WINGS
OF THE DAWN
International
Institute for Children
4th
ANNUAL REPORT
FISCAL
YEAR ending June 30, 2000
BY SMALL AND SIMPLE THINGS ARE GREAT THINGS BROUGHT
TO PASS.
- Alma
Table
of Contents
PART I - Description of Organization and
Purpose.............................................p. 3
PART II - Description of
Projects........................................................................…p. 4
PART III - A Short History of our
Organization....................................................…p. 5
PART IV - Brazil Journal (August
1999)..............................................................….p. 7
PART V - African Journal (December 1999)......................................................…p.
16
PART VI - Financial History for Fiscal
2000.......................................................….p. 41
PART VII - Budget for Fiscal
2001.......................................................................….p.
43
PART VIII - Principles of Accountability and
Control............................................…p. 45
PART IX - Steps for Implementing Short-Term and Long-Term
Objectives.........p. 46
PART X - Staff Personnel..................................................................................……p.
47
PART XI- A Brief Photo
Album..........................................................................……p.
48
PART
I - Description of Organization and Purpose
Wings of the Dawn International Institute for Children is a
Nonstock, nonprofit corporation, organized under the laws of the Commonwealth
of Virginia. It is currently
headquartered in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Its mission is to assist citizens of less-developed countries of the
world provide for the education of their children. Our focus is on directly assisting schools and libraries in
Africa, primarily by making books and education enrichment materials available
to them in their own languages.
The initial focus of this organization was on the children
of Mozambique. In this connection the
short-term goal was, and still is, to make quality textbooks, literature and basic educational materials in the Portuguese
language more available in Mozambique, in places where schools already exist
and in places where schools could be established if these materials were
available. The long-term goal is to aid
the government and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) in establishing
infrastructure in Mozambique for the improved education of its people.
In our annual report for Fiscal 1999, we disclosed that we
were launching an exploratory study of the feasibility of a similar project in
Nigeria. Accordingly, Mr. Ade Otenaike
and Mr. J. Peter Baumgarten, members of the Board of Directors, visited Nigeria
last December, visited a number of schools, met with public officials, and
established a cooperative relationship with local governments and
Non-Government Organizations. We
determined that such a project for Nigeria
was not only feasible, but in many ways less daunting logistically. English is the official language of
government, commerce and education in Nigeria.
Also there is an almost inexhaustible
supply of surplus books available for donation in the United
States. Therefore, the Board of
Directors has officially approved the recommendation of Mr. Baumgarten and Mr.
Otenaike that Wings of the Dawn expand its activities to include projects in
English-speaking West Africa, beginning in Nigeria.
PART
II - Description of Projects
We have projects in two African countries, Mozambique and
Nigeria. Mozambique is a nation of
southeast Africa, still emerging from a bloody and prolonged civil war. This war resulted in the deaths of a million
people, including children, and the dislocation of nearly a third of its
surviving population. Formally a colony
of Portugal, it received its independence in 1975. Because of the war, many of Mozambique's basic institutions,
including its educational system, are severely impaired. The majority of Mozambicans are under the
age of 20. Officially, the government
of Mozambique strongly encourages all children to attend school while between
the ages of six and sixteen. However,
because of lack of facilities and teachers, there are tens of thousands of
young Mozambican children who are turned away from existing schools. Because of extreme crowding, the period of
instruction for most primary-aged children is limited to three hours
daily. Classrooms with more than 50
pupils are the norm.
While the government has done an admirable job in providing
basic text for most existing schools, there are many problems associated with
quality, distribution and the scope and depth of the materials themselves. Other types of books and educational
materials, such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, globes, protractors and
compasses, math flash cards, athletic equipment, art supplies, are virtually
nonexistent. Paper products and writing
tools, are in short supply.
Nigeria, located on the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, is
Africa=s most populous nation. It is also a country that has experienced
much of political turmoil, ethnic strife and a tragic civil war after achieving
independence in 1960. However, in 1999,
the people of Nigeria elected their first civilian government in more than 15
years. The new president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has pledged to steer his country
away from political corruption and to focus on improved education as a top priority
of his administration. This commitment
is late in coming. Nigeria is a
country of vast mineral resources and should be much better off economically. Yet, its schools, like those of Mozambique,
are poor and crowded and lacking in books and basic education materials. Here too, many children cannot attend school
at all because there is no room for them.
Through past shipments of books and school supplies to
Mozambique, and with the help of three non-government organizations (World
Vision, Concern and Humana=s People to People (ADPP)), we have assisted many schools and thousands
of children in the three southern provinces of Maputo, Gaza and Manica. At present, we are preparing to ship two
containers of books during our fiscal year of 2001, one from Brazil bound for Mozambique and one in the
United States bound for schools in the vicinity of Lagos, Nigeria. We are coordinating our project in Nigeria
with Africa Refugee Foundation (AREF) and LDS Humanitarian Services.
