December 4, 2014 - Phillip Moatlhodi

This is not at all organized but describes what we have been doing this past week with Phillip Moatlhodi visiting us.  He is the head guy in humanitarian services for all of Southeast Africa.  He was delightful and had so much insight to help us.  We have felt handcuffed before his visit but not afterwards.  I’ll write a separate letter as well. 

Love, Dad

Thursday, December 04, 2014

Just completed  a telephone conversation with Elder Phil Squires.   He works with food programs for the church welfare department.  A few weeks ago Mbidi Ilunga asked us about receiving help for a food program for his ward.  He is the director of the self-reliance center and the director of public affairs for the church here in Lubumbashi.  He also serves as a bishop.  His ward has begun a project of raising corn on 80 hecters of property on the road to Kipushi.  He could be a possible champion for agricultural development.  

Phil Squires calls tonight while Phillip Moatlhodi is visiting us from Johannesburg.  He is the Area Welfare Manager and his input and consent is required in order to provide assistance in the area plan in the area of agriculture.  He asked just yesterday why there wasn’t more agricultural development her in Lubumbashi where the soil is so rich and the rain plentiful.  

We are scheduled to drive to Kipushi tomorrow with Immaculee.  We  will stop and look at the farming operation and try to provide answers to some  of the questions Phil Squires posed:

1. Who owns the property?
2. What rental arrangements have been made?
3. Where did the members receive  funding for seed and fertilizer for the current crop?
4. Are  there non-members involved in the project?
5. What is the proposed use of the money from this cash crop?

 Primarily for member benedit but must be sustainable; not year after year .  Include listing of equipment along with the number of families involved including members and non-members.  Include the number of households and the number of total members.  Product can be for member benefit and need not be sold.  Mbidi can take this to other areas of the mission.  This can be written as a single PDW.

We  then need to request assistance from  the Kinghorns and Phillip through the area office.  Here we have a good priesthood holder asking for help and we need to modify the area plan to allow that to happen.

All of the timing issues are not just hap hazard.  There is divine intervention in this work and you quickly realize this isn’t our work at all.  We need to do all we can to provide this requested help to Mbidi Ilunga.  The Lord is trying to work through us if we’ll just listen.  

We had a busy day and this was the agenda:  I’ve added other potential projects to this discussion based on suggestions from Phillip

1. Meeting with Charles of the Catholic Diocese about future projects. Blind, roofing, water, desks.
2. Visited the blind school and viewed 42 braille machine with only 2 operational.  Phillip has developed a program for the blind schools in South Africa.  Perkins is the company they work with.  The machines are $750 each.  Check on training provided by Perkins in Zambia.  Consider training someone locally to  repair machines and see how many of the Perkins machines can be repaired before buying new ones.  Submit as a proposal to train and then purchase but only after the repairs element has been completed.
3. Attended Mapendano closing ceremony for new latrines.  Spoke with next-door school director who has solar panels and tanks.  We need to add to his tanks, increase the size of his pump, increase the number of solar panels and provide piping to Mapendano.  Schedule meeting on Tuesday with both school directors and Charles to orchestrate the project and participation and benefits to each party.  Phillip suggested 2-1,000 liter tanks at Mapendano and to add a third at the existing school along with increasing the size of the solar panels, adding a larger pump and giving them one additional tank.
4. Visted Kamwonage school where the roofing is failing and evaluated repair and replacement.  We asked the director to provide us a bill of quantities for the number of roofing sheets and the number of ceiling tiles needed by classroom or by building.  We need the unit cost and then we can estimate how many classrooms we could complete.  The idea would be to purchase all of the materials and do none of the installation.  We would require of the school as their buy-in to do all of the installation.  An idea is to do one at a time so that we don’t store materials and we only proceed based on success of the previous building or classroom.  They will call us when they have the cost estimate information put together.Kids travel tor other scchools
5. Took  Amas to Tumaini Orphanage to provide Christmas clothing and food.  We also looked at new desks for the elementary school that supports the orphanage.  Phillip suggested we write a desk proposal project now because they have $92,000 remaining in the 2014 budget that will be returned if not spent.  We are to send the proposal directly to Phillip.  I suggest we ask for the following:
1. Maisha Karavia   need 400 less 50 foundation less 200 church = 150
2. Peage School need 50
3. Tumaini Orphanage need 100
4. Kamwonage need 75 no match and maybe should exclude

Include as a supplemental for Maisha Karavia, but write the others as a separate PDW and send to Phillip.  Include Kamwonage 75 and include everything.

