PERPETUAL EDUCATION FUND

Pictures: Our favorite student Pepitho, a group of students at an orientation, the Mont Ngafula Stake President addressing the students in his stake.

Africa, as a continent, faces immense problems with hunger, unemployment, lack of water, and a general sense of hopelessness.

In the DR Congo, there is an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. We live in Kinshasa, a city who reports to have 8 million people, but common consent is that there are more like 15 million people living in the Kinshasa environs. The city is very large, it spreads over many miles. People are everywhere. They live in homes, apartments, hovels, and a great many on the street.

Unemployment is at 90 percent. Over 85% of the DR Congo and Africa in general are without clean drinking water, 80% of Congolese do not have electricity. Those who have electricity, only have it part time. Our apartment, is on US Government property and we have electricity provided by the power company or on generator 99% of the time. At our office, we have electricity about 50% of the time.

There is often a vacant hopeless look on peoples faces and in their eyes.

We have seen light come into those faces and eyes as we work here. When clean water wells are dug, there is true light and laughter in the eyes of those who will receive the blessing of fresh water.

The other light that comes into the lives of people from the blessings of the Living Water promised by Jesus Christ. Our young missionaries are valiant in their teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These young men and women (all African - it is far too dangerous for young white missionaries in the DR Congo) live in small apartments, without electricity or water. They cook on charcoal stove in there front yards. But they work tirelessly to bring to gospel to their neighbors. Each month this mission baptizes around 300 people. The Lubumbashi mission (the other half of the DR Congo) baptizes about the same number. When one accepts the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they find the light of Christ. They see beyond the immediate poverty and despair. They see eternity. (the last 12 months shows a 97% retention rate)

They have hope.

We are focused on these young men and women who return home after their missions. They have sacrificed much to serve the Lord. Now, they return home wanting to start their new lives, marry, raise a family, work, serve. But, they see at home the hopelessness of finding a job or earning a decent living. They would go to school, but that is expensive for them, so often they look elsewhere. They will leave for South Africa, or if they can find a way, for Europe. They leave their country in the hands of others.

Our mission is not just to help them find education, but to assist them to remain here in the Congo - to make it a better place.

There is here now a generation of men and women, who, when they finished their missions, committed to remaining here, building a life, and helping the Church grow. These are thirty year old bishops, and 40 year old stake presidents. They have struggled and overcome the odds to find work, raise families, lead the Church, and change their world.

They now see the next generation coming up, the young returned missionaries. They have asked for and prepared the way for the Perpetual Education Fund to come to DR Congo.

Suzanne and I are extremely blessed to be here at the beginning of this great work. The Perpetual Education Fund is a Priesthood led operation. We are simply putting the pieces in place.

We work with 5 wonderful Stake Presidents. Each of these Stake Presidents has hundreds of returned missionaries in their stakes who need employment. One of them, an incredible leader, asked Suzanne and I, with tears in his eyes, to "help me help all of my young people."

So, here is how the PEF works.

In the beginning, each stake president (4 stakes) chose twenty of his top returned missionaries to start the program. (Most of these stakes have 9 or 10 big wards in them), so each bishop could select 2 or so from their wards. Each young person was deemed to have three key elements before they could be chosen for the program: Worthiness - they need to live the commandments. Need - a real financial need. Ambition - An inward commitment and pattern of behavior that demonstrates eagerness to get ahead and work hard.

We then work within each stake with these 20 chosen kids. They must find a way to open a checking account with 10 dollars US (not much for most of us, but a lot for these kids), then commit to pay $5 per month while they are in school. At the completion of school and 8 months after graduation, their loan is amortized over 8 years. Then they are free. They feel free. They feel self-reliant and self-confident. Autonome in French.

We have three partners in the program. The Institute - the education arm of the Church. The Employment Resource Centers - the employment arm of the church. And the finance department of the Temporal Affairs office of the Church.

Once the potential student has been identified, they go through a four session course taught by the Institute Teachers. This course teaches them to dream. Dream about what they want to be. Then it assists them in identifying what their skills and talents are, and directs them towards a career. Then it helps them assess the schools in the area that could help them gain the appropriate education. Then they learn budgeting and finances (which most have never thought of before.)

The Employment Resource Center has additional Career Workshops to provide more help in selecting a field and a school, then, near graduation, they offer training and counselling on how to prepare for the job search, how to interview, how to win the job.

With this knowledge, they then apply for the PEF loan. The application is followed by the PEF couple (us), then reviewed by the employment services director to ensure that their plan will lead to employment and better income.