PART
III - A Short History of our Organization
On December 31, 1996, Wings of the
Dawn was formally incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia as a vehicle for
addressing problems with education in the poorer, less developed countries of
the world. The initial country of focus
was Angola. However, because of
continued instability in that country and concerns that there would be a
resumption of hostilities (which have since been validated) our focus shifted
to Mozambique instead.
The country and people of Mozambique
are desperately poor. For the
foreseeable future, it is unlikely that this people will achieve a standard of
living that is conducive to personal development without outside assistance. However, except for a brief period during
the flooding of the Zambezi River earlier this year, Mozambique is not in the
newspaper headlines. Its problems are
mostly unnoticed by the world at large.
Since the end of its civil war, the world's focus has shifted
elsewhere. Many of the NGOs
(non-government organizations), especially the relief organizations once very
active in Mozambique, have left or are reducing the level and scope of
operations because of the perception that there are more pressing demands
elsewhere. In the field of educational,
development continues to lag far behind the needs. A large number of schools are either under construction or in the
planning stages, usually with NGO assistance.
Nevertheless, many children attend no school at all. The majority of children attending school do
so under deplorable conditions.
Furthermore, there is a general
dearth of books and other educational materials throughout this country. To our knowledge, no other NGO is
specifically seeking to address this problem of the lack of books. We know of a number of projects in the
United States by which books have been collected and sent to African
countries. But these books are
generally written in English and are of only limited utility in
Portuguese-speaking Mozambique.
To learn first hand what the educational
problems in Mozambique are, the executive director, Mr. J. Peter Baumgarten
personally toured the country during April and May of 1997. During a period of nearly three weeks he
visited 17 schools in three provinces and interviewed dozens of teachers,
school officials and government officials.
Contacts were established among people who are eager to assist Wings of
the Dawn in bringing books and educational materials to Mozambique.
In subsequent years, progress and
growth have been steady. In the second
year (fiscal year 1998), nearly 1,500 pounds of books and school supplies were
gathered and shipped from the United States to Mozambique. In addition, affiliate chapters of Wings of
the Dawn were established in Brazil.
These chapters immediately began collecting books in the Portuguese
language. The first substantial
donations from outside donors were also received that year, including
gifts-in-kind of school supplies from individual contributors at storefronts,
and a $2,500 gift from one individual benefactor, and a credit for about the
same amount from Safeway Stores applied to purchasing Portuguese
literature. Also, 1998 was the first
year our organization qualified for participation in the Combined Federal Campaign (or CFC, which is
like the United Way for federal employees).
The third year (FY 1999) saw the
following achievements and advances: First, nearly 3/4s of a ton of books and
school supplies arrived in Maputo.
These materials were received by the three pre-designated schools in
that province including: (a) Escola Comunitaria 4 de Outubro de Polana, (b)
Escola de Pre-ensinamento do Sao Damasco, and (c) Escola de Pre-ensinamento do
Patrice Lumumba. The distribution was
made in September 1998, at the beginning of the new school term, under the
personal supervision of Mr. Baumgarten.
Other advances included the expansion of our charter membership to
include a significant contingent of members in the State of Maryland and the
founding of our first Internet Website at www.wingsofthedawn.org.
Now, we have just concluded our
fourth fiscal year. During this last
period, one container holding 11,865 books in the Portuguese language was
shipped from the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Maputo, Mozambique. The books were mostly school texts,
including math, Portuguese, history, geography, literature, English and some
sets of Encyclopedias and library reading books. All of these books were written in the Portuguese language. These
were distributed to schools and libraries located in the provinces of Maputo,
Gaza and Manica, through three NGOs,
World Vision (of the US), Concern (of Ireland) and Humana People to
People (of Denmark).
We also started a project in Nigeria
when Mr. Baumgarten and Mr. Ade Otenaike of the Board of Directors visited
Nigeria together in December, 1999.
There, they surveyed schools in Lagos and Ogun states and establish
contacts. Nigeria, is Africa=s most populous country. It is also a country of tremendous mineral
wealth. However, it is mostly
undeveloped, its progress impeded by civil strife and internal corruption. It has tremendous need for outside
assistance of its education programs.
All schools visited by these two representatives made urgent requests
for aid in the form of books and other school supplies to supplement the scarce
materials already on hand. Upon
returning to the United States, our organization initiated its first English
language book collection project. We
have since received numerous contributions of books from local libraries, schools,
individuals and the Library of Congress.
By far, the largest contributor was the Fairfax County School
system. More than 400 boxes containing
more than 13,000 volumes of school texts and library books have since been
collected, enough to fill one 20-foot container.
