July 29, 2012
This last week we were in Lilongwe and Blantyre,
Malawi. We were met by the senior couple
there, the Pretes. We stayed at the Golden Peacock Hotel in Lilongwe, which is
only a year old. It was built by the
Chinese. The Chinese are building a lot
here in Lilongwe(and all over Africa), roads, railways, municipal buildings, banks, etc. The hotel is nice and the restaurant that is
in the hotel is, believe it or not, a Chinese restaurant. The food was good. Elder Prete has an interesting theory of why
the Chinese are investing in so much infrastructure and new building here. He thinks it is because the cost of labor is
increasing in China to about $4 per hour and here it is still $1 per day. The Chinese can still make cheap products if
they can outsource to places like Malawi.
We did the audits of both mission branches, Lilongwe and
Kauma, and trained the priesthood leaders all on Tuesday evening. None of these brethren have cars and so Elder
Prete provided rides in the back of his pickup for the one group and ourselves
to travel to the other building across town and then back again. The two branches meet in homes that have been
converted for church meetings. At the
end of the evening on the way home Elder Prete received a call from a member
that his little girl needed to go to the hospital. Elder Prete didn’t get home til nearly
midnight. We heard Saturday that this seven-year old girl of the former branch
president died of malaria. Sad things. We are very careful to only drink bottled
water and to take “doxy” medication to prevent getting malaria.
Wednesday morning the Pretes took us to Blantyre. A couple of young boys preparing for a
mission traveled in the back again. They
needed to go to the place they were born to have some papers stamped so they
could get passports. We have it pretty
easy in the USA as far as communication, reliable mail service and government
red tape is concerned. The Bullocks, the
senior couple in Blantrye, were involved in an auto accident recently and are
having a hard time getting the police report and insurance quotes in order to
get their truck fixed. He was promised
the report Saturday, but when he went they said maybe Monday – “don’t call us,
we’ll call you.”
We stayed at the Protea Ryalls again in Blantyre. It is a nice hotel and we enjoyed a great
steak dinner in the restaurant with the Pretes and Bullocks on Thursday
evening. We did the first audit
Wednesday evening in the Zinwangwe Branch.
They meet in a home that is built on the side of a steep hill. One has to go down some steep, irregular
steps to get to it. The amazing thing is
that the members carry someone who is disabled and in a wheelchair up and down
those steps. These units just received
computers, the internet, and the financial software for transmitting their
transactions to the area office. The
district leaders didn’t think the rooms they used for offices were secure
enough for computers, so the leaders in this branch have to either walk or take
a taxi each Sunday to the Blantyre 1st Ward chapel to input their
donations and expenses. Then on Monday
they take a taxi to the bank to deposit the donations. The church reimburses them the taxi
expense. These members walk up to 12 km (7.5
miles) to church and to other church meetings. They are humble, faithful saints
who attend to their responsibilities as best they can with their limited
resources. During the three plus days we
accomplished 5 audits and a training session for the branch and district
presidencies and clerks. The photo is showing the street stalls and traffic
(driving on left side)in Blantyre.
Friday Tom was suffering from vertigo quite badly. He woke up Thursday morning with it, but it
went away after a couple of hours.
Friday he was feeling nauseous and was quite wobbly on his feet. In the audits he did ok because he was
sitting and busily involved . Elder
Bullock and Elder Chimyumba gave him a priesthood blessing. It seemed to help some because Saturday he
was able to get up early for the training and made the trip home ok. Sunday, he was still
experiencing it but was able to drive us to church. I hope he gets over it sooner than he did
when he had it in Tokyo.
July 22
Two fun outings happened this week. First of all on Wednesday we visited the
orphanage in Tembisa situated very close to the chapel we attend. It was Nelson Mandela Day and everyone is
supposed to contribute 67 minutes to helping their community. The 67 is significant because that is how
many died when the children in Soweto marched peacefully to protest being made
to learn Afrikaans in school. So there
were 40 to 50 volunteers and more arriving by bus to paint, clear weeds and
junk from the yard and help clean in any way they could. We saw about 30 youngsters ages 4 to 8
crowded in a small concrete room for school.
They were wearing blue sweaters and the boys ties – a school
uniform. They sang some of their lessons
to us about the names of the months and days of the week and what they need to
do to prepare for school. When we first walked in they ran up for hugs. I don’t know if they do that to all strangers
or because we were with the Savages whom they knew and loved. I was glad I had made cookies for them. A new bathroom was under construction and we
could see a new roof that had been installed over the sleeping area. Most of this was due to the fund raising
efforts of the Savages’ daughter in the United States. She has a website “Tembisatots.bbnow.org” It is sad to see people living in such
conditions, but gratifying to see the outpouring of community help.
The other outing was a tour provided by Thoba Karla-Halla
of Soweto. Her mother was an early
pioneer of the church here and also a friend of Winnie Mandela. She first showed us the Mandela’s home here
in Houghten Estates and then took us up Munro Drive for a panoramic view of the
city. Then we drove through Hillbrow and
downtown Johannesburg. It was
interesting to see the governmental buildings and how the downtown area has
deteriorated since it is now open to anyone.
Before no blacks could come into the city except on business or to
work. It reminded me in some ways of
what downtown Oakland used to look like.
We then drove out to Soweto where the blacks were allowed to live.