The Institute coordinator reviews the loan application to ensure that the individual has chosen well, can repay the loan, and continue to work hard.

Finally, we review it one more time, and it is sent to our area headquarters, then on to SLC for loan dispersal.

The average loan in about 2,000 dollars for a 3 year program. We encourage the kids to seek education and training that will lead quickly to employment. If they can do so with a nine month course, their loan will probably be a few hundred dollars. There are not a lot of PHD level jobs in the Congo. But there are plenty of skill level jobs that will earn them decent incomes. As we look out of our living room window, we watch a 30 story building being built. They will need skilled workers, electricians, air-conditioning specialists, plumbers, etc., to complete the building. Once it is complete, it will have retail, office, and residences in it.

The Congo is coming into the age of electronics. Many of our students are applying to a school that offer a Cisco International Certificate. This certificate will open doors to good jobs for them.

As a side note. Stakes are teaching entrepreneurial classes and with the help of a great leader at the Employment Services Center (Russel, who was featured in an earlier blog) micro loans have been secured to help these people improve their small business ventures.

One of our favorite students, a young man named Pepitho, is in the Cisco program. We recently visited the school, and the director identified Pepitho as their top student. He is a returned missionary who speaks good English and has a fire in his belly. He comes with us as we present orientation meetings for new candidates. He says, "I dreamed of becoming a software engineer. When I returned from my mission, I had no idea how to fulfill that dream. Then, my stake president came to me with an opportunity to receive a PEF loan. Now, I am half way through my program, I already have a job as a help desk person at the local cell phone company, upon graduation I will be advanced in the company as a software specialist, and will soon be able to get married and start my life." He leaves his house at 6:00 am. If he can catch a ride into the city, he can be to school by 9, and then to work until late. Then he does his church calling, teaches an English class, gets home at midnight, and then starts over again. And, he has a beautiful girl friend, whom he will take to the Temple to be married soon.

We can take Pepitho's story and times it by hundreds of lives of all these unbelievable kids we meet. Yesterday, at a school for finance and banking we visited, the director was giving us a tour, when we ran into one of our students. He came over to say hello, and the director told us that the young man was not only a great student, but he was mentoring other students. Payday for us every day....

So, we have started 4 stakes with 2o kids each. Now, the first stake to start is sending the next 20 through the process. We set schedules with the Institute teachers and stake presidents today for the Planning for Success courses to teach and enroll over two hundred more kids by the end of the year.

We met with the 5th stake today to start their preparation for coming on board.

Today, we also spoke with the Area Seventy who wants to take the program to the other three large cities in the Congo. Which means will will travel to the other parts of the Congo to begin. You have to fly, since there are no roads to travel in-land. For those political geographers, we will not travel to the northeast, where it is less safe.

We have establish three values for our efforts.

Integrity - because poverty yields corruption, we insist on absolute honesty. We require all schools to have bank accounts. (this may sound silly, but many don't, they just take the money and often overcharge and share the difference with the school, the teachers, and sometimes even with students). We will not allow that. All we do and all that takes place must be with integrity.

Compliance - We will ensure that we are compliant with Church policy and procedures. If we do it right the first time, the program will be well founded and correct.

Sustainability - Since the program is priesthood based, we work to ensure that the priesthood, namely the bishops and stake presidents own responsibility for the program. We will be gone in 18 months, but the program must remain. I have heard stories of the PEF being totally dependent upon the missionary couples, and falters when they leave. We aspire to leave and not have to be replaced. We believe this is possible. We tell the stake presidents up front, that it is their program and their responsibility. But then, they know that. It is their kids they are working for. And, the leadership has been incredible. The Institute teachers are eager and really get into teaching the kids. The Employment Resource Center is 100% behind the program.

Being a French speaking country poses its share of language problems. My French is coming back and I do OK. Suzanne is learning, but speaks the international language of caring. The French here is actually a very pure French. The accent is a little different, but the French is good. I am frequently asked if I am French or from France. I guess that is better than being told I speak like an American. I guess my French days still carry the French pronunciation and accent.

At the end of the day, we feel good that their is hope, dreams, and opportunity for success.

NEO-NATAL RESUSCITATION CLASS

This week we had a very unique experience. The Humanitarian Service Couple, the Bingham's from Eureka, California, coordinated a training event for nurses, doctors, and midwives in our area. The Doctors Ngoy, husband and wife, doctors lead the training.

