Small & Simple Projects Part 2

This small project included having a local carpenter make some small tables and chairs so the children could eat all at the same time. The project also provided a refrigerator so the care center wasn't losing so much food to spoilage. We visited at lunch time and the children do enjoy their food!! And having their pictures taken!!

This is quite late!! We have been home from our mission for a month now and I need to get this posted officially. I was working on it the last couple of weeks of the mission on the welfare computer and had to get the draft uploaded and off that computer before turning it over to the next couple. It didn't work to just upload the draft so I had to post it and then immediately change it to a draft. Some of you may already have viewed the first posting. So I apologize for the 2nd time around. There are some refinements and a few more pictures, but it is basically the same as before!

This blog entry is another group of small area projects that we were privileged to participate in. For a description of this type of project, see the previous blog, “Small and Simple Projects.”

School Garden Boxes,

Relva, Fogo

Project Approved February, 2013.

Relva is a small village high up on the flanks of the volcano on Fogo. It has million dollar views of the ocean, but is a very poor area. In fact, this is a significant part of our water project with nearly half the residents ‘qualifying’ as beneficiaries. Its government head is the Cámara in Mosteiros.



A main street in Relva. The 3 women made at least 4 trips to the water fount to get the water they needed for the day.

The first time we visited Relva was with our short term water specialists checking out areas for the then developing water project. There are 3 small communities fairly close together and Relva is the largest. When we were there with our short-term water specialists, we bought 50 mangos that have spoiled me forever!! They were the sweetest, tastiest mangos we have every had! We, along with others, ate them all in one week!

Here is a view of the volcano from Relva. The people are from left to right, the principal, the Elder’s Quorum president and the Branch president of the Relva Branch.

The local church!! It is a very nice house that has been converted to a church building. The branch has been in existence for about a year!! The Elder’s Quorum president joined the church about a year and a half ago and was a very effective missionary!!He was the first branch president and then they called him on a 3 month mini-mission, serving in Praia. It was a wonderful experience for him.

In January, 2013, we were checking out the water project in Mosteiros and had an invitation to check out a possible library project in Relva. So, about 8:00 a.m. one morning we caught the school bus that was returning to Relva after dropping of the morning group of high school students.

School children love their picture taken. If they see a camera, they quickly gather to the group!

We met with the principal who showed us the ideas he had to develop a library that could be used by both primary and secondary school students. He also shows us his ‘hydroponic’ garden boxes. To us hydroponic means growing the plants in water, but here it means raised garden boxes with a special soil mix. The boxes slanted slightly and are lined with plastic with a drain at the bottom feeding a bucket. Thus, any extra water from the hand watering is captured in the bucket and reused. We think that is where the term hydroponic comes from. We have seen the system in other places as well.

Nearly every primary school has a garden. The produce is used to augment the school lunch served to the children every day.

Well, the boxes work wonderful when all conditions are met. The whole area is covered in a netting providing protection from animals, birds and intense sun. The problem was, the special soil that keeps it fertile is effective for only 2 or so years and then it needs to be replenished. And their boxes right now could not be used as the plants wouldn’t grow.

Here are the boxes, ready to grow produce when the soil replenishment happens.

With our mission coming quickly to a close, we couldn’t do any projects like the library that would require too much time and not be finished or even ready for approval by the time we left. But, we felt purchasing the special soil for the garden boxes would be a easy and quick project that would give some support to the school. We wrote up the project and it was approved!

The principal had located the company in Praia that carried the soil and we transferred the money to them for 30 bags. The principal also located a man with a truck that would pick up the bags, load up his truck, drive the truck onto the ferry, ride to Fogo, drive off the ferry and drive to Relva. It was the cheapest way. The only problem was the sea was so rough that the ferry didn’t run and it took several days for the truck to arrive in Relva.

The delivered bags of soil

The school principal, once the bags arrived, had some of the older students help prepare the soil and plant the boxes. We were able to stop by and see the project about a month after it was done.

The students are ready to plant the seedlings in the prepared boxes. This and the next 2 pictures  were provided by the principal.

Getting a tomato plant in the ground

In March, 2013, we visited the school to see the garden boxes with plants. The principal is happy with the growing plants!

Each box is hand watered by the students

Yes, even grow boxes get weeds!

