Kevan Kingsley Clawson's Blog, page 19

Farewell Party

Last night the mission held a farewell party for Terri and I (combined with birthdays celebrations for Justin’s wife and Emanuel’s wife) at Latte-licious (a great restaurant just around the corner from the mission home. It was the perfect place for it as we all know the people who work there, and one of the waitress’ is currently taking the missionary discussions!

Anyway, there were 18 of us: Terri and I, and the couples Thomas, Atkinson, Davis, Drapers, the two Sisters (Anthony and Riendeau), and also the office staff: Justin and wife Christine, Emanuel and wife Marlyn, and Solange and her husband. They set up a U shaped table with Terri and I in the center.

The food was great ITerri and I had steak), and they even had a cake! We sang happy birthday to the two (separately), and then (not knowing about the cake ahead of time) had happy birthday sung again by the staff before we shared the big cake.

We had lost of kind compliments from those with whom we have served, and it was a great evening. As I have said before, we leave with mixed feelings: happy to go home and see our family, and sad to leave our friends and the great work and people of the Congo!

Biding our time

As Terri and I prepare to go home we are keeping busy with this last transfers (which we hope will finally be ending on Saturday!).

I spent an afternoon showing the Drapers how to get to apartments, especially Lubumbashi and Golf, our two ‘dorm’ apartments to put lots of missionaries during transfers. I also drew up some plans to remodel the Annex behind the office so they can use it for guests or a new couple. We have both been leaving notes, and trying to finish-up work we have in progress (I have some solar projects getting completed, etc.)

Today and tomorrow we clean our apartment so that the Drapers can move in on Friday. It will be quite a moving day: we move to the Mission Home with all our bags, the Drapers move into our apartment, the Atkinsons move into where the Drapers were…all so that there will be a bottom floor apartment ready for the Miksells when they get here on Saturday!

We also found out there will be two more single sisters coming to the mission in January. The Atkinsons will have gone home in December, so we will have an opening for them. But if other couples come, we will have to use the Annex, or find some other place for them to stay: perhaps ship them off to Mbuji Mayi?

We have been having lots of mixed feelings: happy and excited to be going home, and sorry to be leaving the Congo and all the friends we have here. We have truly come to love the Congo and its people!

But that is what always happens when you are involved in the work of The Lord!

And continue…

Thought we were done today, but we forgot an elder that had to be moved to Golf apartment so that he could go to Bujumbura tomorrow! Anther late night trip to Mwembila apartment, and then to Golf.

Wow! there are a lot of missionaries in Golf apartment right now! It was crazy… and, of course, once Sister Clawson showed up they formed a line to see her about their ailments! So much for a quick trip out and back!

Tomorrow we take the elders to the airport to go to Bujumbura, with about 10 boxes of stuff for Elder Neeley. This will give him about seven extra miss to have to del with for a week until we can get the miss out that are moving to other areas (they are currently scheduled to leave Saturday). I think they are going to try some mass street contacting or something to give them all something to do.

Otherwise, we are trying to slowly pass off all of our responsibilities to those staying behind. The ultimate ‘tranfers’ eh?

Transfers continue

We finally are seeing some progress! Last night about eight 5 new missionaries came in from Kinshasa. Fortunately four of them we sisters that were scheduled to leave the next day for Bujumbura. This morning Terri and I were up at 430am to begin a long day at the airport.

We first took 4 sisters to the airport to travel to Mbuji Mayi, and later to go onto Mwene Ditu. As usual, we have to wait at the airport until they get through to the waiting room to make sure everything goes ok. Today we had to pay extra for baggage: the airlines changed their baggage rules.; less baggage for more money… So we were glad we stayed, as we had to pay their fees before they would let them get on the plane.

Then we left for our next pick-up: four sisters leaving for Bujumbura. This one went faster and easier, with no problems.

