Update from Uganda

Dear Family and Friends:

It has been a couple of busy weeks here with two of the top humanitarian people from SLC and our big boss from South Africa visiting with us. Sharon Eubanks has responsibility for the wheelchair projects worldwide and Robert Hokanson has responsibility for the water projects worldwide. John Elks from South Africa also came with them. He approves, or not, all of our area projects. We write them up, submit them to Elder Mills in South Africa and then if he approves they go to John Elks for the final go ahead. They visited with us for four days and we arranged for them to meet with all kinds of organizations to evaluate and talk with them. We also took them out in the villages to look at water projects and to talk with water district people. They were wonderful to work with and to be with. Brother Elks is from England originally and has that wonderful British humor. We were in our truck following behind some water people on our way out to look at a borehole. Ron was lagging behind and we were losing our guides, so brother Elks said to Ron, “put foot”. I guess this is an English saying meaning to hurry up. I loved that and now I get to use it. They were very helpful and even treated us to some very nice meals. We have been green lighted on water projects now so we have as much to do as we can produce. We met with the water district bureaucracy folks on two projects of over 200 wells and boreholes to either refurbish or to drill new water sources. The water districts are like most everything else here, very limited funds and very political. The Church bears most of the financial costs, but we do require that they contribute and do what they can to help supply clean water to the people in their districts. They are required to supply labor, land and various other things. We require them to have a water committee in each district, so that someone is responsible for the well after the Church has completed the project.

We have also ordered three containers of wheelchairs from SLC and took our visitors to meet with the organization those partners with the Church to bring them into the Country. Each of the 52 districts in Uganda will get a portion of this order. We were told the last time they were brought into this country, the missionaries helped unload them, set them up and were there and helped hand them out to the people who were listed to receive them. We understand it was a pretty emotional time for all.

We have now bought all the tools for a pineapple project that we had approved a few weeks ago. 95 women, out in a very remote village, have banded together and have bought five acres of land and the Church (through us) is providing what they need to prepare the land and to plant. We took two trucks out to deliver all the things they need to first clear the land. These women work very hard and clear the land by themselves, sometimes with the help of very small children and babies tied firmly on their backs. The land is thick with bushes and undergrowth and I am imagining plenty of critters, like snakes, etc. When we first went to visit and walk the land, I was very cautious about where I stepped. They clear all of this by hand. We delivered hoes, pangos, fencing material, rakes, nails, pineapple tissues, fertilizer, etc. I have attached a picture of Ron shaving with one of the pangos. He thinks he looks like Crocodile Dundee. After unloading our truck, the woman receiving the material did a little dance for us as we pulled away. She was so thankful and just kept saying over and over again, thank you Elder and Sister Bean and we said this is from the people of our Church that contribute to the Humanitarian Fund, we are just the buyers and delivery people and get the fun of seeing how much good it does. There is a lot of polygamy in the villages and men are not around very often. Women are the ones that contribute mostly to the family needs, so we were very happy that this project was approved.

We have also submitted the paperwork for a piggery project for one village, and a pilot banana project that we really think will turn out well for another. We love this part of the calling – but, the driving is a nightmare of very intense concentration and trust. This is hard on both of us, Ron doing the driving and Sandra very nervous seeing all the potentials for disaster on her side of the truck We experience big trucks piled high with sugar cane or matoke with three or four guys sitting on the top, passing four or five other trucks and coming straight for you in your lane and you are sure it is going to be a head on. At the very last second they find a way to get out of your lane and zip into theirs, or we are run off the road, it does cause your heart to stop for a moment. We are usually very tired when we return home. Then add a drenching downpour to this and it is very very tiring, we also try not to drive at night.

We took our visitors to the airport in Entebbe and really hated to see them go. They were on their way to Kenya to visit the humanitarian director there. They were very helpful with good ideas and suggestions and were also a lot of fun to be with. We hope before we go home that they will visit again. On the way back from the airport we stopped at the Entebbe botanical gardens. There were beautiful trees and jungle foliage and monkeys chattering and sitting on branches There were tropical flowers growing on many trees and bushes and jungle flowery smells, birds, long vines for swinging on, thick undergrowth, we really felt we was in a movie in Africa and that somehow our tree house was close by. We understand that the 1930 movie called Tarzan was filmed here. We were waiting to hear his famous yell in the distance and we would not have been surprised. It was a great photo opportunity. This area is located on the shores of Lake Victoria and is very picturesque.

