Water Projects and Visits from Salt Lake City

Greetings to Family and Friends:

We are still in the business of doing water in Zimbabwe and are in the very early stages of our next water and sanitation project in a place called Gormonzi. The water district and head man had picked out the sites in the villages where they would like to have the boreholes placed, but now comes the reality part, is there water in those areas. We hired a water dowser to find out for sure in preparation for the drilling team to go in and actually drill. We are planning on drilling 14 new boreholes and repairing 16 old ones. It was an interesting experience to go with the dowser to locate water. It is somewhat voodoo stuff mixed with a little technology. This man comes highly recommended and has been doing this for years. His accuracy is very impressive.



Water Dowsing With Elder Bean



We met him at the district office on a very rainy morning and planned on accompanying him to locate four water sites. He did this by a method they call water dowsing. This is done by the use of two wires that are held straight out from your body with a wire going down towards the ground. You walk around the selected area and when water is present the two wires cross and he puts a peg in the ground and that is where the driller will drill the borehole. Elder Bean and I looked at each other, rolled our eyes and said “like that is going to work”. He was very serious and said that he would come back in the morning and use a battery operated water locator (restivity machine) to confirm. The next thing he did, which made us roll our eyes even more, was take three different size soda water bottles out of his pack and fill them with water. He then balanced the small one on the flat of his hand, palm up, and walked across the alleged water site. It stayed up right and didn’t tip over. He then took the middle size one filled it with water and walked across the water site, this time the bottle tipped on its side and spilled the water on the ground. The dowser said, OK there is so many meters (gave us the amount) of water down there and wrote it in his book. Now we are really skeptical and asked him if we could try it. Elder Bean went first, we almost felt silly doing it, he walked across the site where water supposedly was and the wires crossed. I tried it and it was so weird, the wires crossed where the water site was. We went back the next day with the machine and it also indicated that there was water below each of those pegged sites. So guess what, we have now drilled seven sites and abundant water has been found at each site, so far no dry holes. It is magic.



More Water Dowsing



Setting up Restivity Machine



We then went with the water man to site some more water points. We drove on dirt paths into little villages that are normally reached only by walking. These villages are very picturesque and very green with all kinds of tall grasses, huts and gardens. Life looks very hard there, but the setting is very pretty. They grow all the food that they eat and have some chickens for eggs. The head woman of the village came to greet us and drove with us in our truck to other potential water sites. She was very old, it would be hard to guess her age, she was barefoot and skinny, with a lot of missing teeth, and you could tell she had worked very hard in her life and still does. She looked so fragile and so wrinkled, but was very mentally sharp and the village people look to her to impart words of wisdom. When I shook her hand, it was much calloused as were her feet. I am sure she doesn’t even feel the prickly bushes and sharp grasses that she walks on and through. As I am walking through the tall grass around the villages looking at projects, I keep worrying about snakes. These African snakes are not to be taken lightly. There are cobras, pythons, and black mambas, just to name a few of the many poisonous ones. I always make sure I am at the back of the line or in the middle as we are walking through the fields, so the snakes have been scared away before I get there, or have bitten somebody else. I justify this by thinking every man and woman here has to take care of themselves. It is a hard country and is not for sissies.



Sis. Bean in tall grass (watch for snakes!)

It is always surprising how many little kids there are out in the villages, they just pop up out of the tall grass and seem to be everywhere. At first you think there is no one there, and then little heads start popping up and you hear little giggles. When we drive out to these rural villages, the little kids always come to watch us; they rarely see visitors in these far out villages, and probably never white ones. They are very curious, but stay their distance until we entice them over with sweets that we have in our truck, brought for this purpose. We also have a few balloons and they are very interested in this thin rubber ball that floats up in the air. If adults are there we always ask if it is OK to give them treats. We always feel so badly when we see them, most are very skinny, barefoot, very tattered clothing and a lot of the time they are coughing with a runny nose. Their clothing is inadequate for the rains or wind and you just have to walk away and leave them knowing that this is their life and you try to make it a little better in some ways, like water access, boreholes, latrines, or an agriculture project to help their village do a little better and a tiny sweet from our truck.. I thought after living in Uganda I was toughened up a bit, but it still makes us have mixed emotions, we feel terrible to see their condition and happy to see their darling little faces. I think about how little they have or require and how much we have. The African children are very sweet and seem like happy little people, they smile at you all while you are talking to them, but they are very shy. They also like to sneak a touch on your skin, if they are brave enough. I think they want to see if the white skin feels like their own. After a heavy rain, you see them soaking wet, dirty, and wading in puddles of dirty water, laughing and playing just like kids do all over the world. I see them at church with fancy hairdos and big smiles and you just want to take them home with you.



  

More Kids

  

Primary Kids at Church





Kids with balloons

 We meet such interesting resilient people as we travel around this country. Most have faced and endured really tough times, and yet there they are going about their life with optimism and humor and do not seem to spend time thinking about past injustices. A lot of people we meet are just trying to help others. The other day we were stopped by the police for speeding, when he saw our badges, he let us go and said, I don’t want the Lord to be mad at me, go on your way, that was a first for us.

