Street Scenes, Chapel Ground Breaking, Homebuilding

Street Scenes

When we arrived in Cape Verde and met our friend Elder Lunt, his first question, after hello, was "where are you from?"  Elder Biven responded, "Kansas City."  Elder Lunt continued, "...never lived anywhere else?" And Elder Biven gave an answer for us as a couple -- since during our thirty plus years of marriage we haven't lived outside the Kansas City area.  "No."  I am sure I heard Elder Lunt chuckle when he said " Well, you're a long way  from home, Elder."

He was right!  We are on a pretty remote equatorial island.  It's a four hour flight here from Portugal, in a plane with seats so closely spaced that Elder Biven had to sit sideways and put his knees in front of my seat and then later stand in the back with the crew.  But it was worth it!  What a place!  And just for the record, Elder Biven's comments didn't illuminate the four years he spent in oil exploration in continental Africa before we met.  So he has seen life in this part of the world before.  I haven't, so I would like to point out a few wonderful examples of what it is like here.

 The streets are full of people as we drive to our humanitarian appointments.  They are going places, they are socializing, they are working selling products.  The first photo shows two women gracefully carrying basins on their heads.  Basins may be full of bread or fish or fruit, all local; candy (from Europe); shoes (from China); cloth items made here or in central Africa. You don't have to rent a storefront here, you start a business with a basin and a supplier.  In fact you don't even need a basin.  This past Monday, while in Tarrafal, we saw a woman delivering eggs.  She had seven flats with three dozen eggs in each flat gracefully balanced on her head.


On another day, when we had an appointment at the local hospital I had to step out to put more money in our parking meter at about 11:30 am.  In front of the hospital, instead of food trucks, there were women with plastic bins with lids, selling food to the hungry people waiting for services.  This is an enterprising group of people!  Which makes humanitarian work so satisfying because they are anxious to improve their welfare.

Chapel Groundbreaking

This past Saturday, there was a groundbreaking ceremony for the new chapel in Palmarejo.  Local leadership, instead of using a shovel to break ground, cemented a brick onto a concrete slab.

President Teixiera (Praia Stake President) providing some opening remarks with the Praia Stake choir in the background.

Setting the Fist Stone

Applauding a job well done.

The Palmarejo chapel will be the third chapel in the Praia stake.  Most units meet in rented commercial spaces or store fronts.  Members in Palmarejo are very excited for the construction to begin.  The new chapel is expected to be finished in October / November 2018 . . . just after our mission is scheduled to end.

Construction

Many people build their own houses here, right onto the rocky volcanic hillsides.  They use locally made cement blocks, sometimes even making the blocks at the building site.  And building is an ongoing activity,  here is the view out of our kitchen window.  That is broken glass embedded into the top of the pink concrete wall.  I am told that it discourages thieves.

The people who own the land behind our building are working on their house.  Many people build a little and then wait to build more until they have additional funds.  Sometimes building a house can require an entire lifetime.  But at the end, your posterity has a place to call their own.  Many people live in  these under construction houses.  And no, there isn't always running water or electricity.  As we take our morning walks, we see people with water containers of all sizes walking to spigots to get water for use in their homes.