We thought hospitals could not get any worse

 

We made another visit to the Buchanan Regional Hospital to help finalize our proposed project. Here is there trash pile. To the left you can see where they accidentally burnt the building while burning their trash pile. They are asking us for an incinerator.

The roof leaks so bad that they actually have standing water in some of the rooms and hallways after a rainstorm. They have asked us to install a new roof.

When you see the sick, delivering mothers and newborn babies laying in their beds in these terrible conditions your heart really goes out to them. You try to imagine what it would be like if your child was in this place. In addition to the roof and the incinerator we're also going to be supplying needed hospital equipment.

This photo was taken a few months back in the dry season. It is at Lower Fonti Town which is a community which is built on excavated dirt from the river.

Now that it's the rainy season the river has risen and this is what the same area looks like. People live here and they walk over wooden planks that are now partially submerged. I have to do it every time I visit this project. It's kind of frightening. Cheryl doesn't even come anymore.

As part of the project at Zappia Public Schools we're refurbishing their hand drawn well to be a pump well. We're also making it deeper so that it has a more reliable water supply. If you look carefully there is a guy down there digging. Once he's out of the well it will be lined with the pipe rings like the one you can see around him. Seems like dangerous work.

This is Brother and Sister Freeman in the Dolos Town branch. After church they approached us and asked if we could help them obtain a computer or tablet so that they could enroll in the BYU Pathways program to obtain a degree. The only electronics they have is a old fashioned phone with a 2-in screen. Most people in the country have phones like that.

The people here want so much to get ahead but the poverty is so crushing. They don't even have internet now but they feel they could buy enough internet minutes if they were able to get a device to view the internet. Their request is difficult for us. We can't just go and buy them a computer because there are probably at least 10 others in the branch with the same need.  Occasionally there are donated computers that reach the country and we can distribute those. Usually in cases like this we have to refer them back to their Branch President and he uses whatever resources he has at his disposal to help them share one. Often the answer is they don't get anything.

It would be so nice if we could just give people money and that's all they needed. Unfortunately when you do that it's just gone in a short time and there's no changes. To make changes in the country requires a lot of effort. We have to create things that are sustainable after our project ends. When we bring water to a village we have to teach them how to maintain their pumps and how to collect fees to pay for repairs. When we teach people how to farm we also have to teach about marketing their products. The concept of saving money is almost entirely foreign here. Almost everyone lives day to day.

I just found out that my friend Bruce Bitnoff died this week. We were bike riding buddies and good friends for a lot of years. He had cancer for a few years and so his passing was not unexpected and was probably a nice blessing of relief. He was a good man who was very faithful to the Lord.  I'm sure his time of sorrow is over now.