tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83064270386867296802024-03-04T21:07:56.633-08:00Dust on my shoes...The blog-site of Mercy Tech Mission: Changing Lives, One Skill at a TimeRick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.comBlogger103125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-13368663813670388032015-03-31T14:47:00.000-07:002015-04-01T07:28:08.030-07:00March MadnessWhat can you do in four days? Apparently, quite a bit - if you have the right people and a commitment to go above and beyond.
A request from the gardener - "My scooter won't start!"
The pre-construction meeting
We have just returned from San Quintin, Mexico and in four days our automotive students Isaias, Poli, and Ivan immersed themselves in numerous vehicles repairs - from simple oil Rick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-28317665341812826912015-03-13T16:40:00.001-07:002015-03-13T16:40:31.551-07:00Breaking in the new toolsThe first trip of 2015 is almost upon us, and it's time to hit travel mode and get dirty.
On Sunday, March 22nd, the six-member Mercy Tech Mission team (along with the 23 volunteers from Summerland Baptist Church) will descend upon San Quintin in the California Baja.
Driving past the commercial farms in the northern Baja
Mercy Tech will formally kick-start the mechanics trainingRick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-73735336856260899372015-01-13T15:11:00.002-08:002015-01-15T19:25:38.603-08:00Sharing What Was Given To Us
Sharing with others the things that were given to us - that's the theme of our new MTM promotional video, and it will be the ongoing theme of all that we do at Mercy Tech Mission in 2015.
As you watch this video, please take a moment to ask yourself a simple question: "What can I share with somebody else in 2015?"
Whether you support the work of MTM through donations or volunteering,Rick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-12646087190429299732014-11-23T19:27:00.000-08:002014-11-23T19:27:07.500-08:00There and Back AgainIt's great to be back home, even if it does mean getting used to some colder weather. But we're Canadians, eh? We can handle it, thank you very much. Or is that "Pardon me?" - I'm not sure.
But we're glad to report that in spite of battling a few stomach bugs, we were able to accomplish our goals for the trip. In the last post, I showed some photos of the work area that was built to facilitate Rick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-85131682124229672422014-11-17T21:19:00.000-08:002014-11-17T21:19:30.221-08:00New Training Location UnderwayIt's been a busy week here in the California Baja of Mexico, where volunteer Rich Howard and I have been getting a start on Mercy Tech's latest training venture. In cooperation with One Life One Chance, we are preparing to start an automotive training program that will bring hope to local young men who would otherwise not have access to skills training of this nature.
Our main objectives to thisRick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-65232013104263222352014-10-30T07:44:00.002-07:002014-10-30T07:44:26.331-07:00Next Chapter, New LocationIf you've been following our blog, you'll know that most of the past 3 or 4 years have been spent teaching trades in Mozambique in Southern Africa. But I'm excited to announce that Mercy Tech Mission will be starting a second training location that's a lot closer to home, and therefore easier for some volunteers to get involved.
On November 9th, I and Rich Howard (volunteer from Summerland, BC) Rick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-90880321065862368372014-09-22T11:46:00.000-07:002014-09-22T11:46:24.844-07:00All the little piecesIt takes a lot of little pieces to make something big work well.
Just drop your cell phone off the second story deck and you'll discover a whole bunch of little pieces that are suddenly very important. They always were; you just didn't know they were there.
A new starter in place...but where do the wires go?
Over the past couple of weeks, I've been corresponding with Prosper, our maintenanceRick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-30236566928767514932014-08-23T11:06:00.000-07:002014-08-29T07:01:33.675-07:00South of the borderA few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit the San Quintin area of the California Baja in Mexico. My hosts were Rob and Brenda Wall, founders of One Life One Chance, a group that works with the poor and forgotten indigenous people of Mexico.