Later in the day we were told that the rest of the new missionaries would be able to come in from Kinshasa! They picked up some of the missionaries stuck in MM also, which brought about 16 missionaries in this evening about 4pm. The President, Elder Atkinson in a truck, and Elder Davis in the van went to meet them.

The schedule is still tight, as the president has to interview missionaries that are leaving tomorrow morning. Tomorrow about 9 missionaries take the bus to Likasi and Kolwezi, and another five Elders head to Bujumbura. We are still waiting for the missionaries from BJ to come here, but we can sort of see the end… We think the elders in BJ will get in Saturday.

Of course, there has been no ‘intake’ of the missionaries, as usual, and no training of any kind; just moving them through and into their area with their companion. The only thing that got accomplished was to meet with the President for a few minutes.

I did have some time this afternoon between shifts to bake a lemon pound cake. Woo Hoo!

The Changes begin to bring forth fruit!

We all felt that the changes in the mission begun by President and Sister Thomas were inspired, but I don’t think any of us expected to see results so soon! Here is a short note sent out from the Neeleys in Burundi in response to sending four sisters there (it is the first time sister missionaries have been sent there). The note about using a tent set-up in front of the branch is an attempt to use an overload of missionaries for a week due to the transfer fiasco (we shipped miss up there, but have been unable to get others out, so they have an extra seven? They are going to try to do some ‘ mass contacting ‘ for a week):

Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2014

Subject: Sister Missionaries

To: Forest Brent Thomas

Cc: Terri Clawson

The Sister Missionaries met with the two Branch Presidents today and

while in that meeting we introduced the concept of having a tent in

front of the branch as we mentioned a little while ago. It appeared

to be well accepted. After the meeting we needed to conduct a small

amount of business with the Branch Presidents so the Sisters left to go

outside and wait. The pictures are evidence that the Sister’s are a

very good idea. As we left the meeting we watched the Sisters in the

street talking with people, teaching, asking questions, and getting

phone numbers for teaching at a later time. Great idea Sister

Thomas!!!

Elder & Soeur Neeley

DRC LUMBUMBASHI Mission Burundi

The picture is a sermon in itself!

Changes in the Mission

During our last office meeting President Thomas outlined some changes that will be occurring in the mission. I found them interesting:

1. Perhaps the biggest change is to move Sisters back into the field outside of Lubumbashi and Likasi. When we arrived we had sisters in Mbuji Mayi, but were having problems, so the decision was made to bring them closer to Lubumbashi so that the Sister Training leaders and others could help train them better. It was an experiment to see if we could motivate the Sisters to work harder and complain less. We also placed them in their own districts and English classes, thinking that perhaps they would do better as a ‘sister’ group.

Lets just say that the new President is trying a new tactic: going back to treating all missionaries equally–which means that no sector of the mission is off limits, and the Sisters will be expected to live and perform at the same level as the Elders.

As a result of this decision, several other events will be happening:

- four sisters will be moving to Mwene Ditu

– four sisters will be moving to Bujumbura

– four sisters will be moving out of Likasi (leaving just 4 in Likasi (where we used to have 10)

– there will be sisters in 6 different Zones of the mission

– the sisters will be meeting with the Elders in all of their normal District and Zone meetings, and when they have English classes.

2. The second big change is to increase the number of Sister Training Leaders. We did have two, which lived behind the office. They have been moved to Lubumbashi Apt (the Sisters dorm), and their apartment is being fixed up for use by a senior couple or guests.

There will now be 6 Sister Training Leaders, one for every Zone where the sisters will be working.

There will be ONE STL per area (rather than both companions being STLs)–sort of like District Leaders are now.

So the Zones where the sisters will be: Lubumbashi, Likasi, Katuba, Kisanga, Mwene Ditu, Bujumbura. In each case there will only be about four sisters serving in those areas (I think Kisanga still has 6), rather than each Zone having 10 to 12 sisters each (to the relief of every Zone Leader…)

3. The French classes for the Sister Missionaries will end. They will still take english class with their Zone, but will have no additional French classes (to the disappointment of Sister Riendeau).