6. Met with Enoch, Dr.   Kabila and two technicians to consider water development in Lubumbashi.  Visited Tabucongo, a neighborhood in commune Kampemba, an area they pinpointed as one of five with the greatest need for water.  Evaluate whether to:
1. Suggest the top 5 priorities for drilling bore holes
2. Select this as the health zone where a $25,000 repair fund is established
3. Commit $100,000 to water development in this sector with both well repair and new bore holes.  Get assessment from Dr. Pascal, Enoch, Richard
7. Had a meeting with President Thomas to review coordination of humanitarian and mission responsibilities.
8. Finished with dinner at latte-licious.

I think we’ll probably be bored to tears when we return home and don’t have this break-neck schedule.

Friday, December 05, 2014

Immaculee’s husband suffered a stroke during the night and our trip was cancelled to Kipushi.  Phillip did suggest we create a PDW for pump repair.  It would be a $25,000 fund to be used until it is gone and then apply for another $25,000 increment.  This would work for the pumps on the road to Kisanga.  

1. Order of creating this pump repair PDW
1. Identify single health zone and attempt to pattern after Kipushi.
2. Immaculee to contact office that trains repairmen.  Determine cost of repair class for trainees and the cost of repair equipment that could be stored at the health zone office.  Purchase perhaps two sets of tools and arrange for maybe 5-6 to be trained.  
3. Obtain inventory of existing wells and their history.
4. MOH to assist in establishing water committee and coordination with chief
5. MOH to prioritize villages prepared to participate based on having an existing water committee and having created a methodology for collecting money for water usage.
6. Set parameters for participation; $150-$250 in a maintenance fund owned by the village.

Write PDW for $25,000 and when one is done, submit another.  Talk to Phillip to exceed the 5 project limit based on the completion status of existing projects.

We visited Rigideso who had prepared options for extending the existing water lines beyond the World Bank system that is the backbone of water development in Lubumbashi.  

1. This would be a piping project that creates water stations.  They tie into the World Bank trunk lines.  The average cost per water point is about $7,000 compared to $15,000-$17,000 for drilling a new bore hole.  The suggested development of the project is as follows:
1. Contact the Burgermeisters of Commune Katuba and Commune Annex to organize a neighborhood meeting to solicit residents buy-in by performing labor.
2. Commit residents to dig all of the lines and count this as their participation and ownership buy-in.  From the cost estimates, this was just under 10% of the project cost.  In many cases the contractor will not allow the full discount in reducing the contract pricing.  
3. Construction time is about 2 weeks per zone.  Approval process time is about 2 weeks plus.
4. Rigideso’s participation is to manage the project.  They will use their purchasing power in negotiating the best prices through their purchasing department and their experience.  The Church will pay vendors directly and Rigideso will not charge a management fee.  They will receive 100% ownership of the project when complete.
5. We need to visit an existing site where the collection process is working.  Determine the pricing, how much is collected, how much is paid to the person collecting for water, how much is Rigideso reinvesting in the maintenance of the system and how much is profit.  Is there anything set aside in a reserve fund.
6. We will prepare a PDW including all five (5) proposed sites.  We will start first with Katuba and Golf areas.  We will only proceed with the additional sites based on successful completion of the first 2 sites.

We visited the MYRT School and talked to PUMA, the director.  We reviewed his computer lab and asked about the rotation policy.  They had a theft in the past.  He is expecting some help from the US in replacing their current machines.  We asked him if he would be a guest lecturer in the self-reliance center and we asked if he had considered developing a concentrated course in vocational training.  He said the course currently is a 4-year program and would have to be 6 months at a minimum.  We asked if he would be a mentor to others starting a computer lab such as the Peage School and I asked if they rotated their equipment if they would donate the old equipment to a poor beneficiary who can’t afford to do it on their own.  Puma said he is going to the USA in  about a month and will remain there for 18 months.  We will probably not pursue anything with MYRT.

We next visited with Tabu Farrah, who is the chief over handicapped services.  We visited a handicapped association site near the tunnel.  They own 14 store fronts but don’t have any equipment to furnish the stores, so they are currently renting out the store fronts.  The office for the handicapped is currently occupied by 4 families and so is not being used as an office.  

This could become an incubator system where handicapped are taught a business or profession and then have to go out on their own.  It is not working that way currently and there is no funding to do so.  They asked for furniture to equip their offices.  We told them we will listen but are not promising anything now.

We then attended ASBL Grahpe which is the organization who had incorporated self-reliance principles.  They have chickens, mushrooms, sell soda drinks and sell water.  They hope to have a bakery, but it is unrealistic.  They have never had electricity for the oven and they will first need to have a wood fired stove.  The average profit from their best day’s activity as a bakery was $100 per day.  Their sale of chickens was for about 7,500 Fc compared to a cost to raise them of about 5,000 Fc.  They currently have 450 chickens but this is also a seasonal crop.  They were much less organized this time and it was difficult to determine how we could effectively help them.  We want to help but don’t quite know how.  Perhaps furnishings for their office, so they have some credibility would be a good idea.  