Brenda and Rob Wall, One Life One Chance Ministries
Through the efforts of their amazing staff at their mission base, Los Olivos, they host multiple Rick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-79007518606793507372014-07-19T12:24:00.000-07:002014-07-19T12:24:15.704-07:00Sitting Down to Move ForwardAction is awesome. It feels great to be doing something instead of just talking about it.
On the other hand, if there's no analyzing of the past or planning for the future, then the present can easily fill up with frenetic activity - we look busy, but are we really accomplishing anything?
Sometimes you just need to be still for a while.
I like this Rick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-28316751146106949792014-04-14T19:46:00.000-07:002014-04-14T19:46:21.040-07:00A Door StoryDoors are kind of important. You can open them to let friends in, or close them to keep strangers out. For the mechanics shop in Mozambique, doors are a good way of keeping expensive tools and equipment from "walking away," if you know what I mean.
On my recent trip to Africa, one of my main goals was to build three large doors for the mechanics shop. Tome and I gave it our best shot, but by theRick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-78606306073511207092014-03-22T20:10:00.000-07:002014-03-22T20:10:11.387-07:00Content to be Unsettled"Settling into life back home" - something about that statement worries me.
It's dangerous for the soul to become settled, for settling can lead to forgetting, and forgetting allows complacency an opportunity to do its devious work. If left unchecked, our experiences are reduced to tales of past achievements instead of becoming catalysts for further action.
So really, the hardest part of any Rick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-4278388865548999622014-03-10T11:24:00.001-07:002014-03-10T11:24:20.502-07:00Week Five...and a little bitPlanning your endgame - aka: figuring out how to land this thing.
As my last day approaches (tomorrow morning, to be exact), it becomes critical to recognize which things are going to be wrapped up and which things will be left for others to complete. It's always a hard choice.
As my friend Todd would say, this is the edge of sketchiness...letting an auto mechanic near a 400v 3-phase Rick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-11666431055291833112014-03-02T13:02:00.001-08:002014-03-02T13:02:28.417-08:00Week Four - making progressIt's 10:30 at night and the laptop battery is almost dead, but I thought I'd better get some photos up now or it just won't happen! Here's what's been going on in Mozambique (at least, where I am...):
Getting ready to raise the mezzanine deck structure.
Up and ready for Bob Denesiuk to arrive and put on the floor!
Off to Tariro for a couple of days to meet the staff and students.
Rick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-34998462648692887892014-02-22T10:32:00.000-08:002014-02-22T10:32:20.995-08:00Eight Days a Week - Week ThreeWhen you're on a short-term assignment like this, it's hard to figure out what's a work day and what isn't. There's just more work to do than hours in a day.
I thought this morning would be a quiet day to catch up on a few things, but that's before I found out a big truck was arriving with not only a load of fencing material for the ASAM farm, but also with my new air compressor for the shop. SoRick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-35232241670538790882014-02-15T02:00:00.000-08:002014-02-15T02:00:18.645-08:00Week Two - Getting into it The second week is usually when the work really starts to happen big time - the team (me) gets oriented, the lay of the land is surveyed (what! the electrical system is screwed up how bad?), and the project supplies and their invoices begin to arrive on site (hey, I only ordered steel, not gold).
Here are a few of the highlights (thanks to Paul Middleton and Alta Rauch for Rick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-74327708169330381762014-02-07T22:46:00.001-08:002014-02-07T22:46:54.475-08:00Week One - Arriving
Time for a recap of week 1 at the ASAM farm in
Mozambique.
The flight in went very well, as we had the luxury of being transported in Mercy Air's new Kodiak. What a great plane, capable of large cargo loads and six passengers, plus the two pilots, John and Paul. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to land directly at ASAM's new airstrip due to some ongoing political issues. But ourRick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-74551266770284187592014-02-02T09:06:00.001-08:002014-02-02T09:06:44.678-08:00On The Road AgainEver get the urge to say, "It's Sunday; I must be in Africa"?
Well, maybe you don't, but that's what it is for me. I arrived in Johannesburg Wednesday night after some long but manageable flights, and it's been non-stop ever since.