The Ngoy's both practice medicine in Kinshasa. They give an extraordinary amount of their time to training others on neo-natal resuscitation. Hospital facilities are old and insufficient. Many babies die each day in countries like DR Congo because doctors, nurses, and midwives do not know the techniques of resuscitation or lack the simple tools with which to perform the procedure.

Each participant received a neo-natal resuscitation kit, furnished by the Church. There were about seventy people at the training, representing 40 hospitals and clinics.

The day before the training, Dr Ngoy (husband) delivered twelve babies. One of them would not breath. He performed the procedure he taught in the class and saved the baby' s life.

The last time the class was taught, the Humanitarian Couple who were here received a phone call the following day. A nurse in the middle of nowhere, who had attended the class, was yelling, laughing, and crying on the telephone. "We just saved our first baby, thank you, thank you, thank you."

The doctors presented classroom study, then broke up into small groups to practice the procedure on "dummy" babies. Each participant went away with new knowledge, new techniques, new tools, and new hope to save more babies.

Mom and the other sister missionaries made banana bread for snack. Lunch was fried chicken and french fries. Now, to you who have Kentucky Fried Chicken on every corner, that is not a big deal. Elder Bingham really looked and found the only fried chicken place in the Congo. And, it was actually chicken, not monkey disguised as chicken.

The Church rented the facility (an old Catholic Hospital build by the Belgians in the 50's) and paid for 3 hours per day for the generator, otherwise no electricity and no running water. The Church also furnished the manuals and the kits. And, of course paid for the lunch.

It was one of the most gratifying activities we have been part of.

The Church is assisting the Congolese on several fronts:

• Neo Natal Resuscitation
• Clean water wells
• Perpetual Education
• A new chapel building program that will employ returned missionaries and teach them skills
• English classes
• next week, the wheel chair specialists are coming from Salt Lake to help with a program to donate 2000 wheel chairs.
• Each stake has a sewing class for women, then they will attend an entrepreneur class

We continue to be thankful for our call to the DR Congo. We look around at the poverty, and the other problems, and sometimes think there is just too much to do.

I am reminded of the story I heard years ago of the man who walks to the beach only to find thousands and thousands of star fish washed ashore with the tide. He realizes that they will die if they are not helped back into the sea. He sees a young girl running up and down the beach throwing star fish back into the sea. He calls to her saying that she cannot possibly save them all. To which she replies, "But, I can save the ones I can touch." That is how we feel.

FABRIC SHOPPING IN THE CONGO

So, Suzanne, Sister Headlee, the mission president's wife, and Sister Hatch, of the office couple (in the Congolese fabric dress) decided to go fabric shopping. Fabric is a very big deal in the Congo. See below the women in their traditional Congolese dresses. The one by herself is just going to work, the three women together were at an Employment Division meeting.

In the Congo, every day is prom day. On international Women's Day, they made a special fabric and many many women bought the fabric and made dresses. The woman who is seated, with the headdress in the picture of the three women is wearing an International Women's Day Dress

The place we went shopping is called the "beach." It is not far from the Congo River and it is where the boats from other area dock - hence, the beach. I was hoping for sand, life guards, and an occasional bikini, and agreed to go along, boy, was I disappointed.

There are a gazillion little booths where women sell lengths of fabric. The are all 45 inches wide by six yards. They are colorful and multi designs. Some are a little strange. We have seen fabric with big high heel shoes in the design, flip flops, and even spark plugs.

For us the prices started about 25 dollars per piece. In the end the price is about ten dollars per piece after you haggle for several minutes. It is certainly more fun that Fabric Depot, and you don't have to stand in those interminal lines while waiting to get a piece of fabric cut to the desired size.

Suzanne's initial fabric purchases are to make a couple of purse/bags, and a table cover. No, she is not making a dress out of the chicken fabric.

Suzanne bought some really cool fabric. If you want a Congolese dress, just let us know. We will take many more Congolese women dressed in their beautiful dresses and do an entire post on "Every Day is Prom Day."

CLEAN WATER CONTINUED

It is the children that are most effected by the lack of clean water.

Waterborne pathogens cause many deaths among children.

We met with tribal chiefs. Sitting at the rear right corner is the chief of this village. We put the tribal council in the back of the pick up and headed out to see prospective water well sites. The man standing in the rear of the truck, wearing the white shirt and tie, is the man who found the Humanitarian Aid Couple and presented the projects.

The little man with Suzanne owns the property where one well is proposed. He wanted to show that Suzanne was not the shortest person in the Congo. He was very excited to have the well on his land.