Let’s find out what they have in mind.

Luputa-the church purchased a grinding machine.  Milling machine.  How is it being used?  

Rotation of church owned computers-what are they doing with the rotation of computers?  Br. Gibbons

Disabled people assistance-increase growing the mushrooms and the chickens.  Increase capacity with cages for chickens, pay for the materials to build their own cages, give additional chickens, 200 + another 200 later on.  Let’s see if they can increase their production.  Mushrooms increased capacity.  Write for $2,000 Same group as the roofing; don’t write as a separate PDW but include in a materials request PDW like with the roofing for Kawonage.  Also include the roofing for Kipopo School.  Give them the materials and let them do it.  Similar to painting for projects.  Include members in the painting service project.  Incorporate this with the painting for orphanages.  

Gardening projects failed in Mosambique.  Why?  Member involvement-asked for things and take no buy-in, but non-members will do everything they can.  Involve non-members that is the key.  This is their only opportunity.   Allow them to keep all the produce and only sell the excess.  This is teaching self-reliance and totally justified.  Involve non-members as well.

Maturation- Therese could be the champion, not members.  Use a single PDW that approves $5,000 and identify a single school and then move to another school.  Take your show on the road and allow it to grow.  

Increase the number to 10; close existing projects.  Orphanage could be teaching skills not just sitting around the table or playing games.

Two things we can do before we leave.  Develop a program of continuity.  We do too many things and are spread too thin.  Deepen what we are doing.  

Deepen commitment to single area of development.  For example latrines with Elder VanWagoner.  2-3 projects that will have the most impact.  We want to work on water.  Latrines, wells, boreholes.  

1. Adopt health zones and coordinate a long-term  sustainable project on rotating basis with Immaculee
2. Enoch’s office-could identify the priority of bore hole drilling in Lubumbashi
3. Rigideso-develop a priority map on line extension from the World Bank trunk line project
4. UNICEF-Bertan identifying schools where they develop latrines and we develop water
5. Charles-Water development with extension to the residents.

Project areas for focusing our efforts:

1. Water, well repair, line extension, bore hole, community and school access (Major)
2. Education-desks, chalk boards, painting, curriculum materials, trade school equipment (sewing machines, wood working, machinist training)
3. Women development-

Conclusion of Ideas to be implemented:

1. Desks-
1. Write as a supplemental to the existing Maisha Karavia project- add 150 desks to make our total contribution 350 desks.  Our current project shows 200; school foundation produced 50, but they need 400 total.  We believe in their organizational ability and they have shown the capacity to manage projects and property.
2. Write a separate PDW to be sent directly to Phillip requesting 2014 desks for the following:
1. Peage School-50
2. Orphanage-100-Maison de’June to deliver these desks
3. Kawmonage-75
2. Write  separate water project PDW’s:
1. Pump repair-$25,000 for Immaculee health zone identified and create a rotating fund and renew it each time the repair money has been  spent.  UNICEF potential partnering with Immaculee and with school development. (Bertain, Julia-director)
2. Water line extension-work with Rigideso; request $100,000 for 5 targeted projects; complete Golf and Katuba first and start a rotational policy.  Labor for installation can be their buy-in and turn ownership and maintenance over to Rigideso
3. Water bore holes-Enoch and MOH prioritization.  Start with top 5 and expand based upon success.   Attempt to establish a model agreement.  Specify what MOH will supply and what LDS will supply.  This could become a model across the province and maybe the country.
4. Schools & community access-Charles- model setup at Kamwanesea.  We also need to evaluate latrines and water combined at schools with community water point access.
5. Charles will help us coordinate a joint project with Mapendano and the neighboring school where we install additional solar panels, add a new tank and a larger pump, then run extension lines to Mapendano with 2 tanks of their own and possibly a community access water point.
3. Roofing repair projects:
1. Kamwanesea-roofing tins and ceiling tiles-purchase the materials with the school to provide installation labor from parents, other contractors.
2. Kipopo-buy materials and have the school pay for installation, paint and doors
3. Also the male run orphanage that needs roofing materials.
4. Agricultural projects: PDW
1. Mbidi to provide model through his ward.  Involve non-members and members, allow participants to have 100% of the crop production benefit, sell surplus.  Make sure they have planned for the next crop and save reserves for the future.  
2. Mbidi to make a request for a short-term specialist such as Phil Squires.  Create a model that can be used in Likasi, Mwene Ditu, Laputa, etc. and take your show on the road.

