This week we took a Senior Couple field trip to TIFIE farms. This is Robert Workman's humanitarian project here in the DRC. (Google Robert Workman, TIFIE) TIFIE stands for Teaching Individuals and Families Independence Through Enterprise. This facility is about two and a half hours outside of Kinshasa.

It is definitely out in the bush. We passed rolling African hills and rivers. This facility is a farm. The goal of this farm seems to be two-fold. 1) to develop a better strain of Kasava plants and 2) teaching individuals, families, and villages how to become self-reliant and self-supporting. Kasava is the main stay of the Congolese diet.

The Kasava plant is a hearty leafy plant with tuberous roots. People pick the leaves, crush them in a mortar and pestle type affair. They then boil the leaves into a spinach-like dish. They put spices, onions, tomatoes, etc. into it and cook it.

The root of the Kasava plant is peeled, diced, soaked for a couple of days to leach out the arsenic resident in the plant, dried for several days in the sun, and then ground into a flour similar to corn meal. A dish called Foo-Foo is made of the flour and is eaten with the spinach type stuff. If you made play dough out of a coarse white flour and ate it - it would be foo-foo. (most African countries have a dish similar to foo-foo made from flour or corn meal that goes by different names.) Kasava grows without much water, and seems to be very hearty. Once a plant is pulled out of the ground, to harvest the roots, a branch may be cut into several 6 inch lengths, then laid in the ground and will produce a new plant. At TIFIE, in cooperation with USAID, they have developed a more hearty, quicker producing, and more nourishing plant - called Obama Kasava. The Kasava is harvested at TIFIE by several nearby villages. The villages rotate turns harvesting the product. A daily quota is set and each member of the work team is paid for his/her days work. There is a daily quota of harvest that must be met before they are paid. Also, as a bonus, the smaller Kasava roots are given to the workers. So the daily operation of harvest is 1) pull the plant from the ground, 2) cut off the tuber/roots, 3) haul the tubers to the collection point, 4) sort the tubers into sizes, 5) peel the outside tough skin off of the tuber, 6) load them in containers for processing. The teams are working at full speed to make the daily production goal.

The Kasava is then dried in the open, the bagged and sent to be ground into flour. Then, after the villages are taught how to care for and harvest the crop, they are given plant cuttings, then TIFIE brings in their tractors, creates a "farm" area in the village, helps them get started and then the village can grow, harvest, and sell the Kasava in the market place. Thus gaining self-reliance and independence from multi-generational poverty. They also raise rabbits for food. They are implementing a project now that teaches villages how to raise, slaughterer, and market the rabbits. They will provide each family with a pair of rabbits and let nature do the rest. This one more effort by good people to break the chain of poverty in Africa.

Harmon Grant and Music

Suzanne has coordinated the Harmon Music Grant in the DR Congo since we arrived. The Harmon Grant provides keyboards/pianos to those who will learn basic music conducting skills and how to play the piano. Basically, if a person will agree to learn music, and then be willing to share their musical talents with others by playing for Church meetings or teaching others to play/conduct,the Harmon Grant provides a keyboard for them. The Congolese love music. They love to sing the hymns of the Church. They have a natural ability to sing on key. Example: recently, one of our volunteers in the office had a birthday, Suzanne made a birthday cake (perhaps his first cake ever) and there were several PEF applicants and other students in the office. They sang "happy birthday" to him in perfect harmony. They did it once in French, then regrouped to determine who would sing what parts, the sang it again in French, then English, then Lingala. We have never heard such a great version of Happy Birthday. Wherever we go, people seek out Suzanne and ask for music lessons. Many wards do not have pianist. In fact, many wards do not have pianos. From young children to even the Area 70 are numbered among Suzanne's students Here is a Member of the Quorum of Seventy learning simple hymns with Suzanne. One of Suzanne's early students. This young sister was asked to lead the music in Sacrament Meeting. She had never led music and did not know how to lead music correctly. Here she has just finished the conducting course and is very proud of herself. The Seminary and Institute Secretary taking lessons. At Suzanne's discretion, students may receive a keyboard - on loan - with which to practice. Then, when they have completed the music courses and demonstrated their willingness to serve others or play for meetings - and when their bishop and stake president have signed off, they may receive the key board to keep. One of Suzanne's students had never played piano before starting lessons. He was given a keyboard on which to practice. He took it home and practiced tirelessly. We attended a stake conference, and there he was, playing prelude music. This is a great program. Joseph is a very musical young man. He and Suzanne have worked together with choirs and the like. He has been teaching several people in his stake to play the piano. It is important that good efforts continue after we are gone Suzanne and her legion of fans..

