November 1, 2014 - Clark

Saturday, November 01, 2014

We were worried about what to do, but soon found other areas to take our focus after the close of Operation Smile.  We had one last hurrah with the volunteers from Operation Smile at the Gecamine 2 chapel.  I prepared an Apple slide show where we used two hymns: Called to Serve and I am a child of God.  Both seemed to fit the activity.  Steve handed out certificates to all volunteers.  I had to read all of their names and I felt like I was in primary all over again, with helpers whispering the correct pronunciation in my ear.  

Another fun activity from this week was to have our closing ceremony for the delivery of 125 desks at Bukanda School.  This is the poorest of the poor and they were so grateful to have desks.  Before they have been sitting on bricks for desks and their parents would complain because they came home dirty from sitting on the floor at school.  We had purchased cookies and soda pop for the occasion and the entire village came to the event.  There were skits and songs and prayers and everyone stayed for refreshments.  We purchased the drinks from a local brewery who told us if we gave them 3 weeks’ notice next time, they would provide the drinks free.

This is our last week with our translator, Flavien Kot.  He has been wonderful and we will definitely be lost without him.  Our thought is that his work with us made him more valuable as an employee for the Church, who is his new employer.  He will work with facilities management and I think his English is better than anyone who works for the church in Lubumbashi.  I suspect he will go far.  We attempted to close all projects that we had started together, but the hands of progress move slowly.  Our wheelchair project is simply waiting for a couple of signatures but they never came.  Dr. Kitopi from the Ministry of Health has been difficult to deal with.  

WE have been in charge of things here at the mission office this week while President Thomas, the Drapers and the Mikesells have been traveling to the cities up north.  We invited the sisters to the Bukanda closing ceremony and took them to dinner at late-licious for dinner.  Sister Reindeau had decided to go home a month early so she could see her sister who has terminal cancer.  Friday morning at 2:30 her sister Dominque passed away.  At least she will be there in time for the funeral.  She has been in shock for the past couple of days.  

Today, I have been the designated chauffer for two brethren from Kinshasa.  Felly was supposed to take them but he has had malaria.  One is Brother Lunda who is the director of the Distribution Center in Kinshasa and the other is a government official who is reviewing the church’s exempt status.  It has to be renewed every two years.  To qualify for exemption from taxes, the church has to conduct humanitarian projects and activities other than strictly religious and the church members cannot be the primary beneficiaries.  We visited our current and finished projects that were close: market fire rebuild project where we constructed boweries, the Mapendano School latrine project, the Katuba Bridge project and Notre Dame School for Girls.  It was a busy day of driving and yet satisfying to know that our activities are allowing the church to maintain their tax exempt status.  

Sunday, November 02, 2014

Time seems to be of no consequence here in Africa.  Let me explain an event with travel.  The mission president and 2 other couples traveled to the cities in the north of the mission and were scheduled to return on Friday evening.  Their flight was coming from Kinshasa with a scheduled stop in Mbuji-Mayi which is maybe halfway in between Kinshasa and Lubumbashi.  Well there was a thunder storm under way as the flight approached Mbuji-Mayi and so they just decided not to stop, leaving our traveling party stranded.  The next day there was an unscheduled flight from Johannesburg to Kinshasa that stopped in Mbuji-Mayi and picked up passengers on the flight to Kinshasa where they stayed on the plane to fly to Lubumbashi and arrived at the airport at 12:30 am.  We were glad to be the chauffeurs.  We arrived home at 1:30 and were fortunate to awake Sunday morning at 9:13 just in time to attend our 10:00 block of meetings.  

While at church we saw Elder Mvutul`u.  We couldn’t  believe there were so many in the audience not singing the hymns until we visited with the Elders after the meeting to find out they had 28 investigators in sacrament meeting.  I’m sure I didn’t have 28 investigators in 2 years while serving in Germany.  The work here is incredible and we hardly recognize the impact because we don’t know members from investigators.  We have arranged to attend their next baptism which is on November 15th.  I imagine there will be more than a few.

We have had a weeklong of activities recognizing Sister Riendeau. She has worked tirelessly in her calling to serve the women of the church.  She has taught 3 separate French language classes to the women of the three stakes here.  Many of the woman don’t finish school and don’t have an opportunity to learn French.  About 60 percent of the population only speak Swahili.  This past week she had graduation ceremonies for all the women in her three classes.  For graduation she gave them all a pair of reading glasses.  Glasses are a status symbol here and they were forever borrowing her glasses to read in her classroom.  

