This is my final message from Lesotho before I start the long trek back to South Dakota tomorrow morning. For those of you who have been following this experience I appreciate you taking the time to read my thoughts and the kind words many have sent me. It has been fantastic to return to Lesotho and see the progress being made in this country and specifically in the remote medical clinics. I feel very blessed to be even a small part of the work here.
It was great to hear Jeremy Keeton and the PIH staff talk about the value of having reliable communication at the clinics, and to see how excited everyone was that we were here to make technical improvements. And it felt great to climb back into the MAF planes and get a bird’s-eye view of a country both blessed and cursed with amazing geography.
Many of you reading this know why I am here. As a follower of Jesus Christ I have a responsibility – actually more of a privilege – to reflect His love to those around me and throughout the world. I realize I don’t always do this well and I understand that I don’t have to travel halfway around the world to demonstrate love to others. But looking back at my life I can see a series of events and decisions that has brought me back to this place. And it is clear the God has a plan for me and for some reason that plan includes the tiny country of Lesotho in southern Africa.
I do not claim to be the best father, son, husband, employee, or friend that you will ever meet. I have many flaws. I am certainly not perfect. But I am striving to follow the One who is perfect and demonstrate His love through what skills and capabilities I do possess. And I pray that God continues to use me as a tool to construct His Kingdom here on Earth
1 Peter 4
(8) Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. (9) Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. (10) Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. (11) If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Thanks to Jeremy Keeton and Partners In Health (www.pih.org) for inviting me back to Lesotho and covering my travel expenses. And for the love and compassion you are showing to the Basotho people.
Thanks to Mission Aviation Fellowship (www.maf.org) for providing flight and communication support in Christ’s name to PIH and countless other organizations and individuals serving in Lesotho and around the globe. (And please send me information on your frequent flyer program…)
Thanks to Jim Peterson at Application Technology, Inc. for allowing me the time to pursue this missions opportunity. Jim your generosity and integrity continues to astound me.
And finally thanks so much to my family and friends. Especially my wife Laura and our kids Hannah, Thomas, Noah, and Elyse. I love you and will see you soon!
Blessings from Lesotho,
Traig
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Methalaneng to Bobete to Nohana
Hello again from Lesotho!
I last posted from Methalaneng on Wednesday evening. The technical work went great there -- the satellite system is running well and the new networking equipment will benefit the doctors and EMR team working in that clinic.
Before leaving Methalaneng on Thursday morning I visited the local school, just up the hill from the clinic and very close to the airstrip. I had brought a soccer ball and pencils donated by my daughter Hannah's class and her teacher (Kathy Christensen, East Elementary School -- Spearfish, SD) and planned to give them to the school.
Hannah’s class wanted to support the kids in Lesotho by sending donated clothing and Kathy included 3 brand new soccer balls – a real treat over here. The donations pretty much filled 2 of my 3 trunks. I asked American missionary Laura Holmes if she would help distribute the clothing. Laura ministers to the Basotho people in and around Maseru, and was very happy to have the clothing. She guaranteed she would find worthy recipients. I brought a few donated items with me into the mountains this week, including the 3 soccer balls. Thank you very much to Mrs. Christensen’s class for being so generous!
At the Methalaneng school I was introduced to the Principal (man in the blue blanket, I can’t remember his name) and he was very happy to accept the soccer ball and pencils on behalf of the school. I had a black Sharpie marker with me and he wrote “A gift from America” on the ball. And then he asked me if he could keep the Sharpie. I gave it to him, but only because I had a spare.
The Principal asked me to “thank the children in America for these gifts for our school”. He then instructed me that when I return to America I should ask the American people for the next donation to be “a fence for the school grounds, a garden, and solar power.” I told him I would pass on the request. So you big givers out there let me know what you can come up with. It never hurts to ask, right…?
The Principal was clearly excited about the new school and looking forward to starting classes in these brand new buildings. He toured me through the old buildings, many of which were in pretty bad shape. One of them was crumbling and was now used to store food provided by the World Food Program and used for school lunches. The WFP bags were labeled as being gifts from Italy and the United States.
He was especially proud of the new bathrooms. They just call them “toilets” here. There is no running water – these are outhouses. But I have to say they really were an improvement from the old toilets. Talking with the Principal a little more I learned why he was so proud of these structures. They were funded by the World Bank and he personally wrote the grant request to have them constructed. The grant was approved and they are a welcome addition to his growing school.
And the grant process only took 10 years.
We said goodbye to Methalaneng and flew by MAF plane to another PIH clinic in Bobete. Bobete is again a special place for me because my son Thomas helped me build the VSAT dish at this site last year. Thomas stayed the night with me in Bobete and enjoyed a decent mutton supper. Having him with me in the mountains is a memory I will always have.
Thomas will be pleased to know the dish in Bobete is still running very well, we did not have to recalibrate this dish at all. We did run some new cables across the clinic grounds, added a new router and more wireless coverage, and cleaned up the overall network at this site. The EMR workers were very happy with the improvements and we were happy to be done in a matter of hours at this site.
Bobete has a very nice clinic grounds. This site is accessible by road (several hours drive from Maseru but still accessible) so PIH hired a landscaper to evaluate the site and she brought in many nice decorations. I personally like the meerkat statues. (They don’t actually have meerkats in Lesotho so those ones are funny to me.)