And Sister Broderick has to help get those weeds out!!

 
 And in this visit to the school, we learned that the principal had miscalculated how much soil he really needed and ended up with much more than he could use. So, he gave it to 5 other school in the same situation. So, our little project blessed many more lives than we had anticipated!

Computers for Tarrafal High School

Tarrafal, Santiago

Some projects are just meant to be. In late Fall, 2012, we asked our area welfare specialist missionary couple if there was a possibility to getting some used computers from England for the city library in Tarrafal to set up a community computer center. We were told yes, but would have to wait to see when and how many.

So, while we are waiting, let me tell you about Tarrafal. It is a town on the very far end of Santiago. It takes about 2 hours driving time in a hiace IF you can get one that doesn’t have to circle many times to get enough riders to make the drive profitable. That can add another 30 minutes or more!  In your own car, it takes about 1 1/2 hours.

Sorry, we are still waiting on word for the computers!!

Here is a view of the old Mercado Municipal (City Market) from the praça across the street. It has been turned into an artesenato market where you can buy local crafts. We found several!! The streets are quite wide. The city is quite flat and surrounded by hills.

Sorry, still waiting for those computers. The person responsible has gone on vacation after Christmas.

The first of February, 2013, after our wheelchair training in Praia, we decided to go to Tarrafal to see what other projects we could do and meet with the librarian and explain the problem with the computers.

Going to Tarrafal is a full day activity when you take the hiace. So, we need to eat lunch. Here is a very typical order of grilled fish and legumes or vegetables. The fish is very good and a new one for us…bica. The vegetables always include potatoes, carrots and a tough green leafy veggie. This also has squash and cooked green bananas and manioc. They are always well done. And we aren’t real fans of the cooked green bananas. French fried potatoes is the other option. I usually get legumes, Dennis gets fried potatoes and we share.

We can’t visit the private continuation high school until after lunch so we stop by the local high school. The principal is very open and when we ask about his needs he takes us to the computer class. The computers are old. They usually start the day wondering which one will work. The monitors are very old. And there are 2-4 students per computer. They would like an updated computer lab!!!





Security for the room is already very adequate. All windows and doors have iron grates.














HMMM, we think. Maybe a better use of the computers is the high school where hundreds of students will benefits daily! We tell the principal about the seemingly phantom computers and will let him know when we know! We also needed to visit the library and we tell the librarian we think the computers in high school will help more people. He is disappointed, but does agree!

We climb on a hiace, circle around Tarrafal several times. We get to Assomada and have to switch hiaces and circle around some more to gather more passengers. We finally get to back to Praia. It was a full day!

That night, we get a call from our supervisor in Germany that we will have 10 (but eventually 13) computers and they are ready to pack and airship so we can get it done before we leave!

Hmmm, I think we always had the right project and city; we just needed the right partner!! The library would have been a good project. But this is now the Lord’s project.

We go home to MIndelo, write up the project, estimating what air shipping will cost and  it is approved on February 15.

The computers boxed up and put on the airplane in England and a few days later, Elder and Sister Matthews, the office couple in Praia, get them out of customs (after paying a new fee we hadn’t anticipated).

He puts all the equipment purchased in Praia and the shipped computers in the mission van and drive it to Tarrafal to deliver it.



The local bishop helps carry in boxes of computers into the school.



A room full of ‘work’ for the computer teacher. She has all these computers to get set up! We will be in Praia in about 10 days and we hope to visit the school. We aren’t sure it will work. That is a lot of work and previous shipment of used computers had significant problems with hardware and other problems.



The same room, one week later, is magically transformed into a functioning computer class!!! The teacher spent all weekend putting it together and none of the computers had problems. We felt very blessed!!



The students didn’t really pay much attention to us when we visited the second time. They were busy on an exercise to learn Excel.



The Church’s public relations director for Cape Verde is very effective in getting television and/or radio crews to record the event for the nation!! In front, beginning on the left, is the school principal, the Cape Verde Praia Stake president and Elder Broderick.

This was one of the fastest projects we have done AND it is the biggest in terms of cost. With the blessings of the Lord, fast jet airplanes, busy senior missionaries who still took the time to help us, and a motivated school teacher, IT HAPPENED!

And the waiting is over.