We will be moving from our first home here in Kampala in about two weeks. We are moving to a new apartment house with eight units. We (sisters and elders) have rented four of them. It has advantages and disadvantages. We like where we are living presently, but the rent has gone up and the extra $400 to $500 more each month is prohibitive for all of us. We will be on the top floor of the new unit so we will have a wonderful view, but the floor space is much smaller and it doesn’t have the beautiful yard with avocado trees and flowering bushes that we have now. The construction here is very poor, so we see a lot of flaws, but overall it will be nice and it is new. The place we live in now use to be part of the mission home and the distribution center, so there are closets full of stuff and it is our lot to go through them and toss or give away. The good part of the move is that the Church is buying us a new washing machine. Such luxury. Ours has not functioned properly since we have been here and now it has died completely. I am using Elder and Sister Moore’s machine for the time being. Our washer is also a beautiful shade of rust on the outside and you can only wash about three things at a time and absolutely nothing heavy, sometimes it doesn’t spin, so you wring things out by hand. So we are excited to see a new white one and you can even wash towels in it.

Kami called a few days ago and said they will be coming to Africa to visit us. It will be around Christmas and maybe even during Christmas. She said she has had all of her shots required to come here. Brent just finished climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania a few weeks ago, so he is already prepared to come. We want to congratulate him for that accomplishment and understand that out of 14 climbers, he was the only one that didn’t get altitude sickness. We are looking forward to visits from our family and hope that more will come to visit. Our mission is such that they can go with us on our projects and we think they will find it interesting. We spoke with Darcy on her birthday and she said she and Mark will be coming in June or so. We will have fun showing them around and taking them with us on our various Humanitarian visits. We hope to have more of our children come before we go home. It is a wonderful experience, but does require some pain on their part – shots and all. You will get to see Africa in a very intimate way. See the people and how they live and visit with them. We will have an extra bedroom in our new place and it is waiting to have guests.

Roger sent us a newspaper article published in the Los Angeles Times about his successful long running musical. It has been long playing in Los Angles and has gotten great reviews and is now going off Broadway. Roger’s dad has mentioned it to almost all he sees. Congratulations Roger, we are very proud of you and hope when we return home that it will come to Seattle.

We are doing well health wise, although a lot of people in our branch had and have malaria. Our branch president has been in the hospital for 17 days and is now home, but not doing so well. It is a terrible disease and we have been surprised how many people here have had it again and again. Thank goodness for mosquito nets and malaria pills. We are truly blessed and realize it every day.

We understand that Torri’s son, Ryan, our grandson, is getting ready for his mission. He has his paperwork done and his interview with Uncle Matt is all that is left to be done and then the paperwork goes to SLC. We are proud of you Ryan. Keep us updated. We remember how hard it was to wait for that letter. We miss our family and friends and home and love to hear from you.

Lovc,
Elder and Sister Bean (Sandra and Ron)

Rainstorm at Jinja; Dental Clinic Handover

Dental Equipment Handover

Wet Missionaries

Children Filling Water Buckets

Children Dancing

Rainstorm in Jinja (What they'll put up with to shop!)

Dear Family and Friends:

An update on what is going on in east Africa.

We are in the rainy season and most every day we have a very substantial downpour. It comes equipped with thunder and lighting and buckets of water pouring from the sky. The roads turn into orange rivers and in some places we have to drive carefully through a running stream of water. It is really fun when another car or truck passes you and covers you with orange water.

Two new proselyting senior missionary couples have now arrived in our mission. Both couples are wonderful and really fun people. A sense of humor helps here. Last Tuesday we all drove to Jinja to pick up some furniture for their apartments. Ron and I went with them because they needed our truck. President and Sister Christensen also went along to help. Jinga is Uganda’s second largest city and is located on Lake Victoria It can be a pretty interesting drive. There are a lot of big trucks loaded with bananas, sugar cane, petrol and such. We wondered how the new missionaries would fare on that road. In fact, upon arrival, Elder Nye, new missionary, was sick and had to stay in bed at the home of the missionary couple. Before shopping we took our three pickups to show the new missionaries the source of the Nile. There is an entrance gate where they charge admission and of course being white, it cost us a little bit more to get in than the locals. We tried to argue that we were residents of Uganda, and ended up paying a little less. We rented a boat and our guide was wonderful. We sailed along the shoreline and saw all these monkeys playing in the trees. They were swinging on vines and chattering and were very curious about us and came down very close to the boat and peeked out through the foliage. I was thinking how much fun it would be for our grand kids to see this. We then saw a crocodile sunning its self along the bank and a monitor lizard lying in the water. They use the lizard skins for the top of their tall drums. There were hundreds of different species of birds of all kinds and colors.

