A Visit from Gilles

This week we had the privilege of a visit from our Area Welfare Manager from Frankfurt, Gilles François.  He is a delightful person and we enjoyed taking him to meet our partners.

We took him to see the health clinic located within the Pilorinho community center.  To the right is a photo of some of the people who gave volunteer hours of labor to make the center possible, this was taken about two weeks ago.  The health center is now largely completed.


This is a photo of many members of the Pilorinho community center including Nós Saude president Raimundo, our translator, Noeme, and Gilles.  The view is from Achada Grande Frente, overlooking the port of Praia.  We took a walking tour of the Achada Grande neighborhood with Raimundo as tour guide and Gilles as special guest.

We also took Gilles to meet our wonderful partners Pastor João and his wife Elizabeth of Remar.  Remar is an organization that works rehabilitating those who have lost opportunity through addiction or bad choices.  It is internationally recognized.  LDS Charities provided the bunk beds in the background.

Gilles was a rock star interacting with the current residents at the Remar facility, some of whom spoke English or French (Gilles is a French resident of Germany). We had a lot of fun together.










Here is a photo of the Remar residents outside.  They willing participated in the photo, but some preferred not to be recognized.  There was a wonderful feeling as we left.










Our second day with Gilles was focused on member welfare projects, primarily the chicken project we are wrapping up.  After meeting with local priesthood and seeing some of the completed coops in homes, Gilles felt that ongoing oversight was a good idea.  Elder Biven will begin visiting the locations again to check on people and help them as he can.   Egg output was low at many locations, we think the chickens may not be getting enough food and water.  Perhaps we can encourage our participants and help them improve.

Closing Ceremonies

School Supplies

Even though we are on the equator and don't have autumn, we do have back to school excitement here in Cape Verde as families prepare to send their children to school, some for the very first time.

Our Praia stake primary president, Sister Fernandes, wanted to organize a service project for the primary children to prepare school supplies for needy children.  So Elder Biven found partners to help us distribute the school supplies and wrote up a proposal to submit to Frankfurt.  Approval came.  It was a great project, a wonderful sponsor, Sister Fernandez and the stake primary, and wonderful NGOs, Primarily the "Black Panthers" community group in Varzea.

Black Panthers were super organized and, even though we were dealing with back to school craziness in the shops, purchasing everything went very smoothly.  Here is Elder Biven and one of our translators, Rosa, in a school supplies shop.  It might be interesting to the reader to note that the school supplies requested for each child were one pencil, one pen, two small paper notebooks, an eraser and-- this is the really big deal-- colored pencils.  We gave them two pencils and added a small plastic pencil sharpener.


Sister Fernandes was also very organized and on Wednesday afternoon about thirty people showed up to help put the school supplies for each student into individual bags.  The children worked so well!  I one hour they built 300 school supplies bags!

And then on Friday we attended the back to school ceremony held by Black Panthers at their community center.  This is the crowd waiting outside.

















This is the first year students (five year old class) waiting inside for distribution of their supplies, which included a special first year student frock (it's an African thing) and a backpack with school supplies.   The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints through LDS Charities provided backpacks and/or supplies for about 375 students.

Here is the President Alcides Amarante of Associação

Juvenile Black Panthers, on the right, Sister Fernandes and Lionel representing the Praia Stake priesthood leadership.  Humanitarian missionaries kind of try to hide when it's time for photos, and there were TV cameras there, because we are simply managing funds donated by LDS Church members, and the projects belong to the people of Cape Verde who make these things happen.











It touched our hearts when, as we drove away after distribution of the materials, Sister Fernandez told her story (in Portuguese) as we drove her back to her work.  She said she wanted to do this project because when she was a child and school started she had nothing.  Nothing, and it was very hard.  She wanted children to have supplies when they went to school.  She was glowing after this experience and we were so grateful we could help her do this wonderful service:  "Children serving children", something which was unprecedented, according to the President of Black Panthers.

Óculos for the Poor and Needy

Purchasing eyeglasses in Cape Verde can be an overwhelming prospect for the poor.  A pair of glasses will cost about what it takes for a small, and very humble, family to live on for a month.  It is overwhelming.  Our predecessor, the Carnells, thought up a project to provide eye glasses to the poor and needy of Cape Verde.  When we inherited the project it was in pretty rough shape.  But we followed through on their commitment, and although it took months, and although we still have a number of glasses that have been in customs for weeks, on Friday we were able to facilitate the first distribution of seventy eyeglasses to the poor and needy of Cape Verde.   It was a happy day, with one of the doctors who had provided the free exams presenting the glasses to each recipient.  It was all coordinated by our wonderful NGO, ADEVIC an organization for those with visual disabilities.  They called the recipients and provided the organization of the distribution and the space to do it in.  Television cameras were also present at this event.  Here are some photos of the happy recipients.  The young man was so thrilled, he could see well!!  He walked around with that smile on his face just beaming.