The Bobete clinic has a warm, inviting feeling and sees between 200 and 300 patients a day! Friday morning I spent some time walking around the clinic grounds and handed out donated clothing. I also gave one child my second soccer ball. His mom was pretty young and she and the other young mothers began playing a game of “keep-away” with the ball. They were having so much fun and it was enjoyable to watch. It was easy to forget they had come for health care, likely regular check-ups for ongoing AIDS treatment.
We were in Bobete for about 24 hours and then again flew by MAF plane to the village of Ketane. The airstrip here is called Nohana, as is the PIH clinic but the people call this place Ketane.
Nohana was the first clinic established by PIH in Lesotho in 2006. Along with Bobete this clinic now serves between 200 and 300 people a day. The clinic has had about 2000 patients test positive for HIV since testing began by PIH and most of them are on managed ART (antiretroviral therapy) treatment programs. They have seen about 6000 unique patients since the clinic opened. Nohana even has an x-ray machine and equipment for doing blood labs instead of sending samples to Maseru for testing.
The Nohana clinic is the only health care facility for people living in an area of more than 200 square miles. Considering the aggressive terrain and that most people have to walk or ride horses to access the clinic this is a huge area. Talking with Jeremy Keeton about where the patients come from he commented “we have had patients from Maseru!” Seriously, they have had people come from Maseru. Why? All of the medical service provided is free – even the ART treatments.
The MAF plane left us here on Friday and will be flown back to Maseru on Monday morning. Jeremy scheduled the project this way because we had the most work to do at Nohana and it is a nice place to stay for the weekend. This site has a dedicated solar power system with backup generator, hot water (using solar heaters), and the village is larger with many small shops and places to buy basic groceries. It is becoming sort of a boom town and I think the PIH clinic is a big part of the growth.
I gave out the final soccer ball and it was a huge hit with the local kids. They played with it until I made them leave for the night on Friday, and then woke us up on Saturday morning by yelling into our windows for the ball. Today was the same story. Nohana also has a great clinic grounds with a playground, nice grass, and landscaping like Bobete.
Nohana was the first site to receive a VSAT dish last year. It seems fitting for this to be my last stop on this trip.
We completed our tasks about noon today and had time to explore the surrounding area on a nice hike. It was such a beautiful day in Lesotho and honestly my pictures cannot do this place justice. It is absolutely breathtaking. I could not have asked for a better last day in the mountains. I felt closer to God today than I have in a long time and it was a good feeling.
Please enjoy these photographs. I will try to post one last time tomorrow night before I return to the U.S. on Tuesday. As always thanks for reading.
Blessings from Nohana,
Traig
I last posted from Methalaneng on Wednesday evening. The technical work went great there -- the satellite system is running well and the new networking equipment will benefit the doctors and EMR team working in that clinic.
Before leaving Methalaneng on Thursday morning I visited the local school, just up the hill from the clinic and very close to the airstrip. I had brought a soccer ball and pencils donated by my daughter Hannah's class and her teacher (Kathy Christensen, East Elementary School -- Spearfish, SD) and planned to give them to the school.Hannah’s class wanted to support the kids in Lesotho by sending donated clothing and Kathy included 3 brand new soccer balls – a real treat over here. The donations pretty much filled 2 of my 3 trunks. I asked American missionary Laura Holmes if she would help distribute the clothing. Laura ministers to the Basotho people in and around Maseru, and was very happy to have the clothing. She guaranteed she would find worthy recipients. I brought a few donated items with me into the mountains this week, including the 3 soccer balls. Thank you very much to Mrs. Christensen’s class for being so generous!
At the Methalaneng school I was introduced to the Principal (man in the blue blanket, I can’t remember his name) and he was very happy to accept the soccer ball and pencils on behalf of the school. I had a black Sharpie marker with me and he wrote “A gift from America” on the ball. And then he asked me if he could keep the Sharpie. I gave it to him, but only because I had a spare.
The Principal asked me to “thank the children in America for these gifts for our school”. He then instructed me that when I return to America I should ask the American people for the next donation to be “a fence for the school grounds, a garden, and solar power.” I told him I would pass on the request. So you big givers out there let me know what you can come up with. It never hurts to ask, right…?
The Principal was clearly excited about the new school and looking forward to starting classes in these brand new buildings. He toured me through the old buildings, many of which were in pretty bad shape. One of them was crumbling and was now used to store food provided by the World Food Program and used for school lunches. The WFP bags were labeled as being gifts from Italy and the United States.
He was especially proud of the new bathrooms. They just call them “toilets” here. There is no running water – these are outhouses. But I have to say they really were an improvement from the old toilets. Talking with the Principal a little more I learned why he was so proud of these structures. They were funded by the World Bank and he personally wrote the grant request to have them constructed. The grant was approved and they are a welcome addition to his growing school.And the grant process only took 10 years.
We said goodbye to Methalaneng and flew by MAF plane to another PIH clinic in Bobete. Bobete is again a special place for me because my son Thomas helped me build the VSAT dish at this site last year. Thomas stayed the night with me in Bobete and enjoyed a decent mutton supper. Having him with me in the mountains is a memory I will always have.