Soweto, several communities in one, derives its name from Southwestern
Townships. The coloureds (mixed
ethnicity) and the Indians (from Asia)had their separate communities a little
closer to the city. South Africa before
the 1990’s was very segregated. Soweta is very populated, maybe 250,000 people
– houses everywhere. Most of the homes
were modest in size, but kept up well.
There were also the shanties.
Thoba told us the government had built them (the shanty dwellers) for
free better houses which they lived in for a couple of months. But then would move back to the shanties and
rent out the new homes in order to make a living. We visited Mandela’s home there. He lived a few houses away from Desmond
Tutu. It is the only place in the world
where two Nobel peace award recipients live on the same street. The house was very small and had evidence of
bullet holes where police harassed and tried to arrest Winnie when Mandela was
in prison. Impressive was a large
Catholic church we visited that was a refuge during the resistance movement
against apartheid. There were evidence
of bullet holes there also. It was in
Soweto in 1976 when the children were fired upon that the movement really got
momentum and attracted the attention of the rest of the world. Pressure was brought upon the South African
government that eventually led to the release of Nelson Mandela and the
freedoms of the blacks. It is hard to
conceive white people could be so brutal.
It happens when there is fear of losing power and retaliation.
July 15
We had another dinner invitation this
evening. The Smiths, the
mission office couple from Kinshasa who were here for dental work, were also
guests. They tell some interesting
stories about life in the DRC Congo. She
is afraid to eat much of the food there.
She says she lives on Snickers bars.
He told about having to go to the bank to get 70 pounds of Congolese
francs to give the missionaries their monthly allotment. The money is dirty, frayed and thin. It takes him most of the week to sort and
count it. It is then hand delivered to
the missionaries. There are no ATM
machines where the missionaries live for them to use debit cards like other
missionaries. Traffic is very chaotic
there as well.
Saturday we went shopping in Bruma, an
international community we pass through on the way to the airport. There is a small China town there plus other
nationalities. We found the small shops
selling African art, statues, clothing, etc.
We bought an original sculpture of a Zulu warrior, plus an ebony
nativity, aprons, an ostrich egg, and a skirt for me and shirt for Tom. That evening we were invited to a potluck at
the Webers at the MTC home.
The weather has turned much colder. We put the thermometer outside the front door
and it went down 10 degrees to 10 ° C. (About 40° F). The
HVAC unit in our office hasn’t been working for 3 weeks. And it is pretty cold until the sun warms it
up in the afternoon. It is cold when we
walk in the morning on top of the mall, but we wear our warm pajamas underneath
our other clothing and it isn’t too bad.
In the early morning before dawn we are able to see a quarter moon near
the next brightest lights in the sky, Venus and Jupiter.
We attended our last time at the temple for
awhile on Tuesday and then worked a shift on Friday evening. The temple is closed for a new roof and
carpeting until the 17th of September. Some of the temple workers are going home and
others were given new temporary jobs around here.
One day I moved about 80 memberships out of
the Tembisa Ward into the deceased file and unknown address file. The ward has only 593 members compared to 679
before. There are still over a hundred
members whom the missionaries are trying to contact, because the ward
leadership doesn’t know anything about them.
July 9
Wednesday everyone came together for an
indoor picnic in Flat #205 for a 4th of July Celebration. We had great food – pulled beef sandwiches,
potato salad, chips and dip, veggies and cookies or cupcakes for dessert. We also sang patriotic songs and Elder Hatch,
a former Utah State Senator, gave a short patriotic oration. We have a good time
socializing with the other missionaries here.
Sunday night we were invited to dinner at
the Larsons. He is in the legal
department. They had also invited Jeff
Clayton who is working here as general legal counsel. We had an interesting conversation
as Brother Clayton has lived in various parts of the world including Germany
and Independence, Missouri. He lives in
Bountiful and was the bishop for President Eyring and his family. We learned that President Eyring’s wife,
Kathy, has Alzheimers. What a mountain
he has to climb. (referring to a talk he gave in April Conference). Our empathy and regard for him has increased
immensely. It was also interesting to
learn of “the gatherers” in Far West, Missouri and the problems they cause due
to unemployment and the scarcity of jobs there.
Brother Clayton said that there will be two centers of the church in the
United States when Christ comes – one in Independence and one in Salt Lake.
July 2
Thursday we enjoyed a Skype session with
most of our children and grandchildren and all of the great grandchildren. They were having a family reunion in
Brighton, Utah and enjoying the Olympic site in Park City and doing family
Olympics. It was the best Skype session
yet, not only because it included so many people, but because it was so clear
and we could understand all that they were saying. Everyone of our posterity was there with the
exception of Kyle and Scott (on missions), Tyler and Glenn who couldn’t take
time off work, Hannah who was attending girl’s camp, and Brianne who didn’t
want to take time off school. We figure,
counting us, there are 50 members of our immediate family now. By the end of the year there will be 52 with
Melissa’s and Hillary’s babies due by then.
In this morning’s devotional a tribute was
made to the United States Independence Day.
We pledged allegiance to the flag and sang “The Star Spangled
Banner.” I got rather emotional when
giving the pledge. I realize how much I
love my country and what a blessing it is to be a citizen when I am far from
home.
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| Blantyre, Malawi street scene |
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| Overlooking Soweto |
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| Golden Peacock - Lilongwe, Malawi |
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| Tembisa Orphanage |
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