All Africa Mormon Helping Hands Day--Aug. 18, 2012

All Africa Mormon Helping Hands Day is in its 6th year this year.  All across Africa,
the wards and branches mobilize into a huge work force.  Some projects are small 
(painting the house of a single mother) and others are large (painting 2k of cement wall 
around the city cemetery.)  There are 30 countries in Southeast Africa (our area) and 
there were thousands of people helping and thousands of hours spent in various 
projects.This Moslem friend started a school for a large township across the street  They 
have to date over 600 students.

Part of the project was to plant trees around the buildings.  Ward members and students
of the school joined hands and worked together.

The school and some of the gardens that were planted.

One of the teachers is named Sipho.  He is a black man with albinism.  He has also started
his own church and he said he has 4 "branches" of his church.  He was so impressed with
the Mormons and their example of service.  "I need to teach the members of my church
about putting service into action and not just talking about it," he said.  We felt very strongly
that there is a great missionary opportunity with Sipho and when we spoke with the
Stake President, President Von Reenen, he said he felt the same thing.  We'll have to stay
in touch and see where this friendship may lead. This is a great example of the power
of the Helping Hands Activity.

Just an example of the homes they live in.  No running water, no bathrooms, no heat, etc.
The leaders of the school and President Von Reenen have a plan to have the LDS
Bishops come and teach at their school in the evenings about such things
as chastity, family, education, etc.  They are planning on using the "Strength of
Youth" pamphlet as their manual.  Good idea!

By our standards their living conditions seem very hard and yet, look at the smiles
on their faces.  They are all well fed, dress well, and seem very
happy.  Maybe we value possessions a little too highly in the US.

A 2nd example was a hospital for disabled children and adults.  Some had cerebral palsy and
 others were mentally challenged.  

They housed children from about 1 1/2 years of age to adult.

The project was to paint over 220m of hallways.

And they took pictures of all the patients and made these large collages on a piece of wood.
They were then going to line the walls with these pictures in selected areas.  I can only imagine
the smiles on the kids' faces when they find themselves in these pictures.  Helping Hands Day
and tabulating the results from all over Africa has been one of the greatest parts of the mission
for me so far.  Such a lesson about the value of charity and how it can change lives.

Botswana Country Fair and Helping Hands

The Country Fair in Botswana housed Hundreds of Booths advertising everything imaginable.  The
missionaries decided to run a booth with the help of the Public Affairs Council.  It was open for
6 days and they got multiple lists of people signing up for a free Book of Mormon or a free
video on Family.  They then followed up with visits and have had great success.  What a great
idea and it was generated by a Sister Missionary at that!

Elder Taylor, 1st counselor in the Mission Presidency and some of the local missionaries.
Caiphus, 3rd from the front, is on the National Public Affairs Council.  They are holding the
award that they won.  The best religion booth at the fair.

The Helping Hands Project in Mochudi, Botswana, was to plant a garden for a School for Blind
and Disabled Children.  They dug the area with shovels and then planted.  The plan is for
them to have food for the school and to sell the surplus for supplies at the school.

Some of the children.  Some are blind and others are disabled in various ways.

They sang so beautifully for us--in harmony.  And then Elder Roberts dedicated the garden plot
for them.  It was a very touching moment to experience.

In Gaberone, the capital of Botswana there are two wards.  The single adult ward cleaned, weeded,
and painted the equipment for a playground by the church.  They are also going to add additional
equipment for them to play with.  Parks are very limited so the neighborhood was thrilled with
their service.

The other ward had planned to paint the local jail house and clean it up.  The day before, they
were notified that the project had been canceled.  Apparently, a faction from Nigeria came
to town and want to do work in the jail.  However, their idea was to get into the jail and
sabotage in some way in order to help the inmates escape.  They were apparently
linked to an Al Qaida type of group.  So the ward decided to clean the area around the
church instead.  They collected over 50 large bags of garbage from the neighborhood and 
people came out of the houses and wanted to help.  They also wanted to know who they 
were and what that church on the corner was all about.  As it turned out, their project was 
highly successful.

An added bonus for us.  At the fair was a booth of women from Lesotho (an independent country
in the middle of South Africa.)  They had made many different articles to sell.  We bought a
beautiful, woven wall hanging that looks very African.  I loved the traditional hats of the
people of Lesotho.

South Africa Heritage Day

Heritage Day in South Africa.  We were supposed to dress in our own heritage dress, but we
decided to adopt Africa.  Dad is a Chief from Nigeria (the shop keeper guaranteed that the hat
is authentic so it must be) and I'm dressed traditional Zulu.  Of course, Grandpa was a "hit!"
The workers at the office all call him 'Captain' and expect candy everyday.

Two of our favorite people--Sister Kaye Hatch in everyday South African dress and 

           Lerato (Lee) Herbert who is an indispensable computer aid in our office.  We are 

so much better at our job since she has joined us.  She is dressed 

in a beautiful Indian dress.

More from the Area Office:  Dlamini, Lerato, Tirhane, Dominic Tshabalala the National Public Affairs Director, and Thoba Karl-Halla.

I think Kay and I could both use a little sun!  We look a little pale for Africa.

Elder and Sister Hartman--dear friends.  He wrote the "Color Code" Book and we have had a lot
of fun with that here at the Area Office.