Thomas will be pleased to know the dish in Bobete is still running very well, we did not have to recalibrate this dish at all. We did run some new cables across the clinic grounds, added a new router and more wireless coverage, and cleaned up the overall network at this site. The EMR workers were very happy with the improvements and we were happy to be done in a matter of hours at this site.
Bobete has a very nice clinic grounds. This site is accessible by road (several hours drive from Maseru but still accessible) so PIH hired a landscaper to evaluate the site and she brought in many nice decorations. I personally like the meerkat statues. (They don’t actually have meerkats in Lesotho so those ones are funny to me.)
The Bobete clinic has a warm, inviting feeling and sees between 200 and 300 patients a day! Friday morning I spent some time walking around the clinic grounds and handed out donated clothing. I also gave one child my second soccer ball. His mom was pretty young and she and the other young mothers began playing a game of “keep-away” with the ball. They were having so much fun and it was enjoyable to watch. It was easy to forget they had come for health care, likely regular check-ups for ongoing AIDS treatment.
We were in Bobete for about 24 hours and then again flew by MAF plane to the village of Ketane. The airstrip here is called Nohana, as is the PIH clinic but the people call this place Ketane.Nohana was the first clinic established by PIH in Lesotho in 2006. Along with Bobete this clinic now serves between 200 and 300 people a day. The clinic has had about 2000 patients test positive for HIV since testing began by PIH and most of them are on managed ART (antiretroviral therapy) treatment programs. They have seen about 6000 unique patients since the clinic opened. Nohana even has an x-ray machine and equipment for doing blood labs instead of sending samples to Maseru for testing.
The Nohana clinic is the only health care facility for people living in an area of more than 200 square miles. Considering the aggressive terrain and that most people have to walk or ride horses to access the clinic this is a huge area. Talking with Jeremy Keeton about where the patients come from he commented “we have had patients from Maseru!” Seriously, they have had people come from Maseru. Why? All of the medical service provided is free – even the ART treatments.
The MAF plane left us here on Friday and will be flown back to Maseru on Monday morning. Jeremy scheduled the project this way because we had the most work to do at Nohana and it is a nice place to stay for the weekend. This site has a dedicated solar power system with backup generator, hot water (using solar heaters), and the village is larger with many small shops and places to buy basic groceries. It is becoming sort of a boom town and I think the PIH clinic is a big part of the growth.
I gave out the final soccer ball and it was a huge hit with the local kids. They played with it until I made them leave for the night on Friday, and then woke us up on Saturday morning by yelling into our windows for the ball. Today was the same story. Nohana also has a great clinic grounds with a playground, nice grass, and landscaping like Bobete.Nohana was the first site to receive a VSAT dish last year. It seems fitting for this to be my last stop on this trip.
We completed our tasks about noon today and had time to explore the surrounding area on a nice hike. It was such a beautiful day in Lesotho and honestly my pictures cannot do this place justice. It is absolutely breathtaking. I could not have asked for a better last day in the mountains. I felt closer to God today than I have in a long time and it was a good feeling.
Please enjoy these photographs. I will try to post one last time tomorrow night before I return to the U.S. on Tuesday. As always thanks for reading.Blessings from Nohana,
Traig
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
I’ll get the recipe for those interested…
| Well, I'm sorry to say you all missed out big time. It was like a men's gathering of sorts. Not a normal meal cooked by the women, but a special event. A photo would have been awesome but I didn't want to be the cheesy American snapping pictures. So you will just have to imagine a small crowded room with a bunch of Basotho men, maybe 10 of them, huddled over a big bowl of sheep guts. A huge bowl actually, like the salad bowl at a restaurant salad bar. And another huge bowl of corn meal. They had already started when we arrived and it sounds like we missed out on "the really good pieces." No plates. No silverware. You just dig your hand into the meal, and then pick some pieces of meat and enjoy. Jeremy thought the kidneys were pretty good. And he was hoping for some liver. I have no idea how he could tell what was what. I don't think I found any kidney, but the intestine was just as I remember it from last summer… [ not good ] | ||
Ok so the meal tonight in the village of Methalaneng was not exactly my favorite experience but it was a privilege to be invited to this gathering by Dr. Mopeli (Pronounced “Mo PED ee”. There is no letter “D” in the Sesotho language, but the combination “li” sounds like “dee”.) Talking to the Doctor this evening I understood the importance of this meal. It is one of the techniques he uses to bond his team together up here. He is not from this village -- although he is a Mosotho, raised in the mountains of Lesotho and educated in South Africa. Other members of this PIH clinic team are not from this village either. Dr. Mopeli knows it is important to build a strong team and this meal has become a tradition. When a sheep is slaughtered he gathers the men who work at the clinic, and others from the village who are associated with the work being done here, and they feast the way the former generations did -- around the pot, with their hands. Most use their hands for all meals but this is deliberate. They eat the innards of the sheep – the heart, kidneys, liver, intestines, etc. They love it in fact. But it is the time together that is most important. The Doctor tells me “we all get so busy we don’t take time to share a meal together and just have fun as men anymore.” Wow what a parallel with life back in the U.S.! Tonight’s menu aside, we really are not that different… It was 2 years ago tomorrow (May 7, 2007) that I first flew by MAF plane to the remote mountain village of Methalaneng, Lesotho and saw this amazing place. Having returned several times in 2008 and being back here today I can understand why my friend Myron Weber once said