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.

Serving Santo Antão

 
Santo Antão is the nearest island of Cape Verde to São Vicente where we live. Most days you can at least see its hazy outline from many areas of Mindelo. It is the most western of the islands and the closest we can get to the US and still be in Cape Verde. Agriculture is an important industry there and in certain places it is green and lush with mango, papaya, breadfruit trees and banana plants. Access to the island is by ferry only. There are two companies, and about 3 times in the morning you can go to Santo Antão and 3 times you can return to Mindelo. It costs about $7-8 per person one way. They give a $2.50 discount off the total cost if you buy a round trip ticket! It takes about an hour each way and they always hand out little plastic bags, just in case. We haven’t had any sea sickness problems, but often someone on the ferry does. Even our large ferry boat can roll back and forth pretty well when the wind and waves are high. We seem to like Santo Antão as we have made about 5 trips in September and October!

The BIG project was painting a primary school -- inside and out!

Here are some pictures of the school before any work was done. The 2 church brothers standing in the courtyard are short President Neves, president of the Porto Novo branch of the Church and Brother Oliveira, former president of the branch and currently the Elder's quorum president. They were the ones who spearheaded the project and made it happen.

The Original paint

The front of the school. Needs some work, I think.

We met 5 of our Young Single Adults at the early hour of 6:15 a.m. on Saturday morning, September 3. We asked for volunteers to help paint - promising that if they paid their way over, we would pay their way back. The ride over was quite uneventful. 

The day was getting warm as we left the cool sea breezes and disembarked from the ferry. We walked to the school, about 10 minutes away and arrived as they were unloading the scaffolding.

Getting things ready to work. We all wore our 'Mãos Que Adjudam' (Hands that help) vests.

Then began the sanding, patching, sanding some more, scrape the paint off the concrete wall, sand some more. The school rooms get stuffy anyway, and with working it was very easy to work up a pouring sweat! We were glad for the call to rest and eat breakfast - bananas, milk, sodas and bread.

It doesn't matter where in the world you are. Food always is welcome and rejuvenating! This is the lunch room of the school and the only room we didn't paint.

Katy, one of our young adults, up on the scaffolding scraping loose paint off top of the outside ceiling.

Bella, another of our young adults, has the job of patching holes.

Elder Broderick and President Neves working to prepare window wells for paint. President Neves may be short, but he is a spiritual giant! School desks/tables and chairs were used to reach higher. Cape Verdeans always use what is available for whatever use they need. Did you know that the bottom half of a 2-liter bottle makes a great paint can!

After breakfast we returned to sanding though some of the workers were assigned to begin painting. The rooms are very tall and to reach the ceiling the scaffolding was necessary - and maybe even adding a chair to reach even higher.We had a good crew with the 7 of us and at least that many from the local branch. There was a good spirit there. The ceilings are generally high in the concrete buildings.

Bro. Oliveira, the professional among us, getting the ceiling painted in a school room.

A treat around noon– a popsicle, cold and sweet. Then more sanding, painting etc. etc. If you had a paint brush, you had better keep a hand on it. Put it down, and someone else would pick it up to use it. Work is just work, but we began smelling some yummy food cooking. Around 3 we were called to Lunch!! I don’t know what they called the dish, but it was just very delicious!! I have enjoyed all the Cape Verdean food we had had here.   

We had a 7:00 p.m. ferry to catch. So, our group left with the promise that Dennis and I would return the next Saturday and help finish.

A tired crew on the ferry going home. The cool sea breezes were a welcome relief from the hot day of work.

The next Saturday, September 10, Dennis and I caught the 8:00 ferry and returned to Santo Antão for another day of painting. Since school began the next Tuesday, it was important to have the school ready for the students!

Want to know what happened? Please reread from the beginning of the blog. Only you can lessen the sanding and increase mightly the painting! The breakfast was the same. The lunch was different and another delicious Cape Verdean meal.

Elder Broderick and I were assigned this corridor to paint. It was a little hot as there was no breeze. We did get some help from the young boys. What they lacked in skill, they made up for in enthusiasm.

We are nearing completion on the outside. The school is a bright yellow! A member of the Santo Antão branch puts finishing touches on the wall.

The young like the high places! And to get their picture taken. The white design will be painted orange.

Elder Broderick's height was very needed.

We even painted the outside wall.

The orange accent color.

It wasn't all work!

Elder Broderick proudly standing next to his tall wall.

We are missing only one picture -- the last one showing the work completed. After the 2nd Saturday, we still were not finished. They had plans to return the following Monday to make sure at least the rooms were ready for the students. We need one more trip to Santo Antão to get one more picture! It was a lot of hot and sweaty work, but we enjoyed the experience and are so glad to serve.

Sunrise over Porto Grande, Mindelo Bay

Our next trip to Santo Antão was not, as you might have guessed, to finish the school painting. It was to deliver wheelchairs to the island. It took a full but glorious Saturday. We left home just at sunrise to catch the ferry. You can see the view of Porto Grande as we pull away from Mindelo. Our goal for this trip was to deliver wheelchairs and other mobility devices (walkers, crutches and canes) in the three counsels or areas of the island of Santo Antão. As here in São Vicente, our partner was the Red Cross, but this time there is a separate Red Cross team in each of the three areas we served. Those three areas can be seen on the map below as red crosses (no pun intended).

Our principal partner is the Red Cross of Cape Verde in São Vicente. They are working with local Red Cross organizations on each of the islands we serve. For Santo Antão the three local agencies or counsels are: one in Paul (pronounced paw ool), a second in Ribeira Grande, and the third in Porto Novo, the city where the school that we painted resides. The three counsels cover the entire island, so they include the principle city plus surrounding areas. Our school kit deliveries in Santo Antão were all in the counsel of Porto Novo which covers the left two thirds of the island.

