P-Day Miracle

Return from Fogo

We enjoyed our visit to Fogo and used our extra time to go to a new restaurant and watch the sunset over Brava as we ate.  Remote Brava, where there is no air service because of wind and the ferry only arrives— and departs— a few times a week.

Medical Miracle

Monday is p-day in our mission.  The elders look forward to a game of soccer or basketball.  So Monday is also the day that we have sports injuries.  We have had some exciting p-days, one Monday two elders, on two different islands, broke their toes playing soccer.  This past Monday we had an unbelievable accident followed by an extraordinary miracle.

The accident itself is hard to describe, it happened on Brava.  The injured Elder was from Angola, and his companion was from Utah.   The Elder from Utah called about twenty minutes after the accident.  He had difficulty describing what had happened, but they were playing soccer and there was some sort of fall from about chest height, with the Angolan Elder landing on his head and neck, and remaining unconscious for a short time.  He then arose from the ground and was able to walk and to speak clearly.  He also had quite a headache.

The Elder from Utah was stunned.  He felt he should calm his companion, to get him to move slowly and carefully, and to take him home for hydration and rest.  When he called I assessed the situation, wondering how such an apparently violent accident could result in an Elder who was still alive and fully functioning.  I encouraged the Elder from Utah,  who could have been nothing less than inspired in his actions to care for his companion.  He was doing exactly the right things, and he was not an MD, he was an eighteen year old man from Utah.

I instructed them to continue to rest and to call if the injured Elder vomited.  An hour later they did call, for that reason, and I contacted the doctor in Germany, Elder Done.  He phoned the Elder on Brava and identified the seriousness of the situation.  It was serious.   There is very little medical help available on Brava.  He suggested exactly what the Elder from Utah was doing and we all remained watchful.

It has been over twenty four hours and the Elder from Angola is mentally alert and physically intact.  It hurts when he walks, it jogs his brain.  But he is otherwise whole.  I think perhaps we have just witnessed an amazing miracle.

Fogo in February

Transferring to Fogo

View of Praia from Achadina Pires

Our Leaders in Germany have worked out the details with our mission president, Presidente Amo, and we are going to live in Fogo for the next three transfers. Until July.  This news has us feeling a little sentimental about Praia, even though we will be back in a few months.  Here is a photo of Praia, from Achadina Pires, one of our favorite views of the city.

Inside the Fast Ferry Passenger Cabin

And so we are preparing to move.  First task is get 75 hygiene kits for a project with the Fogo Regional Prison, delivered to Fogo.  It takes almost all the space in every piece of luggage that we have, but we get them packed.  We can’t take this much luggage on an airplane, so we take the ferry.

Ferry rides can get a little rough here, and this one was no exception.  We were pretty glad to arrive.  The Martineaus, who have done such a beautiful job supporting the work on Fogo for 18 months, and whom we will replace, meet us at the ferry and help us get the kits to their apartment.  Since they don’t leave for another two weeks this is just a trip to take things over and listen to them as they train us on visa renewals, zone conferences and transportation support.  It also happens to be Elder Martineaus birthday, so we go out for dinner and ice cream.

Brava

The following day we go to the port to return to Praia for two more weeks until the transfer. We are anxious to get home and get things wrapped up before we move.  We have a number of open humanitarian projects right now.  As we drive to the port we can see the ferry coming over from the next island, Brava.  on this visit we have enjoyed a spectacular view of Brava and we are excited about the possibility of going there and exploring and hopefully developing a humanitarian project.  Brava is hard to get to, there is no air service.  From Fogo it is about a 45 minute ferry ride.

Waves Coming Over the Fogo Harbor Breakwater

As we wait for the ferry at the port it is windy, and we hear the waves crashing hard on the port.  They are spraying up over the barriers and onto the dock.  People stand and watch.  The ferry appears just outside the man-made bay and attempts to approach the dock but the waves are battering the dock and it doesn’t want to take a hit.  It lingers a while, and eventually turns to return to Brava.  No ferry today, the sea is too rough.