We gave a party for our sanitation training team to celebrate the ending of their training assignment in Muzarabani. It was a lot of fun. Elder Bean made up songs about each of them and then sang to them while accompanying himself on the Ukulele. We played games, watched a DVD using pictures they compiled during the time of our project and we served pizza, chicken, cookies and had root beer floats. The main food that is eaten here and is eaten every day is made from mealy meal (maize flour) and is called Sudza. Anything that is different from that is met with a little skepticism. They did seem to enjoy the pizza though. This is the same team, plus we have hired two additional people, that are doing sanitation training in our new project in the Goromonzi area.

At the Nordstrom Rack

Elder Bean had a birthday in January and so in celebration, I treated him to breakfast in a very charming outdoor café that sets in the middle of a nice art center. They have wonderful food and especially the muffins that are full of all kinds of fruit, even grapes, and are served hot. It isn’t an entirely unselfish gesture on my part, because I like to check out the pottery shop that has wonderful dishes, table cloths, etc, next to the café. That evening we had the two other couples over for a potluck dinner and birthday cake and watched the movie Star Trek. Elder Bean wants a carved walking stick so as soon as we find one he likes, that will be his present. He received some very cute cards from two of our trainers and they also sang Happy Birthday to him in Shona. The two AP’s stopped us in the mission parking lot and sang Happy Birthday to him out of the car window. Everyone loves Elder Bean so that was pretty fun, and he did get some attention that day. We even went shopping, which he doesn’t like to do.

We went to the grocery store and loaded up on food in case of an emergency and if at some point we will need to stay in our apartment. The political violence seems to be escalating and is scattered around in different venues. Last Monday for Family Home Evening we gave a lesson on being prepared. So we and the other couples are taking these events very seriously. We hope things settle down. The elections will not be held until June or after, so we may be in for months of unsettling conditions. We just hope it doesn’t slow down or hold up our water projects. We would not be able to buy diesel for our drilling rigs or even venture out in the rurals. Our mission president will be holding our monthly couples meeting, and we will be discussing what to do if we have to evacuate. We hope it will not come to that.

We visited a primary school this past week. This is the school where we are drilling a borehole on their school ground, which will prevent them from carrying buckets of water from a long way off. We also wanted to see if it was possible to put in a hand washing station close to their latrines. This is a school of 1,200 kids from ages five thru 12. The water for this station would need to come from the new 70 meter deep borehole, which is located downhill from the latrines. We checked to see if somehow the water could be pumped up the hill into a tank by the washing facilities; it would have to be pumped by hand because of the unpredictable access to electricity. We are still working on this problem.

We also saw how the kids were getting their drinking water during the day. Placed at the door of each classroom is a big bucket full of water with one cup setting by it. This water has been carried by the kids from a long distance. At a certain time of the day, the kids line up behind the bucket and proceed to take the cup, dip it in the bucket, drink, then hand the cup back to the kid behind them, who then dips it back into the bucket, drinks, and so on. It is unbelievable, no wonder diseases, colds and worse is passed on. We wonder why we provide clean water for them to drink because by the time the cup gets to the end of the line, it and the water has been contaminated, and probably all of the kids. This is why our sanitation and hygiene training is so important. They are being taught about how germs and diseases are spread and what practices should be eliminated. We hope that the new borehole and the training will help change this practice, and that individual cups and bottles can be filled at the borehole.



Sis. Allred in Bee Outfit



Our mission president asked us to take some visitors from Salt Lake to tour some of our projects in Bulawayo. They are the second counselor and husband from the Relief Society General Board, the first counselor and husband from the primary general board, as well as Elder Dale Renlund in the Africa Southeast Area Presidency and his wife and President Dube, mission president and his wife. It is about a six hour drive from Harare, so we drove there the day before so we could sign the contract with a driller and hire a site monitor for our water project located there. We also visited the water engineering department to find out exact locations where they wanted the boreholes. We stayed at the Holiday Inn and met the next morning with the visitors and drove them to our bee project. The young people, who are heads of households, welcomed them wearing their bee protective clothing that the Church had provided and they welcomed them by singing and dancing for them. They demonstrated how to make candles, and took them on a tour of their wood working shop where the beehives will be made, and also showed them their garden. The kids also sell some “Wacky Snacks” to make a little extra money, so we purchased some and handed them out to the visitors. The snacks look like a puffed up corn chip and are quite spicy. The visitors loved the project and even had suggestions on how to expand it. We then visited a beautiful large Church garden. The families in the ward are each given a plot of land close by the Church to grow a garden. They must plant, weed and care for it. The plots were very healthy and we enjoyed seeing this very successful Church garden and they promised to share some of their healthy vegetable plants with our bee project kids. They have since done so and even helped to plant them.

Bee Keepers

We have now launched the Gormonzi water project. We took our six trainers, site monitor and supervisor out to the Gormonzi area and met with the headmen of each village, as well as the district water officer and the local pastor (who is helping us facilitate the process). They are the leaders of each village where we are going to drill or refurbish a borehole and where our sanitation training will take place. This is called “community entry”.