November 30, 2014 - Shelley

November 30, 2014

I must begin by thanking everyone for sharing your Thanksgiving pictures and calls with us!  It was such a boost!  

We also celebrated the holiday.  We had a dinner at the mission home on Friday evening and then ate the left-overs together on Saturday evening.  The hero of the day was this lowly

squash!  With the proper seasonings, it can actually taste like pumpkin in a pie!  AND with enough butter and brown sugar (and keeping your eyes closed) you might think you were eating sweet potatoes!  We had a lot of fun together and shared memories and thoughts of home.  It was wonderful!  I do have to give proper recognition to Lynn Muhlestein.  He’s the father-in-law of our daughter Lindsay.  With his fabulous recipe and a little creativity, we were able to enjoy rolls with our dinner.  The creativity part came when I had to use

a new toothbrush to baste the rolls – but it worked!

When our interpreter, Steve, was little, he used to help his mother sell clothing in a local market.  She would buy a “bundle” of clothes and then sell them as individual pieces.  I asked him where the bundles came from and he answered in one of my favorite “Steve-isms”.  He said, “I’m sure they came from the army of salvation.”  He was perfectly serious!  So I hope that the Salvation Army feels properly credited with that.

So we decided that buying a bundle of clothes might be a good idea to give the girls in Katimel orphanage when we go there with our Christmas project.

After Thanksgiving dinner, we opened the bundle.  Above shows (left to right) Sister Anthony, me, Sister Draper, and Sister Mikesell.  And below show us, with

the addition of Sister Thomas, sorting out the clothes in the bundle.  We paid $100 and got 271 pieces of children’s clothing!  All of it was clean and in good repair.  This particular bundle came from Germany, but you can buy them from lots of other countries.

Above shows the clothing market that we pass on our way to church.  Clothing is laid out on the ground on a tarp and people look through it to find what they want.  It’s quite a sight, but we see some very attractive outfits on people, especially on children.  Keep giving to the D.I.!!!!!

As if Thanksgiving wasn’t enough excitement for the week, we were notified that Clean Latrine Day had been extended into the surrounding villages.  Our friend from the Ministry of Health, Immaculee, invited us to be a part of the inspection team in Pita Village.  Some day in the future when I’m just at home cleaning the bathrooms, I want to remember back on this occasion – and I will be ever grateful.  Grateful to have had this experience, but especially grateful that I have a flushy toilet to clean!  Not everyone can say that!

The committee was looking for six qualities in a latrine.  (1) Free from obvious dirt. (2) No insects.  (3) No smell.  (4) Only used by one family.  (5) Cement floor around the “dahl” – I’m not sure about the spelling or the actual word, but it means the hole covering, I think. (6) Some means of hand washing attached.  The latrine below had it all,

even a “door”.  Campers and scouters should recognize the bottle with ball point pen poking out of it, which is used for hand washing.  If you look carefully, you can see a little pan on the right side.  It contains cinders, which are used for soap.

We went along with the committee and toured through the community while they judged 32 latrines.  The winners were chosen and were awarded with bars of soap and a poster.  In the ceremony at the end, the school children marched over from the local school and sang a couple of songs about the virtues of being clean and how great it is to live in Pita Village.

Here is Clark with the village Chief.  We have been in this village before to meet the chief because he is such a role model for the other villages.  He collects money from people who use the village pump so that he has an emergency fund for repairs to the well.  This is such a difficult concept to teach.  Some other villages collect money for usage, but usually the funds never make it any farther than the person who collects it.  There are no local banks, and it’s a challenge to teach the concept of honesty and trust.  When the wells don’t work, people just go back to carrying water from the nearest source, even though it may be a long distance away.

Sitting in front of me are Suzanne, on

the left, who is a local pharmacist, and Immaculee.

I wanted to include this super-duper arrangement that had a latrine on the left and a shower on the right.  Can it get any better than that?!

We all have much to be thankful for!  My wonderful companion and I hope that your eyes are open to the blessings you enjoy – even if it’s toilets that flush!  And hopefully this is the last of latrine talk that you’ll hear from me for awhile!  Have a fabulous week!

Much love,  Mom/Soeur Davis

November 30, 2014 - Clark

Sunday, November 30, 2014

It’s hard to believe that tomorrow is December.  One of the highlights of the week was receiving a new air conditioning unit in our bedroom.  I’ve told you before that my pillow is often wet and not with tears.  The temperatures have dropped because of the rains and clouds.  It is still in the low 90’s high 80’s most of the time but the nighttime temperatures are now below 70 degrees.  The new air conditioning unit gives us better nighttime recovery.  We are truly spoiled especially when the mission home manager, Justin Mukuna, came over to supervise the installation.  He has neither running water nor electricity at his home.  