At this writing (September 15, 2000)
we now have three separate shipments either ready or nearly ready and awaiting
shipment to Mozambique and Nigeria. We
also have sufficient funds on hand to finance these shipments and to carry out
all our program goals for the year, thanks largely to a generous foundation
grant from LDS Charities. We also have
fine prospects for continued growth of our organization and programs, and
expansion of our efforts into other disadvantaged countries.
Obviously, we cannot assume general
responsibility for the education of all children in Africa. The African people must do that
themselves. But we can assist this
people by stimulating and encouraging the growth of learning. ABy small and simple things are great things brought to pass.@ said Alma. This saying is also our motto and it
encourages our efforts. We hope that it
also encourages your generous support.
PART
IV - Brazil Journal (August 1999)
The following is an account Mr.
Baumgarten's journey to Brazil for the organization from August 6 to August 18,
2000, extracted from his personal diary:
6 AUGUST 1999
It has been a summer of long delays
for obtaining approvals necessary (with the Mozambican government and others)
to make a shipment from Brazil. A week
ago approval finally came. Now I am
less than 30 minutes from arriving in Rio.
As always in these times of
traveling alone, to do things with which I am less familiar, and with
strangers, I feel uncertain. I re-read the
poem by Edgar A. Guest: ACan=t@ to strengthen my resolve and courage.
And I pray that with God=s help, all will be well.
Now, at the end of the day, I write
my evaluation. It was a mix of good and
bad as most days are. I met Dona
Pedentrina at the appointed time and it was a good reunion. We were both glad to see each other
again. She is my hostess and so far the
mainstay of our project here in Brazil.
We arrived in Petropolis and, after lunch, went downtown to see the
cache of books. But first, she took me
to meet the Padre who runs one of the local radio stations. He wasn=t there. However, a
radio announcer was. She liked the
story of what we were doing and immediately put me and Pedentrina on the air in
an extemporaneous 30 minute interview.
We discussed our organization and project on the local radio at 3 p.m.
Then I finally went to the church
where the books are stored. I have
still not come to grips with what I found.
On the good side, it seems much better organized than I expected. Books are counted and categorized as I
requested, everything written on the boxes.
But, there is no way that these boxes amount to 20,000 books. Rather,
there are at most 5,000. I won=t know for sure until tomorrow
because the janitor was eager to close up and go home.
While this would be enough to meet
all of our commitments it means also that I have paid far too much for this
shipment. We will not fill a container as I represented.
I am quite disappointed, and
struggling to understand, why Pedentrina could not have sent me a list of types
as I requested along with the numbers?
How could she be so far off? I
am not angry. But I don=t understand. Dona Pedentrina is honest, and she is
intelligent. But this just doesn=t make sense. Even today on the radio she represented us
to have 20,000 books.
What to do now? Can we recoup part of our over-investment in
this shipment, which is the minimum flat rate for a container? This is just another shaft in the whirlwind
of opposition. What to do? Oh well, I had better sleep on it.
One more thing, I was able to meet
many of the principles in our collection project today. It appears that most are willing to continue
this campaign in the coming year. (More
good news.)
Tonight I went to an amateur theater
and saw mainly bad performers and a few good ones. A very full day. I am
dead tired. Have not slept well for a
long time.
7 AUGUST 1999
Once again I am having some
difficulty in converting from Portuguese to English. I find that I am naturally thinking in Portuguese and it is
necessary to translate my thoughts into English in order to write this. I went through this same experience last
year. It takes a couple of days to
accustom myself. Hopefully by tomorrow,
I will be able to switch more easily from one language to the other without so
much difficulty. I met several
missionaries today. Most were Americans. I was surprised that no one, except the
Brazilians wanted to speak English.
We were successful today in getting
into the church. It took three of us
six hours (from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.) to count the boxes, verify the number of
books in the boxes, reconstruct the boxes needing it, and put the books back in
the storage room. Also, each box
received a specific number. There were
125 boxes in all, containing a total of 8,458 books. While this is about 3,458
more than I thought last night, it is still a far cry from the promised 20,000.
What happened? I may never be sure. Pedentrina has said that many people, both
of our church and from outside have had access to the books and more that 2 the 20,000 were stolen. This was partially verified today by other
people, not involved in the project.
One person said she saw some people enter the storage room and take some
of the books, even though they were not especially needy. However, I doubt that this is a complete explanation. It would take either a lot a people or a lot
of work to remove that many books.
(Eventually the books were moved to a room with a lock and the thefts
were stopped.) I think the main problem
was that an exact count was not kept as
the year and the donations progressed.
On a more positive note, I am
confident that much of what we have will be very desirable to the schools that
receive them. Of course, there are some
that perhaps should be thrown away rather than sent, because they are in poor condition. The vast majority that I personally examined
were in fair to excellent condition.
Most are school books of the primary grade - Portuguese, English,
History, Geography, Mathematics, Science, some boxes of children=s literature, encyclopedias and
dictionaries. Counting the 250 or so books that we are sending from the U.S.,
we are sending a total of 8,700+ books.
