Late June

Apartment Inspections II

We have had a good week inspecting missionary apartments, there are 26 on this island.  Here is a photo of Tarrafal, on the northern end of the island.  It's a beautiful little town.  We had fun at this stop, as the Sisters here locked themselves out of their apartment as they helped us with an errand......we stood by as these resourceful women got themselves back into their apartment after only about thirty minutes of creative thinking.  They didn't use a ladder (first idea) they did call on the Bishop for help (second idea) and ultimately got in with help from the neighbors.

Just south of Tarrafal the Elders in Chão Bom, who often do not have water, were having a good day because they did have water.  They had cleaned and were in the middle of a baking project.  It was interesting to see the system of water storage they had created, with big bottles for storing shower water and little bottles for storing dishwashing water.  Their drinking water was stored in the fridge.  They had their challenging water situation well managed

Further along our route we spied these Elders outside of Assomada.  They  were doing a little sight seeing on their p-day as there is a very large tree in that area.  We had inspected their apartment at 730 that morning on the other side of the island.  We hope to stop and see the Big Tree on a later trip and will post photos.

And then we were in Assomada, where we saw Elder Teela from Liberty.  

Just before we entered town the zone leaders texted "can you bring milk?  We are baking cinnamon rolls and we need milk".    Yes, we found milk and yes, they shared their cinnamon rolls!  And they were amazing.  Sister Martineau on Fogo had taught them how to make them.






Later in the week, these two Elders, Elder Cañizares from Ecuador and Elder Vieira from Portugal, shared brownies they had won at the zone conference the previous day.  So the Elders are feeding us well!!!!  Bless their generous hearts.

A visit to Hospital Agostino Neto

Thursday was a medical day.  We began by participating in another immunization of our 316 chickens.  We were greatly blessed, we got most of them taken care of in a little over an hour, but whew, catching chickens to immunize them, that's a job, and in the Cape Verde heat it's a real job.  We were grateful to the technician who helped us.

Later in the day we visited Augustino Neto hospital, the large community hospital in Praia.  It was very interesting to see the pediatric area.  Our contact person, Raimundo Monteiro, with Nos Saude, an NGO we are building a relationship with, works in the plaster room at the hospital.  Putting casts on children.  I had the privilege of watching him and his colleague perform an intervention on a small boy, under a year of age, who had been born with twisted legs, rotated inward, as in 'pigeon toes', but severe, one of the assistants showed me a photo of the child as a newborn.  The boy now had well aligned legs but his feet were still not straight, so the four assistants held the child in place and a plaster cast was set to hold the feet pointing outward.  What an experience to watch that procedure.

Nós Saúde Health Fair

Chicken Coop Preparation

This week Elder Biven and Paulo traveled to Assomada on both Wednesday and Thursday on chicken business. Wednesday they met the families in Assomada 2 and Riberão Manuel and assessed the locations for each family's chicken coop.  The chicken coops each follow a similar design, but because each of the family's living situations are unique, each coop is customized.  

There are four families who are ready, having completed the self reliance course.  We were impressed that one of the families appears to consist solely of two young brothers, perhaps they are around 20 years of age.  This will give them more strength for taking care of themselves.  

Thursday a truck was rented and supplies were gathered from all over Praia: wood, sheet metal, wire, etc.  Then a caravan of the truck followed by our missionary car went north with the supplies.  And because this is an adventure, the journey included a flat tire on the truck and some driving on nearly impassable roads.  But Elder Biven did sleep in his own bed that night and all is prepared.  We will have photos of the coops at a later time.

Health Fair

On Saturday we visited the Pilorinho community center again, this time to participate in the Nós Saúde health fair.  Nós Saúde is a local NGO working to bring improved health care to the Achada Grande neighborhood.

There were community members present as well as many volunteer medical professionals.  There were also organizations promoting disease and HIV / Aids prevention.  Top it off with breakfast and the Pilorinho community center dancers and it was an event.  Sister Biven had her blood pressure and blood sugar tested and felt confident in the nurse doing the checks.  We have enjoyed our association with this group and hope to submit a project proposal for them in the future.

Life in the Fast Lane

Quite a Week

Whew!  We have been hard working missionaries this week!  Humanitarian work and medical work have kept us running hard day and night.