We’re going to Ruashi to attend church today.  We continue to attempt to visit several wards and branches to get a better feel for the breadth and strength of the church membership here in Lubumbashi.  Ruashi is where Emmanuel lives.  He is over apartments and repairs in the mission home.  His wife and two daughter just returned from attending the Johannesburg Temple.  The financial participation required by the members is to raise enough money for their passport, all other costs are paid by the church.  Emmanuel and his wife have wanted to attend the temple since their marriage but this is the first time they have been able to jump through all the hoops.  It’s a good thing because they are expecting their third child next March which may have delayed their chances at least an additional year.  When he returned he had hundreds of pictures he shared with us.  They were so happy. Emmanuel’s favorite expression is ”powerful” and this definitely was a “powerful experience”.

We have had another memorable week although all of the days are running together.  We spent much of our time trying to finalize our three outstanding projects in preparation for Phillip Moatlhodi’s visit.  He is the Area Welfare Manager over all of Southeast Africa, over 20 countries.  Here is my progress report by project:

1. Mapendano School Latrines-the contractor has been wonderful and has consistently gone the extra mile in doing things not on the plans.  He painted the door and entry way to the latrines.  He installed interior lighting and altered the teachers’ facilities to provide more privacy.  He is nearly complete and we will have the hand-over exercises Thursday.  We ordered a special copper plaque for the entry way.  We contacted a street vendor and negotiated our own deal; not sure if it was good, but the sign is about 1 meter square for $200.  
2. Katuba bridge-finished and painted to project despite the rains.  We’re concerned about keeping all the community leaders happy because it spans a river that is the dividing line for two neighborhoods and two communes.  Too many chiefs to please.  We had to loan money to the contractor to start this project before the rainy season because the church financial processing system can take 30   days or more.  These contractors don’t have working capital to order materials.  The neighbors recognize us now and we are treated very well whenever we visit the bridge.  Colors are red and white.
3. Notre Dame School for girls-Therese Ndaya is our local version of Oprah.  She runs a school for 350 girls and teaches homemaking skills.  She received 10 sewing machines two years ago and has developed a complete sewing program around that meager start.  We have assisted her in developing a cooking lab with kitchen equipment.  They will have over 400 participants at their celebration on Saturday.

For all of these project closings, the local tradition is to have a celebration where the ownership is symbolically turned over to the beneficiary organization.  We have only had one where we provided sodas and cookies.  That is the cheapest option.  We ordered 800 bottles of soda just yesterday for these three events.  The sodas come from the local brewery.  

Again this week we went on a fieldtrip with Immaculee from the ministry of health.  This was a continuation of National Latrine Day.  The village of Pita was recognized as the award winner in the health zone we visited.  This time we had the opportunity to tour 32 latrines while local judges made the selection of award winners.  This was a real eye-opener.  I enjoyed photographing the local residents as we toured the latrines of the village.  Shelley has the 6 criteria.  We thought it was only fitting that the awards were Lifebuoy soap in varying quantities.  The village children performed several vocal numbers for us.  We were the guests of honor and Shelley was invited to hand out all of the prizes.  This village is progressive in comparison and they have started accumulating preventative maintenance funds for well repair.  They have two wells and neither is working at present. They have to carry water from the river.

We also visited two orphanages again that are on our list of potential projects.  One is in Ruashi and needs school desks.  They have an elementary school whose tuition supports the orphanage.  They have added 4 new classrooms and need 100 new desks to attract additional enrollment at their school.  We plan on helping this orphanage with Christmas clothing as well.  They have 52 boys and girls.  The other orphanage is Katimel where we have a long-term relationship.  This is where the senior missionaries will participate in a painting and sharing gifts.  I previously talked about buying clothing bundles for this purpose.

The bundle purchase was an experience in and of itself.  The bundles are sorted by gender, size, season, mix, etc.  There are bundles imported from various countries.  Steve’s mother has some experience in buying and reselling clothing bundles.  She suggested the best quality are from Germany.  We searched out two locations that sell clothing bundles and bought a single mixed bundle for an experiment.  We opened it for Thanksgiving while together with all the senior missionaries.  We guessed how many articles of clothing would be in this 100 pound bundle.  271 was the correct answer; that’s 37 cents per item.  This was a much better solution than buying single individual items of clothing.  The girls will all have multiple items and can have the fun of trading after we leave.

