A Visit to Zambia

As part of our responsibilities we visit the senior couples out in the different countries.  Each of these couples are called to the mission in the country in which they reside, but as Welfare Service Missionaries.  That means that the mission president is their ecclesiastical leader, but their work is all directed by the our Area Welfare Office in Johannesburg.  Sometimes it makes for a very interesting dynamic.

Last week a new couple, Elder and Sister Howard arrived in Uganda to replace E/S Hannan who are just finishing their mission.  After they've had a couple of weeks to settle-in, we, along with E/S Kinghorn will travel to Kampala to do training with them.  We'll teach them how to find projects to do, how to contact partner organizations to work with, how to implement and monitor these projects and how to pay for them.  This will be our first trip to do training.  Actually, the Howard are the first new Humanitarian couple we've had in our Area since we arrived.

A few weeks ago Phillip asked us to travel to Zambia.  We flew to Lusaka, Zambia to visit Elder and Sister Howard and Cynthia Bodily who are from Tempe Arizona. They have been on their mission for 9 months now.  They had nine children in 12 years and now have 36 grandchildren!  The oldest grandchild is only 14.  Last year they had 8 new babies born.  Cynthia is a wonderful cook and we had some delicious meals and in all, had a really great time with them.

They are working on a maturation kit project right now and took us out shopping with them for supplies.  They are working with some Women's organizations who will learn to make the kits. 



Looking for fabric in the outdoor stalls in Lusaka



Beautiful, bright fabrics (you are seeing the entire shop)

The kits are for young girls and women to use when they are having their menstrual periods.  Young girls often times can't attend school during that time and many of them end up dropping out.  The women can't afford to buy disposable pads but these fabric pads can be washed and used over and over. They were getting prices for materials so we went along with them. 

Produce for sale

...and more



The sidewalk in front of the nicer stores

 

 



She seemed excited that we wanted to take her picture

 

The streets were very crowded with people and cars.  Lots of the shops were in buildings on the main drag, but then there was also alley after alley with just stalls set up.  At one point we were told there was a seller down a side alley who had some of the materials we were looking for.  We walked off the main street down a narrow, dark alley and then a smaller, darker side-alley that took off from that one.  It was almost too dark to see where we were walking.  We passed stall after stall of men and women trying to sell most everything you could imagine.  The further we walked the more nervous I (Susan) got. 

When we finally reached the right stall, there was really nothing there to look at.  I was sure relieved and couldn't wait to get back out into the sunshine.  The biggest shops were still small but full of all kinds of things.  There were things on shelves that were way above our heads or just hanging from the ceiling.  The proprietors would reach up with a stick and lower the things people wanted to look at.  They made use of every inch they had.

The Bodilys live in large apartment that is part of a 'tri-plex' .  There is a 2 bedroom unit for the young sister missionaries, one for the Bodilys, and one that was empty at the time for us to use.  There is a gated wall and electric wire around it with guards 24 hours a day.

Nice big tri-plex



Dan, the security guard for tri-plex

 

 

 

 

Door lock plus door padlock plus 2 bars padlocks

 



 We didn't ask why all the locks when there's a high wall, electrified wire and a security guard

 

They padlock themselves in, at night, then hope there's no fire

 

 

 

This is Malaria country so we got to sleep under this cool net

 

 

The Bodilys are the ones in this photo that are not us

 

The Bodilys also drove us out into the countryside, to visit a tiny building where two nurses have set up a clinic. There is no electricity and when they deliver babies at night, it is by candle light. The Bodily's are also providing maturation kits for the clinic. These two women are the only medical people for an area of about 10,000 people.

The health clinic

Bodilys with one of the two dedicated nurses/midwives

  The Church had drilled a well for them but somehow it became contaminated with chromium.  The pump has now been chained up until someone can find a solution for the contamination.

The contaminated borehole with hand pump

During our 3 days there we reviewed with E/S Bodily, all the projects that are ongoing in their area.  Besides Zambia, the Bodilys also have responsibility for the neighboring country of Malawi.

When the Bodilys first arrived on their mission one of the first orders of business for them was to sort out problems with a water project in Malawi.  They were introduced to the contractor, Brother X...... who also happened  to be the branch president there. 

Brother X...... presented E/S Bodily with a very nice hand-carved plaque with a cut-out of the African continent and which says: "Welcome to Malawi Elder and Sister Bodily."  Sister Bodily said that made her suspicious right away (think, bribe)  and that she had a very bad feeling about the man.

They're too embarrassed to take this plaque home

The previous senior couple had used X...... to drill many wells with apparently, very little oversight. The Church had by now, made him a very wealthy man.  The year previous to Bodily's arrival, X...... was supposed to have drilled 5 boreholes near a village in rural Malawi.  As the Bodilys were looking at photos of the 5 new wells, they noticed that some of the photos were actually just of the same borehole, only taken from a different angle or direction.  They suspected that the contractor really hadn't even drilled two of the wells.

Each water project we do is supposed to have a Site Monitor hired by the senior couple.  This Site Monitor is an independent contractor who visits the various worksites to make sure things are being done correctly and honestly.  Well, they also discovered that the Site Monitor for these boreholes was X......'s brother-in-law.  This contractor was shut down and further payments were suspended, pending an investigation.

One Sunday during this investigation, the people of the branch came to church only to find that the gates to the church grounds were shut and padlocked.  Branch President X......'s car was parked in front of the gates and he announced that nobody was getting onto the grounds until the Church paid him for his boreholes.  The police were finally called and he was taken away to jail.  X...... is no longer the branch president.

Needless to say, this has become a big issue and there are now suits and counter-suits going on. 

This is just an example of the problems that can happen when the senior missionaries do not follow correct procedures as they do a project.  These water projects often run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars and it just creates so much temptation for some of the people. 

We learned that X...... actually started out as a Site Monitor for the Church, but when he saw the huge potential for profits, he formed he own "company."  Being familiar with the processes of doing a water project, he simply got the couple to give him a project, and then, acting as a General Contractor, just arranged for various other companies to come in and do the actual work.

Don't get us wrong, there really are a lot of great water projects that have been done in our area.  Most of the senior couples really are very conscientious about following correct procedures and they do try to initiate projects that help and bless the lives of the people.  We love and appreciate our senior couples.