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