Community entry is necessary before we can move in for training. The head people must be met with, explained the program, meet our trainers and provide sites for them to train in, select volunteer trainers and understand where the boreholes and training will take place. We made maps for everyone and schedules of training days, and it is a very big task to just copy all the documents that are needed. We also provided them with bags to carry the documents in. The first meeting involved nine different villages that represent about 1260 families. and we and our team met together to discuss the program. It was impressive to have all the village heads and our trainers, who were wearing their blue T-shirts, in a room together discussing the training. The volunteers must be able to speak, read and write in English, as well as speak the local language, Shona. All the training material is in English, but the training is usually done in Shona. The plan is that they will return to their villages and train the people there.

Hygiene Training

Hygiene Training

Hygiene Training

We took out trainers on the second day to visit more heads of villages. The head people were waiting for us and we had our meeting under a big tree. Most of the people sat in the tall grass, but we got to sit on a long wooden bench. This meeting was held next to a clinic, which provides very basic medical care for around 50 patients a day, and up to 1,500 a month. After the meeting we toured the clinic and talked with some of the patients waiting outside Most were mothers with small babies in their arms and on their backs and many pregnant women. Some babies were being weighed and it was a very interesting method. The babies were naked and put in a sling, which was attached to a large hook, the baby dangled down and the scale hanging above them noted their weight. It looked like a scale where you weigh meat and Elder Bean said they should put a sign under it. Babies - $1.50 per lb. We think we are now ready to enter the community with sanitation training and drilling of boreholes.


Sis. Bean at Health Clinic

 

Baby Weigher




Meeting with Leaders


There is a lengthy process to go through before starting a training program. We first meet with government officials to get permission to go into their village with a training program. Then we must have the blessing of the pastor who is in charge of the religious training in the villages. It helps to have him on board because he knows each family personally and can help make recommendation for volunteer trainers. Then we need permission from the tribal chief, although this is just a traditional courtesy. Next we must go to the clinic and get the permission of the head woman over all the health facilities in the area (one hospital and one clinic). She must write a letter saying she approves of our training plan. To do this, she and a colleague attended four of our training classes to see if she agrees that we are following the health rules (what rules??), we of course had to pay transportation to and from the training site as well as supply lunch for them. Next is the meeting described earlier with all the head men of the villages, to explain the program to them and introduce them to our trainers who will be training in their particular village.

Political things are heating up a bit and we hope that it doesn’t cause problems for us, our team and our water projects. We are very careful to make sure the headmen know that our training is not political and it is just a sanitation and hygiene program. People are not allowed to gather together unless they have the head man’s approval and he monitors our meetings.



Elder Bean, Pastor and Headman


We are looking forward to having Matt Heaps from Salt Lake visit us for four days. He is in charge of all water projects for the Church worldwide. He visit look at our water projects and perhaps enlarge our water budget for the year. He will come just prior to us attending the Country Director’s meeting in Johannesburg and we will fly with him to the conference. We are very busy and well, but really miss our family and our friends. We can hardly believe we have been here almost eight months. We are also missing constant electricity, clean water to bathe in and wash our fruit and vegetables, eggs, dishes and pans without the help of a capful of bleach and a lot of other conveniences we take for granted in Mukilteo, but with all that, there are wonderful blessings and adventures to be had. Our sacrifices seem small in comparison.

Congratulations to our grandson, Connor Sefcik. He received his acceptance letter from BYU Provo and will be attending there this fall. We are all proud and excited for him. His sister Tayler is there also and is in her third year working on a (PA) physician assistant degree. It will be fun for them to see each other often and she can show him the ropes.

Love to all and thank you for your prayers.

Love, Elder and Sister Bean

.





Christmas in Africa

Dear Family and Friends:

We are in the last few weeks of the Christmas Season, but so far it doesn’t feel like it.  Of course the countryside doesn’t look like Christmas; it is warm, rainy, not many decorations, no busy malls, or Santa holding children.  However, we did see one skinny Santa by a small pizza stop-over, as we were headed for our monthly visit to our assigned branch. He was very enthusiastic, but just a little too skinny to be the real Santa.  I think Elder Bean, however, did get a chance to tell him what he would like for Christmas, just in case.

Santa?

Boogie Fever

We have been very busy finishing up the sanitation graduation ceremonies in Muzarabani.  We still have a few more boreholes to finish and then we will at last be out of there.  It is such a long way from Harare, and it has been 12 weeks of sanitation training, latrine construction, bore hole drilling and graduation ceremonies in a politically sensitive area a long way from where we live.  The rainy season is now in full force and it will be good to finally not have to drive that far or worry about our trainers who are teaching and staying there a week at a time.  It has not been a good place for us to be, but wonderful for the people that needed water and received sanitation training.

We attended the last sanitation graduation ceremony, six out of six, and as you can see by the pictures, it was a great success and very fun.  Approximately 500 people attended this last graduation.  We invited our missionary neighbors, the Mayfield’s, to go with us and attend the festivities and also help pass out the graduation gifts.  When we arrived there was great excitement, drum beating and dancing.  It was hard to get everyone to settle down to start the program, including ourselves.  It is contagious.