Greetings from Africa. It has been a while. The Perpetual Education Fund is progressing. These kids are awesome. We love working with them. We are seeing young adults who are progressing in school, finding jobs, and changing their lives. In our spare time, we have been to a couple of orphanages to play and visit. Our French friends, Eric and Chantal invited us to go to an orphanage of older children to play one Saturday. A young French man is here teaching at the French School. (his wife lives in Geneva and is friends with Eric and Chatal - who live in France, but just accros the border from Geneva - are friends with his wife. His wife's ward in Geneva had sent some money to buy food and stuff for them. We went out, organized soccer and frisby games and visited.

The man who runs the home has a large house he has built and takes in older kids off the street. He uses his own money from his job to support them.

They played the drums and sang to us. They love to sing and dance.

Suzanne with one of the younger kids

They have a home made large checker board that uses bottle caps for checkers. They are really good. They don't have a lot of things to do. The kids beat all of us soundly.

The Geneva ward had sent coloring and craft books for the kids. They loved it.

The other orphanage we visit has many many needs. We decided to build some beds and tables for the kids. The kids are sleeping on the bare ground and getting bug bites etc. There table broke apart, so they have no place to eat. Hense, the bed and table project. Elder Billings and I built the prototype. One of our young friends came by to help.

Sister Billings is heading the sewing project to make clothing for the kids. There is so much to do and so little time and resources to do it all. But we enjoy helping when and where we can.

CBS 60 Minute view of DR Congo

This was sent to us. We do not have TV here, so we did not see it first hand look at the street scenes.  That is how it is here.  The walk those boys take to rehearsal look just like the trails we go on with the Humanitarian couple when they show us well sites.  The boys house is pretty nice and far above the standard place to live.  The conductor has a really nice place!  Way, Way above standard.  We wanted to share this as it is very true to life Congo.   http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7404678n&tag=contentMain;contentAux   Or   60minutesovertime.com  

Building Chapels, Building Self-Reliance

In the DR Congo, the two missions realize approximately 500 convert baptisms per month. That amounts to almost a ward a month. The retention and activity rate remain high. The Congolese people are very spiritual, open, and love the Lord. They have very few books to read, however most have a Bible. They read the Bible, are conversant with the scriptures, and easily accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They live in great poverty and difficulties. Unemployment, disease, and poverty. However, one of the favorite hymns that they sing whenever hymns are sung is, "Count Your Many Blessings." A joy comes into their lives with the Gospel. Temporally, it remains difficult, but the hope, faith, and promise of eternity fills their hearts. A dual problem arises with high growth rates and unemployment. 1. What do we use for meeting houses if we convert a ward a month? I recently saw retention figures showing 95% retention over the past 13 month period. Many wards have 110% attendance at sacrament meetings - high activity rates and many non-member visitors. 2. How to we help provide opportunity for members to gain the requisite skills to find work. This question has pre-occupied the thinking of the Church, as the member population grows rapidly in developing countries. BUILDING CONCEPT

Last year, the Church announced the intention to create a pilot program in the DR Congo. If the Church could facilitate training of members in the building skills, members could find employment or create jobs for themselves. The First Presidency approved a plan to build more modest chapels using the membership to do so. As a young missionary in France, I briefly participated in the volunteer or missionary building efforts then in place. As I finished my mission, my mission president asked if I and a few others would extend our missions for a month or two to help with the construction of a chapel in Nice, France. There, French, Swiss, and Belgian young men were called as labor missionaries to construct the new chapel. It was a wonderful program, these young men learned skills and trades as well as providing a great service. This program was discontinued in the mid 1960's. Revisiting the concept, the Presiding Bishopric, under the direction of the First Presidency, put a new plan in place. A program to train worthy individuals (focusing mostly on return missionaries) in the building trades, then hiring some of them to construct chapels. Suzanne and I were fortunate enough to be in a small meeting with Bishop Burton, the Presiding Bishop of the Church, as details were set in place. Because the Perpetual Education Fund should play a role in the education process, we were invited.

There, Bishop Burton made it very clear that "this is a training program, not an employment, or building program." And, that "Return missionaries are the prime target for this effort." A native French Brother was assigned to direct the effort. He is from Salt Lake and has been involved in building and has spent much time in Africa directing temporal affairs of the Church. Also, an extremely talented and spiritual brother from France was assigned to lead the projects here in Africa. In 6 months time, the plans were completed, working with LDS Business College in Salt Lake City, instruction manuals, "how to" videos, and curriculum were developed. And the program initiated. About this time a brother retired from a Salt Lake City college where he had taught construction techniques for 30 years. He and his wife decided to serve a mission. He mentioned to his sister that he would love to serve a mission teaching building principle in an emerging nation to help return missionaries become equipped with skills that would help them become employed and self-reliant. His sister happened to work at Church headquarters and mentioned to Bishop Burton about her brother's desire. To which Bishop Burton replied, "you just answered my prayers, where is he?" Elder and Sister Billings arrived in the DR Congo - Kinshasa Mission three weeks ago. They are truly an answer to prayer.

