Casting Our Nets to the Leeward

The sotavento or leeward islands are the four at the bottom, from left to right: Brava, Fogo, Santiago, and Maio

Most of you reading this blog know that Cabo Verde is an island nation off the west coast of Africa. There are 10 inhabited islands, all depicted in this large picture hanging on the wall of the Cape Verde Praia Mission office. You can see where we live in Mindelo on the island of São Vicente.

Our missionary calling is to lead welfare service activities for all of Cape Verde. Most of you reading this blog know that we have had projects in São Vicente and Santo Antão, our next door neighbor island to the West. These have been very rewarding, but we have not been serving large areas and large populations of Caboverdeanas. For this reason we feel strongly that the Lord wants us to shift our attention to the islands of the south, Brava, Fogo, Santiago, and Maio. These islands are also known as the islands of the sotavento or leeward islands.

Santiago (Saint James) is the island with the largest population of all the islands and includes the capital city of Praia. The next significant population among these islands is Fogo (fire). This active volcanic island is the poorest of all the islands. For these reasons we have decided to concentrate on these two, Santiago and Fogo.



The communication hub for the mission - The Mission Office in Praia

To initiate this focus we made a trip to these two islands the first of November to initiate contacts with LDS Church members in these areas and make contacts with organizations that we might work with for our humanitarian projects. Since Praia is the capital we also wanted to make contact, if possible, with national level governmental and non-governmental organizations to let them know of our work and interests to serve, and to learn of their priorities in the areas of education, health, and social needs.

We were offered space in the mission office for our stay in Praia, which was a convenient location to connect with church members in the area. During the day the mission office can be a very busy place, especially on Tuesdays. At night and in the early morning it is very quiet. It has a kitchen which we used to prepare some of our meals. This will likely be our place to stay in the future when we head to Praia to orchestrate our service to the leeward islands.

Our hosts for our contacts and visits in Praia were President Oliveira, the mission president, and members of the church Public Relations team, principally Luis Alves and with support from Isaías de Rosa. Luis is in fact a recent convert. He and his wife Cristine were living in Mindelo when he met with the missionaries and was baptized. We were there throughout the process and got to know both. We were saddened to see them leave for Praia, but at this point Luis has become a tremendous asset to our work. He has lots of connections in government and other organizations and has taken great interest in our work. He made many of the appointments for us in Praia.

President Mascarenhas, Senhor Robalo, and Sister Broderick outside City Hall, Assomada

President Oliveira, our mission president, introduced us to President Celestino Mascarenhas, one of his counselors, and a church member of great reputation in Praia. As we described to him our plans, he took great interest and wanted to be of service. We recognized him as valuable team member and asked if we could visit the region of Assomada to see what kinds of connections we could make for projects there. He drove us up the next day into the mountainous region of his birth and introduced us to the city councilman over urban works. Senhor Robalo was very interested in what we might do together in the areas of water projects and social services. The photos below try to capture some of the beauty of the region.

How would you like this view from your front porch?

Assomada spills down the hillside in this mountainous region

A couple of days later we paid a call to Mário Moreira and his staff at the National Red Cross Office in Praia. Dr. Paulo, who you should recognize by now as our local Red Cross partner, made the trip just to accompany us for the visit. We also met others of Mário's staff and toured their headquarters. We talked with them about the possibility of doing another wheelchair project, this time for the leeward islands. We also explored other ideas for joint projects.

Group at Cape Verde Red Cross National Headquarters from left to right:
Red Cross VP Celestino, Dr. Paulo, President Mário Moreira, Luis Alves - see text, Secretary José Semedo, Elder and Sister Broderick (us) 

Enjoying a beautiful view over Praia's main water front. We shared lunch with Dr. Paulo at O Poeta Restaurant.

With Luis Alves' help also visited with a City Councilman for the city of Praia, with the Nation Head of Adult Education, the head of FICASE, a education support agency, and Dr. António Delgado, National Director of Health. Luis is currently looking for work in Praia, which gives him more time. Cristine's work is the main reason they moved to Praia. Isaías joined us for meetings when he was available, but he teaches full time in a local university.

We learned first hand of some of Praia's challenges. They have frequent power outages and water can be scarce at times. In the area around the mission office businesses compensate by having their own generators to provide light and meet basic general power needs including running their computers. We were grateful that the mission office had a generator and WiFi. It ran almost half the time we were there.

We left Praia on a Saturday morning for the island next door, Fogo. It was a short flight to São Filipe, but a whole new world. Fogo is hotter, everything seems to be on the sloped sides of the volcano, but the people are extremely warm and open. We felt like we were stepping back into August with the temperature and into Hawaii for the warm friendly people.