Thursday morning, I met with Ian Andrew from CDX Global, the creators of the automotive training material that I use in Mozambique. The good folks from CDXRick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-87542039817623993582014-01-20T17:21:00.000-08:002014-01-20T17:21:50.919-08:00Pivotal Points
A couple of metal bearings don't exactly make the "photo of the day," especially in a blog that's been known to feature zebras and elephants. But these little devices have a special role to play, so 'bear' with me if you can.
A week from tomorrow, I board the plane for Mozambique. As I've mentioned before, one task before me is to build the large doors for the service bays in the Rick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-60536477731610994672013-12-11T18:10:00.002-08:002013-12-11T18:10:40.854-08:00Coming Full Circle
Very soon I'll be getting my shoes (or sandals) dusty again with some good African soil. My flight is booked for January 28th. Hard to believe that this will be my 6th trip to Mozambique in four years. Time flies.
What's almost harder to believe is how far the training program has come in such a short time. Here are a couple of things that illustrate what I mean.
MAINTENANCE SHOP Rick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-25629747489836027712013-09-18T16:49:00.000-07:002013-09-18T16:49:40.783-07:00Looking Ahead
Fall is approaching, and as I watch the days grow cooler here in Canada, I'm reminded that they'll soon be heating up again in Mozambique as their winter comes to an end.
At Mercy Tech Mission, we've decided as a board that my next trip to Africa in 2014 will be during the month of February and the first two weeks of March - six weeks in total. Past experience tells me that it could somewhat Rick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-85046141857702830442013-08-20T19:53:00.000-07:002013-08-20T19:53:29.841-07:00Maintenance Shop Progress - August 2013We just received news today of some recent progress on the maintenance shop project in Mozambique. A volunteer named Richard was visiting from South Africa, and he took on the task of installing the lights, wall plugs, and switches. (The following photos provided by Dwight Lagore)
Ceiling lights installed
Wall plugs and switches
One great piece of news is that Richard was able to work with Rick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-63700672963227871012013-08-03T11:20:00.001-07:002013-08-03T16:36:43.724-07:00An "Official" Post
Okay, it's official - Mercy Tech Mission now has Canadian charity status (Mercy Tech Mission, registration number 826932444RR0001).
Is that the thundering applause of the masses I hear? Cool. I'm with you on it!
How "Tourist" can you get?
I literally had no idea when I first traveled to Mozambique 3 1/2 years ago that I would now be the director of a fully-registered Rick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-43550143413273269572013-05-02T20:50:00.000-07:002013-05-02T20:50:46.871-07:00The Effect of a GiftDuring the recent trip to Mozambique in March, I had the opportunity to present a laptop computer to Tariro, a small trades school near Gondola. This computer was donated by Toshiba Canada through the efforts of Rhona Bartolotti, one of the IT support folks at SAIT in Calgary, Alberta. Thanks, Rhona!
Loaded on the computer was a copy of the automotive training program, CDXPlus, a very Rick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-10981252681866581442013-04-29T20:54:00.000-07:002013-04-29T20:54:38.013-07:00Video Wrap-up of our tripThanks for waiting patiently for an update to this blog. Since arriving home from Mozambique at the end of March, I had to do a little business with a malaria bug that wanted to interrupt life for a few weeks, but things are back to normal now. Thanks for all your prayers and words of encouragement! (and thank heavens for Coartem)
Last night the team gave a report of the trip to friends andRick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8306427038686729680.post-58690167912030749472013-03-28T13:58:00.002-07:002013-03-28T13:58:52.111-07:00Final Field ReportIt was our final day on the project here in Mozambique and by the time many of you read this, we'll be on our way back home to our families.
Quite a lot has been accomplished during the past 4 weeks, considering the size of this shop we are building, but a few things will have to wait for the next team to complete. Even so, here are some pictures of what we were able to do.
Don showing Rick Cogbillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14386395978477748830noreply@blogger.com1