Here is a typical class at work with Elder and Sister Billings. preparing the site, laying a foundation, and basic masonry. The young man in the green shirt in front is one of our PEF students and former volunteer at the PEF Service Center. Elder and Sister do not speak French, and this young man was hired as their interpreter. We hated to lose him, but are pleased that he found employment and can be of great service while the Billings learn to speak French. (For the Huntsman family, he served with Johnny in South Africa.)

Yesterday, Elder Billings was teaching them to make a "saw horse" in order to learn basic measuring and planning skills. The interpreter had no idea what a saw horse was. It took quite a bit of explaining to get that point across. It was perhaps the first saw horse in the DR Congo. By the way, the name for a saw horse is "trétaux."

There are very few power tools in the DR Congo. Most of the work is done by hand saws, hammer and nails, etc. These pictures were taken at the training site behind the Kinshasa Stake Center. The Seminary and Institute Building which houses the Seminary and Institute facility, the Center for Young Adults, and the PEF Service Center are adjacent. They hold classroom theory in the class-room next our our office in the morning, then practical application on the practice area outside.

Elder Billings on the training site doing the two things he loves best - teaching young people how to build properly - and serving the Lord as a missionary.

Sister Billings using a desk in our office to keep up with the administrative and keeping a journal of the progress. There are currently two chapels being built by previously trained teams of return missionaries in the Kinshasa area. 20 more chapels are in the planning stage to meet the growing needs in throughout the DR Congo. One does not have to look very far to see the hand of the Lord in the work in Africa.

Eustache Ilunga, is the Director of the Employment Resource Center for the Church in DR Congo. He is one of our very good friends, and also our Stake President. He is very forward thinking and always looking for ways to help people become employed and self-reliant. A year and a half ago, in working with one of the local stakes, he and that stake president approached a local micro-bank about how they might make micro-loans to members who had small businesses. Now, a small business in the DR Congo consists of selling goods or services along the roadside.

These are typical street scenes with people selling from baskets on their heads and small "boutiques" of people sitting on the side of the road selling things. The buildings in the background are real stores. Now, over a year and a half ago, these twenty people have received loans and paid them back with interest and most of their businesses are doing well. A few month ago, due largely to the success of the this micro-loan experiment, the Church sent people over from Salt Lake to expand a pilot program that is being used in South America. The two originators of the concept, were two guys who had done well in business and retired early. They were bored and collaborated on a program for the Church to teach business principles centered on self-reliance. We were invited to attend the initial training program. It was really well done and generated a good deal of enthusiasm among the pilot group.

Photo of the initial training of priesthood leaders for the project. Priesthood leaders and mentors were selected to teach and mentor each of the groups. Each team had a mentor who taught them, using the prepared materials. The program model is to find success in three basic areas. Their business, their home, and their community. By enlarging the model to include the family and the community, the effort does more than business, it improves their families and the community becomes better because the business people look outward. Creating cleaner, safer, and more friendly neighborhoods. The materials are really well done and allow mentors and leaders to quickly become good teachers. Two stakes were chosen to pilot the program - Ngalema and Kimbanseke. The model used was that which has been successful with the global micro loan experience. Groups/teams of five were established. Each member of the team had a different business, but they learned and worked in concert. They formed, in effect, support groups. Each group meeting weekly to encourage and hold accountable the other members of the group. At the same time, the employment resource center (ERC) continued to teach and mentor. Saturday, we were invited to the graduation ceremony for the Ngalema stake. About 30 people received certificates of graduation. Two sisters bore testimony of how the training, the program, and their team members had increased their success in the three areas of emphasis - their business, their home, and their community.

A group of sisters who graduated from the program. The Ngalema stake president spoke and reminded the participants that the diploma was only the start, that they should continue in their efforts. Also, three mciro-banks were invited. The one that made the initial loans to the 25 people from masina reported that these twenty five were the model of excellence. They had faithfully repaid the loans and had were continuing to improve their businesses. He stated that his bank would encourage other members of the the Church to visit his bank. The two other banks that were invited seemed very eager to have this new group as customers.

most of the participants were women. This seems consistent with what I have read concerning micro banking and third world entrepreneurs. Leslie Tunks turned us onto a great book Banker to the Poor by Mohammad Yunus. The woman pictured above has started smoking fish and selling them along side the road, another took advantage of the Church's Relief Society sewing classes, and makes clothing. As you will note all of the women had on beautiful Congolese dresses. One couple has a "play station location where they rent computer and play station to kids. Another sold bread, one made small cakes and sold them.

The Play Station Couple

These kinds of programs are sorely needed in the DR Congo. The graduates were singing and dancing and very proud of themselves. They had accomplished a good thing. They were fighting poverty at its very core, unemployment. We are glad to belong to a Church that does so much for its people.