Responsibilities

Mission Responsibilities

After six weeks of pushing very hard to keep up with our mission responsibilities we have a little breathing room for a few days.  Just enough.

Before we came to Cape Verde we trolled the internet for blogs about senior missions.  And we were very interested in what senior missionaries actually do.  So here is a small list:

We have general mission responsibilities, which include attending zone and mission conferences supporting the junior missionaries in random ways like rides and apartment help, and helping the other senior missionaries with their jobs.  And we have a specific mission assignment to help with apartment inspections.  In the past it has been all 26 apartments on Santiago, which we do in one week at the end of the transfer.  We go out every day, and the real challenge is that this mission has the highest baptism rate in our area--  the European Area-- so our missionaries are very, very busy teaching and working with investigators and members. When we drive to do the northern island we go on their p- day and it's pretty easy to schedule.  But the other two zones are mostly in Praia and we have to squeeze our visits in between their teaching responsibilities.  Its really fun to see them.

Elder Biven was called as a humanitarian missionary and I am his assitant.  He has a small budget for humanitarian work and member welfare projects.  He spends one to two days a week managing the receipts and paperwork, and then we have multiple meetings and appointments each week to support our projects.  We often, but not always, work with a translator to help with the Portuguese.  We currently have about five open projects:  

1) The chicken project in Fogo, chickens began arriving at their new homes this week.  We were able to manage the work on Fogo by phone, and with the help of some amazing members and senior missionaries, (the Martineaus) on Fogo.  

2) Nós Saude, the health clinic that is nearly complete.  This has required more or less three trips a week to the site, with mornings spent purchasing the supplies and attending project management meetings. 

3). Eyeglasses for the poor and needy in Cape Verde-- a tender mercy on this project is that the doctor who provides the service to the poor (we only buy the glasses) he has been on vacation in Portugal for a month.  So we have 200 pairs of eyeglasses in our apartment awaiting distribution--the doctor did not leave the contact information for the eyeglasses with us before he left the country.  It saved us that this work was delayed for a month 

4). A school supplies project we have just gotten approval for, and 

5) Beds for the Remar rehabilitation facility, interesting story there.  We found bunk beds, we asked to purchase them and began the two to three week process of getting money transferred directly to the vendor from Frankfurt.  It would not be wise to describe on this blog what it takes to get thousands of dollars into the country for the cash payments we make, but in this case we felt we could do a rare wire transfer.  During the two week interim, while waiting for the transfer to arrive, Elder Biven was out of the country for a week, and then off on the island in Fogo for another week. So two weeks later we went to the merchant and asked if they had received the multi-thousand dollar wire transfer for ten bunk beds and 20 mattresses.  They had.  So can we pick the merchandise up right away?  Well, no, it will be thirty days......?  Our Portuguese was not sufficient to resolve the situation.

Our partner on the project, Pastor João, is Portuguese.  He made a trip to the store and asked them where his beds went.  They had been sold to the government, to the prison.  No beds.  Pastor João had already waited two weeks for the wire transfer and he needs the beds, he cannot wait another month.  We felt the frustration with doing business in a developing country and we were tempted to feel overwhelmed and frustrated.  But we were working with a very special partner.  Pastor João and Elder Biven went shopping for beds one more time, they had looked previously, but one more time.....they went and looked at the one other bunk bed they had found, a wooden, fragile set.  They did not want to buy this inferior solution.  Somehow they found a sales person in this other store who told them, of course you don't want those wooden beds for men, they are for children.  We have some metal bunk beds......and the sales person took them to another location where there were metal bunks beds -- of a higher quality than those that had been sold to the prison by the other merchant--  and mattresses that were significantly better.  And..... because the Lord was in the details of this.....it was all much cheaper.  They bought twelve bunk beds and twenty four mattresses.  As Pastor João and Elder Biven left they agreed that things had turned out exactly as the Lord wanted.

Here is a photo of purchasing electrical supplies for Nós saude.  Our translator, Neome, is in the background

Delivering Drywall (Pladur) Supplies

Cleaning up the mess at Nos Saude

Nursing Duties

In the letter Elder Biven and I received, calling us to serve as missionaries in Cape Verde, in addition to our humanitarian responsibilities I was also assigned to be Mission Nurse Specialist, and Elder Biven is my assistant.  So we work together.  And generally we are able to carry our load, together.

Two weeks ago we had a mental health event with one of the new missionaries, and he needed to go home immediately.  There was no time to bring someone in from Germany to escort him.  The Area President, Elder Hacking, called my medical phone and asked for volunteers.  I handed the phone to Elder Biven.  I knew that we had been divinely blessed and guided in handling the crises that evening.  I felt peace as I knew that the solution to the problem was going to be painful for me personally.  Elder Biven said yes.  Yes he would make the five day, eight flight segment, 70 hours of travel time, trip to the US.  So I became both full time humanitarian missionary and full time nurse for a week.  To be fair, Elder Biven did get a trip to a Walmart in a small town in Montana, and the Senior missionaries in Praia put in orders, blades for electric shavers, corn chips, I wanted new sheets.....things you can't find here.  Vitamin pills.  