Methalaneng is one of his favorite places on Earth. I would now have to agree with Myron. It is one of my favorite places as well. For me it is a combination of things. Landing at this airstrip is a remarkable experience. As we made the approach this morning I recall saying to pilot Danny Hulls “now remember you fly straight at that mountain and just before you hit it you turn left.” That pretty much sums it up. It is considered one of the hardest airstrips in the world to fly into and for good reason. The village is picturesque. The small round homes climb a gentle ridgeline above the airstrip. Most of the homes are traditional rondavels, a sign that this place is pretty remote in terms of civilization. The closer you are to decent roads and larger populations the more the houses are square. But landing in Methalaneng is like stepping back in time a hundred years. But I also love it here because there are amazing signs of advancement in the areas of life that are really benefiting the villagers. The first thing I noticed was a brand new school. 2 beautiful buildings that were built by the Lesotho government will open tomorrow (once the military flies in the keys to the doors…!). What a great time to be here, I hope the helicopter arrives before we have to fly out, but even if we miss the doors opening it was great to talk to one of the teachers and realize the excitement they have for this new school. The PIH clinic is also thriving here. They are seeing 100+ patients a day now. On the walk down from the plane one of the clinic workers was talking to Jeremy Keeton about how great the progress is. How they notice a real difference in the number of deaths as they are declining! I came here with Jeremy to upgrade the VSAT system that is becoming crucial to the PIH program in Lesotho. The technical work went incredibly smooth and the connection is working great. For now this site is running on small generators but a solar system has been approved and the funding is in place. Hopefully by the end of the year they will have clean power at this site around the clock. Wow I have so much to tell you about Methalaneng I just can’t express how amazing it is to be here again and to see this place so full of life. It is easy to think of the death in Lesotho, which has about 30% prevalence rates for both HIV and TB and a life expectancy of only 34 years. But the feeling in Methalaneng today does not reflect those dire statistics. After having our day canceled by rain yesterday it was such a fantastic experience to have sunny skies, a great flight, successful equipment upgrade/replacement, and good conversation with our Basotho friends here. And yes... even some sheep intestine for supper. The experience would not have been complete with out it. I may not have time tonight to upload photos but will post many tomorrow. It is late now and we have to turn off the generator. Blessings from Methalaneng – I wish you were all here to experience it with me. Take care and thanks for reading. Traig | ||
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Prayer Request - Daniel, Clementina, and Emmanuel
It was a tough day today.
Tomorrow (Tuesday) I fly into the Lesotho mountains and won't return to Maseru until next Monday, so today was a lot of running around to take care of smaller purchases and make sure things are ready to go. It doesn't seem like we have that much to do at each site but looking at the amount of food and tools and other supplies we need to bring for 6+ days it has become quite a list.
This afternoon Daniel came to the MAF hangar. Our closer friends and family know that Daniel worked in our yard when we lived here in 2008. Daniel (his Christian name -- his Basotho name is Lebohang Theko) had come to the gate looking for work. Many other men had come begging for food or money, but he wanted to earn his keep so I hired him to wash the car once a week. After a couple weeks this changed to gardening 1 day a week. Then after our house was robbed over Easter weekend of that year we hired Daniel as a night gaurd. His employment ended when we left Lesotho in August. MAF hired him as a cargo loader for the planes, but he was not kept after a 90-day evaluation period. I was not overly surprised by this -- he was not an exceptional worker. But he was an honest, genuinely nice guy who was just trying to support his family in a very difficult place to get ahead.
I was very happy to see my old friend today since I tried to find him this weekend but they had moved houses. He wanted me to see his new place and I offered to drive him home from the hangar (he had come to see if there was "a letter from Mr. Traig in America").
Daniel and his family were so happy to have me at their house this afternoon. His wife Clementina cried and cried. Right when she saw the car coming up the dirt road and realized it was me she began to cry. She kept asking Daniel in Sesotho if it was really "Mr. Traig". She did not believe I had come back to Lesotho.
At their home I learned that Clementina was one of 1800 people let go from the large textile factory here in Maseru and is working "piece jobs" (what we might call "odd jobs") doing some kind of ironing at night "for the Chinese" (not sure what this means). She earns about 700 Rand a month (~$80) which is currently their only income. Their rent is now 120 Rand (~$15) in the new place. It is a very nice, newer single-room dwelling, slightly larger than their old home, but without electricity. It is further out of town, which combined with the lack of electricity cxplains why it is cheaper rent (the previous house was 225 Rand a month). During the time Daniel worked for MAF he was able to purchase some furniture for their simple home, and a bicycle for his son. He is a good father and as a married couple and parents they appear to be doing OK.
I brought them some clothing from the States, mostly stuff for Clementina from Laura's sisters. Clementina looked so nice in the new clothes and was eager to try them on.
They were so happy to see me, but quite sad to learn my whole family was not coming back to Lesotho. We talked about my wife and our children, how my family was doing back home and specific memories from Lesotho. We also talked about their current financial situation and Clementina sat with me and cried heavily. She does not speak English very well but it was clear that it has been a very difficult few months since she lost her job. Daniel began to cry as well so he left the house and stayed outside a while -- it is not really acceptable for Basotho men to display emotion.