 We started with a prayer and proceeded with the singing of the Zimbabwe National Anthem.  Our site monitor then introduced us and the trainers and acknowledged the presence of the woman councilor over this particular area. We are drilling four bore holes in her area.  She is the so called “Big Drum”.   Elder Bean then spoke and told a little bit about the project and a little bit about the Church’s humanitarian program.  The councilor then spoke and thanked the Church on behalf of her district and was quite complimentary about what the Church had done for the people in her district.  The people, who received the 12 weeks of sanitation training, put on several skits depicting aspects of their training.  We especially liked the skit where they portrayed a family member with a stomach ache and all the many methods they used to try to help her.  They gave her some bitter tasting herbs, which seemed to make it worse, they called in the witch doctor, which didn’t help at all, they then put some sanitation tablets in her water and she started to feel better.  They also did a demonstration on washing hands, washing dishes; digging a trash/rubbish hole away from the house and several other things they had been taught in the training classes to prevent the stomach ache in the first place.

Addressing the Crowd

We loved it, it showed us that they understood what they had been taught and had put the training to use. They did such a good job that even though we didn’t understand the language, we knew exactly what they were doing.

Oscar-worthy Skits

It was threatening to rain during the program, but it held off until everything was finished and we were on our way home. The rain has held off until our graduation ceremonies were over on every one of the six ceremonies we have held.  We really think that although these past 12 weeks have been a lot of work and not in a desirable place to work, it will help many many people avoid the terrible water borne diseases they deal with daily and help to prevent illness and possibly even death.  This area experienced a terrible cholera epidemic last year and we hope this will lessen if not stop a repeat of that problem this year.

MORE PICTURES

LDS Charities Crew

The woman councilor had arranged a nice lunch for us at the conclusion of the ceremony and even invited our trainers.  This was an unexpected show of appreciation, since this is a very poor district and funds would not be readily available to purchase food for a luncheon. We wanted to leave right after the ceremony because of the long drive back, but it was such a nice and thoughtful thing for her to have done, that we gladly accepted. The luncheon was served in a nearby school and the menu was chicken, rice and spinach. Before we ate, they came around with a pan full of water, which they poured over our hands to wash them. It made us realize that the training was already being put into practice. They were so thankful and appreciative of what the Church has done for them, it was rewarding to hear.

Dancing at Handover

We also heard from our driller that the chief administrative officer, aka “The Big Drum” in the area where we are drilling, was still demanding a bore hole in his yard.   When it looked like he wasn’t going to get one, he filled up a freshly drilled bore hole being drilled in another area with dirt, making it inoperable.  The driller called us and wanted to know what to do.  We told him to move out of this area and on to the next district and start drilling and we either would not come back to this man’s area or reassess this problem at the end.  It is so hard to believe he would do such a spiteful thing to deny many others a chance to have clean water.  He is a very powerful chief and is used to getting his way.  Elder Bean and I will make another trip up there and see what is to be done. Again, as we mentioned before, this is not a good area to work in.

Bee and Candle Project

This month we also drove to the City of Bulawayo to hire a driller, prepare the contracts, and start the water project that has been approved for this city.  We have approval to drill 12 bore holes here. We usually do not do them in an urban setting, but this city is in bad need of water.  Bulawayo is the second largest city in Zimbabwe and so many people are in a bad situation.  We were first contacted by the Stake President, President Makasi.  He said his stake is located in this area and most of the church members are being affected some of the people are totally out of water.  He had contacted us and everybody else he could think of, including the area presidency and the mission president.  They both asked us to help in any way we could, ASAP.  President Makasi said it was affecting the attendance of his Church members because they had to stand in line all day on Sunday to even get a little bucket of water to use for washing, drinking and cooking.  We met with the engineering and water department of the city and agreed to drill 12 new boreholes.  We drove there a few weeks ago to get things started.  

Elder Bean and Mayor of Bulawayo

President Makasi also said that the Mayor of the City would like to receive some donations from LDS Charities for a Christmas party he sponsors every year   He gives these donations to orphanages, hospitals, clinics and institutions.  We told him to tell the Mayor that LDS Charities would love to donate to this special event.  We made an appointment to meet the Mayor and presented him with 15 blankets, 15 humanitarian kits, a big box of toys and baby layettes. Before he arrived, I asked his assistant the proper way to address him, and was told to call him “His Worship”.  It was hard to do that.   We met with him in his office for about 30 minutes or so.  We took the opportunity to tell him about the 12 boreholes the Church is drilling in his city and the several different projects the Church is also doing there.  It was a great PR meeting.  The Church is trying to acquire some land from the City to build a new chapel. They want to buy it from the City and not from a private individual, because it would cost more money from a private person.  We told the Mayor about this and he was readily agreeable to sell the Church some city owned land.  It was a great meeting. He showed us around the council chambers and we took pictures and he asked if we would e-mail the pictures to him.  I think we made a good friend who can be very helpful in doing future projects and aiding the Church in this area.