We were the beneficiaries of her kindness.  On Monday evening President Tshibanda invited her and her guests to his home for FHE.  His son, Jonathan, who is preparing for a mission gave an excellent lesson.  He and his wife gave Sister Riendeau a plaque with the map of the African continent on it.  They also served “take away” dinner to everyone.  They had purchased items they though Americans would enjoy such as fries, coleslaw, macaroni salad, etc.  I hope it didn’t cost them a fortune but it was very generous of them to invite and include us in there recognition of Sister Riendeau.  We also took her to dinner on Thursday, had birthday cake together on Friday celebrating Sister Anthony’s birthday and again on Saturday we had her farewell dinner.  Six of the office were stranded in Mbuji-Mayi so we perservered without them.

The power was out at this mission home and the generator was not working, so we made other plans and went to dinner at the Bougain Ville.  It was a nice and peaceful setting, but unfortunately Sister Riendeau was sick.  She has not been sick a single day of her mission but the events of her sister’s passing I’m sure affected her.  We had a nice evening and Elder Cook, our Area President joined us at dinner.  He was in Lubumbashi to talk to the members of the Lubumbashi Stake about the culture of the gospel address from Elder Oaks.  It is a talk about the cultural practice of paying a “bride price” to the family in securing the parents approval of the engagement of their daughter.  It can be devastating and delays many marriages and creates an atmosphere for disobeying the law of chastity.  All in all a bad custom but one that is difficult to overcome.  We had an enjoyable evening visiting with Elder Cook and the two  Congolese couples who were there Emanual and Justin told their stories of courtship and marriage and then we all paid tribute to Sister Riendeau.

We had a faith-promoting experience this past week.  We had worried about what we would do next with all of our projects coming to a close and no new projects allowed except for water projects under the newer more restrictive guidelines.  We prayed for guidance and it came almost immediately.  The answer was to work on water projects and the following events during the week confirmed that:

1. Monday morning completely out of the blue, Kenneth Mofokeng, the area office director over water projects called me and asked if there was anything he could do to help us develop some water proposals.  We have been here over 5 months and this is the first call of this nature. We discussed several possibilities and he was very supportive.
2. Immaculee, director of small village water projects, had called the previous week and asked us to return and work with her office.
3. Leon, a subordinate of Immaculee, called our translator Steve, separately and requested we return to work with them.
4. Jim Bullock, who is an area welfare specialist in Ghana and a friend of President Thomas wrote us an email asking if we needed any help with water projects.  He is the water specialist in Western Africa area.
5. When we had our correlation meeting on Monday with our translators, I had asked them to come with suggestions for new projects.  Flavien said he felt we needed to concentrate on water development in Lubumbashi.  He said that nearly 60% of the city is without access to the City’s water system.  We identified sectors and created a plan of action.
6. There were other incidentals such as President Binene from Luputa asking about latrine projects, Johm from  FM Kinshasa updating me on water development in Tshitenge and the fact that the church does not own the property there and it is only under lease, preventing water development by the FM group at the site.

Sorry to bore you with all the details, but this is my mission journal as well and I want to remember that these were not coincidental, but a flood of new ideas and sources to help us in our next venture, water development.  I’ll keep you posted.  

Love, Dad (Elder Davis)

October Photos from Lubumbashi

WE14COD011 – KATUBA BRIDGE.  Included in this photo are the two neighborhood chiefs, the contractor, the Stake President, director of Public Affairs, the humanitarian couple, and others.  It was taken at the conclusion of one of our meetings to unify the neighborhoods and inform them about the bridge.

The construction company has begun working on the bridge in hopes of completing it before the rains begin.

WE14COD005 – BUKANDA SCHOOL DESK PROJECT.  Sister Davis, Bukanda School principal, and Elder Davis are sitting at one of the new desks.  Standing behind are the director of physical facilities for the Catholic Diocese and the contractor who made the desks.

These children were participants in the hand-over celebration for the desks at Bukanda School.

These are part of the new desks for Bukanda School.  

WE2014 0440 – MAPENDANO SCHOOL.  Workers are clearing out the old latrine area.

This is a sample of one new latrine.  It is not completed.

WE14COD012 – NOTRE DAME SCHOOL FOR GIRLS.   Therese, Sister Riendeau (our interpreter for the day), and Elder Davis look at kitchen utensils.

