island hopping

We had a very interesting. and exhausting trip today to Ilha de Idugo, where we had been once before to speak in a church founded by our friend and investigator Amizade.  This trip we made with our visiting humanitarian missionaries, Elder and Sister Wollenzien (delightful people) to examine the wells of the island.  We had suggested a well-enclosure project to them when we heard that the 13,000 island residents always get sick during the rainy season--and suffered a cholera epidemic just three years ago.  Amizade and his wife Lurdes, who have a long history with the island, came to guide us.  Herewith are more pictures than you really want to see.

The island is a couple of kilometer boat ride across the River Supinho--which is relatively brief when going with the tide in the morning.  Pictured are Sister Wollenzien and Lurdes beside Debbie and one of the oarsmen.

I continue to be mightily impressed by the sea-worthiness of these dugout canoes--and I wonder why the wood never seems to crack.

The purpose of our visit was to look at wells, and that we did.  There are no springs on the island, just these seeping kinds of wells, that are very subject to becoming flooded with rainwater and sewage in the rainy season.  Elder Wollenzien will now take his ideas and pictures and have water/engineer-types consider what if anything the church would like to do as a project to help the locals improve their situation.  We do know that the church will do nothing without significant local enthusiasm, involvement, and effort.

Debbie always seems to attract a crowd.

As we walked for miles on the island today, I spotted this house under construction and I was impressed by both it size and sturdiness.  All of the sticks and timbers are hold together by cords of palm frond.  The walls will next be filled with mud.

We came across this little workshop where people are replacing the worn-out bottoms of dug-out canoes.

Ok, this was a humanitarian project day--then Amizade told me, "by the way, we will be stopping by the church and they want you to speak to them".  There ensued about a 3 hour delay while we watched them dance, while we preached, and then had a delicious lunch of rice with a curried chicken sauce.  Until I looked at the pictures, I didn't realize that I use my hands so much.

If you would like to see a bit of the activity there, and get a taste for the local flavor, you can see the video at    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKbwPUpugBM



In an effort to appear more comfortable around people than does Mitt Romney, I played grampa for a while--I thought that he looked alot like me.



I gave a few pointers to the drummer on the finer points of his craft.



 

A local family, one of the daughters of which Debbie shared a home-made doll, made and donated by a group of young women in Utah.

I thought that this was a beautiful picture that Debbie took.

On the trip home, one of our oarsmen abandoned us--perhaps recognizing that we would be going against the outgoing tide.  We were pressed into service.  The trip which took about twenty minutes in the front end, took close to a couple of hours on the return.  Yes, the hat is ugly, but it only cost $20 in the Johannesburg airport, and did serve to keep me from getting burnt up today.

The ladies on Zalala beach--we stopped there on the way home to buy some shrimp but learned that the shrimpers only sell their wares fresh in the morning.



Holding forth on some very important principle to Elder Wollenzien and Amizade while our wives walk on the beach.  Only moments later, we were rousted by the police for parking where we shouldn't have.

It was a very interesting day.