Thanksgiving was very nice.  We didn’t celebrate until Friday afternoon and everyone made portions of the dinner.    Local ingredients can be scarce and one of the rules was that there would be “no apologizing”.  The sweet potatoes and the pumpkin pie were both made from squash with added flavorings.  The turkey was small (9 lbs) but we stretched it into two meals.  We had so many left overs that we decided to celebrate with another dinner on Saturday evening.   All in all it was a great success and we certainly had enough to eat.  We did however miss the company of family and friends in our own home.  I hope you all had your in-law Thanksgiving this year so we can monopolize your time next year.  The list of things I missed is too long to enumerate but by next year I’ll be able to name them all.  We’re especially thankful for Christ, Church, Country, Family and Friends.  We like Emmanuel are thankful for the sealing ordinances of the temple.  Mom and I are having the adventure of a lifetime, but not without a little (lot) of fear and trembling.  Come to think of it, that is the story of life; working out our salvation in fear and trembling.  Holding on to each other makes it bearable and that much sweeter.  We are healthy, happy and in love.

Love, Dad (Elder Davis)

November 23, 2014 - Shelley

November 23, 2014

Greetings from the land where EVERY Friday is Black Friday!  Haha

Every time I think I’ve written about everything here, something new happens – and this week was no exception.  On Wednesday, Nov. 19th, it was National Clean Latrine Day!  I’m not kidding – you can’t make this stuff up!  We have been working with a gal named Immaculee from the Ministry of Health.  Her job is to help provide clean water to small villages.  Immaculee received a gift of hand soap from a local grocery store, Hyper Psaro.  She distributed it to 50 local elementary schools who were practicing good hygiene – including washing hands after using the bathroom.  She invited us to accompany her to a nearby town, Kipushi, where she was presenting soap to two elementary schools.

The ceremony began with a woman demonstrating proper hand-washing techniques.  Then different dignitaries, including the village chief, handed out soap to individuals who had won some sort of contest (we didn’t ever quite understand that part).  ☺

They even let us give out soap and a poster to some winners!

The school principal (in red) is thanking everyone, and Immaculee is the woman in blue who is taking a photo.  Her husband is a doctor who works at a local hospital; however, doctors aren’t really paid very well here.

Part of the reason for the clean latrine campaign is to help reduce the problems with cholera that come with the rainy season.

As Clark mentioned in his last letter, I bought a sewing machine!  It’s brand new, but is a Singer treadle machine similar to one my grandmother may have used.  I decided against an

electric machine because our power is so erratic.  Fortunately for me, Sister Mikesell knows all about this type of machine, so she has been helping me get it set up.  I’m not very handy with it yet, but I’m working on it!

Several people have asked about our bridge project.  Even though this lady

is walking across it already, I don’t think she’s supposed to because it’s not finished.  The worry has been that

the river is getting too high where the people have to cross when the bridge is being worked on.  The rainy season has begun, so pressure is on to get the bridge completed.  Hopefully, this week!

Our grandkids keep asking about what the food is like.  I’d have to say that it isn’t terrible, but food that we would normally eat is very expensive and sometimes scarce.  We’ve had a joke around the mission office because I was telling everyone that we found cheddar cheese (not always available) – but that it had cost $45!

Sister Thomas, the mission president’s wife was rubbing it in that she had also found some and it only cost her $17.  Well, after she went back and looked at her receipt, she realized that $17 was the price per pound – and that she had paid more than I had!

For years, we drank whole milk at our house.  Gradually we have weaned ourselves down to 1%, but Clark put his foot down when it came to skim milk (he calls it “blue” milk).  Well, as you can see from the photo, things have changed.  He’s just showing off here,

but not only do we now drink skim milk, but it’s long-life SHELF milk!  AND it costs about $3.00 a quart!

One of our greatest joys here is teaching English to the young missionaries, as I have mentioned before.  We teach once a week.

This is the group we have had for the last six weeks.  There are some truly out-standing young people serving here, and we have grown to love them.  One of our “favorites” is Elder Tshimpe,

whose home is in Kinshasa.  He has been serving as an AP.  We asked in class for stories about the first time the missionaries attended the temple.  Elder Tshimpe told the story of how his parents both died when he was very young.  He was raised by his grandmother.  When he first went to the temple in Ghana (that’s where the MTC is), proxies stood in for his parents so that he could be sealed to them.  You would never guess that he had anything but an ideal child-hood because he is very confident, talented, and is a great leader.  He will be returning home right before Christmas and will certainly be missed.

Our thoughts are with you in the Thanksgiving week!  I think we’ve convinced the Canadian senior couples to celebrate with us, even though their day of thanks was in October.  Sister Mikesell even found a frozen turkey!  It weighed 9 pounds and cost $37!!!  We’ll each be getting just a taste, but that’s okay.  It’s part of the adventure!

We love you and so appreciate your words of encouragement and support!  Give your family extra hugs this week – and never, never forget what a blessing it is to be born in America!