The family in the picture volunteered their property for another well site. We took the picture in their kitchen. They cook out of doors on charcoal pits. They have no electricity, no running water, and this is their kitchen. They were happy and friendly. They asked for the blessing of clean water near them. The mother and children walk several miles and wait in long lines, sometimes for hours to get unclean water. We told them that if the well was built on their property that they would have lines of people collecting water on their front "lawn" most of the day. They said it would be worth it for their people to have clean water.

A small charge is assessed for water. Each person pays about 20 cents for their daily water. The money goes into a fund to repair and improve the site and equipment. The pumps may break, etc.

Digging The Wells

Most wells are hand dug. One worker starts digging, when he reaches 3 meters, a 3 meeter in diameter cylinder is placed in the hole, the next worker digs three meters, and another cylinder (pipe) is placed in the hole, this continues until they are at least 12 meters deep and have 3 meters of standing water.

I asked, if it is that simple, why don't they have hundreds of wells. The answer was, money. It cost a couple of thousand dollars for the pump, plus the tower, the cement to create gathering stations, etc. They just don't have the money. Also, there is some engineering and common practices that make a good well. At a couple of the sites, the tribe leadership wanted to put the wells in locations where water rain run-off would contaminate the well, or too close to the latrines.

Henry David Thoreau said at Walden Pond, "the necessaries of life can easily enough be put into the several headings of food, fuel, shelter, and clothing. Only then can a man entertain the true problems of life with an attitude of hope and a prospect of success."

Finding clean water is one of the steps to necessaries of life, and provides the hope to entertain the other prospects of life.

FUTURE BLOGS STILL TO COME: SHOPPING FOR FABRIC, PERPETUAL EDUCATION BEGINS IN MONT NGUFULA, EMPLOYMENT SEMINAR TO CHANGE LIVES.

CLEAN WATER PROJECTS IN CONGO VILLAGES

There are tow significant issues in the DR Congo: Water and Unemployment. This blog entry concerns water. We will do an employment blog later.

(blog note: there are many pictures to download, but each picture is taking about 15 minutes to load, and it is now 10:35pm Congo time, and I have to get to bed. I will download more pictures in am. Plus, a wild storm just blew in with wind lightning, thunder, and rain. This means we will loose electricity any minute and internet. So see you in the morning)

Approximately 85% of Congolese are without clean water. By clean water we mean drinkable water. There is water available, but it is mainly unsafe, unclean, and carries all sorts of water borne pathogens. Most commonly, typhoid, diarrhea, worms, cysts, etc. Most villages, towns, and cities experience disease and death due to the water. We talked with people today who expressed that their families are sick, their children dying because of the water.

The Church has a clean water initiative which is saving lives and lessoning the burdens of hundreds of thousands of people. The most notable project in Luputa now services over 250,000 people who have moved to be close to this amazing water source.

The subterranean water level is fairly shallow perhaps 9 meters. This means that wells can be dug and pumps established to bring sufficient amounts of water to supply large communities. Also, there are clear water springs throughout the country. Water can be captured and pumped.

One clean water team was at Luputa recently, when a mother approached them with tears saying that the children of the village were now safe, they were not sick, they did not die, and that she was so grateful for their kindness and humanitarian spirit.

Our story begins last week. The Bingham's from Eureka, California, are the Humanitarian - Clean Water Couple. They were travelling to look at potential water projects along a very crowded highway (most highways are crowded with cars and people). They hit a traffic jam (again not at all uncommon). There are street vendors, people who walk between cars selling things, there are street beggars who walk between cars begging, and then there are those who are just looking for unlocked doors so they can reach in and steal things. We always keep our doors and windows closed and locked. Out of the blue, a little man dressed in a white shirt and tie, jumped in front of their car, waving at them. He approached the driver's window. They thought he was probably just someone else trying to sell or steal something. He pointed to their missionary badges and held up a presentation. They saw that is was a water project. So, they pulled over to talk with him. He explained that he had been looking for them, that he had walked into town (about 25 miles) to see them last week, but they were not in the office. This week he decided to try again, and to his amazement, he saw them stuck in traffic. They took his proposal, and placed in on the stack of others pilling their desk. Then, a week later, he appeared in their office. For him to get into their office was somewhat of a miracle. He got through a gate guard, a key pad door, several other check points, and into their office. He simply said, "have you read my proposal?" They had not. They sought one of the translators in the office and looked at his proposal. It was neatly typed, well prepared, well thought out, and with a lower price tag than others they had reviewed. They were touched by this man, touched by his plan, touched by the Spirit. So, today, we went with them to see his proposed project.

