Next Chapter, New Location

If 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) will be travelling to San Quintin, on the California Baja in Mexico. As you'll see on the map, San Quintin is the red dot about 7 hours driving time south of San Diego, California.

Rich and I will be there for two weeks setting up the training area for a mechanics program that will start in March, 2015. Our first job will be to oversee the building of a concrete pad (hopefully with some shade!) where we can begin teaching young guys how to repair and maintain vehicles. As you can see from my last trip down, the work area will be a big upgrade from fixing cars in the driveway dirt.

Our work is being done in partnership with One Life One Chance, a Canadian charity who owns this 17-acre mission base in Mexico. One of the main staff people that I'll be working with is Isaias Valsquez who manages the base and its maintenance. He is also a local pastor with a small church about 45 minutes north. Isaias and his wife Ana are a great couple with servant hearts and I look forward to meeting the future students with him and seeing what we can do to help young men get training, find better jobs, and begin taking care of their families in ways they never could before.

Proper training takes proper equipment, so we will also be purchasing some of the mechanics tools and shop equipment needed for the teaching program. So if anyone can help out with donations towards that end, it would be really appreciated. You can make your donations on our Mercy Tech Mission website.

One of the good things about starting a training site in Mexico is that it will be a lot easier to take along donated tools, whereas it was difficult in the past to transport heavy things to Africa. So any shops out there that are upgrading, but have some good used equipment to donate, be sure to let us know.

Thanks again for following the ongoing work of Mercy Tech Mission, where we believe in changing lives, one skill at a time. Until next time, adios, and I'll be sure to have a taco on your behalf!

All the little pieces

It 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 maintenance shop manager in Mozambique. He has an electrical problem that he needs help with. Somebody (not Prosper) dropped a steel wrench across some hot contacts in a 24-volt starter system, and now we've got a major meltdown.

New and old starters...not exactly the same.

As Prosper works his way through the system, tracing wires and testing components, I give him advice on where to look and what to look for. Sometimes he sends me photos of things I've never seen before, and together we try to figure out where to go next. And no, we do not have a wiring diagram to work from.

Okay...what exactly is this?

But aside from the electrical problem (and don't worry, we will fix it eventually), I'm suddenly reminded that this whole process is really the result of a lot of little things that are now all coming together.

1. Prosper is able to intelligently work on an electrical system halfway around the world because 3 1/2 years ago some Mercy Tech volunteers began to train him as a mechanic. 

2. He's working in a shop paid for by donations from MTM supporters, and built by MTM volunteers working with local workers at a location run by partners from another mission organization.

3. He is corresponding with me via a laptop computer donated by someone in Alberta, using a camera bought with donated funds from someone in BC, and bought by mission friends on their way through South Africa.

4. He's using tools and testers provided by both individuals and companies from Canada and the US. 

Pretty amazing stuff.

Prosper welding the safety rails around the mezzanine deck

Rick Cogbill & Prosper Fernando

These are just a few of the little pieces that are functioning together to make the whole process happen. Thanks to all who are supporting this work; your "little" part is larger than you know.

South of the border

A 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 volunteer teams each year who come to build a home for those in need.

The first two days of my visit were spent working on such a house. It was a fun (but hot!) time working alongside the group from Pacific Community Church in Cloverdale, BC. It was also very humbling to see how our relatively small efforts were making such a huge impact in this Mexican family's life.

Lunch break: me, Rob Wall, Pastor John, Tyler

Day 3 for me began the task of checking out the potential training opportunities - the real reason I had come to Mexico. I worked alongside Isaias Vasquez, who is not only the caretaker and manager of the Los Olivos base, but a local pastor as well.

Pastor Isaias' car, like so many others in this dusty place, needed a lot of repairs. We spent 3 days either working on vehicles or looking for parts. It was quite a challenge!

The bottom line is that there's a real good opportunity for Mercy Tech to work alongside One Life One Chance in this needy area. The Los Olivos base will provide a solid location for us to start a skills training program, and the folks here already have a list of young men that would like to be trained. 

So stayed tuned - and start practicing your Spanish! We might be going "south of the border" in the very near future.

Sitting Down to Move Forward

Action 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 quote from Warren Buffet: "Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago."

Recently, the Mercy Tech Mission board of trustees and their spouses took some time out to 'plant a few trees'. We looked at what's happened over the past three years of mission trips to Africa, and through reconfirming what Mercy Tech is all about, we began planning for what might come in the years ahead.

Our thanks to Bob and Connie Denesiuk for sharing their amazing cabin at Paradise Lake with us, and to Maged Said for facilitating our discussions. Because of this important time of planning, we are confident that even more lives will be changed, one skill at a time.

