johndeere

My First Traffic Infringement

One day when we got to the office, we found on the floor, a paper that somone had slid under the door. It had a photo of a car on it along with some "Infringement Particulars" . It read as follows "The infringer, as idendified, while operating a vehicle on a public road, etc, etc, committed the following infringement(s) as shown by charge code 4549. The "charge code" read; "operated a vehicle at a speed of 91km/hr which is in excess of the speed limit of 80km/hr as was indicated in the prescribed manner on a road traffic sign".  Penalty: R750.  I though to myself, wow, some poor guy got nailed by the traffic camera and is faced with a pretty stiff fine. Upon a closer inspection of the photo, I thought to myself, wait a minute, that is the rear view of our car, our little  Nissan Tiida, on the motorway, most likely traveling at a high rate of speed right past the traffic camera. Sharon sometimes reminds me to slow down and observe the speed limit signs more closely. Maybe I should have listened to her more closely.... In my defense, we have found that on the motorway (freeway) the speed limit signs go from 80km/hr to 120km/hr and back to 80km/hr and maybe down to 60km/hr within a distance of less than a kilometer, especially in construction zones. To make matters worse we have to either get out of the way or try to keep up with the Mercedes, BMW.s and Audi's that always seem to be speeding along about 30 or 40 km/hr faster than the speed limits.
 
Here is how it works: The cameras, which lurk along most of the streets and motorways in Joburg, snap the photo of a car, tagging it if it is speeding, or running a red light, etc.(like some cities back in the U.S.) The "infringement" (ticket) is sent to the church area office fleet manager, identified as to who the car is assigned to.The fleet manager, in turn, delivers the infringement to the infringer (me, in this case) with instructions to take it to the cashier and pay it.
 
I now find myself obeying the traffic laws more closely for obvious reasons. Incidently, the R750 penalty was discounted R375, so we only had to pay R375. (the exchange is currently about 7 rand to the U.S. dollar) Maybe it was because I was a first time offender.I probably won't get off that easy next time.

On the Road From Addis Ababa to Awassa

I have written about this in a previous post, but this is a little more detail of some of what we saw and experienced on the trip. Our host and driver during our time in Addis was Esubalew Alemayehu Biru. Fortunately he prefers to be called Habtu, which is much easier to say. He is about 27 years old, and district president of the Addis Ababa, Ethiopia District, which contains 4 branches. This is the only district in Ethiopia, which is about has about 850 members of the church. Habtu is a busy man. He works for the church as National Director of Public Affairs for Ethiopia. He is also manager of missionary support for 16 young (American and African) missionaries, He ensures that the missionaries have a place to live and that they have enough money to buy food and pay their expenses. There is also a Senior Missionary Couple (the Parrish's) there that help him with the finances and the missionaries.
 
With that being said we traveled to Awassa to audit a branch there Habtu drove the Toyota church van. He is a very good, but aggressive driver and although we felt safe, I was a little concerned about the high rate of speed that he drove. When we got out on the open road, we were clipping along at about 140 - 150 km/hr. The big reason for my concern was all of the animals along the road and occasionally crossing the road. We saw goats, cattle, horses, donkeys, and even wild camels along the road. Habtu told us that when horses outlive their usefulness, they are turned out along the road somewhere and required to forage for themselves and sometime starve to death or get hit by cars. We saw one horse that had been hit and killed by a car and was lying in the middle of the road. It had not been hauled away at the time. Fortunately we never hit any animals.   
 
As Habtu was driving along, he would suddenly stop to buy stuff. Once he stopped and purchased a large bag of charcoal and loaded it on top of the van on the luggage rack. Charcoal is commonly used for cooking in Ethiopia. He also stopped at a roadside stand to buy some red onions. We had a good time talking to the kids that were selling the onions. Habtu took good care of us and was a good host. He scheduled all of the audits and made sure the branch presidents and clerks were there to help me with the audits. He booked our hotel rooms, and got us to restaurants for lunches and dinners. He is also a good friend.