4. There will be ‘Standards of Excellence’ created for all missionaries (including the Senior missionaries) to participate in (it will be voluntary). Whether it is learning languages, or scriptures, or work related, is to be determined. The rewards are also to be determined.

5. Pilot programs will begin in chosen Zones or areas to test possible changes in missionary activity. For example: unlike most of the world, the missionaries here are required to be home by dark (for protection). This leaves their evenings free. Perhaps if they left their apartments earlier to work (rather than staying and doing morning study), and left their study to the evening, they would have more time to find and teach.

There are also just some functional changes around the mission home. The Mission Home is no longer open to the Missionaries (unless specifically invited in for some special dinner or meeting).

There is a separate door to the Mission Office that they are to use (this includes the Seniors).

When Terri and I leave (well, this friday when we move to the Mission Home for a few days), the following will take place:

1. We move out of the Taj Mahal over the office and into the Mission Home until we leave.

2. Drapers will move into our apartment (so they are close to the President, as Elder Draper has become the President’s personal secretary).

3. The Atkinsons will move from their lower apartment at Macameno Complex and into the upper apartment (where the Drapers are now).

4. The Mikesells will move into the lower apartment (which has an office where they can work), when they arrive to take Terri’s place as medical advisor.

5. The Davis’ will stay where they are, but they will vacate the office they have been using in the Mission Office and begin using their office at their home (in the Macameno complex); as they are actually Humanitarian and not ‘officially’ part of the mission office. Besides, the Drapers will need the office much more.

6. The two senior sisters (Anthony and Riendeau) stay where they are for now, but that could change when/if we get another couple in the mission.

7. When the Atkinsons leave in December it will leave an open apartment in Macameno for another couple (right now we are full, which is why Terri and I have to move out when the Mikesells come).

We had hoped the church was going to purchase the Mission Home complex (which has another two homes in it), but that seems to be cancelled, or at least on hold for now… so if we get additional couples working in Lubumbashi, we may need space–which is why we are fixing-up the annex where the STLs were staying.

Always a lot going on, and everyone is very busy. We are down a little on the number of missionaries, but I’m sure that won’t last long. We have the apartments set-up so the mission can function for quite some time without needing to find more places for missionaries to live. We recently moved the sisters into the new Gecamines apartment, also opened a new apartment in Ngandajika. The new apartment in Luputa was all set: the president took money and the contract up to be signed, but he owner suddenly changed his mind and refused to sign! So now we are out looking for another apartment for Luputa. But all the other areas are in good condition.

Well that’s a quick update on some of the changes going on here–its always interesting and fun when there is a change of the guard/leadership change in a mission. No one leader is the same, and so changes are inevitable. Just like the transfers, we just have to learn to adapt, adjust, and move forward!

The transfer from Hell continues…

Yea, yea, I know, it’s a swear word, but what else can you call what is going on here?

Besides, funny story: one night President McMullin decided to take the couples out to our favorite Indian restaurant as a reward (i.e., bribe to keep us here…) after an unusually tough week (probably another transfer week). Without divulging names…as someone was going over their week during dinner, they swore! Everyone laughed, and without missing a beat, someone quipped that if they planned to use swear words the least they could do was take off their missionary badge first! The next thing you know half the table had removed their tags and thrown them on the table! We all had a good long laugh after that.

Missions are incredibly difficult, and often very stressful, and it’s great to occasionally recognize that and be able to laugh about it all (it is either laugh or cry–we tend to choose to laugh).

Anyway, back to our week: where were we?