That will be 8,000 more books than last year. This is progress, nevertheless, the fact remains that because of
this inaccuracy, this shipment is costing far too much. We must do better.
I am very thankful for all that
Pedentrina has done. She is the
keystone of our program right now; but she is weak and needs much more
help. I am also thankful to Valeria Felis
Martins. She has also done very
much. One of the things that I need to
do is find someone who can take the torch from Pedentrina=s hands, and move the work
forward. Pedentrina is old and tired,
not in the best of health. We need to
train someone to take her place when she is no longer able to carry out this
work.
One of the missionaries that helped
us today is Elder da Cruz, the Zone leader.
He gave me his complete name, address and phone number and asked if he
could do a project like this in Curitiba when he returned home. He sounds enthusiastic and very
sincere. I hope we may get together and
join forces. We will see.
But one thing I have learned (or
re-learned) this last year is the tendency that many people have in making
commitments and then not fulfill them.
Many people made promises to help us last year both in the U.S. and in
Brazil. But only a few have come close
to doing all that they have promised. I
am learning again to discount all commitments that people make. Many people become exalted in the joy of
planning to do something wonderful for the welfare of others and in having
adventure/excitement all at the same time.
But then when the road becomes tough and tedious, and the sun gets hot,
many wonderful commitments fall by the wayside. It takes a wonderful, special kind of person, to keep
commitments, even as difficulties arise,
even when nobody seems to take notice.
8 AUGUST 1999
According to popular rumor that I
started hearing from various sources since arriving here, the world is suppose to
come to an end, this coming Wednesday, the 11th day of August. (I had better get my books sent off before
this happens.) I don=t know the source of the prophecy.
Some have said it=s the Baptists; others say it=s Nostra Damas. An interesting rumor. News of this is on TV and in the papers.
I spent today resting by attending
church all day. This was a very full and
satisfying day. The Brazilians sing
with only one level of volume-at maximum triple fortissimo. No one sings with more spirit than these wonderful
people.
9 AUGUST 1999
On this date, we finalized our
arrangements for the pick up of the shipment on Wednesday from the church,
beginning with the inspection at 9 a.m.
I also faxed the packing list as requested to the shipping company. I may send a hand drawn map as well if need
be. I will find out tomorrow.
The visits today included: (1) a
school in Val Paraiso supported by the Pentecostal Church, a Pentecostal church
member, by the name of Marlene, who Pedentrina knows will follow up with her
minister=s commitments from last year; AThe Third Age@ (an old folks group in Petropolis);
Jorge Estrella (a law professor at the Catholic University); Mr. Luame Benin
and Lamar Rela Adumar ( who are both connected with the socialist group, Pan
African Congress).
This evening I attended the local
meeting of AO Partido Trabalhador@ (The Worker=s Party, another socialist group
whose emblem is a red star.) The State
of Rio is represented, in part, at the federal level, by Senator Geraldo Candido. He is a member of this worker=s party. I met him tonight and attended a meeting in which he spoke. I attended this meeting specifically to meet
Mr. Benin of the Pan African Congress.
We conversed briefly about our projects. At first, he sounded very interested in helping our efforts and
offered to help. But then he backed
away from making commitments. I don=t think I accomplished much by
attending that meeting. Also, I was a
little uncomfortable. Most of the talk
was about local government issues and was pretty uninteresting stuff, and
seemed pretty harmless. However, on the
walls were red stars, pictures of people making the clenched fist salute and
slogans like AIf the government doesn=t help us solve our problems, we
will cause problems for the government.@
We have much more on the list of
things to do. Tomorrow promises to be
another full day. Before going out
today, I prayed extensively that God would lead me by the hand and show me what
I need to do. I have the impression
that if I continue to do my part, God will make up for my lack of ability and
we will succeed together in the end.
Today, I finished the Epistle to the Galatians. In the last chapter, verse 9, is this
passage: AAnd let us not be weary of
well-doing; for in due season, we shall reap, if we faint not.@
Very applicable I think.
10 AUGUST 1999
This was a very slow and
discouraging day. We accomplished very few of the things that I thought were
needful. I took extra precautions to
insure that both inspector and shipper will find the Church tomorrow
morning. (We decided that this had to
occur tomorrow instead of today because of the Feira downtown which completely
blocks access to the Church from the street.)
Much time had to be spent, understandably I hope, in accommodating
Pedentrina=s outside agenda. Although this is all understandable,
predictably necessary and inevitable, it was very frustrating just the same.
After arriving home at the end of a
long, long day, the phone rings. It is
Valeria. She says she has 3,000 more
books in 20 more boxes. (That many
books would require at least 40 boxes but that=s another matter.)
She says they came from the College of Rue Barbosa, and they are all
ready, counted, boxed, everything. All
we need is to transport them to the church.