Presenting Donations to Mayor

We were asked by the mission president to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with 10 missionaries in an area called Gweru.  It is about three and a half hours from Harare.  This area does not have senior missionaries serving there and except for the zone leaders, these guys are a little bit isolated from the main point of strength.  The two other couples, plus the Mission President and his wife also went to different areas to celebrate Christmas with missionaries.  There are only three senior missionary couples in all of Zimbabwe.  They are the mission office workers, CES and humanitarian country directors (us).

The mission president’s wife, myself and the two other missionary wives got together and stuffed  big red Christmas stockings with, toothpaste, toothbrushes, ties, stockings, deodorant, candy and special T-shirts with the mission logo on them, to hand out on Christmas Eve.  We also arranged with a local grocery store to provide sliced chicken, ham, roast beef and cheese rolls for us to take to our various locations for Christmas Day lunch. We wanted the food to fit in coolers so we could transport it.  We planned on making sandwiches, but also ordered brownies, pudding, cookies, a vegetable plate, potato salad and soda pop, water and even A&W root beer that just recently arrived to this local store. This store is owned by a white member of the church, and is the store to go to when you want to buy something that we are a little familiar with.  They do not have much of a selection of foods we are familiar with, but every once in a while, something wonderful appears, like A&W root beer.   It was expensive, but especially fun to give to the African missionaries, who had no idea what it was or how it tasted.  They were first concerned and wanted to make sure we weren’t giving them some kind of beer and wanted to know if it was OK to drink it.  We thought it would be fun to make root beer floats, but could not find any ice cream.

On Christmas Eve we treated our 10 missionaries to a buffet dinner at a game park called “Antelope Park”, it is a very nice game park and a place that you can walk with the lions, (REALLY), and ride an elephant, which of course was out of the question for our young missionaries to do.  We did not want to report any mauling or worse to their parents.   This park is quite well known and so we wanted to go there also.  We had a wonderful buffet dinner, and the guys kept asking if they could go back as many times as they wanted.  The answer was yes, and we think the buffet was totally wiped out when we left.  After dinner we drove to the beautiful new Church and had a Christmas program.  We read the Christmas story and sang Christmas Carole’s and handed out the stockings.  It was wonderful, we got to know the young elders better and we enjoyed a lovely evening together.  We told them that we were their grandparents and they were our kids and this was going to be just like a Christmas Eve with family and we wanted it to be a wonderful Christmas Eve.  They went back to their apartments around 10:00 pm.

On Christmas morning, they met us again at the park and we had arranged for them to go on a game drive.  It was a beautiful, clear, warm day and we loaded them up in a safari vehicle.  We had a wonderful guide who stopped periodically and told them about the animals, birds, vegetation, etc.  He then did a very special thing, which he said was his Christmas present to the missionaries.  He drove us over to see the lions.  This is a park that also studies lions and has an experimental program studying the  habits, behavior and other things to help preserve the African lion, which we understand is slowly being reduced in number all over Africa.  He took them out to the huge areas where the lions are kept, which is usually off limits to the public.  It was fascinating.  There were huge male lions in the tops of trees, which I have never seen before, only in books.  He told the guys, if you are ever chased by a lion, do not climb a tree.  There were many lions in this area and when we got out and went to the fence, they went wild, they roared and lunged at the fence and he told the guys, do not put your hands on the fence.  It was a special treat, but the big male lions are very scary up close, powerful, huge teeth and very upset with us and you could see they would love to be able to get at us.  We took pictures, but it was a little unsettling to see them up close and think about what would happen if the fence gave way. We watched the missionaries very carefully to make sure they didn’t get too close to the fence.  They all wanted to have their pictures taken with the lions in the background.

We were lucky enough to see all the animals that were in the park, zebras, giraffes, elephants, impalas, wildebeest, kudos and all kinds of birds.  When we returned to the park, they wanted to stay and play rugby and soccer on this big expanse of grass by a river; while they were playing; four elephants came to the river to drink.  So we took pictures of missionaries playing ball with elephants in the river behind them.  There was also a big bare place on the lawn covered with dirt. One of the park workers came to us and said tell your guys not to step on that bare spot, because there is a big pit lined with burning coals under that dirt and we are roasting a caribou for Christmas dinner.   It was a nice thing to know because several times their ball had landed close by.

When the missionaries were tired and hungry, we left the park and went back to the Church to eat lunch and we put out all the food we had brought, and they ate, watched movies , ate and later called their families and we suppose ate again.  We left because it was getting very dark and we needed to find our way back to the park, as we were spending the night there.  We had a wonderful day and it helped them and Elder Bean and I get through the Christmas Holidays without too much home sickness.  We want parents whose kids are sent here on a mission, what wonderful young people they are and how well they are doing. These kids are working in a not so comfortable mission, culture wise, environment wise, sanitation wise, and many other differences they confront every day, and they take it in stride.  They are positive, funny, spiritual, mature (most of the time) courteous, helpful.  Many asked if I needed help with the luncheon, cleanup, or carrying things in and out, and volunteered to help in any way.  They must have good parents that taught them well. So many people at the game park asked about them, who they were, who are the young men in white shirts, ties, and were so well behaved?    On Christmas day they wore their casual clothes, but still looked great and just had a wonderful time.  Again so many people asked about them. It was fun to be associated with them. The Church is in good hands in Zimbabwe.