Red Cross Sewing
Mindelo, São Vicente
 

Approved: October 24, 2011

One partner that we have done several projects with is the São Vicente Red Cross. They were the partner for the northern island wheelchair project and several other small projects teaching dental health to 1st graders and then giving them a personalized hygiene kit.

We met with them a month or 2 after our arrival in Cape Verde. When we asked them what their needs were, they told us about a program supporting young teenage women at risk by providing them a place to go during the day, learn a marketable skill and eat a lunch. They also work with them to encourage them to stay in school.

One skill they learn is counted cross stitch. It is beautiful work! They sell their products which helps the program to be self-sustainable and also provides a little money for the young women’s school costs.

Another skill that was taught was sewing. The main problem is they only had 1 sewing machine, which makes it difficult to have the class of 10 or so young women working on sewing projects!! They asked if we could help set up the sewing class with machines and sewing supplies. We thought it was a very good idea!!

We wrote up the project, got it approved and then the fun began!! We climbed into the Red Cross truck and went all over Mindelo to various stores for sewing supplies, material and machines. I actually learned where to buy thread at good prices and other suppliers that was useful for me personally and for other projects.

Here is the assortment of supplies and equipment. We purchased 5 sewing machines and 1 big industrial size machine.

Part of the project was purchasing material. Most of it was gingham that they were going to make ‘batas’ to sell to children going to a Jardim. You can see the sewing machines on the right!

Besides the regular sewing machines for the young women to learn on, they also wanted an industrial sewing machine for more production sewing. We had to order it from Portugal through the store where we bought the other machines.

Here is the BIG industrial machine with Sister Broderick carrying one of the others purchased.

The machines are used every day. The young women as taught how to look at a dress they like in a magazine or catalog and then copy and make their own – using the pattern they make themselves!!



Making a pretty pink party dress!



Teacher helping a student with her project.



Teacher demonstrating how to use the industrial machine. It is really fast!



At the Christmas Party for the various Red Cross programs, the young women had a fashion show with the dresses they designed (from looking at a picture) and made. João Paulo, the São Vicente Red Cross President is in the middle of them!

Lars de Idosos
Mindelo, São Vicente

Approved February 16, 2012  (Lars de Idosos = Old Folk's home)

This project was introduced to us by 2 sisters in our branch. They took us there in the first month or two of our mission and we then met with the director.



The young adults visited the 2 lars de idosos as part of a service project. This is in the central courtyard of one of the homes.

As a general, cultural rule, Cape Verdeans take care of their elderly parents or family members as they age and are not able to care for themselves. However, sometimes the needs of the parent exceeds the ability of the family to care or the family is not willing to do what is necessary. In essence, these elderly people are abandoned.



This is a young adult and an elderly man playing the Cape Verdean version of Mancala called Urill, a very popular games, especially among the men. This is in the home for the elderly run by the local Red Cross council. It is a bigger facility and the previous humanitarian couple did several projects for them.

The Ministry of Social Development in São Vicente has 2 homes that they run to provide a place for these people to live. Each of the homes has capacity for 10 or so residents. The homes are difficult to keep up with the budget constraints, let alone improve the conditions. They are clean, but not very interesting! An organization a few years back paid to have a cover put over the central courtyard to  provide shade from the sun off where the elderly have couches and chairs to watch television which was a great blessing. One of the televisions had been stolen.



View of the living courtyard area. The workers in the white shirts were having a training session/meeting when we came to visit.

When we talked to the director in the Ministry, she had quite a list of things that the 2 homes needed: a large screen television, new mattresses with waterproof covers, a new professional stove and new pans, vent fans for the kitchen, just to name a few! We couldn’t do it all, so we asked her the first priorities!



One of our young adults talking to a resident.

Mattresses, The #1 priority!
The criteria for the mattresses were to be comfortable AND waterproof. We found a store in Mindelo that carried the mattresses and put in an order. They had an immediate need and so we bought one that was available. Only one problem…. the mattress was too big for the frame! (They were both twin mattresses, but there is a narrower twin mattress that was needed to fit the frame.) What to do? The type of mattress she needed was not available in the bed frame size. The solution: purchase 5 inch foam rubber pads and cover with nagahyde.

First step: buy foam rubber.

Second step: take to furniture store and have the foam rubber cut to the bed fram size. They kept the pieces for use in other places.