What am I suppose to do? I have
no idea how to get them moved in so short of notice. I begin to thank her and say, however, that this may have to wait
and be part of our shipment for next year.
But Pedentrina stops me, comes to my rescue and says leave it to
me. I will get the truck.
I still have grave doubts that this
is going to work with such short notice.
I don=t know how we will get these extra
items ready on so short notice, and I must not compromise the process for the
sake of these late-comers. But let=s see what happens. With the world coming to an end tomorrow,
according to Nostra Damas, it can=t hurt. Well, maybe
it=s been a pretty good day after all.
11 AUGUST 1999
I was close. There were 3500 more
books in 42 boxes. I arose early and
left early for the church where the books are stored. I arrived an hour early and the inspector arrived 45 minutes
late. In between, another truck arrived
with the 42 boxes and two missionaries.
I still don=t know how Pedentrina arranged this
transport or how Valeria was able to get these books, organize and box them in
so short a time.
So we did not get the 20,000 books
that were represented. But, by our best
count, we loaded 11,800+ books into that container, in 167 boxes. The inspection agency approved the shipment
and sealed the container. The books are
on their way to Africa. The container
was about 1/3 full. But the books are
on their way. We didn=t do much else today because
Pedentrina, on her own, decided to fix a big meal for the movers and the
missionaries at the church. We spent
most of the afternoon cleaning up.
(Missionaries were at the church for their preparation day.) Also, we
received 5 more boxes of magazines, today, too late for this shipment this year. It will have to wait until next year. But the shipment is on its way. And 11,800 is much better than my gloomy
expectation last Friday of only 5,000.
I am inspired by the faithfulness
and diligence of those who are helping me.
I will always be grateful.
Following my disappointment of last Friday, I was tempted to give way to
despair. However, God has buoyed me up
and given me hope. Certainly the
passage of scripture, found in my reading two days ago, helped also:
And let us not be weary in well doing;
for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. B
Galatians: 6:9
12 AUGUST 1999
On this date, we gave our thanks to the four principal schools
involved in our efforts to gather books.
We visited each school, gave cards to each director expressing our
sincere thanks, and requested renewed efforts for the coming year. I am hopeful that next year will be even
better than this one has been. We know
of specific schools that will participate. Also, our members and collaborators
in Petropolis know much better than they did before what has to happen in order
for things to work out smoothly.
For example: We needed a better
count, and we needed to know more specifically what the shipment contains. When the inspector came, he opened three
boxes to see if the contents corresponded with the number of books stated on
the packing list. We almost failed the test because in the case of one box,
there were fewer books than what was stated.
Only 127 books out of the 140 books listed were actually in the
box. Why was there such a
miscount? I don=t know? But I think that Valeria, (a woman who we are beginning to rely
on more in this project) was so embarrassed, that I don=t think we will have this problem
again - not in Petropolis.
And that=s another thing that is very
encouraging. We have Valeria, and she is competent and has a wonderful desire
to advance this project. We may have similar opportunity in one other gentleman
who wants to open a similar project in his home town of Curitiba, Parana. We also have at our disposal to haul books,
a truck and a man, Joao Paulo, from the Prefeitura (City Hall) Programma Socias
(Dept. Of Social Programs).
Today was also a little
tedious. We executed a power of
attorney to the shipping company to enable them to process the shipment out of
port and to see to the payment of export duties. (We don=t have such a tax in the U.S.
because they are specifically forbidden in the Federal Constitution.) I hope we did it correctly. We don=t need any more delays.
13 AUGUST 1999
Today we are in Sao Paulo to attend
to personal needs and to meet other people who may be in a position to assist
our project.
We arrived by 6:30 this morning and
spent a peaceful day. We were able to
talk to many people about our project in Africa, including the Area President,
Kent B. Jolley and his counselor, Pres. Athos Amorim. I believe a fair assessment of our meeting would be to say that
the area president was genial. However,
President Amorim was quite enthusiastic, offered to help, gave me his card and
invited me to write him more about this. He is a retired general in the
Brazilian Army and has many friends.
We return to Petropolis tomorrow.
Then for the rest of the weekend I will attend church as much as I can, to meet
and get to know more people, and to thank our friends who have helped so much.
14 August 1999
I spent the day mostly traveling
from Sao Paulo to Rio, then to Petropolis. As I was leaving the bus station in
Petropolis, a man had just fallen down (drunk I think), had cut his head on the
concrete and was bleeding profusely. He
seemed nearly unconscious. People were
trying to stand him up and didn=t seem to know what they were doing.
I thought to myself, APete, you=re an Eagle Scout. Take charge of
the situation and see to it that this man gets the help that he needs.@
With the help of some bystanders, we got him to a bench and sat him
down. (He wouldn=t lay down.) He seemed to have a concussion. I took his pulse and found it strong and
normal. He was also breathing
normally. I wiped away the excess blood
from his wound with a clean handkerchief.