 



 

 

Our Friend Thoba

About two months ago, one of our African friends from the Pimville Ward that we attend invited us to her home for lunch on a Sunday after church. Her name is Thoba Karl-Halla. She is a young widow, probably in her mid 40's. She and Sharon had formed a friendship as they attended Relief Society and gospel doctrine classes in the ward. As we became better acquainted, we learned that she is a very remarkable person.
 
Her mother is Julia Mavimbela, who was very much involved in the Soweto community back in the 70's during Apartheid. She organized 'Women for Peace', a group  that 'aimed to form a peaceful transition to true democracy in South Africa'.  She was one of very few black women to receive a college education and  the first black female school principals in South Africa. She became a widow at a young age when her husband was killed in a car accident. She led an organization to help women "overcome illiteracy, crime, disease, unjust laws that make African women feel helpless and hopeless". She joined the church and was later called as a branch Relief Society president. She was Zulu, but she learned six other languages, besides Zulu. She was invited  to BYU, and presented an award to for "outstanding contribution to a profession, a community, and to a religion". She passed away a few years ago when she was in her 80's, but still active in the church and her community.   
 
Now back to Thoba Karl-Halla. She shared many experiences about her life and her mother's life. Her mother tried for 14 years to encourage Thoba to join the church by writing a letter to her every Sunday during those years, telling her what she had learned in church that Sunday. It just took her that long to gain a testimony, but she was finally baptized after she had a testimony of the gospel. Thoba is now an active member of the church and has held many callings in her ward. She shared with us some of the tragedies that she experienced. In a three year period, she lost her mother, her husband and a son. She told about her experience of seeking employment. After several interviews, without being hired, she decided to start her own business. She is now successful as an events planner here in Joburg. She is raising her grand daughter, Massie who is about 8 years old because Massie's mother had disowned her when she was born. Massie is an adorable, astute, and intelligent little girl who has also become our friend.
  
 As Senior Missionary couples, we each have the opportunity to host Family Home Evening for our fellow missionary couples. Last evening it was our turn. We had invited Thoba to come and share her story about her mother and her conversion, which she graciously agreed to do. She gave a very inspiring and emotional account of her mothers accomplishments, which were many. She read some of her mothers journals which brought her stories to life. Someone asked about her views of Nelson Mandella as an African. Her short answer was "There would be no South Africa without Nelson Mandela and what he did for the people of South Africa". I will always remember her answer. I think what she said is typical of how the average South African feels about Nelson Mandela.   
 
It was an interesting and spiritual Family Home Evening experience. We are grateful for these experiences and for the opportunities to meet people like Thoba and Massie. 

Along the Road in Uganda

As we traveled along the roads in Ugandi, we observed some interesting things. Because many people cannot afford cars, they carry just about everything on their bicycles and motorcycles; everything from chickens to car batteries, to sugar cane and bananas. I saw a bicycle with two (live) pigs all tied down and another with a small (live) calf, probably on the way to market.The heavy trucks are usually overloaded and top heavy and it is not uncommon to see one overturned. This one was going around a roundabout just a little to fast. They draw lots of spectators as the photo shows. When the trucks or buses break down on the road, they are fixed right there, sometimes when they are still on the road. They cut branches from nearby trees and put them on the road in front of and behind the truck to serve as "flares".  It is also common to see traffic "gridlock" in downtown Kampala and Jinja, all day long - not just during 'rush hours'. The roads are full of pot holes, they are narrow with no center line, pedestrian's and bicycles are usually along the road, and speed bumps are everywhere. Fortunately, our hosts, another missionary couple serving in Gulu, Uganda took us where we needed to go, so we didn't have to drive while we were there. In spite of all of this, these hard working people go about their business and seem to do their best in supporting themselves and their families. 