An Incredible Woman

Note: actual location and names are not used in this blog due to caution against child trafficking. STOP CHILD TRAFFICKING There are many people who do tremendously heroic things here in the DR Congo. On of them is a woman who runs an orphanage. She has no funding, no support, and no real means to support herself and the 20 or so orphans she cares for. She is a member of the Church who saw the need and responded to it. She lives in a remote village from the center of town. She has been caring for orphans for 15 years. We came to know of her through one of our friends. At Christmas-time, we received a package from our kids containing many wonderful items that we could not get in the DRC. Emily sent over 24 pair of children's underwear (slips, in French). We finally had an opportunity to deliver them to her this weekend. We went with the Hatches and a Congolese friend to visit her. Between us, We made peanut butter sandwiches and cookies, bought bananas,a 50lb bag of rice, a ream of paper, pencils, a ball, and some other little things.

Getting there was not an easy car ride. When we arrived we met a wonderful courageous women. She had very little. The physical facilities were very meager. In the yard was a large hole - surrounded by bamboo poles warning you to stay away. It was their cesspool and garbage pit. When it got full, they dug another one. Also in the yard were three sewing machines (treadle type as she has no electricity). She told us that the tarp/tent covering the sewing area had recently been torn off during a strong rain/wind storm. We learned that she taught sewing lessons to the women of her neighborhood. If a person can sew, they can earn a living. She teaches the classes for free, then for ten dollars per month a person can use the sewing machine to make clothing, etc. and earn a living. There are 30 women in the neighborhood who are in her program. She uses the money from the use of the machines to defray costs of the orphanage.

Suzanne gave her the ream of paper, and the woman almost wept. She said that she had not had paper for her little school for some time. Oh yea, she also runs a school for the orphanage children, and any other neighborhood children willing to come. There is a man who is crippled, and has some education, who comes and teaches the children. He teaches the basics of math, reading, and French. In the villages most people speak Lingala. Many poor village children do not speak French, which becomes a disadvantage when they leave the village to work or study in the city. Here all of the children speak French because the great man has taught them French. The school room is a 10X10 room with about 20 children of varying ages.

The woman named the orphanage after her father. She said that in her time as a young woman, girls did not go to school. Her father determined that his girls would receive education. I asked her if others in the village gave her father a bad time about this. She said that he had been criticized by the other men in the village. Women were to marry, not become educated. He told them that his girls would be educated. Now, she is educating more girls and boys a generation later.

The children sleep on mats on the concrete floor. One little room for the boys, and another for the girls. Food is cooked outside on a charcoal stove. A woman was washing children's clothing in a bucket, the water for which she had brought out of the steam that runs near by and heated over the charcoal stove. The water was, of course, polluted in the stream - fortunately she boiled it first. The kids have the clothes on their backs and maybe a few other pieces of clothing they all share. But, no one look unhappy, underfed, or unloved. The kids loved the ball and started a soccer game right away. Of course, the old white guy kicked it into the cesspool hole on the first kick. But, undaunted one of the kids jumped into the pit, retrieved the ball and the game went on. She was very grateful for the sandwiches, bananas, and cookies. Especially, she was happy to get the rice. She told the Hatches that when they had sent out a bag of rice and beans a couple of months ago, that they were running out of food and she was praying for help - and here came 100 lbs of rice and beans. Tender mercies. We met a remarkable young boy there, a 13 year old Teacher's Quorum President in his ward, who has been in the orphanage since he was 1 year old. He assists now with others and is a role model for the children. He told us he is preparing to go on a mission when is turns 19. He had attended the youth conference we showed in an earlier blog, and had received a copy of the Book of Mormon. We will give him a Bible next time we see him. And, a white shirt and tie. Elder Hatch, will leave pants, belts, and ties for him - as they are done and going home next week. This boy will raise children who will become a great generation of responsible citizens. We would like to be here when he returns from his mission and assist him to obtain a PEF loan and attend college. By the way, the underwear was a great hit. Most of the orphans were in class along with many of the neighborhood kids. We only had enough underwear for the orphans, so the woman will give them to them later. But a couple of the young ones were happy as they could be with real underwear.

Among the poverty, filth, and tough conditions we found an incredible women who had decided to help others and make people around her better. Women sewing as an alternative to prostitution or worse. Children leaning basic education skills. A small community and perhaps a nation becoming better because of her. We realize that we have so much, and she so little. Yet, she does more that we do to improve the lot of others. We think that others with more could contribute to this woman's effort to serve. If we do, it will make her life and effort easier. If we don't, we don't, and she will continue to do what she does with grace and love and gratitude to her Heavenly Father for her blessings. We have been privileged to meet a great woman.