Sister Davis, Therese, and Sister Riendeau are shoppers!

WE2014 0416 – MARCHE FIRE.  The students from the church’s construction department are painting the new marche with termite protectant and paint.

A large crowd turned out at the “hand-over” of the market to the Commune Kampemba.

Church employees representing Public Affairs, Facilities Management, and President Kongolo are greeting the mayor (in the black suit).

Group photo.

OPERATION SMILE.  We were contacted by Operation Smile to see if we could provide volunteers to help with their cleft lip/cleft palette campaign.  We contacted the three stake presidents in our area and developed sign-up sheets.  The response was overwhelming!!!  About 100 church members from two of the three stakes have worked together for 10 days in the month of October along side the Operation Smile personnel.  They helped register patients, assisted in moving patients in and out of surgery, acted as interpreters, and served food to the patients.  Their help was invaluable!  The following pictures show a small portion of what happened.  We had a small celebration for the volunteers at one of the church buildings.  We heard  testimonies, had a slide show of photos depicting patients and volunteers, and had refreshments.  There was a great turnout!

OPERATION SMILE.  Elder Davis and Dr. Mikesell (our mission doctor) were able to observe during several operations.

The church volunteer on the right is acting as an interpreter to help register patients.

Sister Davis and Sister Mikesell helped the photographer take pictures of the potential patients.

A picture is worth a thousand words!  And so is a smile!

These people represent part of the group of volunteers who came to celebrate their participation in Operation Smile.

October 26, 2014 - Shelley

October 26, 2014

It’s hard for me to imagine that you are tearing out the flowerbeds and breaking out your winter clothing now.  We’ve decided that Lubumbashi has 3 temperatures: warm, hot, and hotter.  Right now it’s HOTTER!  If I had paid better attention in Geography class, I would have remembered how the seasons are opposite on different sides of the equator!

Our week has been one of culminating activities.  One big one was the ending of Operation Smile.  That has been such a great experience for so many people!

Clark was very lucky to be able to watch several surgeries, along with Dr. Mikesell, our mission doctor.  Clark loved it so much that I’m afraid now he’ll want to go to medical school when we get home!  I might have to put my foot down!  We were so astounded at the number of volunteers from two of our local stakes – nearly 100 people!!!

Sister Claudine Riendeau, a senior sister missionary who is serving here, has been teaching French language skills to ladies in the community who may not have had the opportunity to finish school or to even go to school.  She had a “graduation” programs for them this week.

Including all 3 of her classes, she taught around 60 ladies.  These gals were so thrilled and felt such a sense of accom-

plishment!  Just imagine being able to understand a language without being able to read or write it.  During classtime, many of the ladies would need to borrow Sis. R.’s reading glasses in order to read, so she gave all of them reading glasses as a graduation gift. Boy – that was a total hit!!!

Another project that ended this week was the rebuilding of the market that had burned down in a fire.  We were able to obtain funds for the materials, and the church’s construction class built two structures that will house around 100 vendors.  It was quite an under-

taking!  At the end of a project, we are required to “hand the project over” to the city, in this case.  We had a little ceremony at the construction site with the mayor of the local commune.  The mayor said that they had asked 900 churches to help them rebuilt the market, and we were the only ones to help, so it felt pretty good.  

Here we are with the mayor and two gals from his office.  (I’m the one in pink!)  He was very nice and gracious.  But something I found really hilarious happened at the end.  There was a group of ladies who spontaneously broke into song – just kind of “made-up” songs.  The lyrics to one song said – “We thought you were a bad mayor, but now you’ve helped us and we like you!”  And the other song was for us, and the words were very touching.  They sang – “In our difficulties, Mormon cried with us.”

These are the singers.

It was also a week for getting the kitchen project near completion.  We are providing a kitchen for a school for underprivileged girls so that they can learn to cook and hopefully get a job.  Therese, the director of the school went with us to pick out what she wanted.  It was like taking a child to Toys R Us.

Lest you think this is something super fancy, her cooking lab is pretty humble.

This is the outside of the kitchen – it still has a ways to go before completion.  She is, however, a wonderful woman with vision of a better life for the 350 young girls she teaches.  She wants them to have a vocation so that they don’t feel trapped into getting married at a young age.

