Intersting week

Weekly review

Interesting development this week.  Last week we had decided we would drop a couple of projects we saw no progress on.

This week, we got a call from a man we had not ever met and a woman he was representing.  We found out these two people were now the directors of the Machava KM 15 Primary School.  They were asking for us to keep our promise to get them water.  They had done their part and gotten a bid for the water to be started.

We were surprised and set a meeting with the school director, Raul.  This is when we discovered the change in leadership there.  Now, the director is Graca Cossa.  We set a time to meet with her.

This is the new director of Machava school, Graca Pedro Cossa.  When we got there, she showed us what she had done.  Without a penny in the school account, she took her own money and got the water running.

This is the man she hired to guard the pump (that we were told was stolen) She had hired a man that  got the water running all for very little money.  She paid for it herself and wanted us to reimburse her (which we will not do)which shows what a champion she is.  We were able to visit with her about a partnership and what is really needed to get what she wants in this refurbish project.

She was willing to listen.  We were able to teach Welfare Principles and Supporting Outcomes.  She could see the value in further testing of the well to find out what its capacity is.  How many people will it serve?  What is the quality of the water being drawn out of the well? Is the pump quality able to serve that many people and the latrine?

She was willing to learn the history of what the church had provided the school not too long ago.  We had left them a great well that served the community and the school, run pipe to a fountain for drinking water.  We had left them with a beautiful building for an 8 stall latrine that was waiting for the pipe run from the well.  Because we had left them with these perfectly working things, we would require the community to pay for half the project.

She was willing to open her mind to the possibility of including the community in the maintenance of this project and in the development of it.

These are previous picture showing the conditions of these parts of this school before Graca Cossa replaced the previous director.  These are very telling pictures.

Now, there is a tank on this tower.

We have now been invited to attend the viewing of the walk thru for the bid for the total project tomorrow morning at 7 am.  We will attend.

These are qualities of a real champion.  Here is a lady that wants to make a difference and put her own time and effort and money into helping the children at her school. 

1.       Desire for the good of her people

2.      Willing to put in the work for the people

3.      Going to do it whether we will help or not

4.      Has a plan of action to accomplish her goals (She mentioned her plan to us and we asked for a written copy of her 2 year plan for the school)

It looks like we are going to work on a Project Development Worksheet for this project and present it for approval from the Johannesburg office.  What a change from last week.

When you wait for a champion to appear, sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. If they don’t, that is a “NO” for this possible project.  If they do, that is a “yes” for a possible project. This is a great way to keep from having to tell a group “No”.  The answer is obvious.

Elder and Sister Petersen Mozambique Mission