That night Elder Bean and I were quite tired; we were staying in one of those thatched roof huts, on a river in the park.  It was dark and we went to bed and could hear the lions roaring across the river, just like in the movies.  We said this is unreal, where else in the world can you sleep in a thatched roof hut, under a mosquito net and go to sleep while lions roar in the night.  Pretty Cool!!!

We visited an orphanage on our way to Gweru and delivered boxes of toys to the kids.  We fixed a broken down borehole at this orphanage a few weeks ago and had seen the kids and thought it would be appropriate to drop off a few things.  Next year we want to take the missionaries with us to do some service project.  We think it would be a wonderful and make Christmas Eve more meaningful.

We have several more projects ready to start and hope to be able to complete them shortly after the first of the year. Our  plans and new year’s resolution is to do as many projects as we possibly can and to help our brothers and sisters as much as we can in this very wonderful country.  It is hard in many ways, but a very rewarding mission.  We understand that we have two more senior couples coming soon to this mission, and they are sorely needed.  Thank you for remembering us in your prayers and we pray that we will continue to be blessed with health, strength (spiritually as well as temporarily) and safety so that we might complete this mission in the way that the Lord would want us to.  We miss all of you and pray for the happiness and safety of our family and friends.  We think of home always. 

Love, Elder and Sister Bean

Note:  Our wonderful little granddaughter, Sarah Kate, was sealed to her parents in December. The sealing was done in the Newport Beach Temple. We are so grateful and enjoy the pictures.

Holidays in Africa; Projects Continue

Dear Friends and Family:

We are quickly approaching the holiday season, time is really flying by. We are busy and hardly have time to be homesick, but we manage to squeeze that feeling in periodically, especially around Christmas.  We celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday with the two other missionary couples by going to a very nice restaurant with beautiful tropical landscaping, not home, but nice.

African Wind Chimes at Thanksgiving Dinner

"O Christmas Tree!"

African Nativity

We didn’t have turkey or pumpkin pie, but it was nice to be together with our missionary family here.  We then went back to our office to work on our projects. A SKYPE session had been arranged with Roger, Brett, Julie, Janell and Garrett, who were having Thanksgiving dinner at Roger’s house.  It was fun to talk with the family and Elder Bean had a smile on his face all the rest of the day.  It doesn’t feel like Christmas here, so we decided to decorate a small Christmas tree and put a wreath on our door to see if that would help.  We also set a hand painted pottery nativity and a hand carved nativity that we bought in the country of Malawi on a shelf in our front room.  We bought a woven reed Baobab tree and decorated it with handmade pottery ornaments from Malawi. So we are decorated and trying to make it feel like Christmas.

"O Christmas Tree" v 1.2

We are now in the rainy season.  Usually the mornings are clear and warm and by afternoon the clouds move in and it rains very hard with lighting and thunder.  Soon the storm passes and it becomes very warm again, but the past few days it has started raining in the morning and continues all day and into the evening, with a very impressive amount of rain fall combined with thunder and lighting.  The locals say this is unusual, we hope so.

Making Sure the Door is Locked

Our water and sanitation project in Muzarabani is going very well, at least the sanitation and hygiene classes are.  The drilling of the boreholes is somewhat slower and we are afraid they will not be finished now that the rains have started.  We drove there a week or so ago to check on the drilling progress and to see why it is going so slowly.  We also wanted to observe the hygiene and sanitation training classes.  It was very hot and when you open the car door, it is like stepping into an oven with a hot wind to dry things out even more.  Our training team leader and project monitor met us at the district council building to escort us to the different training areas.  We are using this building to store our mosquito nets, soap and hygiene kits for the upcoming graduation ceremonies.  It is not a very secure building as people wander in and out. We bought new locks for the storage room doors because some how things disappear and no one know where they have gone or who made off with them.  Stealing is a big problem here and our driller had to post a guard over his supply of diesel, which is needed to operate the drilling rig.

We then drove another hour and a half on bumpy dirt roads to get to the furthest point where our team is training in sanitation and hygiene The bridge that crosses to Mutemakungu, which is our furthest village and borehole sites, had collapsed and we had to drive down into the dry river bed to cross. We bounced along the riverbed and then really had to gun our truck to get up on the other side.  The truck slid and struggled, but we made it. This site will become inaccessible when the rains come and water fills the river bed.  We had the driller drill these boreholes first because of that problem and hope it and the training classes are completed before the heavy rains come.  We visited the boreholes and saw that they were almost finished.  We than visited the training areas.   Training in this area is very successful, the villagers hardly ever miss a class and they are really putting it to use.  As we drove by their huts, we saw “tippy taps”, hand washing facilities, hanging on trees around the latrines. This is a plastic bottle full of water with a string tied around it and when you pull the string, the bottle turns upside down and the water pours out onto your hands.  This is a hand washing method being taught in the training.  They had also erected wooden dish washing stands, so their dishes and pots are not left on the ground for animals to get into.  We also noticed that a lot of debris had been cleared away from their huts.