And, just when we thought there was nothing “fun” to do – we found something!  Our translator, Flavien, suggested we visit a game preserve that is located about 20 miles away.  I think I have mentioned before that we have seen very few animals here.  A few dogs and a cat – but nothing like you might imagine. Flavien says that we are 50 years too late!  Anyway, we took some of our fellow senior missionaries and went to “Futuka”.

Here we are in front of a hummer that took us on an hour-long drive through the preserve.  We actually saw a giraffe, several water buffalos, deer, zebras, and some ostriches!  It was really fun!

We have a saying in our family that when someone is upset, they have a “bee in their bonnet”.  Well, poor Clark actually did get a bee inside his hat while we were in the hummer!  It just flew in one of the holes on his hat and stung him on the head!  The saying will have new meaning for us now!  I always thought my grandma just made that up!

My handsome companion before the sting!  He’s really okay – just a bee sting!

Futuka had a restaurant with this beautiful brick oven.  I must have watched too much TV when I was a child because when I saw this I just couldn’t help but remember the “I Love Lucy” episode where Lucy and Ethel built an outside fireplace!  Lucy thought she lost her wedding ring in the mortar and they took it all apart!

Well, enough silliness!  We’re hanging in there.  The French Conference DVD’s arrived this week, so this has been Conference Weekend.  Church members gathered at the various churches to watch all of the sessions.  We have them downloaded already and have been able to enjoy them.  Modern technology is pretty amazing!  Our daughter Monica sent us the audio version practically as it was spoken – and we have loved that, too.  Never before have I felt such a closeness to the messages and especially to the church leaders themselves.  We are fortunate indeed!  I must end this by saying “Happy Birthday” to Daphne this week!  We love you all –Mom/Soeur Davis

October 23, 2014 - Clark

Thursday, October 23, 2014

I just returned from Sendwe Hospital where they are performing surgeries for Operation Smile.  We met Dr. Ben Rodriquez who is LDS and from Las Vegas.  He is the head surgeon who counsels on all of the most difficult cases.  There are four surgeons with operation smile and two anesthesiologists.  They allow local surgeons and medical school students to stand in as observers and train them in their techniques.  

Vaun Mikesell is the mission medical advisor and a retired oral surgeon.  He asked if he could come and observe in the operating rooms and so on Tuesday and again today they invited him to come and observe.  They also allowed me as his companion to stand in.  It was absolutely fascinating.  One thing that stands out to me is the dedication of the Operation Smile medical team.  Many of them use their personal leave or vacation to volunteer.  They perform 10 surgeries a day and are exhausted every evening but return again in the morning for another 8-10 surgeries.  Most of them have been volunteering for years and perform multiple missions.  

On Tuesday, we arrived at around 1:30 and didn’t leave until about 5:30.  I spent the majority of time watching a single surgery performed by Dr. Dasi Mwepu from Kinshasa.  He was trained by Operation Smile in Kinshasa and now travels with them to other countries to perform surgeries.  He was so meticulous and exacting in his decision making.  He drew dots and lines on the child’s face before beginning but the most impressive thing he did was put his hands on their head and said a prayer.  He listened to inspirational music throughout the operation and when he finished almost 4 hours later, he said, “Thank You Jesus”.  I gave him a copy of the Tabernacle Choir CD of Primary Songs today and Elder Mikesell gave him a Book of Mormon. (A no-no for humanitarian missionaries, but we do push the boundaries at times).  

Today I spent more time observing Dr. Rodriquez.  He is an artist and is extremely efficient.  He is 5 times faster and more skilled than Dr. Mwepu but no more inspiring.  He has established a clinic in Ghana and is now working with Dr. Mwepu to establish a similar clinic for plastic surgery in DRCongo.  Working in Las Vegas, I’m sure time is money and I saw him perform three cases  in less than three hours.  I have a newfound appreciation for plastic surgery that has a real purpose.  Many of these cases were birth defects, others were burns and most were lip deformities such as cleft lips.  In the Congo, they use the term rabbit lips.  I guess if you think of it they look somewhat like rabbits lips.  

At the beginning I was fearful that the blood and surgery surroundings would make me light-headed and that perhaps I would faint or be unable to stay in the operating room.  Quite, the contrary; I stayed with Dr. Mwepu for almost four hours and hardly moved a hair.  I was fascinated and glued to the process.  I found it exhilarating and the time passed on wings of lightning.  I came home Tuesday and again today, uplifted by the noble causes of Operation Smile and the amount of good that is done through a medical mission like this.  I hope our mission contribution is as meaningful.  Shelley did ask me if I was ready to go back to medical school.  That ship has sailed but I do have a profound respect for those who volunteer their time in this effort.