Much love,  Mom/Soeur Davis

November 23, 2014 - Clark

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Reporting back on continuing contacts from last week.  Monday was an outing with Immaculee visiting the villages where Elder Atkinson had repaired pumps.  The purpose was to meet with village leaders to determine what progress they had made in establishing water committees and determine the success of the well repairs.  Three of four pumps were no longer working, so only 1 or four was still in service.  We met with the village leaders and we were well received by one and not the other.  Immaculee is a great leader and directed the meetings.  We will continue to work with the village where they accepted our input.  She invited us to accompany her again on Wednesday when she hosted “National Latrine Day Celebrations” in Kipushi.  This community had developed a model program we hope to duplicate in other health zones.  Shelley will include some photos from the celebration.

Tuesday we attended a trade school called “Able and Willing”.  It is a foundation developed by a Congolese man who lives in both the US and DRC during the year.  Originally it was 8 months in the US and 4 in the Congo, now it has reversed.  He has raised money through his foundation and built a trade school that teaches electrician skills, woodworking, metal fabrication, sewing and the regular curriculum.  The director spoke the best English we have heard from a Congolese.  He was just a little too smooth, but has been successful in applying self-reliance principles.  Two employees from the Church accompanied us; Mbidi over public affairs and Narci over CES.  Narci used to be the director of the school before being employed by the church.  They actually had a computer lab.  They were old model dell computers but none the less, a computer lab that we have never seen in DRC.

We’re trying to arrange for a Christmas service project at an all-girls orphanage.  It is called Katimel and is run by Fifi, a Catholic nun.  They have anywhere from 17-29 girls and their goal is to reunite the girls with their families.  This orphanage is in the neighborhood of Flavien’s church and we have visited here several times.  We asked Immaculee for suggestions on what to buy for the girls and she suggested that buying single items at stores downtown would be very expensive and we would be better served buying clothing bundles.  Steve’s mother used to buy clothing bundles and sell in the Kenya street market.  Steve showed us a couple of locations and we went shopping for clothing bundles.  They come in different sorted groupings, girls, boys, mixed, ages, clothing type (bottoms, tops, sweaters, etc.)  We plan on presenting our ideas to the other senior couples and deciding on how much to spend.  The bundles cost anywhere from $85-$210 each.  We also intend on painting the girls rooms with them and then having lunch before giving our gifts.

English class this week was enjoyable.  We feel this is our chance to establish a relationship with the missionaries.  It has helped to memorize the names of those in our zone.  They are very accepting of our language limitations if we can only remember their name.  Shelley has really taken the lead in teaching an organizing our lessons.  She is an excellent teacher and she applies the second grade approach which is just about the right level of difficulty.  This week we handed out a copy of the Liahona and reviewed an article of a youth group from Zimbabwe who attended the Johannesburg Temple.  We asked the missionaries to share in English their remembrances of attending the temple.  It was especially touching to hear from our AP’s.  Elder Lono recalled being sealed to his parents and having a proxy participant stand in for his sister who had died.  There is a high infant mortality rate and many families have lost children.  The second was Elder Tshimpe who told of being sealed to his parents who are both deceased.  He has been raised by his grandmother.  These Elders both bore a powerful witness of the sealing power and they did it in English.

Phillip Moatlhodi, the Area Welfare Manager, is going to visit us December 3-7.  We have been concentrating on making arrangements to finalize our projects so we can have the closing ceremonies with the beneficiaries while Phillip is here.  Those activities include: finalizing contracts, processing payment requests, preparing an invitation and a program outline, ordering a recognition plaque, ordering refreshments, and meeting with the beneficiaries of 3 separate projects.  Doesn’t sound too bad until you remember this is in a different language and a different culture.  Steve continues to be indispensable and is starting to understand our humor.  He had symptoms of malaria this week and Elder Mikesell provided some medication.  He seems like part of the family.

The Mikesells have become close friends in our missionary service.  We had a late meeting on Friday night and didn’t arrive home until almost 8:00.  Elder Mikesell met us as we parked the truck and invited us in for pancakes.  He had made dinner for us and was waiting for us to arrive home.  The next day Sister Mikesell spent the better part of the morning fine-tuning Shelley’s new treadle sewing machine while Shelley held the light for her.  You become very close to these couples you serve with regardless of differing backgrounds and interests.  Shared service and experiences bind you together.

The rains have started to come.  It has brought a welcome break in the 90 degree plus temperatures.  Mud is the downside of rain but for now we’ll take it over the dust.  We had been concerned for two of our construction projects that needed to be completed before the rains came in earnest.  The bridge construction and the Mapendano school septic and latrine projects should both be finished this week.  The rains seem to come in waves where it rains really hard and then just stops.  There doesn’t seem to be a drizzle-type faucet here; it’s either on or off.  When it’s on, you don’t want to be out in the open.  