We met with village chiefs and reviewed the areas. We visited six potential well sites, saw amazing people, and things.

We visited one clean water pumping area where people stood in line to get fresh water. It was a blessing to them to have clean water. The chief expressed that that was not nearly enough to serve the thousands of people near by who were without clean water.

Typically, women and children will walk up to 10 miles each way, wait in lines for hours to access clean water.

In the attached pictures you will see the lines of people at the clean water site, women and children carrying heavy water containers on their heads from dirty water areas to have water with which to cook, clean, and bathe. You will see women washing cloths in dirty water streams, people carrying water to their homes. Chief and village council meetings where we discussed clean water projects. Children and families who are in the area that is being considered. We even threw in some coconut and papaya trees. And pictures of the roadside markets, and roadways. Even some of the crowed areas we passed through.

We have talked about Cassava before it is a plant that provides the mainstay of the Congolese diet. They take the leaves and grind them up to make a pasty kind of stuff which the eat, and they grind the root up to make a meal or flour with which they make breads etc. We came upon a woman who was grinding cassava leaves on her front porch and was happy to let us take a picture of her.

The Binghams are writing up a proposal for the project and submitting it to Salt Lake City for approval.

We were deeply touched by the spirit and plight of the people we visited.

SATURDAY IS SHOPPING DAY

Today, we did not have anything on our agenda. Usually on Saturday, we have a meeting of some kind. For the next several Saturdays, we have Young Adult Conferences, Employment Resource Career Conferences, and Perpetual Education Council Meetings. Because there are no evening meetings in the church here (1. Too risky to be out after dark, 2. Mosquito time) we hold a lot of meetings during the day on Saturday.

We usually go shopping on Saturday am. If we get to the grocery stores by 8:00 am. We have lots of options. In the first picture, the orange building is a block away from our apartment. Hassan and Frere. It is a Jewish/Lebanese market. We like their meat and cheese. They honor the Jewish Sabbath and close Friday at sundown and stay closed until Sat. at sundown. So, we cannot shop there on Saturday a.m.

The next photos are on the way to City Market. From the roof, the city looks better than it does from street level. These pictures are of the streets on the way to city market. Please note the one where you can see street entrepreneurs - one shows a barber shop (this is where Suzanne goes - not) and next to it is the local copy center. Some enterprising young man has an old photocopier (don't know where the electricity comes from). He always has a line of people waiting to make copies. He also seems to sell pre-paid phone cards, and on his electrical cord he has cell phone charger and charges to recharge one's cell phone.

Also pictured is our favorite fruit stand. "Mama" speaks French, English, Lingali, and probably some swahilli. She is very nice and always picks out good fruits and vegetables for us.

The small street shop (actually people sitting on the ground or a plastic chair selling stuff) is an option.

Finally, there is "bread on the head lady" or there is" 7-11 on the head lady." You can always grab a quick meal from them.

FROM OUR ROOF TOP

This is our rooftop. We had a storm this morning lasting till about noon, then it got nice, I mean really nice. On the way home Suzanne said, "wow, look at the sky it is totally blue, let's go up on the roof and take picture." So we did. This is our roof top. There are nice tables and chairs in a covered area. We have not yet had dinner up here, but should soon.

You can see the Congo River in the background. The river curves around our area and we can see it from three sides of the roof top. This view looks over Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo, a different country. The river is very wide, and deep (the deepest river in the world).

A few miles below, Kinshasa, the Congo narrows and creates Livingstone Falls. (of, Dr. Livingstone, I presume.) They are not negotiable. I have asked about rafting or Kayaking, and am told no way, no how. We hope to go to them soon, and see for ourselves.

The fountain is in the plaza in front of our building. It is part of the tribute to 30 June, 1960, when Zaire (then Belgian Congo) declared independence from Belgian. Zaire was later renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo. On weekends they light up the fountain with colored lights and play music. The lights are nice, the music is loud.

The Boulevard 30 Juin, (the picture with the street and the nice big building) is a large 8 lane boulevard that can become 10 to 12 lanes at any given moment. One has to be careful when driving on it. We actually took our lives in our hands and walked across it the other day. It is lined with shops and businesses. The bank we use for the PEF is on the boulevard, as are a couple of grocery stores we frequent.

The Gare Central (central train station) is the picture with the green grassy area and the train cars. It is the railroad to nowhere. The tracks are overgrown with vegetation and it has not run for years.