Here is the truck loaded with the cut foam rubber mattresses along with all the left over pieces. We are storing them in the warehouse we share with the Ashby Foundation until the covers are ready.

Third step: puchase the nagahyde and hire 2 sisters from the Church to sew the covers.



Here we are inside the warehouse stuffing the foam rubber into the covers and sewing up the end.



The Ministry sent their truck and we loaded up the mattresses ready to deliver to the facility.
Finally, deliver to the lars de idosos.



Delivered and ready to make the bed!! We would have preferred the regular matresses, but this way they have mattresses!

Another priority: Kitchen supplies.



The cooks like the new big pot!! Also, you can see the new vent fan above. Each of the homes received pots and vents!



A new electric hot water heater for drinks was also appreciated.

We hope this help is a blessing to these people in their old age. We truly appreciate the care and concern given them by the workers. There is a good spirit in the homes.

 Library at Regina Silva High School

Praia, Santiago

Approved August 31, 2012




This is our purple school. The outside of the building was painted in the last year with the light and dark purple. And the student’s uniforms are a white shirt with light purple pin strips and dark purple pants. It is a fun place to be.



This was another project shown to us by a member of the church. She had worked there for several years and knew the school served very poor students from various areas of Praia, Santiago.  A high school can refuse to let you attend their school if you can’t pay the full tuition. It isn’t high, but if you don’t have the money, you can’t pay. When we started coming to Praia to search for projects, she took us to see the school.

One priority of the school was to have a library. They had already chosen the current teacher’s room to transform into the library. They were also painting the inside of the school, and the room would be ready to furnish as a library by September.



So we get the project written up and approved. We then transfer the first 50% of the cost of the furniture to the local carpenter that will be doing the work. When we visited the school in September, they were busy painting, but it seemed that the carpenter wasn’t starting his work. We found out that he had not realized we had transferred the money into his account. A week or so later, during a 3 hour layover in Praia on our way back home to Mindelo, we went to visit the carpenter and see what was happening.



Here is the work area for the carpenter outside on the sidewalk. He didn’t have a saw at his shop, and so had to go somewhere else to cut it.



And here is some of the cut wood for our library furniture. It was so rough hewn and I had great doubts of having fine finished tables and chairs. Oh, well, I thought. The principal chose the carpenter!



Two months later!!! We visit again when we are in Praia for the next trip and, lo and behold, we visit an absolutely beautiful library with very sturdy furniture, nicely sanded and finished! We were so impressed and a little blown away.



A closer up view of the chairs and table.

The only thing needed: books for the shelves and students to enjoy!

We had some money left over from the project and offered to buy some books for the school. They sent us the invoice from the bookstore, we transferred the money online to the store and the school picked them up. (This is the only way to do projects from a distant island!)



The shelves are starting to fill up!

In January, 2013, as part of our trip to the Praia Wheelchair training, we attended the opening ceremony of the library. Until then, the students hadn’t been inside! This was quite the event!! The Cape Verde mission public affairs director notified the television so we had good media coverage. And people watch TV as more than a few people commented they had seen the news brief.
So, here is the Ceremony!



The first part was a student who accompanied himself on the guitar singing a Cape Verdean song. We are outside the main door. The library door itself is inside.



They had decorated the door into the library.





A student had been chosen to hold the scissors for the cutting of the ribbon.

















A counselor in the local stake presidency, our local Church Representative, was chosen to cut the ribbon to the door

.








A small, representative group of students were invited.



The principal was the first speaker. (You can see in the back of the table some Portuguese dictionaries we purchased for this event. Needed to use up ALL our money!)



The Stake Presidency member also spoke as the Church representative.




A student was chosen to speak and share her thanks for the new library.



The parent organization at the school (yes, they do have parent organizations!) presented a few books as a token of their support for the library.



For our report, I needed pictures and I wanted the pictures to show the students using the library. I expressed my desire and it took about 5 seconds for the students to get a book and sit at the table reading and discussing! They were so anxious to start using the library!!



Elder Broderick enjoyed talking to the groups of students about books and learning!



And like all our projects, it is really about individuals. Even though on paper it was about having furniture made and buying books, the final analysis is how it helps each person.

We hope they have a great experience learning!