The members have been another bright spot.  Some after coming the first day have returned every day since without pay and often without recognition.  They have been touched by the spirit of volunteerism.  Several members of the Katuba and Kisanga Stakes have participated.  One in particular is Eric, a young man yet to serve a mission who has served as a translator and has returned every morning at 5:30 and goes home after the lights are turned out.  For the volunteers he has become the face of volunteerism.  Everyone on the Operation Smile staff knows Eric and loves Eric.

Tomorrow is the last day of surgeries for Operation Smile and they asked us to invite 10 volunteers to the closing ceremonies or party at the Grand Karavia.  It feels like there are a hundred volunteers we would like to include.  It seems like an injustice to have the white seniors go when the local youth have been the backbone of the effort.  

Friday, October 24, 2014

Working with Mbidi Ilunga, Director of Public Affairs, we have arranged a celebration of all the volunteers this coming Wednesday at Gecamine 2nd Ward Chapel.  We will show pictures of Operation Smile and have a short testimony meeting of their service.  We will pass out certificates to each volunteer and express our appreciation for their service and give them a chance to reflect and feel good about their sacrifice and service.  I feel much better about this.  I am feeling awkward about Elder Mikesell and I attending the Grand Karavia this evening and leaving our wives at home.  We felt that if including our wives excluded 2 volunteers, it would be a mistake and the wrong message to send, so we are going alone.

I reported on Operation Smile this morning in our senior missionary staff meeting.  I feel it may be the most significant thing we have accomplished as humanitarian missionaries and it didn’t cost a thing other than volunteering our time.  Don’t let me mislead you, Shelley and I were not the worker bees that many others were, but we did organize the effort to begin with.  It was however, Steve Mutumbo, our new translator, who became the supervisor of all volunteer activities.  The rewarding part was to see the impact of selfless service on the lives of the members.  This really did feel like Christ like service and it touched the lives of the volunteers so deeply that I think they will be forever changed.  At least I hope that I am forever changed by their example.  They paid their own transportation, were given no food or water and no payment or recognition, but they continued to return day after day.  

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Today we have been watching General Conference.  The saints locally receive DVD’s a few weeks after conference and schedule a time to watch them together in French.  We watched in English with Sister Anthony and Sister Riendeau.  I hang more and more on the words of the prophets as a missionary.  It was wonderful to see a couple of sessions.  We have a newfound commitment to watching the choir.  It is so enjoyable to see Emily’s engaging face and smile.  

The day started early because Shelley and I drove the mission van with 8 other people to the airport at 5:30 this morning.  President Thomas, the Drapers and Mikesells and the AP’s are going a trip to Mbjui-Mayi, Mwene Ditu, Lupuata and surrounding areas from today until Friday when they return at 20:15.  Somehow I’ve become the new default driver.  The trip to the northern part of our mission is an adventure.  

I’m not sure if I’ve shared this confirmed news with you yet, but our translator, Flavien Kot, has accepted a full-time position as Desire Ilunga’s assistant and will be starting November 1st.  We have had many marvelous experiences with Flavien and he has helped us immensely in understanding the culture, the history of humanitarian work here in Lubumbashi and in showing us how to do humanitarian work.  He is amazing and will be a leader in years to come.  We’ll miss him but feel so fortunate to have made connection with Steve Mutombo.  He helped Elder Atkinson with the well restoration program as a trainee and has been working with us as site monitor for the Katuba Bridge project.  Steve is earning money so he can be married to his fiancé, Matilda.  Her family isn’t sure he is worthy of her and they plan on a family meeting in the next couple of weeks.  Steve has invited us to attend to speak in his behalf which I am happy to do.  We’ll keep you apprised.

I have spoken of the market fire rebuilding project we have been involved in.  August 1st, the local marketplace of street vendors had all of their earthly goods destroyed in a fire.  We were asked to provide emergency relief.  We worked with Commune Kampemba city officials and the church’s construction training program.  Under the direction of Elder Atkinson, the shelters were designed and constructed to accommodate about 100 of the over 200 vendors who were displaced.  We spent about $17,000 and had free labor from the 10 trainees in the construction program.  It was constructed on the site of an old garbage location.  