The bleeding had mostly stopped, and the police who were overlooking the
situation, had called the ambulance. At
that point I left the scene.
This evening, I am attending a Music
Festival at Luana=s high school - Rue Barbosa- a major
contributor of books to our organization.
I=m having some fun with it. A girl group is singing now. A samba school just finished up and it was
pretty good. One young man keeps coming
over to me periodically to ask me questions in English.
I find it is impossible for me to
melt into the population. Nobody
mistakes me for a Brazilian. I stand
out like a sore thumb. I just had a very
friendly greeting by a drunk. He was
just shown the door by one of the chaperones.
15 August 1999
We attended meetings of my church
today. We also circulated the news
among church members who are involved in this endeavor (Wings of the Dawn) about
a meeting that we will have on Tuesday, August 17 at 1 p.m. Several have promised to come and help us
plan the campaign for the coming year. We can only hope for a good turnout.
Afterwards, Pedentrina=s grandchild, Gisele, and Alex (her
husband) and Lucas (their son) were there to take us to Sao Jose do Vale do Rio
Preto, a two hour journey by car. After
arriving, we had a wonderful reunion, visiting until late into the night,
discussing everything from our project, to families, religion, politics, the
English language, aspirations to possible immigration to the United
States.
16 AUGUST 1999
This is the best part. I am enjoying a good rest here in Sao Jose
with this family. We have exchanged small gifts and they seem to genuinely
enjoy my company. The sky is so blue,
the air is so cold and clean. The house
is open to the outside without completely enclosed glass windows. The dining room simply has an iron
grill. My bedroom has shutters but has
glass windows. The house is drafty, and since it is winter, I was cold last
night, shivering until I climbed into bed with 4 blankets!
But it is certainly pleasant here in
the daytime. Nobody has central heating
or air conditioning, or even a hot water heater. There are so many different kinds of fruit here. It seems to be almost impossible that anyone
can starve. Fruit trees are everywhere
bearing bananas, jack fruit, avocado, yellow plums, papaya, and passion
fruit. I was introduced to a new one
today, jabuticaba. It looks like a
black grape or olive, which grows right off the trunk or branch of a tree. I took a picture of this tree with its
fruit.
Today, I am resolving what I hope is
a minor discrepancy with the documentation of our shipment by telephone, fax
and mail.
17 AUGUST 1999
After sending out the fax and
mailing the materials requested by the freight forwarder, I concluded my day
yesterday by visiting friends and family of my hosts, Alex and Gisele
Scherer. (Gisele is Pedentrina=s grand daughter and Odilie=s daughter. She is the same age as my daughter, Mindy.)
Today, before taking my leave of Sao
Jose, Odilie showed me around. He
showed me his farm, his friend=s farm, a house he was building for a smuggler/money launderer (nice
place too) and a new coffee plantation on the top of the highest mountain in
the area----a beautiful view, over 1600 meters in altitude. It was a fast tour. I told both him and Gisele, ANow that you have showed me Sao Jose
do Vale do Rio Preto, I am in your debt.
I am obligated to show you Washington, D.C.@
They both laughed. But I think
there is a great chance it will happen someday. I love that family. I
want to spend more time with them.
The last thing I did before
returning to Rio to board this plane was hold a meeting with our Petropolis
Chapter. All four of our principles
were present: Joao Paulo, Barbara Xavier, Valeria Martins and Pedentrina
Fernandes. (Valeria, was the only person invited last Sunday who showed for the
meeting.) We discussed all that has happened to us both here in Brazil and in
the U.S., what we had accomplished, what went wrong, what went right, how we
can improve and what our goal should be for the coming season. I came away from
that meeting with the satisfaction of knowing that we have a small corps of people
who are very happy with what they have accomplished, and who want this work to
grow and succeed well.
18 AUGUST 1999
Today, I am happy because I will be
home again with my wife and family. We will celebrate daughter Amanda=s eighth birthday tonight (a day
early) and we will be seeing Jacob off to college at Ricks. This will be a very
busy day for everyone, especially the mother.
But now, I have this long lay-over in Miami. For a few minutes I want to write an
evaluation of this trip to Brazil.
There is no question that this trip
was necessary both to see to the petty, technical arrangements for shipping of
books, enhancing of public awareness and relations, and for instigating more
collections and setting higher, yet realistic, goals with our members and
collaborators in Brazil. In addition,
it was necessary to teach them about the problems we encountered, and the
lessons we have learned in avoiding them.
In our meeting yesterday, we
discussed several problems. Everyone
knows that we must do better in counting and categorizing the books gathered
in, and sending accurate information.
Besides Pedentrina, we have one very devoted member, Valeria Martins who
is also very competent, and who has had and continues to have the time and
energy to help us with these details.