The airport is closed most of the week, the airlines are changing flights, canceling flights, refusing to give ANY information about flights; the Drapers got in late after a 60+ hour flight, lost their bags (which we finally found about 4 days later), and then Elder Draper got sick…

The Northern missionaries are still stuck in Mbuji Mayi, and we were patiently waiting for 14 new missionaries to arrive: they were to come weds, then monday, then friday late… All caught up, ok then…

We were informed that it was possible that all the MM elders would be getting on the same plane as the new missionaries (instead of coming through Kenya directly to Lubumbashi, they were coming through Kinshasa, which stops in MM before coming to Lubumbashi), which meant we would have 27 missionaries getting off the plane at 8pm and needing a place to sleep and eat!

Emanuel and I spent the week getting extra mattresses to Golf (the dorm for elders), Lubumbashi (the dorm for sisters) and Kisanga apartments. We also contracted for a bus to pick them all up, and would be taking out two trucks for the luggage.

In spite of all the changes and delays, we would make the most of it. The new missionaries would come in friday late, and spend all day saturday with input (getting the new missionaries registered, phones, pics, M-Pesa, interview with the president, etc.), and then spent the afternoon in some training sessions. Many are scheduled to fly out the next day to their specific areas (you can see it coming, right?)

Korongo Airlines would not/could not give us any information about if the missionaries were on the plane or not, etc.

Terri and I went out to dinner with the Thomas’ to commiserate and discuss the problems that we were having, and during dinner Terri got a text from Justin about the flights:

The new missionaries got stuck in Kenya and missed their connection in Kinshasa… but, because they now had open seats, they picked up some of the missionaries in MM. We have no idea if/when the missionaries will get out of Kinshasa–if they don’t get on the Sunday flight, it might be a week or more they will be stuck there. And although we finally got some of the missionaries here from MM, they came without luggage…

But other areas are good, right? We had four sisters and three elders flying to Bujumbura, and another seven coming here. Well…

The Church ‘forgot’ to buy the tickets for those coming from BJ to Lubumbashi, which meant that pour Elder Neeley would have to find 7 beds for missionaries that they don’t have–perhaps for a week or more. But in one of those ‘Kismet’ moments, we found out a day or two later that the Church also ‘forgot’ to buy tickets for those missionaries going to BJ! All is well right? Well, all those missionaries are now stuck in place too…

And, to top it off, the Thomas’ were supposed to fly to BJ with Elder and Sister Ellis to finish their mission tour…of course, they have no tickets yet either.

The only thing that has gone as planned was our movement of local missionaries around Lubumbashi. Emanuel and I spent one whole day moving missionaries and their stuff from one apartment to another. Terri had it all mapped out, and it went without at hitch–well, one hitch, I took one sister to the wrong apartment, so we had to go back for her (ahhh, Gecamines at night!)

The one plus right now is that we have a free saturday! Slept in late, doing our laundry, perhaps for the last time, and doing this blog! While we patiently? wait for news from the airlines: are missionaries moving on Saturday or Sunday? If today, we have to plan for their coming, and will probably sent them out tomorrow without any training (and hope they at least get a meeting with the President), if Sunday, we cancel Sunday flights and begin to reschedule everything again for the ? time!

So the status as of right now:

1. Missionaries stuck in Mbuji Mayi for an undetermined amount of time

2. New missionaries stuck in Kinshasa for an undetermined amount of time

3. Missionaries stuck in Lubumbashi (going to BJ) and missionaries stuck in Bujumbura (going to Lubumbashi).

4. Luggage from MM stuck somewhere.

The airport is still closed, and no airline will give us any information as to when they are flying, who they are flying, etc. (we did not know if the missionaries from MM were coming until after they were in the air!).

I know, I know, your thinking when is he going to stop whining? Get a backbone! Suck-it-up, etc. Well, not yet…

You see, we seem to have a chicken-pox epidemic coming within the mission! Oh yeah! We have two confirmed cases here in Lubumbashi (in the same apartment: Munama), and one unconfirmed case in Luputa. Besides just the problem of the illness, the missionaries have to be quarantined for about two weeks so they don’t infect others. And right during transfers!

Oh, and another thing: not one but both trucks up in MM are broken, even the brand-new Land Rover we got so it could take the rough roads up there…no, couldn’t take it, broke!