Elder Biven begins making phone calls to make arrangements.  We can’t get back to Santiago, by plane, until Monday afternoon.  It’s okay, we will enjoy Fogo just a little more before going back and preparing to return.  We have a relaxing weekend ahead, in Fogo.  Very soon to be our new home.

January Activities

So in January, Humanitarian Missionaries in Cape Verde generally do not sit inside warming themselves by the fire (although we did have some hot chocolate that our sons James Michael and Jack sent us!)  January is a delightful month in Cape Verde.  Cool (mid-70's) and dry.  The only downside is the Bruma-Seca that we have written about in previous posts.  Following are a few things that occupied our time in January 2018.

Disposable Diapers

The Diapers are Here!

Last summer we had an opportunity to request surplus disposable diapers that had been obtained for refugee services in Europe.  We ordered eight pallets and had them shipped to our good partner Nós Saude so that they can distribute them to the poor and needy.

So after many months, we heard a rumor that the diapers were in customs.  We hoped it was true.  Then many weeks later we got a call, “we have a truck full of diapers, where can we unload them?”  So we scrambled!!  Our partners at Nós Saude made themselves available and with the help of Elders Leuluai and Price in Achada Grande, as well as our translator, Nelson, we got them all stored at the Pilorinho community center.

Unloading Diapers at Pilorinho

Diapers Ready for Distribution

About 2 weeks later we were invited to an event organized by Nós Saude to distribute some of the diapers to families with children with micro encephalopathy, their mothers having contracted Zika during their pregnancy.  We were grateful to witness this sweet event, and to see these strong mothers.

Mother's Waiting Patiently

Dental Hygiene Kits

Nursing Students Finale

We were able to tie a small school dental hygiene kit project into our larger prison hygiene kit which is still “in the works”.  We took toothbrushes and toothpaste to a local school where nursing students did a wonderful presentation on how to take care of your teeth. It reminded me of the same training which I had received in elementary school in New Mexico in the 60’s.  This is important stuff!  Here are the children singing a little song after learning to brush their teeth.

Fogo Pig Project

Pusilga (Pig House) Repaired by Participants

We received approval for a pig project in Fogo with a small NGO named Agro-Norte.  Staring with 25 piglets, Agro-Norte will help 30 families in the Ponte Verde area of Fogo become more self-sufficient.   The families will help raise the pigs and by doing so gain knowledge and learn skills.  When the piglets mature, they will be bred and each of the 30 families will receive piglets of their own.  Agro-Norte will then start with another group of families.  Many of the initial families are lead by single mothers.

Happy to Be Home

Checking out the new place.

A Moment in Relief Society . . . 

President Sheila

This is a clandestine photo I took of our Relief Society president preparing to teach her lesson, and the lovely Bishop’s Wife, Sister Pires, sitting just in front of me on Sunday morning.  Our Relief Society President is in her early twenties and has a beautiful family, a husband and two children under the age of three.  She is valiant in loving and serving, and in leading, the Sisters.  Leading can be tricky here, and she is quite young, but she has us all stand and say the theme at the beginning of each meeting using cards she has prepared with the theme printed in beautiful colorful text.  She also brings a bright green and orange tablecloth and a matching vase with flowers to the meeting to put on a small table in the front.  I think she might carry these things, along with her babies, to church each Sunday.  There are very few ward members who have a car, the bishop does not.  It is rare to have a car.  There are places in our ward that it takes an hour of walking to reach the chapel, and yet families walk to meetings on Sunday faithfully, carrying their small children.






Ribeira Grande

We had a little adventure and drove to the village of Porto Mosquito in the municipality of Ribeira Grande, the least populated area of our island, and somewhat off the beaten path.  We found what people do for a living in Ribeira Grande......they fish.