Daniel understands it is his responsibility to support this small family, and he never asked me for money or specific assistance. But I gave them what I had in my wallet, enough money to cover the next 4 months rent. I made it clear it was to cover the rent. Clementina asked if she could please use a very small amount of it for new shoes. Laura gave her the shoes she was wearing when we left 9 months ago. I think they were her only pair. I agreed - she could buy shoes but the rest was to cover the rent so they would not have to worry about that for a few months.
Their son Emmanuel is now 3 and although a happy child he seems to be going deaf. He does not hear them call to him. Watching him interact with us it seemed like he cannot hear much if at all. They are taking him to Queen 2 hospital tomorrow because they opened a new ears/nose/throat clinic (of some kind... scary.) Tonight I talked to one of the PIH doctors who said hearing loss in kids is extremely common here, another disease of poverty that should not exist. The kids get ear infections and simple antibiotics would take care of them but they don't have access to the drugs, so the infections just keep occurring until the ear drums rupture enough that they get scarred and shrink and ultimately the child has permanent hearing damage. This sounds like his situation so I fear he will have permanent hearing loss. Hopefully there is still time to treat his ears and they can get him some meds at the hospital this week.
I was so happy to see them but it was very hard afternoon. This can certainly be a miserable place. I don't know how Lesotho will ever rise above poverty, and it hurts to see this small family suffer with things that should not have to exist in our world anymore.
Please say a prayer for Daniel and his family. Pray that he would find work to support his wife and son. For their health and the health of Emmanuel. And for continued strength in their marriage and parenting. Please pray for them because I don't see how they can survive without God's help in their lives.
Sorry, a bit depressing I know but again I appreciate you reading this. Have a good week and stay safe.
Traig
Tomorrow (Tuesday) I fly into the Lesotho mountains and won't return to Maseru until next Monday, so today was a lot of running around to take care of smaller purchases and make sure things are ready to go. It doesn't seem like we have that much to do at each site but looking at the amount of food and tools and other supplies we need to bring for 6+ days it has become quite a list.
This afternoon Daniel came to the MAF hangar. Our closer friends and family know that Daniel worked in our yard when we lived here in 2008. Daniel (his Christian name -- his Basotho name is Lebohang Theko) had come to the gate looking for work. Many other men had come begging for food or money, but he wanted to earn his keep so I hired him to wash the car once a week. After a couple weeks this changed to gardening 1 day a week. Then after our house was robbed over Easter weekend of that year we hired Daniel as a night gaurd. His employment ended when we left Lesotho in August. MAF hired him as a cargo loader for the planes, but he was not kept after a 90-day evaluation period. I was not overly surprised by this -- he was not an exceptional worker. But he was an honest, genuinely nice guy who was just trying to support his family in a very difficult place to get ahead.
I was very happy to see my old friend today since I tried to find him this weekend but they had moved houses. He wanted me to see his new place and I offered to drive him home from the hangar (he had come to see if there was "a letter from Mr. Traig in America").Daniel and his family were so happy to have me at their house this afternoon. His wife Clementina cried and cried. Right when she saw the car coming up the dirt road and realized it was me she began to cry. She kept asking Daniel in Sesotho if it was really "Mr. Traig". She did not believe I had come back to Lesotho.
At their home I learned that Clementina was one of 1800 people let go from the large textile factory here in Maseru and is working "piece jobs" (what we might call "odd jobs") doing some kind of ironing at night "for the Chinese" (not sure what this means). She earns about 700 Rand a month (~$80) which is currently their only income. Their rent is now 120 Rand (~$15) in the new place. It is a very nice, newer single-room dwelling, slightly larger than their old home, but without electricity. It is further out of town, which combined with the lack of electricity cxplains why it is cheaper rent (the previous house was 225 Rand a month). During the time Daniel worked for MAF he was able to purchase some furniture for their simple home, and a bicycle for his son. He is a good father and as a married couple and parents they appear to be doing OK.
I brought them some clothing from the States, mostly stuff for Clementina from Laura's sisters. Clementina looked so nice in the new clothes and was eager to try them on.They were so happy to see me, but quite sad to learn my whole family was not coming back to Lesotho. We talked about my wife and our children, how my family was doing back home and specific memories from Lesotho. We also talked about their current financial situation and Clementina sat with me and cried heavily. She does not speak English very well but it was clear that it has been a very difficult few months since she lost her job. Daniel began to cry as well so he left the house and stayed outside a while -- it is not really acceptable for Basotho men to display emotion.
Daniel understands it is his responsibility to support this small family, and he never asked me for money or specific assistance. But I gave them what I had in my wallet, enough money to cover the next 4 months rent. I made it clear it was to cover the rent. Clementina asked if she could please use a very small amount of it for new shoes. Laura gave her the shoes she was wearing when we left 9 months ago. I think they were her only pair. I agreed - she could buy shoes but the rest was to cover the rent so they would not have to worry about that for a few months.