NEXT MOVES: Mercy Tech is currently looking at some volunteer opportunities in the Mexican state of Baja California. I will be checking out the location in early August, and if plans go well, we could soon be "planting a few shade trees" for those who could really use our help in this new location.

A Door Story

Doors 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 the last day of my visit, only one door was hung. With just a steel frame and some hinges, it didn't even seem like a real door. Anybody could climb right through.

Tome and I talked things over. I asked if he would be able to finish the other doors after I was gone. 

 

He was silent for a moment. Then he said, "Yes, I see how it's done. Now I can build the rest."

So here it is, one month later, and from what I can see in the latest photos, Tome's been doing exactly what he said he could do. Pretty nice looking doors, if you ask me.

Finishing Door #3 - big enough to drive a backhoe through...

Prosper and Tome, putting the metal cladding on the doors

Of course, it reminds me one more time that this is what Mercy Tech Mission is all about - not doing the work ourselves, but showing others how to do it instead. Teaching a skill that will carry on long after we're gone.

Content 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 journey is returning to the place where the journey began. Something must keep the memories alive; our hearts need to be continually stirred, forbidden to settle for life as it was. I know this to be true in myself, so here are some visual aides to help me not forget. Here are just a few of the Mozambican people I have come to respect and admire. These are my friends.

Prosper Fernando

I began training this young man in 2011. He now has his Mozambican mechanics certificate, and has become the workshop manager for the new shop that MTM has built on the ASAM mission base. It is exciting to see how far he's come in such a short time, and as we continue to mentor him via the internet in his new position over the coming year, we look forward to even greater things in the days ahead.

Prosper receiving his own torque wrench. Take it from me; mechanics love these things!

Prosper climbing a local  mountain on a Sunday for a time of "light" reading. Here is someone who is dedicated to a life of learning. (Selfie photo by Prosper Fernando)

Prosper (left) and Tome (right) installing the first shop door

Prosper recently left this comment on his Facebook page: "Fixing broken vehicles so that broken spirits may be fixed." For him, mechanics is not just a job; it's a calling.

Tomé Tawalia

 

I've been working alongside Tomé, ASAM's chief maintenance man, since 2010. Self-taught for the most part, Tomé has done the majority of the skilled labor on our shop project, including welding all the roof trusses and beams, and installing the roof sheeting. During this trip, he put up the metal for the mezzanine, and helped me construct the large bay doors. 

In addition to all that, Tomé has been the main "mechanic" for the farm for years, fixing everything from backhoes to irrigation pumps. Although I've been able to show Tomé some of the finer aspects of mechanical repair, he has always been my "go to" guy when it comes to problem solving. He is a wealth of everyday wisdom and just plain old common sense. More often than not, I'll be running my ideas past Tomé before diving in; he usually has something to say that's worth listening to.

Tome welding up I-beams for the mezzanine deck

Connie and Bob Denesiuk chatting with Prosper and Tome

Installing the upper door hinges

Building the mezzanine frame

Welding the frame into place

Gabriel

Gabriel is the head carpenter at ASAM, building doors and windows for all the building projects on the farm. In the past two years, he has also been trained to use the wood lathe, and is now actively training others to use it as well. Gabriel is a hard working man with an enormous heart and a gentle spirit. Many times I and other MTM volunteers have enjoyed a visit to his home with his young family, or accompanied him on Sundays to his local church. 

On this trip, Gabriel built the storage shelves for the shop, and helped Bob put up the joists and lay the plywood floor for the mezzanine deck.

Bob, Pinduai, Gabriel - wood turning class in the bush

The first yo-yo made on the lathe for the local kids

Storage room shelves

Creating a bowl from local wood

Felix, one of Gabriel's students, creating a cup

A good example of skills being passed on from one to another

Joao Benjamim

Road trip to Beira

Joao was the first ASAM mission staff member I ever met. In 2010, he was waiting at the Maputo airport to welcome my daughter Laura and I on our first visit to Mozambique. As farm manager, Joao's days (and even many nights) are full to overflowing with work and responsibilities. Yet he is always cheerful, ever helpful, and has a servant heart that humbles anyone who meets him. 

Joao and I have had many conversations around the dinner table, on road trips to town, or as we drive through the bush to yet another church service where he will both interpret for us and guide us through the cultural differences that we encounter on a daily basis. He may be a short man in stature, but he's a giant among his people.

Joao and Pastor Mariano

Joao translating for Marta as Bob and Connie prepared to walk with her to church, the first Sunday that Marta will bring her new "leg" to church.

A new future for a young girl who lost her leg to a poisonous snake bite.

Joao serving refreshments to the work crew who are putting up the roof on his new quarters (March 2013)

It's these special people, and so many others too numerous to mention, that will always keep me "unsettled" as it were; always aware that even the small amount of knowledge that I have to share is vitally important to so many others. 

It's the stuff that changes lives, one skill at a time.