Huts with Tippy Taps

More Huts

Elder Bean Speaking at Sanitation Training Class

Sanitation Class

Woman Searching for Water in Riverbed

On the way back across the dry riverbed, we saw a lady with a bucket standing in the river bed digging with her hands to find water to fill her bucket.  She was almost waist deep standing in a hole she had dug.  It was very, very hot – miserably so, and we realized the extreme measures people have to go to find a little water in this area. We also were told that quite often the ground around them collapses as they dig and because there is nothing to grab onto, they are buried alive. We were glad that soon there will be a borehole up and running for this village.

Searching for Water

Class under the Baobab Tree

At another training site the people were seated on the ground under an open air thatched roof structure they use for village meetings.  At other sites, they were sitting under big trees trying to stay out of the sun.  My favorite site was people sitting under a very old and large Baobab tree being trained.  These trees are very unusual in that they are only found in very hot dry areas and they are called the upside down tree because they look like the roots are coming out of the top.  At several of the training sites, they welcomed us by dancing and singing and then of course we had to join in.  One group sang a water song in Shona to us and we did hear our names mentioned a few times.  I hope it was complimentary. They have been practicing and will sing this song at their graduation ceremonies. There were a lot of women, babies, small children and some men in this class. We talked with them about their training and what they are learning and it was great.  They were very enthusiastic and seemed to love the lessons.

Dance Party

We supplied our training team, as well as the community volunteers and the van driver with blue T-shirts that have the logo “Latter Day Saints Charities” on the front and on the back so they are easily recognizable.  They love the shirts and they look very professional and the shirts really helps them standout as official trainers.

Snazzy Shirts

Trainees

It is now the next week and we are ready to graduate the villagers that have attended the sanitation and hygiene classes.  We will be handing out 2,400 graduation certificates, mosquito nets, and soap and hygiene kits for the next two weeks to the people who have been trained, they will return to their villages and train approximately 15,000 additional people who live there.  There will be six individual graduations held.  We are attending just the first and last because it is such a long way for us to travel each day.   We have invited the dignitaries and chiefs from each training area, as well as the news media and other interested people and/or organizations and we hope to get a lot of good publicity for the Church.  The most important issue however, is to help each village solve their health problems associated with water borne diseases and illnesses. We will be tracking for a year how many diarrhea cases have been treated at the local clinic, as sort of a measuring stick on how and if the training and clean water are really making a difference in this area.  Each week as the 2,400 families come to their training class, they report on how many diarrhea instances they have had in their family.  The report from the start of their training was very high approximately 372 cases in the one village and now it has gone down to way below a 100. We have also asked the local health clinics to help us throughout the coming year to report to us how many cases they have treated. So we hope it will be considerably lower than usual as a the result of our sanitation/hygiene training classes  The Church is also building two latrines in each borehole location as an example to the community and to make sure the water doesn’t become contaminated.

Handing out the Goodies

The first graduation ceremony was held on Tuesday, November 30, 2010.  It was a big success.  We had approximately 500 people in attendance.  It was held in a big partially covered structure that had been used for one of our training sites.  It was a rainy day, but most of us kept dry under this thatch roof.  It was almost a relief from the heat.  The lorry was there loaded with mosquito nets, soap, hygiene kits, soda and biscuits (cookies).  The primary school that is nearby released all the kids to join in the celebration   We had made certificates of graduation for each person that had completed the training.  An attendance roll was kept at each training class and those who had attended a majority of the training classes were given a certificate with their name on it. We set up four sites for handing out the certificates and as each name was called, they were presented with a certificate and then handed a mosquito net, soap, hygiene kit, soda and biscuits.  This was a very orderly way for them to receive their reward and also kept others who were not involved, from cashing in on the goodies.

We have had a few problems with the chief administrative officer over this district the project is located in.  He decided that he wanted one of the four boreholes scheduled for the ward or area he lives in, to be drilled in his yard by his house.  This of course means that it will be his and no one else can use it.  It is hard to believe that there are people with such self serving demands, when all the villages are in such dire need of water.   He had threatened to make trouble for our project if his request was not granted.  Because of the terrible political problems that have been and are in this area, we held our breath that all would go well with this first graduation, and just hope we can finish with the next seven graduations and the rest of the boreholes and latrines without any problems. The borehole will not be drilled in his yard and if he makes trouble, we will just pull out.  I think the people in this village would make a little trouble for him if we left before they received the promised boreholes. Sometimes it is hard for the “big drums”, as we call them, to realize that the boreholes are for the community and not for them.  They are so used to taking what they want

All went well with this first graduation.  We started with the Zimbabwean national anthem, had a prayer, Elder Bean spoke, we had African dancing and a play depicting the things the people had learned about hygiene and sanitation.  They then sang a water song and we could hear our names mentioned three or four times (the singing was in the Shona language) so all we understood was Elder Beany and Sister Beany, I guess they were saying that we were the ones that brought the training and water to them.  We then heard speeches from the chief and head man in the district, enjoyed another African dance and drumming, and then divided the people into four groups and handed out the certificates and the gifts. Everything went very smoothly and I think we all had fun and enjoyed the day. The rain even held off until we were on our way home.  We worried about the river crossing, but made it with a little holding of breath. We invited Elder and Sister Bowen from the mission office to go with us and it was a very fun day.  One down seven to go.