Their son Emmanuel is now 3 and although a happy child he seems to be going deaf. He does not hear them call to him. Watching him interact with us it seemed like he cannot hear much if at all. They are taking him to Queen 2 hospital tomorrow because they opened a new ears/nose/throat clinic (of some kind... scary.) Tonight I talked to one of the PIH doctors who said hearing loss in kids is extremely common here, another disease of poverty that should not exist. The kids get ear infections and simple antibiotics would take care of them but they don't have access to the drugs, so the infections just keep occurring until the ear drums rupture enough that they get scarred and shrink and ultimately the child has permanent hearing damage. This sounds like his situation so I fear he will have permanent hearing loss. Hopefully there is still time to treat his ears and they can get him some meds at the hospital this week.
I was so happy to see them but it was very hard afternoon. This can certainly be a miserable place. I don't know how Lesotho will ever rise above poverty, and it hurts to see this small family suffer with things that should not have to exist in our world anymore.Please say a prayer for Daniel and his family. Pray that he would find work to support his wife and son. For their health and the health of Emmanuel. And for continued strength in their marriage and parenting. Please pray for them because I don't see how they can survive without God's help in their lives.
Sorry, a bit depressing I know but again I appreciate you reading this. Have a good week and stay safe.
Traig
Friday, May 1, 2009
Need a bigger wrench? Find a wheelbarrow...
In the previous post I said I would share some pictures and information about the VSAT installation in the village of Manamaneng. (You can click on the pictures for a larger version)
Manamaneng is the 8th VSAT installation in Lesotho for Partners In Health. 7 of these sites, including Manamaneng, are very remote. It would be *possible* to drive to some of them, but they are mainly accessible by MAF airplane. The remaining site is Botsabelo Hospital, a facility in Maseru dedicated to the treatment of MDR and XDR Tuberculosis. I will be working at Botsabelo in the next couple days, and will post information on that soon.
The VSAT dish in Manamaneng was a special project for me because I had to leave this site unfinished when we moved back to the U.S. in August, 2008. A couple weeks before that we had four students from LeTourneau University in Longview, TX (www.letu.edu) visit the MAF program in Lesotho. Two of the students, Mary and Libby, stayed with our family. At the time all four were studying to become missionary pilots, but I had the privilege of taking all of them to VSAT projects in the mountains, to show them one of the activities that MAF is supporting here in Lesotho. And, quite honestly, to put them to work…
Mary and Andrew joined me for a day in Manamaneng where we set the pole mount for this dish. Manamaneng is a harsh place. The airstrip and clinic sit above 7700’ in elevation and the wind and cold can be very bitter. The soil there is incredibly shallow. We were only able to use shovels for about 5-6” and then we had to break up rock the rest of the way to our desired depth of close to 3’ for the concrete footing. I let Andrew do most of the rock breaking. Oddly I think he enjoyed it.
The other challenge facing us at Manamaneng was that PIH was not currently operating at this clinic – and the difference compared to PIH clinics was noticeable. They didn’t even have a pick or shovel or any other tools at the clinic, and we had to fly in everything we needed including bags of cement mix. We even had to haul wheelbarrows full of wet sand uphill from the river below the clinic so we could mix cement. At other PIH sites they typically have some cement available, 
as well as basic tools and necessities for maintaining the sites or doing projects on the clinic grounds. Next week I will be in four very well equipped sites and you will be able to tell the difference just from the photos.
When we left the site on the afternoon of July 23, I did not think I would ever return to Manamaneng to see the completed installation.
On this trip the dish at Manamaneng was my first priority. The remaining dish components had been flown to the site last week by MAF pilot Christiaan Haak. Christiaan was our pilot on Tuesday as well and on the flight into the site he commented that for me this dish would be no problem, as nothing had been done since I left. Hearing this was sort of bitter-sweet. I was grateful to return and finish the work I had started, but a little sad that the project stopped last year.
I immediately thought of something my friend Mark Young told me when I said goodbye to his family back in Spearfish. It was something like “people over here don’t realize that in the environment you are going to you can’t just walk away and expect things to stay working. Like a juggler keeping the balls in the air, step away and things start to fall apart.” A very true statement. Not that this VSAT project or anything else in Lesotho can’t function without me here, but a reminder of how dedicated people are needed to continue the progress in this country.
When we landed at Manamaneng and I saw the installation site the words of both Christiaan and Mark really sank in. The site was almost exactly as I left it months ago – the only change was significant rust on the mounting bolts.
I was really struck by the sight of the rust. This was the best steel we could purchase in Lesotho. It was ridiculously expensive by American standards. Yet when left alone to the elements of time and nature it was quickly being destroyed. Another rainy season and the mounting bolts would have been useless for their intended purpose as the nuts would have been completely fused in place.
What a great picture of so many things in our life. Nothing stays constant – with time all things will break down if you aren’t doing something to maintain them. It is true in our physical health, our businesses, our relationships with our spouses and our family and friends, even in the progress of African nations (all nations for that matter). And it’s true in my relationship with Jesus Christ.
I can’t just sit idle, going through the daily motions and expect to stay close to Christ. Time will open the door for Satan in his various forms to corrode away that relationship. The enemy knows if I don’t pay close enough attention he can add a little rust every day and before I know it I will be completely bound. Where there was once something shiny and clean and ready to be used for great work there will become a useless thing, with no eternal value and even minimal worldly value.