Everything is ready for the Fogo District Conference. President Pires sites to the left of the Mission President, President Oliveira. We are in a covered stadium seating area with the District Chorus on the left. Thanks to a good sound system, the members in the far back could still hear well. We were offered seats on the front row so Janet could help with the music.

Fogo District Choir in matching outfits. They have a powerful unison voice.

During the District Conference the presidency was released and a new presidency sustained. They spoke much about how to build strong families in the gospel. Cape Verde does not have a strong family tradition. There are many many single mothers or couples who never choose to marry. The LDS Church has made strides in changing that culture and to teach the strength and power of traditional families.

Sister Broderick meets sisters from Fogo
Irmã Teixeira holding little girl, Irmã Fernandes - wife of new District President, Irmã Teixeira's very pregnant aunt

Sunday afternoon we went to the chapel to meet with Irmã Fernandes, the new District President's wife to talk about a small sewing project in her branch of Cova Figueira. She would be the leader of the project to help sisters in her branch develop sewing skills. Afterwards we also met with the new District Presidency and President Oliveira to explain our purpose here, teach welfare principles, and solicit their help in identifying possible humanitarian projects. The second counselor met with us to share his connections.

Writing a letter to the Mayor of São Filipe, begging his attention: Elder Broderick, Vanessa, Bruno

Monday morning we got right to work with another new contact, Bruno Teixeira, Elders Quorum President from the São Filipe Branch. He is probably the best connected church member on the island and he is pushy. He led us to city hall to speak with the mayor, but the mayor was not exactly waiting to speak with us. His secretary asked us to prepare a letter introducing us and our purpose and she would see what she could arrange.

With that, we walked to a nearby park where I pulled out my trusty laptop and we started to write the letter. As we did, a member girl on break from the local high school walked by and offered to help. Vanessa typed, Bruno dictated, and I watched. We finished the letter, printed it off in a local office supply shop, and carried the letter back to city hall. We left with an offer to call us if they could fit us in.

Cobblestone road up and across Fogo, with the volcano towering above

Never fear. If the mayor of São Filipe didn't have time for us, maybe the mayor of Santa Catarina would. We caught the first bus leaving town and began to climb the volcano. This was essentially a school bus with a few interlopers, like ourselves. It was jampacked with students who had finished their half day of school and were heading to their rural homes outside of São Filipe.

It was a long ride to Cova Figueira where the city hall for the municipality of Santa Catarina was, but the scenery was beautiful and rural, and the cobblestone road took us through the heartland of the island, where the poorest people in Cape Verde live. The CD player on the bus blared teenage Caboverdeana fare with some catchy rhythms. The bus slowly emptied out as we dropped off little groups of students. When the bus was virtually empty, we arrived in Cova Figueira as the last to get off.

The mayor was off to lunch, but the vice mayor warmly welcomed us and we began to explain our mission. About then the mayor walked in, treated us coldly at first, but warmed up nicely when we again explained our purpose for intruding on his schedule. They both shared details of a number of projects they have going to improve the quality of life in their rural municipality. We were quite impressed with their proactive and progressive attitudes. We would love to find a way to help.

We were hungry so bought some snacks before catching the Hiace (Toyota van) back to São Filipe. The ride back was more direct and half the time. Hiace transportation is the basic way to get around outside the cities, for people, for produce, wildlife, and anyone, or anything that needs to go. Here is a photo of one:

Toyota Hiace, basic transportation to anywhere on the islands,
just back from a young adult outing

Red Cross President Zelito in front of their local facility

Our contacts that day were not finished. We had made contact with the local Red Cross President, Zelito, and wanted to get acquainted and learn about their operations on the island of Fogo. Zelito had been baptised in the LDS church a number of years ago, but no long participated. We had already run into two others like him in Praia. He contributes much to strengthen his community through the Red Cross. He showed us their building and described the work they do and want to do for the people of São Filipe.

As is our practice, we went for walks around São Filipe for our morning exercise, as distinguished from our mid day or afternoon exercise. The difference is we wear exercise clothes in the morning. We climbed up above São Filipe one morning and passed this cinder block factory on the way. The cobblestone roads are everywhere. This is main highway heading out of town.

A cinder block factory on the outskirts of São Filipe.
Note the piles of black sand gathered from the black beaches.