Our first stop was in Paul. You can see the sea of Red Cross volunteers in the room where the official transfer of wheelchairs to various recipient organizations took place. At the table sat, starting on the right, (1) the president of the local Red Cross José Candeia, (2) Dr. João Paulo, president of the Red Cross of São Vicente in his red vest who is our primary contact for this and other projects (you have seen him and will see more of him in the future), (3) Vera, Mayor of Paul, (4) Valdir Monteiro, representative of the Porto Novo LDS Branch leadership, (5) yours truly Elder Broderick.

Organizations receiving wheelchairs acknowledge the donation

After the formal transfer, we were able to meet and visit with family members who came to receive wheelchairs in behalf of family members in need. This group picture shows us with some of them.

The next stop was Ribeira Grande. You have seen the name Ribeira several times. It means stream of water and refers to the many streams that start in the central mountain region and run down to the sea. Obviously Ribeira Grande is just that, a big stream.

The Red Cross group, headed up by Maria Teresa (standing just to the right of Dr. Paulo in the photo below), was well organized for our visit. It was fortuitous that our visit coincided with a celebration of seniors. They had invited a retired teacher who was back in the area to participate and be honored for her many years of serving the community. We began our visit in the Red Cross headquarters, as seen here.

One of the chosen recipients arrived just before we left to recieve her new chair. The Red Cross team

carefully moved her into a new, properly sized chair. Like each of the recipients we met, she showed her gratitude the best way she could, with a simple smile.

Our priesthood representative, Valdir Monteiro, was a little nervous at first as the official representative of the church. He serves as secretary to the branch president in Porto Novo and was asked by the president to represent him at these presentations. He just returned around April this year from his LDS mission in Mozambique, Africa. There they also speak portuguese, but their own variety. He and several young men from Cape Verde have recently served or are serving there now. We caught him in a quiet moment when he was reviewing his notes. He clearly wanted to represent the church well, and he did. He is very tall for a Caboverdean, and will provide great strength to the church here.

From the Red Cross headquarters we entered the hospital nextdoor to meet some of the people waiting to receive wheelchairs. The hospital in Ribeira Grande is the largest and best furnished of all on the island. This man had been confined to this hospital bed for several months while he waited for a wheelchair. He expressed total appreciation for this donation from caring people.

Our chair deliveries took us to unexpected places. This recipient is in prison in Ponto do Sol, near Ribeira Grande. He told us about the wheelchair he has been using for the past 20 years, one also donated by the LDS Church. It has served him well, but is finally worn out. A couple of Red Cross volunteers prepared his new chair as he looked on.

For lunch we were invited to attend the city celebration of seniors in Ponto do Sol. A large number of seniors were gathered in a hall, enjoying local musicians, some dancing and a nice hot meal. We had heard about a couple of families in the area who were all confined to wheelchairs. If I remember right there were close to 20 individuals between three families dependent on these chairs. Here at the seniors celebration we met a group of them enjoying the celebration.

We felt the joy of this group gathered together. We met the mayor of Ribeira Grande, standing next to me below, as well as several seniors whos life is made significantly better by a wheelchair. Here you see again the local Red Cross president, Maria Teresa on the far left.

The final stop of the day was back in Porto Novo. To get there we took the mountain route (see map above) instead of the coastal route. Santo Antão is blessed with many mountains which rise up thousands of feet to where they support pine trees as shown here. These mountains must be strickly carved by wind, rain, and rivers and thus they are distinctly different in appearance from mountain ranges we know in the US. Janet described them as looking like they were computer generated in a DreamWorks studio. Below you see a basin which has a volcanic origin, as do all these mountains, but it was hard to capture on film the many other vistas we were treated to.

Back in Porto Novo we met again a teenage boy who had been severely injured and partially paralyzed while swmming in the sea near by Porto Novo. We had visited with him a few weeks earlier and he was not smiling. He was making progress but needed expensive therapy to continue to progress. When we arrived to present him with a wheelchair we got a big smile from him. He had made significant progress since we had last seen him and the use of this chair signified much of that progress. He has lots of supporters in his neighborhood as well as within his family. There were many smiles for him this day.

The ferry boat back to São Vicente was just about to leave, but Renato (the local Red Cross president with his hand on the back of the chari) didn't want us to miss this opportunity. We raced over to the home of this man and passed him in the street. He is blessed to have a motorized chair he can use to get around town, at least on the better streets. But it doesn't serve his needs inside the house. The LDS wheelchair he received during our visit will do just that. The gentleman in the red shirt on the far left is a representative of one of the other partner institutions we worked with in the Porto Novo area. The Red Cross is very diligent to work closely with government and non-profit organizations in the community.

With the speed of the Red Cross truck we rushed to the ferry port and step onto the boat minutes before it pulled away. We sort of felt like we were with a police escort only it was the good name and influence of our partners that paved the way.

We thoroughly enjoyed this full day, and maybe our last day this year, on the island of Santo Antão. It was a lot less work than our painting days, but both were an important part of our Santo Antão experience. 

We encountered a lot of poverty on this island, but a lot of dedicated people serving as many of their needs as possible. We saw beautiful seascapes along the coast and towering mountains and narrow ridgelines inland. In a way we experienced the pinnacle of human caring as the Church of Jesus Christ joined hands with big-hearted people on this "big island" anchor of the Cape Verde archipelago.