These steel mounting bolts were just months away from becoming a useless thing, a hindrance for anyone walking across the clinic grounds as they could trip or get cut on the rusting metal. That which was put here to bring something good to this place could have become part of the problem instead. What a great reminder for me to focus on my relationship with Christ. I was put here for good, but if I let that relationship go idle I will become part of the problem instead. Possibly even a hindrance to others. I need to be vigilant, watching for the signs of rust building up in my life. I think this realization was one of the reasons God brought me back to Lesotho and I am thankful for it.
I am also VERY thankful we were able to break the nuts free and from that point the project went great. Since this site was accessible only by plane it was receiving a very cool Patriot “batwing” dish (designed to fit entirely into a Cessna 206). I just love building this batwing – it is a very attractive machine. Although rather difficult to construct in the wind we were still able to finish the assembly in incredible time and had the site online within 8 hours. 
I included several photos with this post. Some photos of me working on the dish of course, and there are pictures of Jeremy Keeton bolting down the panels as well. Jeremy and I work great together, I am really happy to be here with him and just our time talking about Lesotho and his other experiences in the world is making this a great experience. I hope to work with Jeremy again in the future, wherever he happens to be in the world at that time. 
The pictures should prove I am actually doing something over here :-). One shows a PIH nurse up there with me (I originally thought he was the doctor but Jeremy corrected me). He was acting concerned for my safety so he was bracing me from slipping down the dish, but really he just could not wait any longer than necessary to have that thing operational.
Between patients he would come out to the site and monitor the progress. I guess a month without communication to the outside world was getting to him... the medical team had quite a stack of emails to go through when we brought the dish online.
And the picture of the guys with the wheelbarrow is great. This was happening below me while the nurse was bracing my feet.
If you look closely you can see what is going on there. We told them to find a "pipe" to use as a wrench extender to tighten down those large nuts. Honestly they searched for a very long time and that was the only pipe they could find. Again a great example of the challenges of working in such a remote part of the world. Every pipe in the area was already being used. This was the best they could find!
The PIH team was again so pleased to have another site online and will greatly benefit from the communication it provides. The dish gives them Internet access and with it they can email drug and supply requests, medical inquiries, or just personal messages to stay connected and not feel so alone up there. They can communicate with MAF for flight schedules and report weather conditions at the clinic airstrip. They can research medical conditions online and use Skype to talk to the rest of the team around the country as well as family back home. I cannot express how happy the doctor was to have this system in place, it will improve his life in the mountains but more importantly will improve the patient care he and his team are able to provide.
We had some signal issues to resolve on Wednesday but were able to get the dish running very well just minutes before the plane returned to take us back to Maseru. For the second time in nine months I said goodbye to Manamaneng, but this time I felt much better about leaving. The job was done -- we finished what was started up here. And the people in this village and surrounding area will be better off for it.
And looking back a couple days I know I am better off for it as well. God is still working in me and he brought me back to Lesotho for a reason. I think he wants me to see that I should examine my own life and find those things I am not maintaining. Get rid of the rust and build something useful in its place. Be his hands and feet for a while again, here in Lesotho and when I get home to South Dakota.
I am looking forward to posting more from Lesotho but the day is passing quickly and I need to visit some old friends here. God Bless you today and thank you for sharing this experience with me by reading my thoughts and looking at these photos. This project has obviously impacted me and I hope it gets you thinking as well.
Blessings from Maseru,
Traig
Manamaneng is the 8th VSAT installation in Lesotho for Partners In Health. 7 of these sites, including Manamaneng, are very remote. It would be *possible* to drive to some of them, but they are mainly accessible by MAF airplane. The remaining site is Botsabelo Hospital, a facility in Maseru dedicated to the treatment of MDR and XDR Tuberculosis. I will be working at Botsabelo in the next couple days, and will post information on that soon.
The VSAT dish in Manamaneng was a special project for me because I had to leave this site unfinished when we moved back to the U.S. in August, 2008. A couple weeks before that we had four students from LeTourneau University in Longview, TX (www.letu.edu) visit the MAF program in Lesotho. Two of the students, Mary and Libby, stayed with our family. At the time all four were studying to become missionary pilots, but I had the privilege of taking all of them to VSAT projects in the mountains, to show them one of the activities that MAF is supporting here in Lesotho. And, quite honestly, to put them to work…
Mary and Andrew joined me for a day in Manamaneng where we set the pole mount for this dish. Manamaneng is a harsh place. The airstrip and clinic sit above 7700’ in elevation and the wind and cold can be very bitter. The soil there is incredibly shallow. We were only able to use shovels for about 5-6” and then we had to break up rock the rest of the way to our desired depth of close to 3’ for the concrete footing. I let Andrew do most of the rock breaking. Oddly I think he enjoyed it.
The other challenge facing us at Manamaneng was that PIH was not currently operating at this clinic – and the difference compared to PIH clinics was noticeable. They didn’t even have a pick or shovel or any other tools at the clinic, and we had to fly in everything we needed including bags of cement mix. We even had to haul wheelbarrows full of wet sand uphill from the river below the clinic so we could mix cement. At other PIH sites they typically have some cement available, 
as well as basic tools and necessities for maintaining the sites or doing projects on the clinic grounds. Next week I will be in four very well equipped sites and you will be able to tell the difference just from the photos.When we left the site on the afternoon of July 23, I did not think I would ever return to Manamaneng to see the completed installation.