Mom and I have had another good week and yet it doesn’t seem at all like fall or Thanksgiving time.  This seems like endless summer and to think that it is November just doesn’t match-up.  We do plan on having a Thanksgiving dinner on Friday with the other senior couples.  I guess in Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated in October.  We have two Canadian couples who will lower their standards and celebrate US Thanksgiving with us.  Food that we recognize is expensive and scarce.  Sister Mikesell bought a 9-pound turkey for just under $40 on Saturday.  I can’t believe the number of 30-pound turkeys we have bought for less than that.  

Have a great week and we’ll do the same.  We are truly grateful for our friends and family.  Our lives have definitely been blessed by the gospel and are happy to be sharing that joy with the Congolese people.  They are generally extremely warm and receptive.  We have made several friends even if we need a translator to communicate, we still connect spirit to spirit.  We attended stake conference today and the best part of the meeting was the 45 minutes we spent after the meeting greeting the members and missionaries and exchanging handshakes and embraces where appropriate.  We’ll send you some photos on the photo stream.

Love, Dad (Elder Davis)

November 16, 2014 - Shelley

November 16, 2014

It’s been a week of finishing up current projects and trying to come up with new ones for Jan. 1st.  Someone told us that we would leave the Congo knowing less about the culture than we did when we came – and I can understand that more now.  This is especially true when working with governmental agencies.  Just when we think we have it figured out – we don’t!

One thing we have really enjoyed is teaching an English class to the elders.  There are three stakes here in Lubumbashi.  Senior missionaries are assigned to teach the elders and sisters in each of the stakes.  Our class covers the Kisanga Stake.  When we first arrived here, I noticed how the senior couples loved the young missionaries.  It was almost like a reunion when the missionaries came to the office or when they saw each other at church.  Well, I think it’s because of this special time for teaching that those relationships are formed.  Below is Clark with the missionaries in Kasumbalesa.

Today we were able to attend church in a little area where some of “our” elders are serving.  The town is called

Kasumbalesa and is about an hour and a half away from Lubumbashi.

Here I am in a “not very flattering selfie” with two sister missionaries.  They are so cute – one of them is from Kenya and actually speaks English!

We really enjoyed getting away from the city twice this week.  The road to Kasumbalesa runs through little villages and offers many picturesque scenes.

This building is very typical.  It’s a store. The tin roof is held down with rocks and bricks.  Behind the buildings is a big mound of dirt.  Actually, these mounds are quite a phenomenon.  They are everywhere when you get away from the city.  The dirt in them is actually clay-like and is used to made bricks.  So it’s quite different from the regular dirt on the ground.  We have asked several local people where the mounds come from – and we’re always told that God put them there so that they could make bricks.  And it appears to be true!

Here’s a family home with the same scenario.  Bricks are used to build everything.  In order to make the bricks

sturdier, they are fired in an oven like this.  I’m not sure how the system all works – more to come when I find out.  

Another thing that makes getting away fun is to see the many creative ways people come up with for transporting things!

Two Men and a Truck have nothing on these guys!!! Haha

This is a great way to get your chickens to market!

And who needs to bother with a bike rack when all you have to do is tie them to the roof of the van?

Mattresses going to town to be sold.

We also saw many beautiful gardens.

Our other trip away was to visit a school in Kipopo.  We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into when Charles, the physical facilities man from the Catholic Diocese, asked us to go with him.  It took us FOREVER to get there!  What we found was a small village school that was very neglected and needy.  Four valiant teachers are trying to hold it all together on a shoe-string budget.  The Ministry of Education this week came out with an edict that schools are not allowed to solicit financial help from parents.  So no fund raisers, teacher appreciation week, etc. – nothing that we are so used to in the United States.  Several principals lost their jobs last week over this issue.  Anyway, it is heart-breaking to see these poor teachers receiving no help from the government – and now no help from the parents.  Their salaries are mainly paid through tuition that the parents pay.  It varies greatly!  Flavien pays $100 each month for his little first grader to attend a nice school.  But schools like this in Kipopo charge $2.50 per month or less.  

But the children are as beautiful as ever!

The darling little girl in this next picture is helping older kids pump water from a well located on the playground in Kipopo.  We weren’t able to offer much more than encouragement to the teachers there, unfortunately.  They have desks, but what they really need is a new building that doesn’t have a leaky tin roof!

Our next few weeks look like they will be busy.  It’s hard to imagine that it’s almost Thanksgiving!  And we have much to be thankful for!  We continue to be truly blessed.  Have a great week! –Mom/Soeur Davis