Several things were not ideal.  The city officials attempted to siphon off some of the relief money but we controlled all the expenditures and only gave them the finished product.  They organized a meeting with the burgermeister near the close to see if they couldn’t have any unused budget allocation for another project they wanted help with.  And their final attempt to extort money was when they invited the media to the market opening and didn’t pay them.  The media told us that we owed six media sources for their coverage of the opening of the market.  It’s a different mentality where you have to pay money to make a gift. Despite all of that, there were some positives.

The construction workers had a meaningful project to work on during their training; their program director from Kinshasa wrote asking for more humanitarian involvement inquiring about other projects where they may be of use.  At the marketplace, there were about 100 booths built as part of the bowery type shelters that were erected.  When we arrived, we could see others had begun building additional building next to ours and had laid out the framework for others to follow.  It looks like our investment was the impetus to additional economic activity. (sometimes referred to as the multiplier effect) As a parting gift, we were persuaded by Fernand from the construction department to buy an additional $500 worth of tins (corrugated roofing metal sheets) for distribution to those vendors who were not awarded a spot in the new shelters.    The ceremonies were fun but delayed by over an hour while waiting for the burgermeister to return from a funeral.   (TIA-this is Africa)

Saturday we gathered the other senior missionaries and went on a fun fieldtrip to Futuka.  This is a small game preserve about 20 miles outside the city.  Flavien had recommended this as an activity.  They had hummers and some domesticated wild animals.  Wart hogs, water buffalo, giraffes, gazelles, zebras, antelope, among others.  Most were attracted by watering and feeding locations and didn’t seem too spooked by humans or hummers.  It was probably the first tourist-worthy site that we have visited.  Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty to see but not as you imagined Africa in the National Geographic sense.  

All in all, we’ve had an exhausting and exhilarating week.  We’re pondering what we can do for an encore, but I’ll report back next week.  Love you all,

Dad (Elder Davis)

October 19, 2014 - Shelley

October 19, 2014

We’re not sure, but we think that rainy season has started.  Since we arrived five months ago, we haven’t seen even one drop of rain until Friday.  Then we had a spectacular storm with thunder, lightening, and torrents of rain – for about 3 – 4 hours.  We’ve been told that the rains will be around for about six months, and then it’s dry for about six months – so we’ll have to see.

We’re encouraged that a couple of our “projects” are underway.  One is the replacement and repair of the latrines at Mapendano School.   It’s been dis-appointing that all of this couldn’t come together before the start of school in September, but we have found that some wheels turn very

S-L-O-W-L-Y.  ☺

This is a picture of Flavien, our translator, in the school principal’s office with some of the supplies that have arrived.

In the bathrooms, the workers have started installing some of the new latrines and getting things painted.  The following picture shows one of the stalls.  Still to be added are the ceramic tiles around the toilet.  It’s what we call a “Turkish Toilet”, but it works!  (I’m not volunteering to try it out! haha)

Another project is having desks made for one of the village schools.  Below

you can see that Clark and Flavien are trying them out for size.  At the school I showed in my last letter, there were 5 students sitting at each of these desks.  Hopefully, it won’t be that crowded at Bukanda School – about 3 students for each is typical here.

(Fortunately, the students will be more like Flavien in size!  Haha)

This is where the magic begins!  It’s not the type of workshop we would usually imagine, but the work is getting done.

This week we also took one of the other senior missionaries with us to visit the orphanage we have been working with.  Sister Riendequ was born inFrance, although she has lived in the US for all of her adult life.  Her father was a famous French painter, and she also paints.  Therapists at this orphanage use painting as a part of their therapy with the girls.  So Sister R. showed the girls some of her techniques in painting.  The real reward was seeing how special the girls felt having this one-on-one attention – something they rarely get.

We started out this week with some fear and trepidation, but ended the week with a deepened appreciation for the Congolese people!  We had ben asked by Operation Smile to provide volunteers for their campaign here. (OS is the largest medical volunteer charity in the world.)  The response we’ve had from church members has been phenomenal!  To put things in perspective, one has to remember that Clark and I were the only volunteers who drove a vehicle to the hospital – everyone else came long distances in VERY crowded vans that are used for public transportation.  

The campaign is being held at Sendwe Hospital, which is located right in the middle of town.  It’s a huge facility that  was once the premier hospital in the whole country.  Alas, the years have taken a toll – and now it’s old and falling apart.  There are very few patients.  I asked someone where the rest of the regular patients were – and he told me they died!  He said this is where people come to die!  Not a good endorsement for a place to do operations!  To make it even worse, the city morgue is located right next door.  In the middle of the day, you can hear people wailing and chanting.  Not too comforting if you show up at the hospital and hear all of that.  Anyway, this hospital was chosen by OS because they have enough room to house the patients and someone has recently donated equipment for an operating room.

