Progress On Many Fronts

The weather in New Zealand has proven to be much cooler than we had expected. Mind you, it hasn’t been cold in comparison to most places, but it’s just been colder than we were prepared for. Auckland is situated on a very narrow strip of land which makes it quite susceptible to anything and everything that the two oceans send its way. The weather patterns literally change at a moment’s notice from east to west and back again, or from north to south and back again. The Tasman Sea is generally the coldest, so westerly driven storms seem to be the worst. We really don’t have much to complain about, comparing Auckland weather to other parts of New Zealand. The south island, which stretches half way to the Antarctic, is much colder. Our night time temperatures have been hovering around 3 degrees for the last two to three weeks. (Just like shelf prices in the store – that reflect Kiwi dollars, the quoted temperatures also produce “Sticker Shock” when we hear them, then we have to convert from Celsius to Fahrenheit. Three degrees (C) is really about 35 degrees (F), which isn’t too bad. But without central heating, our flat isn’t always warm and cozy. Receiving some amount of rain almost every day seems to be the norm. But that is what makes it so green and lush – beautiful. In spite of these differences Auckland seems to be a much more outdoor climate than Houston, Dallas, or even SLC.

Last Saturday promised to have rain all day, but we decided to take our chances and we planned a trip to the Auckland Botanical Gardens. We enjoyed the day there and were only rained on a couple of times.

It was too late in the season for many of the fall flowers and colors, but the camellias were in full bloom.

Some of the camellias had already started dropping their petals.

We really enjoyed the day and the scenery in spite of the on again, off again wind and rain.

The following week was filled with work at the office until we had hardly any time to spare. I have two projects that are in the finishing up stages and consequently taking a little bit of extra time. We also have received approval for a couple of new projects that we are quite pleased with.

The first Project that is wrapping up involves the distribution of wheelchairs in Papua New Guinea. We sent a container load of wheelchairs to Port Moresby and another container load to Lae – almost 700 wheelchairs combined. Our partner on the ground in both locations was the Rotary Club, whose principle role was to get the chairs into the country without us having to pay heavy duties or bribes to government officials. The other partner was a group called National Orthopedic and Prosthetic Services (NOPS). They had responsibility for actually distributing the wheelchairs to the disabled. They also keep track of everyone who receives a wheelchair so they don’t get more than one, or sell the one they get – since we distribute them free to the recipients. It has been quite an education working in some of these locations where crime and corruption are so rampant. The wheelchairs we provided in PNG are known as “all terrain” wheelchairs. They are pretty neat chairs with extra wide tires, a very long wheel base.

The second project that is wrapping up involves the work of several missionaries that have been developing a program that will help Australian Aboriginals learn to speak and read English – Australian English.

We have produced 13 DVDs and 6 booklets that include pictures, words, and the spoken word to help them learn the English names of things in their own environment, basic conversational English, phonics and English grammar, and reading skills.

We have been duplicating these products to get them ready for distribution in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, AU. They have asked for 100 sets of materials, but I’m going to take 50 sets over to start with. Then we’ll see how well they are used.

We received final approval this week to purchase an electrical generator for a small village in Kiribati. The village recently constructed a community pavilion. It is the largest structure in the village and is intended to be used for community gatherings, celebrations, youth activities, etc. But there is no electricity in the village.

The only lighting is by way of kerosene lamps or open fires. So we are presenting them with a small generator that will be large enough to power some lights and some audio equipment. They are so excited about it that they invited the President of Kiribati to attend the dedication ceremony where we will be presenting our “gift.”

And finally, we also received approval for a school equipment project for Majuro, Marshall Islands. This project was the result of the Minister of Health and the Minister of Education working collaboratively to address a national problem – diabetes. They wanted to start teaching young children, their parents, and teachers how to grown their own “healthy” food. So with the equipment we are providing each school will be able to develop a “hands-on” vegetable garden that the children and teachers will tend.

The produce will go home with the children. Our role is to provide the gardening equipment, seeds, and books about gardening. The equatorial sun is so hot that one of the challenges in raising garden vegetables is shading them properly. In addition to these we are also helping them set up an athletic program for the schools, by providing all of the needed sports equipment. The country is so poor they can’t afford to supply their schools with these types of things.

We are now working with our people on the ground in Kiribati, Marshall Islands, and Vanuatu to identify villages for potential clean water projects. These will most likely be some form of rain water harvesting. More to come on this before too long -- I hope.