Medical Events

Monday night Elder Biven drove us north in the dark (keep in mind there are no street names here and no house numbers), miraculously arriving, with no wrong turns, at apartment of an Elder who had been fighting heat stroke all day.  We went bearing water, bananas, and encouragement, all of which were invaluable.  Our first text had come when the Elder's temperature hit 103, and then after an hour of unsuccessful attempts at intervention he texted again.  There are no emergency services here as we have them in the US.  So we went to see what we could do to help. He had gotten his temp down to 100 by the time we got there, so things were going in the right direction and he did recover completely.  This capable Elder had just had a long, hot day with no running water in their apartment.  The water supply here is unreliable and that happens.  Missionaries are resourceful, they go and find water sources just like the Cape Verdeans.   But it takes energy to haul water up a steep hill in the heat..... running water is not something we can take for granted!  Which is why the humanitarian projects dealing with water have been so exciting to be involved in.  
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A couple of days later there were missionary episodes with gastric distress and respiratory infections, some of which needed immediate treatment.  There were some heroics by young missionaries (19, 20 years old), one of whom was fearless in seeking help for her sick companion.  This North American missionary was calm and focused as she texted "Just in case, I should probably be prepared and have the ambulance/emergency services number, can you tell me what it is?"  Yeah, there are no ambulances here.  You find a way to get to the street and hope you can hail a cab.  She was very brave and we were incredibly blessed.  Her companion has now recovered.  It is so comforting to know that the parents and friends and extended families and wards of these young missionaries are praying for them and their safety.  Their prayers are answered, things generally work out, even here, where medical care is pretty raw.  

Eye Examinations

On Friday, We also took 19 beautiful Cape Verdean children to the hospital to have their eyes checked.  We had so much fun talking to them!  The doctors and staff, as well as the teacher and parent who accompanied us, were wonderful to work with, and we were pleased to be there. There were many hours of waiting at the hospital with these good kids and they were very patient.  I confess that late in the morning I lost focus briefly, perhaps it was the heat, and my thoughts turned to lunch.  Truly at that very moment a Catholic sister in her nun's habit appeared and introduced herself to me.  She was from East Timor, which is so far away. She spoke to me in Portuguese, explaining that she is also here serving God's children, and she encouraged us in our service.  Then she went on her way.  It was a surprise, and inspiring, to have an angel appear when I was running out of steam.  Not long after that it was time to load the Hiace (kind of a mini van) with the 19 schoolchildren and the adults so they could return to school.  It was a good morning.

Daniel with Patient

Wheelbarrow Fun

On Saturday, we met with Paulo, at his house, to discuss the building of chicken coops for Assomada district.  As we left we saw these youngsters having fun with a wheelbarrow.

Wheelbarrow Fun

Oops.

Kids are kids the world over.

Pilorinho

Chicken Update

This week we immunized the chickens.  We were also able to get a good count, 317.  That number matches the count by the technicians so we feel good about it.  The chickens continue to be a source of joy for us as we think about how they will bless families when they go to their new homes around the first of August.

Pilorinho

We also continued our humanitarian work by visiting a community center.  Pilorinho is the name of the infamous marble pillar in Cidade Velha that was used for punishing slaves (We posted a photo in an earlier post.)  It is also the name of a community center in Achada Grande:  Pilorinho.  During our tour we saw this wire sculpture in their library.  It was a symbol of slavery, yet in this instance, a symbol of unity and overcoming.

We also saw community members relaxing and reading.  The center itself is a "recycled" concrete building that community members came together and painted and refurbished to be a positive place for gathering and creating.

On the roof they are making furniture out of reclaimed wood.











And around the building they are using some drip irrigation to grow some banana and mango trees and other things, so that children who come to the center have some food.  The day we were there a group of children and adults were sitting together shelling tamarinds.  They gave me one - - I liked it!  Thank heavens for my limited Portuguese, that I might connect with people and just talk to them about their lives. Since I am a missionary, often they want to talk about faith.  It's kind of wonderful having people from all kinds of backgrounds telling me about how important God is to them.  It's a privilege to hear their stories.










It was a very difficult week in many ways.  But now that we are though it we look back and see that the challenges were actually doors opening.  Challenges with organizing chicken coop construction and with coordinating medical care for missionaries on other islands, these brought frustration and physical hardship as we wrestled with real problems-- resulting in a lot of humility for us, absolutely, as we were reminded how are helpless we are alone, being so dependent on the good people around us and especially the grace of God-- but also resulting in increased faith.  As we endure we feel our faith grow.  We continue to survive and thrive, and our hearts are full of gratitude for help seen and unseen that is getting us through.