The patients were brought by buses and vans from outlying villages in the Katanga Province.  Some patients were even flown in from remote areas.   In this campaign, OS is repairing cleft lips and palates.

We took hundreds of pictures, but I’ll only include a couple.  

I thought this was such a cute picture of a mom and her little boy!

Here is family with twins. The dad and one twin need surgery.  The wife will be expected to take care of all of them.  Each prospective patient came with at least one caregiver, but some came with the whole family.

Below is one of the hospital rooms.

They are being housed in hospital rooms that have 30 – 40 beds.  That means one bed per family!  The rooms have windows that are broken out – and the nighttime mosquitoes have definitely made their presence known – much to the distress of everyone.  No mosquito nets to be found!

The patients were all evaluated by a team of doctors, including dentists, plastic surgeons, speech therapists, etc., from Operation Smile.  Then today (Sunday), it will be announced who will get to have surgery.  I can hardly think of how sad it would be to have to be the bearer of that news.  One of the plastic surgeons is a church member from Las Vegas.  He attended church with us this morning.

One last picture that I must share.

Steve Mutombo and Flavien Kot, our translators, are the true heroes of this volunteer effort.  They were desperately needed by the medical professionals to translate all of the local dialects of the patients into French and English.  They have put in 12-hour days with the same smiles you see here.  They are both wonderful men and we feel it is such a privilege to work with them!

We heard the phrase “T.I.A.” when we first came to Africa.  It basically means that “this is Africa” and nothing ever works the way you think it will.  So many things are different from the way the western world expects them to be.  So when something goes wrong, people just throw up their hands and say, “Don’t forget – T.I.A.”.  Well, recently we had a visit from the church’s wheel-chair specialists, John and Marcia Dow.  They shared with us this same phrase, but changed the letters to mean – “This Is Awesome”!  It is with this attitude that I end my letter.  It is awesome to be living among such Christ-like, humble people!

Much love,  Mom/Souer Davis

October 17, 2014 - Clark

Friday, October 17, 2014

Operation Smile

I wanted to document the history of our connection with Operation Smile.  About 6 weeks ago, Elise and Fifi, representatives of Operations Smile asked Mbidi Ilunga, director of public affairs to meet us at the Lubumbashi Stake Center.  Shelley was unable to attend, but Flavien and I met with them.  We told them we could arrange for our members to volunteer if we knew what the assignments were, the time duration and any qualifications.  They took until last Thursday to meet with us a second time to spell out the details.  They had no idea that we could produce so many volunteers and we basically outlined how many we thought would be able to support their mission.  

This meeting was held with Justin, the Mikesells and the two of us with Fifi and Jake.  There was only one weekend to solicit volunteers.  Shelley made sign-up lists and a handout for all stake presidents.  Justin serves as stake president of Katuba Stake and said the three of them would meet at 5:00 on Friday.  Saturday, we met President Tshibanda, Kisanga Stake and he was unaware of any meeting.  We called Justin and he told us he was the only one to show for the joint meeting on Friday.  Our first meeting with Operation Smile was scheduled for orientation on Tuesday evening.  We didn’t know if anyone would show.  Justin took signup sheets over to President Tshibanda but President Kongolo never received any notification and his stake members were totally unaware of the project.

Tuesday evening was the hour of truth at 5:00.  Members started showing up and continued to do so from 5:00-6:15.  We must have had nearly 100 show up for training.  First problem with Operation Smile representatives was they changed our scheduled volunteer assignment days.  They no longer needed any volunteers for Wednesday and they first notified us Tuesday evening at 5:00.  We had 32 volunteers scheduled for the next day, Wednesday.  

Thursday our member volunteers showed up at 8:00 but Operation Smile representatives didn’t come until 9:15 and said they wouldn’t need us until 1:30.   There were about 40 volunteers who came and Elise said they only needed 8 people at a time and suggested 8/8/8 with different time slots.  We advised everyone that they had done exactly what we had asked them to do and that the Lord was mindful of their sacrifice and commitment.  We told them that they need not stay if they had other obligations because they had done all that was asked of them.  Long story short, the majority of them stayed without food or water until the patients started arriving around1:30.  Once they did, there seemed to be a steady stream of patients arriving from communities outside Lubumbashi.  