Our goal was to train the Drapers, finish this transfers, and do a quick hand-over to the Mikesells before leaving for home. Now I’m wondering if we will even get through this transfer before getting on the plane!

But when all is said and done… we go home in about a week. Woo HOO!!!

Transfer saga continues..

The Drapers arrived, rather haggard after their 60+ hour trip…without their luggage! The normal 48 hour trip the Church puts on senior couples to get here (Utah to Chicago to London to South Africa to Lubumbashi) was extended because they missed their connection in South Africa. Then they ended up taking a flight that left late at night, when to Kenya and a couple of other countries before finally getting here about noon the next day.

We put them to bed, but got them up for dinner that night (our couples dinner with Elder Ellis), then back to bed until Monday, when they would have to start work in earnest. OH, and they did finally get their luggage on Monday.

We finally got the generator going again, so for now, we have power and water: woo hoo! A power surge had blown two fuses in a secondary control box. But we are back on track, for now. And, of course, just as the generator was back on line, the power came back…

Monday was round-robin day here as we moved missionaries from one apartment to another (this was mixed up a little as the missionaries coming from Mbuji Mayi are still stuck there, and may be there for two weeks: Korongo flies from Kinshasa to Mbuji Mayi to Lubumbashi and back to Kinshasa. Well, they had over-booked the flight to the point that they didn’t even stop in MM, they flew direct to Lubumbashi—twice! So now they have two plane loads of passengers sitting in MM waiting their turn to get out, while still booking passengers in Kinshasa… And CAA (which is worse) has now only ONE flight through MM a week. So with all the passengers waiting, and no flights, or only one flight a week, we think the poor missionaries are stuck in MM for some time.

Then the Bujumbura flight was late, delayed in Kenya. Needless to say, Terri and I were still moving some missionaries until 8pm last night. Oh the joy of driving through Gecamine at night! There is simply nothing like the experience. With no police to threaten people, it truly is a free-for-all. The one major intersection in Gecamine is a T, and took us about 30 minutes to get through. When you have four lanes of cars coming from three directions on 3 two-lane roads…well, there is nowhere to go! The people coming from the other direction can’t go past you because you have four cars going their direction; and we can’t get by them, because there are cars in our lanes coming at us; AND, if that isn’t bad enough, there is the third direction coming from the side, trying to turn right or left! It is pitch dark, people yelling and horns honking…And hundreds of people on the sides of the road (it is a large market) walking back and forth between the cars! Ah, yes, Gecamine at night!

We decided to treat ourselves and go out to dinner and eat samosas.

Other than that, the transfer is actually going quite well!

Elder Atkinson is finally getting the hang of driving in the Congo. He has become a police magnet for some reason, and has been coerced into paying lots of ‘road tax’ here. But yesterday I guess he had had enough. Learning a trick of the trade, he tucked in close behind a large truck to get by a police stop. As the police could not get in front of his truck, they simply banged on the side of his car as he passed them, one policeman hanging on the side of the car (his feet on the side runner and holding on to the mirror)…but undaunted, he continued to follow the large truck as a ‘blocker’ and got through without stopping or paying! Way to go Elder Atkinson!

The rest of the week continues to be busy. We have elders going home who have finished their mission, new missionaries arriving on Friday (we hope!) and perhaps the MM elders arriving on Friday (we hope!). They could all end up on the same flight, and the new missionaries are coming through Kinshasa this time (don’t ask), which would mean we have 27 missionaries land in our laps at one time: where to put them to sleep? We have to run out and buy extra mattresses to place in apartments just in case. We do have the new ‘dorm’ apartment for the sisters, which will help.

But by the end of the week we hope all the missionaries will be in the right place and ready to start work again in their new sectors. Then the next week the new medical couple arrives to take Terri’s place, with just a few days to trade-off with them before we leave. Wow!