We noticed a huge black cloud forming a little way off and the guide said we better head for shore. We nearly made it. We were just pulling up to the dock when the rain hit. By the time we got out of the boat and up the bank, it was raining so hard we could hardly see. We ran for cover in a small restaurant, without sides, just a roof and there was a craft booth set up by the side of it. The women ran for the craft booth and the men to the restaurant. The men made the better choice because it rained so hard and the wind blew so hard that it nearly took the tarp off the top of the craft booth. There was no way to stay dry. We were all soaking wet, but what was really fun, we took pictures of the soaking wet women shopping and looking at paper necklaces and debating about colors during the worst rain and wind storm they have had this year. We are a hardy bunch. We ended up helping the craft people cover their things and put away their stuff. They were very happy to have us there. When we saw rivers of mud and water coming down the hill sides, we decided rain or not we had to run for the trucks and get out of there. By the time we left, we were as wet as if we had fallen in the Nile. You see, missionaries do get to have fun along with a lot of hard work.

This week Ron and I visited a couple of water projects and an organization called “Invisible Children”. It works with and helps the families and children that are up north in Gulu and other villages that are caught in the war zone. The organization works with these people in helping them with a little business. They are helping these displaced people make bracelets, which are made out of reeds and some kind of sturdy straw like material. The people gather these reeds out in the fields and attach them together with colored wire to make bracelets to sell. The colored wire comes in White, red, green, yellow, brown and black and each has a child’s name on it and signifies something. There are a lot of children who have seen their families killed and are found hiding in the bush. A lot of the little boys are kidnapped and forced into the military service and made to fight or be killed themselves. Little kids like 5 years old and older. There were quite a few people who had escaped from the northern area, and were in the back of the building making these bracelets. They make part of them and then send them up north for the people there to put them together. They are then shipped to San Diego to be sold in America and the money is sent back to the people that make them. The people running this organization took us into the back room and told us we could select a bracelet free and would only let us buy 5 more. There is also a video about these kids. It was a very interesting tour and we asked them if there was anything the Church could help them with. They seem to be a well run organization and keep wonderful records of who make the bracelets and how many. They are doing much good here. We took the man from BYU Idaho with his cameraman to visit this organization with us. We then took them to an orphanage. We have decided that this orphanage should be helped with the Humanitarian Fund. They need beds, mattresses and mosquito nets and a water tank.

After leaving the orphanage we dashed home to change our muddy shoes and meet President and Sister Christensen for the formal opening ceremony of the Mulago Hospital Dental School. The Church contributed the X-ray equipment in partnership with the Canadian Rotarians from Alberta Canada, who in turn got a large grant from the U.S. Rotarians for all the dental chairs for the school. We were invited to represent the Church. Sixty-eight percent of the adult population in Uganda has oral health problems and there is only one dentist for 150,000 people presently. It was a wonderful project and we got to listen to a lot of speeches and it was covered by the media. I guess Ron and President Christensen were on TV, but since we do not have a TV, we never get to see it. We only hear this by word of mouth. We have also ordered 750 wheelchairs from Salt Lake and are hoping that it won’t take long to get them.

This is a wonderful assignment and we just want to thank everyone who contributes to the Humanitarian Fund. We receive the blessing of seeing what this money accomplishes in a very poor country, it eases a lot of suffering. I think all you senior couples should put your papers in right away. This is a wonderful mission experience. There are hardships here, but the blessings outweigh the sacrifice

Love Elder and Sister Bean

Spinal Injury Unit Handover

Ron and Sandra at the Nile River

African Dancers

Looking at Water Projects

Handover at the Spinal Injury Unit

Dear Family and Friends:

We are very busy looking at projects and trying to decide if they are worthy projects to use our budget. Two of the top people from Salt Lake and our area director from South Africa will be coming the second week in August and we will be concentrating on major initiatives, which will be clean water, wheel chairs and other initiatives. We have already been out in the villages and the country side looking at all kinds of wells and bore holes and springs. It is pretty awful what kind of water that people are drinking here. Their latrines, cattle, goats and such are all around the water that they are drinking and use for cooking and hygiene. The statistics are that one out of every six people in the world do not have clean water . I guess a lot of kids and adults die of typhoid ,dysentery and all kinds of awful things because of this. The Church is really putting a lot of emphasis on this problem and also we have a big budget to help, at least with some of the water issues.

