Closure

Quiet Moments

Last week we had a good evening returning to the Praia lighthouse with Elder and Sister Anderson, the office couple who keep the mission running.  I caught this photo at sunset.

Last week we also traveled to the northern island nearly every day.  So it was a great day when we traveled for housing inspections together with President and Sister Amo, and President Amo drove!  You can see how relaxed we are in these photos taken from the rooftop apartment in which the Sisters in Assomada live.

During the final stage of the chicken project we had a class on caring for chickens, which we coordinated for the families who were receiving them.   A technician from a local company, UPR Animal, taught the class, and it was well received.
















Here is a link to the movie the church made about the chicken project.  We know most of the people in this short clip.  The humanitarian couple are the Carnell's, who proceeded us here and proposed this project.

https://www.lds.org.uk/stand-in-need

Closure

And this week we completed the chicken project on Santiago, and said goodbye to the last of our sweet galinhas.  We made three trips to the northern island in our car, loaded with 42 chickens each time, all bound for their new homes.  We had miracles, a grower lent us two cages to safely transport more birds in our car.  The count of the birds was so important, we would drive to the far ends of the island for deliveries and there needed to be exactly 21 birds for each family.  On one occasion we unloaded the first carrier and we were one short.  How did we miscount?  And the we unloaded the second carrier for that location and somehow there was an extra bird in it, we were ok.

At the end of the project we went to the home of Dina, the owner of the farm, to give her the last rent payment.  She had gone out of her way on multiple occasions to help us, novices that we were.  We had called ahead to see if we could drop by, so when we arrived we were surprised that Dina's family was having a holiday meal.  We were invited in and she insisted that we join them at the table.  It was a beautiful, beautiful hour as we made small talk in Portuguese, and thanked her for the help she gave to the 18 families who received chickens through the project.  It was such a pleasant thing to sit with her family and enjoy the delicious food.  Humbly, there are missionaries who go home from this mission having never eaten a meal with a local family.  It seems hard to comprehend, coming from the United States where missionaries get meals most evenings with members.  Food and water are simply very dear/expensive here, and many homes do not have running water or kitchens so many families have very little to share with missionaries.  And yet we had the blessing of a meal with a local family.  They even let me take a photo.  We will treasure the memory of this experience for a long time.



On Wednesday, we said goodbye to our friend Elder Teela, from Liberty.  He was pretty excited to go home.  It was nice having him in this mission, as I worked with the missionaries, taking their calls and helping them with medical problems, it was just good to be connected to Elder Teela.  We wish him well.

Chicken Deliveries

Going to Assomada

So this was the big week for delivering the first 187 chickens to their new homes. The logistics have been incredible, lots of details and personnel, and of course birds and trucks, all to be managed. We got 61 delivered here in Praia Tuesday evening.  It was exciting getting the birds into the covered truck. Then six stops around Praia.  What we learned was, move FAST because the truck gets hot when it is stopped.  In Portuguese galinhas are hens and frango is cooked chicken . . . . .a stopped truck turns galinhas into frango so Keep Moving!

Manuel Helping Load Chickens into Truck

then Saturday afternoon we loaded 126 birds into the back of a truck, using feed bags to space them out and keep them from smothering each other.  We moved quickly, there were four of us.  I stayed in the back of the truck as we loaded, working to keep the hens calm.  Finally we are loaded and we head to Assomada-- about 40 km over mostly mountainous roads.  Things seem to go well.  We have been blessed with a cool day-- a heavenly miracle, because we need cool to keep the birds alive.  And the wind in the truck helps.  

Pushing the Truck to the Gas Pump

About 10 km from Assomada we begin to head up an incline into switchbacks on the mountain.  The truck, which we are following in our missionary car, sputters and dies.  It sputters and dies again. They are stopped on the road ahead of us. The driver gets out and smiles at us . . . . they are out of gas.

I am certain this is a death sentence for our birds.  It's over.  But, truly miraculously, we are able to back the truck down the hill 100 yards and into a small bar/gas station that we had not noticed.  I help push the truck to the pump because Elder Biven is on the phone with the man in Assomada who will show us how to get to the houses. We purchase gas.  It takes WAY TOO LONG.  We need to get MOVING.  I can't get into the truck to check on them because the cover is tied closed.  We need to get MOVING.

Finally we are back on the road.  We go to the first house and and I get into the back of the truck and start working with the birds.  I pull them apart, they are hot and exhausted and three are dead.  But I put 21 in baskets for delivery to the first house and I work with them, I talk to them, I keep them off each other, I hold them on my lap and I sit in the back of the truck for the next five stops.  And at each stop I send the most exhausted ones to their new homes while Elder Biven works with the new owners to get the birds safely settled.  He quickly fills the water feeders we have provided with vitamin enriched water.  The hens perk up when they are out of the truck and in their new place.

Preparing to Put chickens in Coop

And at the last stop I perk up too.  An older woman, dressed in traditional black clothing,  comes to the back of the truck and thanks me for the chickens.  I get out with the very last basket of birds and follow a narrow walkway to the back of the house where the coop is.  Six younger children are in the coop, happy and excited.  Elder Biven is showing the oldest girl, who is perhaps ten, how to feed the birds with the feed that he and Paolo had delivered the day before (on a major expedition).  It is all worth it. To see the happy children so delighted about their galinhas.

Associação Nos Saúde - Work Begins

Water Tank

We were very excited when our proposal for the Nós Saude health clinic was approved.   In Cabo Verde access to an assured source of water can be problematic.  Therefore every building has its own water reservoir located on top of the building.  Associação Nos Saúde, needed a water tank to put on their roof to support the new bathroom. 

Here is what purchasing a water tank looks like:

Raimundo Monteiro, President of Associação Nos Saúde, and Elder Biven discussing the merits of various water reservoirs.

To the right, a workman inside the tank cleaning debris from the drilling of holes for various connections.

Raimundo with truck driver and helper discussing the best way to load the tank onto the truck.

Later, moving the water reservoir onto the roof of Pilorinho Community Center.  Like most things, this was a group effort.

Easy!

Cement Blocks

After purchasing the water tank and getting it on the roof, we went to buy cement blocks, cement and sand for the interior construction.  

Cement blocks are manufactured here in Cape Verde.  Cement can be made from volcanic ash and lime, so there isn't much of a shortage of supplies to make the new blocks.  They mix the elements up and then use a kind of block pressing machine, it creates blocks using molds.





After the blocks are formed, they are left dry in the warm Cape Verde sun.













Raimundo and our construction supervisor unloading 50kg sacks of cement.

This week, Raimundo, and volunteers from Pilorinho will begin construction.  Raimundo has already secured firm commitments from volunteer doctors and nurses for staffing the "Consultório Social" 


In addition, we have commitments from other NGOs, local companies and the local municipality to provide needed furniture, equipment and supplies for the operation of the clinic.