She is also well connected with the youth of our church in this area and
can enlist them to assist her when necessary.
Next, the storage place was less
than ideal. It was a class room in a
Mormon Church Building which shared space with janitorial supplies. The limitation of space, together with the
lack of an accurate count, discouraged making further collections before we had
collected even half of the original goal of 20,000 books. Pedentrina has made the solution of this problem
her top priority.
Next, we must have a packing list
with corresponding numbered boxes along with a break down by category of all
the books we gather in sufficient detail to satisfy the government=s of Brazil and Mozambique, to give
advance information to our clients, and to our members and contributors. This
will also be helpful later for distribution once the books arrive in
Mozambique. Again, I am confident that
Valeria will stay on top of this.
Next, we need more people to help
and more prospects for future projects in Brazil. The members in Petropolis are committed to recruiting more
help. Also, we have several excellent
prospects for help in other cities - Athos Amorim in Sao Paulo, and Elder de
Cruz in Curitiba.
Finally, we need to gather more
books. The container has a capacity to
carry more than 32,000 books in 500 boxes.
It would cost us the same full or empty; and in the case of this
shipment of 11,865 books in 167 boxes, it was just a little over 1/3 full. So I asked the question, AWhat should be the goal of the
Petropolis Chapter for 1999/2000?@ I was determined to
let them set their own goal this time, rather than set the goal for them as I
did last year. I would accept their
decision even if they set a goal for as little as 10,000 books. After some discussion, the consensus of the
group was that they would gather 30,000 books.
I asked how they would do this?
They noted that there were 127 schools in Petropolis. They would visit them all if necessary and
other institutions as well. But considering the fact that the bulk of these
books came from only three schools, everyone thought that this goal of 30,000
was well within reach. Also emphasized
was the need for books of more variety-novels, etc. Not just school books.
As I did last year, I emphasized
with them the need to meet often, at least monthly to report on what had been
done by them since the last meeting, regroup, make assignments, and keep
everyone working together. The chapter
agreed that they would meet on the last Tuesday of each month in the afternoon
or evening. The next meeting was set
for Sept. 28.
I closed the meeting by sharing with
this one little group of corps members the passage I found the other day in
Galatians 6:9. We should not be weary
in well-doing. If we do not faint, we
will succeed to a bountiful harvest. Yes, I was disappointed we did not get
20,000 books. But we have succeeded in
gathering and shipping 11,865. This is
not a small number. It is actually more
than enough still to fulfill all of our promises heretofore made in Mozambique.
When we first began this project, we
didn=t have any idea really of what we
were capable of doing. But we decided
this was worth the effort. Even if we
succeeded in bringing a few things to these people in great need, we would
still be blessing their lives with more than what they already have. Our hopes and expectations are, I believe
more than satisfied. We will grow and get better.
PART V - African Journal (December
1999)
The following is an account Mr.
Baumgarten's journey to Africa with Ade= Otenaike, first in Nigeria from November 30 to December 7, 1999 and second
in Mozambique from December 8 to
December 20, 2000, again, from his personal diary:
A. Nigeria
November 30, 1999
As I begin this journal, I am very
tired - although this is just the beginning of another long journey. It occurred to me just as we became airborne
from Dulles International Airport that I have forgotten something pretty
important. What if, I thought, no one
is there to meet me in Lagos tomorrow?
I did not remember to bring the name and phone number of my point of
contact. I began to feel panicked. Then I thought, well, worse case scenario
would be I=d have to waste some money calling
home to get it. It wouldn=t be fun, but I would muddle through
okay. All I can say is, AI hope our meeting tomorrow goes as
planned and that >Murphy= is on vacation.@
Yes, this is the beginning of my
third AAfrican Adventure@ on behalf of Wings of the Dawn, and
the children we seek to serve.
This trip will basically involve two
parts: First a week in Nigeria, hosted by Ade=s family and Chief Segun Olusola. I hope to survey the needs of schools in
some parts of Nigeria with the idea of setting up a program similar to one we
have started in Mozambique. I hope to
also establish a network of contacts among influential people, able and willing
to assist on the ground in Nigeria-and who are reliable. The reliability factor is what is so tricky.
The second part will be a return to
Mozambique by way of Johannesburg South Africa. I hope I am successful in meeting a member of the Area Presidency
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints while in Johannesburg. Why?
To cultivate a relationship that I hope will eventually lead to
cooperation and assistance between the Church, and our small organization. Afterwards, on to Maputo where, for the next
ten days, I will be involved in distributing 11,865 books to five schools and
maybe one community center in Chamoio, Manica Province. Also, visiting more schools, establishing
more contact, building more trust.