The Struggles Continue

As transfer week continues, the struggles to do the simplest things continue also. For much of the week we have had no internet, or very poor internet (which really makes the work of the President difficult, as most of the paperwork he has to do—receiving, reading, and responding to emails, etc.—almost impossible). Of course, much of what we do in the office comes to a halt also, as most of the info we have to input for the Church goes into a main server somewhere, via the internet!

Also, many of the mission phones are down, due to our friendly Votocom phone company! Last year we had attempted to sign up for a joint/company plan where all the phones in the mission would be run through one account, paid automatically via electronic pay, etc. After signing up, getting phones, documenting all the phone numbers, etc., Votocom totally botched the whole program due to their inability to keep track of payments or phone numbers, etc. Every month phones would be shut off, even though the account was paid, or the wrong phone numbers would get minutes, etc. After a couple of months we simply gave up, cancelled the group account, and had the missionaries pay for their own phones and minutes.

This has worked well, until recently. Suddenly about 1/3 of the phones have been shut down by Votocom for lack of payment (wait for it…) on the group account we closed a year ago! They refuse to turn the phones back on, yet cannot produce an invoice that proves we own them any money (because, of course, there is no bill due to the fact that the account is closed!). However, that doesn’t seem to make a difference. We have been trying to work with them to open the phones back up (because all of our missionaries get their monthly allowance through their phones—if the phones don’t work, they don’t get money…), but, their incompetence continues unabated.

The only reason we stay with Votocom is due to M-Pesa—the ability to send missionaries money through their phones. This is a real asset here as no one has bank accounts—it is a cash society. Without the ability to send money over the phone accounts, we would have to physically carry thousands of dollars in cash around the mission to each missionary. Oy Vey?

We went to the airport this morning, and, as usual, they have changed the process of who and how one gets through the airport. Now they want everyone to have a passport. Before, they could carry a simple identity card or a copy of their passport (if they were Congolese). But that has changed, again. Not sure what to do from here on out, but it makes it difficult to prepare missionaries to travel when the requirements change every time they leave!

The Ellis’ left this morning also, and we have 13 missionaries coming in from Mbuji Mayi this afternoon.

Last night we had a couple’s dinner with the Ellis’ (after Elder Ellis interviewed all the couples). One of the things we did was tell how each couple met, and the first thing they purchased as a couple. There were a couple of interesting stories that came out:

1. President Thomas saw Sister Thomas’ picture on the bulletin board at church and decided to write to her (she was on a mission, so they had her picture and address on the board). After writing her during her mission they dated and married.

2. Emanuel had his older brother find him a wife! He had a ‘plan’ to find a potential wife before his mission so that he could get married after his mission. He was not having any luck finding a girl that would go along with his plan, so he talked to his older brother, who found a girl willing to commit to marrying Emanuel after just meeting him! They wrote to each other during his mission, and when he returned they married.

3. Justin had to pay $50 to get his bride (called the Dote here, like a dowry).

4. Sister Atkinson was homecoming queen at Weber State and kept turning Brother Atkinson down for a date—not because she didn’t want to go out with him, but because her schedule was booked!

It was a fun evening, with a pot-luck dinner of Mexican food (well, sort of Congo/Mexican food). During dinner, as usual, the power went out and we had to finish in the dark (we have a generator but it seems to be broken…). But we do have water back, for the moment…

We are trying to get a little rest before our next trip to the airport this evening to pick up the next group of missionaries. Then tomorrow we start moving missionaries in-town, which will take all day.

Terri saying goodbye to missionaries at the airport

Just another fun picture of a truck coming into Lubumbashi. Notice the goats on top!

We found this baby bird outside our door

A short time later…

This is the reason you cannot stop moving while on your mission!

Jusque la fin!

Transfer week begins!

As usual, anything that can happen will happen, during transfer week.

This week we have been without power and water for most of the time (fortunately we have a generator for use at the Mission Home), but we have had to buy water twice this week to fill the tanks—which gives us water, but often no water pressure. It is a constant battle!