We did arrange for water from Operation Smile and Flavien and I bought nearly 300 bananas to feed both the volunteers and the patients and their guardians.  We registered 178 people, about 90 patients and assisted with their room assignments and served the evening meal to all.  The Operation Smile people were there for about 45-60 minutes in the morning and then not again until 5:00.   They left the entire registration process to us.  It was so heart-warming to see the volunteers come and stay all day.  Many came at 7:30 in the morning and stayed until 7:00 at night.   What dedication.  We could learn much from this people.  Americans have watches, Africans have time.

Friday, the first rains came and the volunteers for breakfast could not arrive on time because of the torrential downpour. Most of the volunteers did eventually come once the rains subsided.   We did however have three translators, Flavien, Steve and Eric come and stay all day long.  They were invaluable for the doctors’ evaluation and speech therapist coaching and lessons for parents.  Steve has really come of age through this project.  He has taken ownership along with his fiancé, Matilda.  They have been at the Sendwe Hospital whenever any volunteer has been at the hospital.  They come at 7:30 and don’t go home until the last delivery of meals around 7:00 pm.  Steve told me he wants to make sure everyone has training and someone they can turn to.  He has become Mr. Operation Smile.  The Operations Smile staff have taken notice of him as well.  Bruce, the head doctor wanted to steal him for his very own translator, but had to share him with all the rest of the medical staff.  

Friday and Saturday they screened all of the patients, taking pictures and conducting interviews while building patient files.  For the 200 or so patients who have come, Sunday is the day of notification.  There are about one-third of the patients who will be told they will not receive surgery.  Based on priorities of cleft lip and cleft pallet first, there are some surgeries too difficult to be performed during this single week.  There are also many cases not involving their focus group, such as burns, other deformities, etc.  

Monday through Friday morning they will perform surgeries.  We had never imagined the volunteer hours that would be contributed.  Many wonderful saints have come and stayed and stayed and then returned again the following day.  We could have gotten by with some casual contribution, but the members wouldn’t allow it.  We have little idea of the hours that may be required this coming week, but it has been a very heart-warming experience.  

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Today we took Dr. Benjamin Rodriquez with us to Flavien’s Ward.  Dr. Mikesell thought this would be a more authentic African experience rather than going to the stake center.  Dr. Rodriquez is a plastic surgeon from Las Vegas who is a church member.  He has been volunteering with Operation Smile for 25 years and usually goes on 5-6 Operation Smile missions a year.  About 2 weeks each mission.  He is a retuned missionary who served in Chile and speaks Spanish, Italian and French.  He was an enjoyable guest at church.  The world is pretty small when you’re a member of the church.

Yesterday we had a fund experience with Therese.  She is the director of Notre Dame School for Girls.  We have an approved project with her school to provide a cooking lab.  She received 10 sewing machines about 2 years ago from the church and has done a wonderful job of teaching sewing skills to her classes of 300-350 girls each year.  Her husband is a carpenter and has constructed two new classrooms to house the sewing and cooking classrooms.  Therese grew up with no training and is a self-taught woman who saw a need for disadvantaged girls.  We told her if she would raise 25% of the money required to supply her lab, we would present it as a proposal.  She raised $1,600 with her school registration, but spent it on roofing for the new classrooms because we didn’t some by and pick up the money.  She told us she would have the money again by October 7th, so this time we went and picked up the money.  We put it in a safe at the mission office.  It was all in Congolese 500 franc bills.  It filled a small shopping bag and weighed about 5 pounds.  It was difficult for her to give us the money.  It requires a certain level of trust.  We decided to have her go shopping with us to buy the supplies and identify all the equipment needed.  We spent the better part of the day shopping with Sister Riendeau as our translator.  I was the chauffeur with three women and it was not nearly as torturous as a man might imagine.  Therese was like a 6-year old on Christmas morning.  I don’t believe she has ever participated in such a shopping trip.  She said she wanted to bring the entire store home.  

We finally went shopping for ourselves on Saturday.  We’ve needed to restock for over a week but have been completely immersed in the Operation Smile project.  We ate grilled cheese twice and peanut butter once for dinner this past week, but we survived and didn’t whine too much about it.  I heard USU, BYU and Box Elder all lost their football games this week, so another good week to be in Africa.  

Love, Dad (Elder Davis)