Drilling the Boreholes

We are starting are second big water project in the district of Goromonzi.   We drove to Goromonzi and held a meeting with the head man to tell him the news.  He nearly jumped over the desk to shake hands with us when we told him it was approved.  Just a few days before we arrived, the Zimbabwe Electric Supply Assoc. (ZESA) had cut off the power to the district water utility because the district could not pay their electric bill, which means the water utility can’t pipe water into the major parts of the community, the whole district is totally without water. So when we arrived and announced that we had looked over their project, sent it in for approval and had it approved, it was very welcome news. We are going to provide 14 new boreholes and rehabilitate 16 broken ones.  Included in this district are a very large elementary school and the city’s administrative complex. In these two areas alone, help will be provided to hundreds of people.  This should be a great project. We will also provide hygiene and sanitation training classes.  We discussed sites where the district and local community wanted the boreholes and stressed that the boreholes were for the community and not for politicians and officials for their private use.

A few weeks ago we flew to the country of Malawi for training in the Church’s wheelchair project.  The Church will be supplying 359 wheelchairs to Malawi and another 359 wheelchairs to Zimbabwe.  Wheelchairs are now distributed using the World Health Organization’s standards.  Each person now receiving a wheelchair must first apply by sending in their name residence location and reason for needing a wheelchair, to the organization in charge of the distribution.  The organization will than make an appointment with the patient and with a physical therapist arranged for by the Church to measure, fit and assess each person’s individual needs. The chair is a like a prescription, made to the personal specifications and problems of the person receiving the chair.  It is a wonderful program and we spent the week learning about how a wheelchair is made, how to put a chair together, riding in one, fitting the chair to personal specifications and then each trainee had an opportunity to help prescribe for and fit a real disabled person into a specific wheelchair, which will ultimately be given to them.  Four young disabled men were brought in with all kinds of spinal injuries and they were personally fit for a wheelchair. It was very sobering.  We each had a chance to use a wheelchair and to negotiate barriers and try to get up and down ramps. It was very hard and we learned how difficult it is for people in wheelchairs, We also know how much better it is now that they will now have a chair that fits and eliminates pressure sores and other problems. The wheelchairs should arrive in Malawi the last of December or first of January and we will return to help with this distribution.  They then will arrive in Zimbabwe and we will do the same thing.

Wheelchair Training

Shades of Things to Come?

Craft Time Begins at Noon

Malawi is a very beautiful country and it reminded us of Uganda.  It is more tropical looking than Zimbabwe and is very green and hilly.  We are anxious to go back, but this time we will drive.  The Air Malawi flights from Harare to Blantyre, Malawi only fly two times a week and then maybe will not show up at all.  Our flight retuning from Blantyre was canceled because a group of business men had rented it for a business meeting that day.  We spent a whole day trying to get home. 

We had wonderful news this month, On November 19^th Kami, Brent and Sarah Kate flew to Oklahoma for the final proceeding n the adoption proceedings.  It took about 10 minutes for the Judge to sign the official papers.  An appointment has been made on December 4, 2010 at the Newport Beach temple to have her sealed to them.  This is a wonderful event that we would love to be a part of.  Many friends and family will be there and her uncle Matt is flying from Seattle to be a witness.  We know that this will be a very spiritual and wonderful day. We are all filled with gratitude and thankfulness to our Heavenly Father for this wonderful blessing.  It will also be a fun time with friends and family, and we would very much love to be there.  We feel so blessed and happy that this has finally happened. Many prayers have been answered  What a wonderful Christmas present for our whole family.

Welcome Sarah Kate (officially) to the Family!

We are doing well and are remaining healthy and busy.  We are enjoying the adventures that this country offers.  We are a little concerned about the politics here, especially with upcoming elections.  There are still concerns and everyone we meet has a story. It hasn’t been that long ago that this country was in a bad situation.  When Elder Christofferson was here at attend conference, he gave Zimbabwe an apostolic blessing, saying that if the people continued to be righteous and live the commandments, the Lord would bless this country. It really needs that special blessing.

We have an upcoming country director’s meeting in Johannesburg in March.  We also have the person from Salt Lake who is in charge of water projects for the Church all over the world, coming the week before the conference to spend a week with us to get first hand information on our water projects and to also advise and to learn more about the water problems in Africa, so we have a lot to look forward to.  We miss our family, especially at this time of year.  We love all of them very much.

Love, Elder and Sister Bean.