The airlines have been a madhouse: the Lubumbashi airport being closed 3-4 days a week; canceled flights, smaller planes, changed schedules, etc. (remembering that since there are NO decent roads in the Congo, the only way you can get from one place to another is to fly…); leaves us always having to scramble to readjust our schedules.

Today the couples have interviews with Elder Ellis before he leaves tomorrow; the Drapers finally arrive (they missed their plane so had to stay overnight, take another odd flight through Kenya, to get here today); and we have a couples dinner tonight at the Mission Home.

Sunday we spend at the airport: missionaries flying out to Mbuji Mayi; missionaries coming in from Mbuji Mayi; and the Ellis’ leaving for Kinshasa (assuming the airlines don’t change flights again!).

Monday transfers continue with Emanuel and I doing truck circles all day (pick up missionaries here, drop them there, etc.); while others come and go on buses, or travel by transport, etc. This will continue all week, as transfers don’t end for at least a week (it takes that much time for some to travel all the way to their new sectors.

This transfer includes moving the sister missionaries out into the field: some traveling to Mwene Ditu, while others travel to Bujumbura, while others are being moved from their current areas and apartments to switch with Elders areas and apartments. It will be interesting to see how well the missionaries adjust to all the changes!

We are in the process of trying to upgrade missionary apartments, especially those outside of main cities where they have no power or water. It is a continuation of the work we have already been doing. For example, most apartments north of Lubumbashi (Mbuji Mayi, Mwene Ditu, Luputa, etc.), have solar panels for lights and power. We will be installing an additional solar panel and batteries to try to give them a longer time with power (we hope to give them 4-5 hours of light each night). This still won’t let them use fans, irons, stoves, etc., as they just draw too much power; but they can have lights on and charge their phones, emergency lamps, DVD players, etc.

We are also continuing to install water tanks at apartments that have some water, to give them storage ability for when the water isn’t there. We are also trying to install wells where we can, or find ways to tap into other water sources. When we do this we instruct the missionaries to share their water with their neighbors, since everyone in the area has the same problems.

Typical well and tank set-up

The wells are all hand-dug, yet most look like they were done by machine!

Elder Atkinson has begun a new project that is really wonderful. We have all noticed that most villages have deep wells with hand-pumps to get water. However, over time, the pumps have broken. Since Elder Atkinson has some expertise in this area we have persuaded him to start a long-term project to fix all of these broken well pumps, giving all of these small villages water again. The first one he fixed, there were people standing in line waiting to use the pump to get water! There are perhaps hundreds of these broken wells around the country (almost all of them look very similar and take similar parts).

So this is how we think/hope it will work:

Elder Atkinson begins fixing a few of the pumps, keeping track of the parts, cost, time it takes to repair, etc.
He is taking with him local men that are being trained how to fix these pumps.
After he has fixed 10-15 pumps, we will put together some statistics showing what is breaking/needs fixed, how much it costs, how much time it takes per pump, etc.
Finally, we can produce a budget for fixing say, 100 pumps, and submit the budget to and NGO to obtain some long-term financing.

Once the Atkinsons leave, and if the financing is in place, the men Elder Atkinson has trained can continue the work of fixing all of these broken pumps/wells.

So far the cost to fix a well is about $500 to $700 each for parts, and you can do about one a day (they do 3-4 at a time, but it takes about 3 days: they take them apart to find out what is wrong, the next day they go find and buy parts, and the 3rd day they return to fix the pumps). So we would need to add the cost of labor, and some travel…so perhaps $1,000 a pump total cost with everything included.

Considering it costs $25,000 to drill a new well, this is pretty cheap! And it is an easy, and dramatic, way to immediately change the lives of people in those communities. In one day you can give them water back!

This is the typical hand-pump you see all over the Congo, and the ones Elder Atkinson is fixing.

Anyway, lots of stuff going on, and as the saying goes in every mission:

Jusque la fin!