On this trip the dish at Manamaneng was my first priority. The remaining dish components had been flown to the site last week by MAF pilot Christiaan Haak. Christiaan was our pilot on Tuesday as well and on the flight into the site he commented that for me this dish would be no problem, as nothing had been done since I left. Hearing this was sort of bitter-sweet. I was grateful to return and finish the work I had started, but a little sad that the project stopped last year.
I immediately thought of something my friend Mark Young told me when I said goodbye to his family back in Spearfish. It was something like “people over here don’t realize that in the environment you are going to you can’t just walk away and expect things to stay working. Like a juggler keeping the balls in the air, step away and things start to fall apart.” A very true statement. Not that this VSAT project or anything else in Lesotho can’t function without me here, but a reminder of how dedicated people are needed to continue the progress in this country.
When we landed at Manamaneng and I saw the installation site the words of both Christiaan and Mark really sank in. The site was almost exactly as I left it months ago – the only change was significant rust on the mounting bolts.I was really struck by the sight of the rust. This was the best steel we could purchase in Lesotho. It was ridiculously expensive by American standards. Yet when left alone to the elements of time and nature it was quickly being destroyed. Another rainy season and the mounting bolts would have been useless for their intended purpose as the nuts would have been completely fused in place.
What a great picture of so many things in our life. Nothing stays constant – with time all things will break down if you aren’t doing something to maintain them. It is true in our physical health, our businesses, our relationships with our spouses and our family and friends, even in the progress of African nations (all nations for that matter). And it’s true in my relationship with Jesus Christ.
I can’t just sit idle, going through the daily motions and expect to stay close to Christ. Time will open the door for Satan in his various forms to corrode away that relationship. The enemy knows if I don’t pay close enough attention he can add a little rust every day and before I know it I will be completely bound. Where there was once something shiny and clean and ready to be used for great work there will become a useless thing, with no eternal value and even minimal worldly value.
These steel mounting bolts were just months away from becoming a useless thing, a hindrance for anyone walking across the clinic grounds as they could trip or get cut on the rusting metal. That which was put here to bring something good to this place could have become part of the problem instead. What a great reminder for me to focus on my relationship with Christ. I was put here for good, but if I let that relationship go idle I will become part of the problem instead. Possibly even a hindrance to others. I need to be vigilant, watching for the signs of rust building up in my life. I think this realization was one of the reasons God brought me back to Lesotho and I am thankful for it.
I am also VERY thankful we were able to break the nuts free and from that point the project went great. Since this site was accessible only by plane it was receiving a very cool Patriot “batwing” dish (designed to fit entirely into a Cessna 206). I just love building this batwing – it is a very attractive machine. Although rather difficult to construct in the wind we were still able to finish the assembly in incredible time and had the site online within 8 hours. 
I included several photos with this post. Some photos of me working on the dish of course, and there are pictures of Jeremy Keeton bolting down the panels as well. Jeremy and I work great together, I am really happy to be here with him and just our time talking about Lesotho and his other experiences in the world is making this a great experience. I hope to work with Jeremy again in the future, wherever he happens to be in the world at that time. 
The pictures should prove I am actually doing something over here :-). One shows a PIH nurse up there with me (I originally thought he was the doctor but Jeremy corrected me). He was acting concerned for my safety so he was bracing me from slipping down the dish, but really he just could not wait any longer than necessary to have that thing operational.
Between patients he would come out to the site and monitor the progress. I guess a month without communication to the outside world was getting to him... the medical team had quite a stack of emails to go through when we brought the dish online.And the picture of the guys with the wheelbarrow is great. This was happening below me while the nurse was bracing my feet.
If you look closely you can see what is going on there. We told them to find a "pipe" to use as a wrench extender to tighten down those large nuts. Honestly they searched for a very long time and that was the only pipe they could find. Again a great example of the challenges of working in such a remote part of the world. Every pipe in the area was already being used. This was the best they could find!
The PIH team was again so pleased to have another site online and will greatly benefit from the communication it provides. The dish gives them Internet access and with it they can email drug and supply requests, medical inquiries, or just personal messages to stay connected and not feel so alone up there. They can communicate with MAF for flight schedules and report weather conditions at the clinic airstrip. They can research medical conditions online and use Skype to talk to the rest of the team around the country as well as family back home. I cannot express how happy the doctor was to have this system in place, it will improve his life in the mountains but more importantly will improve the patient care he and his team are able to provide.
We had some signal issues to resolve on Wednesday but were able to get the dish running very well just minutes before the plane returned to take us back to Maseru. For the second time in nine months I said goodbye to Manamaneng, but this time I felt much better about leaving. The job was done -- we finished what was started up here. And the people in this village and surrounding area will be better off for it.
And looking back a couple days I know I am better off for it as well. God is still working in me and he brought me back to Lesotho for a reason. I think he wants me to see that I should examine my own life and find those things I am not maintaining. Get rid of the rust and build something useful in its place. Be his hands and feet for a while again, here in Lesotho and when I get home to South Dakota.
I am looking forward to posting more from Lesotho but the day is passing quickly and I need to visit some old friends here. God Bless you today and thank you for sharing this experience with me by reading my thoughts and looking at these photos. This project has obviously impacted me and I hope it gets you thinking as well.Blessings from Maseru,
Traig
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