I had my forty-eighth birthday
today, but it wasn=t much of a celebration. I worked 3 hours at home at my normal IRS
job. The rest of the time before
leaving for the airport at 3:00 p.m., was devoted to packing. Lyle and I hardly got to be together, less
than a full day. I had picked her up at
the airport from her trip to Denver over Thanksgiving. We got home late last night. Then I was up at 5:15 a.m. this
morning. See why I am tired? I am going to miss Lyle, Amanda and Matt
terribly. And I am feeling pretty
whiney right now about being gone for so much of the Christmas season. What I need to do is stop feeling sorry for
myself and get into the appropriate frame of mind for enjoying the adventure.
I am dogged by uncertainties. Almost anything can happen in Africa, and
often does. But that is why there is so
much fun in all of this. That is what
it is all about.
When Bertram Piccard touched down
his Orbiter 3 in the Egyptian desert last March after completing his round the
world circuit in a gas balloon, with his partner the first two men to do this,
he was interviewed by the press. During
that interview, he said something quite interesting:
AThe definition of adventure is to
accept the uncertainty, accept the anxiety, accept the doubts, prepare as well as [you can] and jump. It is a metaphor for life.@
This time, I will make an effort to
see some elephants. There is a place
across Maputo Bay where they are rebuilding a herd. I will get over there if I can.
December 1, 1999
Landed at Charles DeGaul Airport in
Paris at 8 a.m. A short lay-over kept
me in the airport. We were off again by
10:30 in a very full jet on a flight to Lagos.
My fears were unfounded of course.
Ade and his brother, Segun, both met me. I was driven straight to Segun=s home where we rested for the night. Dinner consisted of fried bananas, french
fried potatoes, beef in a spicy(!) sauce and mashed black-eyed peas. All very good, and I never have liked
black-eyed peas before.
Segun=s hospitality is excellent. His house is huge--each bedroom with its own bath. It could also serve as a small motel. Clearly he is a man who has done well for
himself here. He works for an American
company.
It is very hot here, day and
night. If it weren=t for the fan, I don=t know what I would do. Lagos is like Maputo all over again--so far
as the poverty of most people-only much bigger. I will be interested in comparing the schools here with those of
Mozambique.
We flew over the Sahara today, my
first flight over it by daylight. At
first, it reminded me of other deserts I was acquainted with in Southern
California and Arizona. But then I
noticed something starkly different.
There was absolutely no sign of any human habitation, except for one
straight dirt track. Shortly after
crossing the Mediterranean Sea, I watched out both sides of the jet, looking
for long stretches of time. There were
no people, roads, discernable vegetation, signs of settlement, agriculture or
irrigation---nothing, only certain variations in bare geological features. No surface water anywhere. I wondered how far down was the water
table? If this desert were in the US,
wouldn=t there be irrigation circles here
and there? Maybe not. I was sure, at any rate, that this was not
Kansas.
I share a row with an Ibo woman
wearing a beautiful native costume. She suggested I include Ibo-land in my
itinerary of school visits. That they
were in far greater need than the schools around Lagos. Her name was Kate, a Nigerian living in
Houston coming home for the Holidays.
December 2, 1999
I have found, whenever I return to
this continent, it is necessary to AAfricanize@ myself. If I fail to do so,
this becomes a sad, depressing place.
The multitudes of people living in squalor and poverty, in hopeless
circumstances is overwhelming. Even
people who are relatively Awell-off@ would be poor by US standards. For example, it was reported to me today
that a college professor makes only about $75 per month, and that primary and
secondary teachers make less - not enough by itself to survive on, let alone
support a family. So most teacher=s moonlight to survive.
Other areas of concern that require
getting accustomed or AAfricanized@ to is the quality of water (which
is undrinkable) and the lack of a reliable power source. Anyone who can afford it has a back-up
generator. Most do without. I have been here for just one day (24 hours)
and already there have been nearly a dozen power outages. Worse than Maputo, power outages are just a
fact of everyday life here.
The fact that there are sharp rivalries
between the various ethnic groups within the native populations is the cause of
frequent conflicts and strife. Because
of this bitter in-fighting, we have been forced to cancel plans to visit the
delta region. Everyone agrees that such
a journey would not be safe. The
government has not yet reestablished control over that region. Kidnaping for ransom is a frequent
occurrence. In the face of these
problems, how can we think of doing a project in a place like Lagos Nigeria?
It would not be advisable or
feasible if we did not partner with an experienced agency with both a good
reputation and resources. We have reason to believe that African Refugee
Foundation (AREF) is such an organization.
AREF is founded and headed by Chief Segun Olusola. This group has offered to partner with us if
we decide too go forward with a project in Nigeria.
I spent most of the day today with
Mr. Samuel Dewali Solarim. He, along
with an entourage of 3 others, took us (Ade and myself) to meet the Director of
Public Libraries for the State of Lagos, officials of the National Library, and
officers of the US Information Agency.
Mr. Jim Callaghan heads that office.
Mr. Solarim, mentioned abo