 

 

 

 







 


 
 

To Uganda and Rwanda

 
We received an assignment to audit and train, as necessary, all of the branches and districts in the Uganda Kampala Mission. The mission president of the Uganda Kampala Mission specifically asked that an Area Auditor (us) fulfill this assignment, and since we are responsible for Uganda and Rwanda, we began to plan our trip. There was a lot of logistical details to work out and it was a real challenge to work out the details of who we would travel with, setting up times for us to meet with clerks and branch presidents, hotel and air travel reservations, and a host of other details to work out.  The travel and visa people in the office were off for some training and we  waited until the last minute to finally get our visa’s to get us in and out of both countries.  The itinerary was as follows: We flew from Joburg to Kampala, Uganda where the Mission office is located. Godfrey, a church employee in the mission office met us at the airport and was our driver for the first day we were there. We spent a night in Kampala, the largest city and capital of Uganda. The next day, Godfrey took us to Jinja, a small city about 50 km. from Kampala. During our stay there, we audited the Jinja district and the four branches in the district. Our host couple was The Harris's, a senior couple serving in Jinja. They did a great job, driving us to the meeting houses where the audits were done, to their home for lunches and dinners and to and from our hotel. Our hotel 'room' was a part of a cottage duplex located maybe a hundred meters from the Nile River, with an excellent view. After we were finished in Jinja, we traveled to Gulu, where there is a branch.  Gulu is about 350 km. from Jinja, an all day drive along narrow roads, paved, but with lots of potholes, speed bumps,  buses, large lorry’s  (big rigs), and many people walking and riding bicycles along side of the road. Typically, because of the narrow roads, potholes cannot be dodged for fear of hitting another vehicle or hitting a pedestrian along the road.  Mr Harris is a very good driver but a little aggressive at times and kept us on the edge of our seats as he worked his way through the heavy traffic. On one occasion, we came upon two very large speed bumps that we didn’t see in time. When he finally saw them, he hit the brakes and slowed to about 50 km/hr when we hit them. Fortunately, we were all belted in, but the cheese and crackers we were munching on went flying.  The little 4 door, 4 wheel drive Nissan truck that the church furnishes the missionaries there, did the job and got us everywhere we needed to go. Our hotel in Gulu was like a motel 6 in the U.S., which was fine, except the rooms didn't have hot water (it was almost but not quite luke warm). The air conditioning worked well as long as the electricity was on. It was off when we checked in but by the time we went to bed it was back on and the A/C was running.  

On the Sunday that we were there, we went to church with the Harris’s at the Jinja Branch.  Then,  that evening we had a meeting with the Shipley's (he is a counselor in the Mission Presidency) and with all the young missionaries serving in that area. Mrs Shipley and Mrs Harris prepared a delicious dinner. Most of the young missionaries serving there are African, the rest being from the U.S. After a discussion of scriptures, hymns were sung by the young missionaries.     

 The next day, it was back to work and we were up at about 4:00 AM to catch a plane to Kigali, Rwanda, to audit a branch over there. At the airport in Kigali, we met the Andrus's, another Missionary couple, who were our hosts there. They took us to the meeting house, which is a big, very nice home. We met with the Branch President and two new branch clerks who were both recent converts to the church.  They were in need of training because of being so new in the church. So after I completed the audit, Sharon and I spent some time with them for training, regarding membership records, setting up a filing system, and some financial issues. The Andrus's then showed us around Kigali, which is quite nice and cleaner than most African cities that we have visited. The city is on gentle rolling hills with lots of trees. It was cooler there than in Uganda and a thunder storm with some heavy rain came in while we were there. After dinner with the Andrus’s they took us to the airport and we headed back to Kampala.

The following day, we spent some time with the Thayn's, still another Senior missionary couple, talking about some church membership issues. Then we went to the mission office where Sharon provided some training to one of the senior missionaries in the office.  Then, we had a meeting with President Jackson, the Uganda Kampala Mission President, regarding the audits.

By this time, we were getting tired and were looking forward to going  back “home” to Joburg.  The next day, a wakeup call got us up at 4:00 AM and Godfrey took us to the airport for out flight home. 

We are very much impressed by what these senior missionaries do out there in the 'real' Africa. ('Real'  Africa is all the other countries in Africa excluding South Africa) Out there, the roads are bad, they can't drink the water, the infrastructure is limited in many of the cities, and corruption is common. But they willingly serve and help the church members and the young missionaries in countless ways every day.  I think we have it easy here in Joburg, with drinkable water from the taps, good streets and motorways (freeways) and nice living facilities. 

 

Shown are  photos of us, the Harris's in Jinja, Uganda(the Nile river is in the background), and Andrus's in their home in Kigali, Rwanda. Also included is a view of the Nile from our cottage in Jinja.