.s. Happy Birthday this week to Joseph, Jacob, and Maggie! We love you all!
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