This is a photo of the bounty he returned with.

I carry a medical phone 24x7.  I help missionaries with gastric distress and skin rashes, I do a lot of teaching and a little counseling.  I help President Amo watch over the missionaries, and he does his job very lovingly and tenderly, so I try to follow his example.

We have malaria in Praia now.  It just appeared, and by the grace of God we are ahead of it and we will distribute prophylaxis to the missionaries in Praia Friday at their zone conference.  We learned of the problem from a church member who works at the American embassy.  He forwarded an alert from the CDC a little over a week ago.  I sent it to our Area Medical Advisor who sent it to Utah.  "Just watch, not yet", was the message they sent back on August 25.

Then one week later the CDC increased their warning, all travelers to Cape Verde should take measures.  This was five days ago.  Salt Lake directed us to take measures and get medicine immediately.  Understand that the supply chains to Cape Verde are weak, we don't have interstates with trucks bringing us stuff, it comes in one container, on one boat, at a time.  So I began on Friday, walking into every farmacia I could find begging for doxycycline, a medication only available by prescription here.

I was fortunate, the farmacias I frequent regularly just gave me the medicine, by Monday I had 25 boxes.  There are 40 missionaries in Praia. Tuesday we drove north and hit each farmacia we found on the road, I would lay my missionary call, signed by President Monson, in English, on the counter, and my passport and say in broken Portuguese  "I am an American nurse.  I am a nurse for the missionaries (point to the name tag)". I lay a box of doxycyclina on the counter.  "Eu Preciso isso".  If they start to move toward their medicine cabinet I tell them I need lots, I need all that they have.  Miraculously, except for one Farmacia which refused because they wanted a prescription, each one gave me everything they had, three boxes, eight boxes, I bought it all.  One woman said she was a member of the Church as she gave it to me.  Another said, you need a prescription but because you are a missionary we will do this for God.

I don't know where we are going to get next month's supply, and the missionaries on the northern island need it as well.   But we can cover the missionaries In the most danger right now.  Elder Biven had malaria as a young man, he had relapses for years.  President Amo has also had malaria, it damaged his liver so badly he cannot take the medication to prevent it now.  I think that after you do all that you can the Lord gives you grace.  We are doing all we can.

Late August 2017

Nos Saude

Is the president of Nós Saude, Raimundo, with his son.  We have worked together to build a health clinic in the neighborhood community center in Achada Grande.





















Here is one of the stores we were able to get supplies for the clinic at-- we were very excited they had a selection of five different toilets, three different sinks to choose from, and incredibly, there was also a selection of faucets we could buy as well.  We found the store by accident, and it was a tender mercy to be able to get so many things we needed for this project in just one place.

Return to Fogo

This week we also went back to Fogo.   We had some wonderful experiences.  It seemed everywhere we went we ran into church members and missionaries who were working very hard, going about doing good!  We took the fast ferry.  Elder Biven had had to make a quick 70 hour round trip journey to the states last week, so it was not a good idea to fly this week.  The ferry was air conditioned and we saw Fogo from a new perspective.  On our journey over we were invited to the back deck of the ferry to watch the sunset behind Fogo.  Seeing the volcano backlit by the sun, and the lights coming on on the island as it got dark, that was a spectacular experience.  We returned to Santiago on the fast ferry as well, here is a photo of the ferry pulling into Fogo (the morning of our return journey). The beach is quite black!

We were all over the island once again doing business this time on the chicken project.  We are in the rainy season and Cape Verde is becoming very Verde-- green--  and so beautiful.

We met the family of the man who is raising our chickens on Fogo.  Here is his son and his father on their farm on the mountainside.
















We also visited the library in Mosteiros to which LDS Charities has donated three computers.  This is the only source of Internet in this little community (we were able to confirm this with our Elders and Sisters serving there, they know where to find Internet for P-day letters home!).   We were excited about this project, and so pleased to see the computers all set up and working.








These are the two men who proposed the computer project to us and who keep them running for their community.  What a blessing to get to help them.


















Throughout our trip we experienced such beauty.  We saw a rainbow, and we saw the rain over the ocean, and sunrise over the neighboring island of Brava.  It seemed at every turn we were being blessed.  On one occasion we ran an errand to Cova Figuera and we were able to meet the only other Missiourian in the mission, Elder Bowman, from Springfield.  He and his companion Elder Teles were standing on the roadside waiting for a ride to an area up on the mountain which is an hour and a half walk away.  We were able to give them a ride up to the beautiful village and see that incredible place.  We also got to know Elder Bowman just a little better.  As we returned to the main road after our visit with the Elders we saw another rainbow over the ocean.