The "Huerta's Apartment" where we stayed in Fogo. Elder and Sister Huerta left for their home in Brazil the week before we arrived. Their empty apartment, on the second floor of the cream building, will be our home when we visit Fogo. This busy street, like all streets, climbs upwards towards the volcano.

Bruno is president of the fisherman's cooperative of São Filipe. He works to improve the work situation of this vital industry for the island. Fishing is one of the only money producing industry that we learned about in our visit, and it faces serious challenges.

A small fishing boat left high and dry without parts to repair the motor. Parts for cars, boats, and other equipment are expensive, so too many potentially productive pieces sit idle.

Bruno's home serves as his cooperative office. His wife Isabel, the District Relief Society President, prepared a simple but nutritious and tasty meal that they shared with us.

Bruno was very generous with his time and energy, creating meeting opportunities for us with a number of organizations. We met with the Education Department and Adult Education on the island, the ministry of health, visited the local hospital, and a health clinic. He also introduced us to a social services cooperative organization that seeks to supplement what local government agencies cannot do.

Two São Filipe Branch sisters and Isabel Teixeira have learned to sew using the sewing machine purchased with humanitarian funds. Sister Huerta was the first teacher. Now Isabel has taken over. Projects to serve LDS church members are rare.

While in Fogo we wanted for sure to check up on the sewing project we had launched with Elder and Sister Huerta. Isabel, Bruno's wife, now leads this effort and opened up the sewing room in the São Filipe chapel for us to meet some of the sisters who are progressing in their skills. They have already used their skills to repair clothing for missionaries and members, and make simple clothing for their children. These skills can now be used to supplement family income. We hope to expand the project to include a second sewing machine in Cova Figueira as mentioned earlier.



Sister Broderick assists one of the sewing students with her project


Our last day in Fogo provided an opportunity to visit one of the few special education programs on all the islands. Zelito, who is a volunteer as the Red Cross President, works professionally in special education where he coordinates the programs on Fogo. This field of education is new in Cape Verde and extremely limited. We might try to give their program a boost by improving the conditions of their resource center. Imagine working in an oven every day trying to help special ed students like the deaf boy below or develop your own materials for use with blind or mentally limited students. If we can help provide even some fans life could be much better.

A gregarious deaf young man teaches Sister Broderick some sign language greetings

We were also blessed our last day to return to city hall in São Filipe to visit, not with the mayor, but with one of his deputies about the needs we might be able to help with. It was valuable to further document needs we had already learned about, and make a connection that should open further doors and opportunities. Our letter in the park paid off.

The city of São Filipe begins a couple of hundred feet above the beautiful ocean and black sand beaches and climbs up from there. There is beach access in several areas and fishing is important to this community and island. In the opposite direction along the beach we saw several trucks loading up sand for use in construction. Everything is built from concrete, stone, concrete blocks, and cinder blocks. I suppose you could say volcanic cinder blocks.

Fogo's black beaches. Notice the fishing boat near the top of the photo.
Looking directly out from land we see the neighboring island of Brava.

When we planned our trip to Praia and Fogo we had no idea what gospel treats we had in store. District Conference on Sunday was followed by a visit of Elder Gérald J. Caussé of the First Quorum of the Seventy, on Tuesday. He spoke to the leaders of the branches and district Tuesday night and spent all day Wednesday training the full time missionaries. We decided to wait for the missionary training when we returned to Mindelo, but loved the simple way he taught the leaders Tuesday how to bring members, active and less active, unto Christ.

We ended up traveling together with the Oliveira and Elder Caussé from Fogo to Praia on Wednesday evening. He and the mission president stayed in Praia at their home for the night and we continued on to Mindelo. Unfortunately our flight was delayed 90 minutes in Praia making for a rather late arrival. Still it was good to be cooler and home.

From left to right: President Roberto Oliveira, Sister Eliana Oliveira, Elder Gérald Caussé, and Sister Broderick on the São Filipe tarmac, with Fogo's volcano rising behind. Sister Broderick and Sister Oliveira have become good friends and love to visit and discuss missionary needs and personal interests when ever they get together.

Thursday Elder Caussé was in Mindelo to meet with missionaries and lead training and discussions with them. We were able to attend most of the training. We clearly see the Lord's power and inspiration in all his servants, but especially in general authorities who humbly respond to their divine call. We loved the time spent at the feet of this French disciple.

Elder and Sister Broderick standing with Elder Gérald Caussé outside the Mindelo city chapel

As we ended our visit to Fogo and Praia we again counted our blessings to be serving in this incredible country. The Lord has already opened doors for us as we look to the leeward for much of next year's work.