Last week we visited an organization called “CHILD” it was way out in a village and a young muzungu came out to talk with us. His name is Justin Knox and his father is a temple worker in the Seattle Temple and he is best friends with the son of President Bob Miller of the Snohomish Stake. He is helping this organization to determine what there greatest needs are. They are working to help the HIV people in this village, among other things. He is very nice and very smart and we may be able to work with that organization in helping at least distribute literature and other things.

Last week we had two senior missionaries arrive. They are potato farmers from Rexburg, Idaho. Very nice people. We took them to Church with us on Sunday and included them in our Sunday afternoon family home evening get together. This next Thursday, we are getting another couple. They are all proselyte missionaries. It is nice to have a few more couples here. They are really needed.

Last Friday we did another hand over. We acquired blankets, pillows, mosquito nets, sheets, and pillow cases for the Spinal Injury Unit at the Mulago hospital. At This hospital there are a lot of patients who are very poor and have to bring their own blankets, pillows, towels, sheets, whatever and most of the people cannot afford to do that, so these contributions from the Church were most appreciated. We met at the Spinal Injury Association to distribute these items. There were a group of people in wheelchairs and the doctor that performs the spinal injury surgery attended and also spoke. They also asked both of us to speak and we told them about the Church’s humanitarian program. The people who were there in wheel chairs said their wheelchairs were also contributed by the Church a few years ago.

The lease is up on our compound in September and the landlord is going to raise the rent by $400.00 a month. So we are going to be leaving this nice residence with the wonderful avocado tree and pretty yard and will be moving to a brand new apartment house. We will be living on the top floor with a nice view, but it doesn’t have the yard, nor the nice walking area that we are use to. We try to go for a walk each evening and have really enjoyed the beautiful palm trees, flowers, etc in the neighborhood we are leaving. We will be moving the end of August, but no one here can justify paying that kind of rent.

Love to all,

Ron and Sandra

Beans in Church News

Here's a short article that appeared in the recent Church News:

Helping The Elderly in Uganda

JINJA, UGANDA

Some 52 senior and widowed members of the village of Mawoito now have blankets and mosquito nets thanks to the Church's welfare and mission leadership in this nation. During a "handover" ceremony in May, villagers welcomed Uganda Kampala Mission interim President LaVal J. Call and his wife, Sister LaBerta R. Call, along with Elder Ronald Bean and Sister Sandra Bean, country welfare and humanitarian directors for Uganda. The village members surrounded their truck with dancing, singing and drum playing.

The missionaries, including other senior missionaries serving in the area, were led to a special platform where decorated benches were set up and a program had been prepared, which consisted of many speeches of thanks to the Church for the blankets and nets, and traditional singing and dancing. A muffin made of corn and a drink of soda was provided as a show of their hospitality. There were many children watching the proceedings, and the missionaries invited them to come forward to have a corn muffin.

Also in this same issue was the announcement of the New Mission President, The Christensens, for the Uganda Kampala Mission. Here is the info:

Edward Christensen, 63, Uganda Kampala Mission, Rancho Bernardo Ward, Poway California Stake, former bishop, high councilor, counselor in a stake Young Men presidency, High priest group leader and missionary in the New Zealand South Mission. Engineering manager, Hewlett Packard. Born in Colorado Springs, Colo. to Ted and Lenna Newell Christensen. Married Erin Marie Moore, seven children.

A ward missionary, Sister Christensen is a former stake Young Women president and ward Primary and Relief Society president. Born in Long Beach, Calif. to Edward James and Rhea Robinson Moore.

Letter from Nana

Hi Honey:

Thanks for all you do for us. We love and appreciate you both so very much. This morning I was listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir while getting ready for the day and they sang that darling song, I am trying to be like Jesus, and I had a melt down, because I hear those sweet primary voices sing it and I thought of the boys and that was all it took. Otherwise, I am doing OK. We are having an incredible experience. I can't even explaine it. We just sent a message to Matt for the blog, so you will get to read somethings that we are doing, but everyday is a new experience. Our boss and his wife, Elder and Sister Mills from South Africa have been here all week, so we have been taking him out to meet some of our organizations and people that we are working with on projects. I haven't even had time to do my laundry, so I know I am overdue to write to you. While he was here we had a "hand-over" in Mukono so we invited them to go with us to participate and we also invited the new mission president and elder and sister Moore went also. This is where we officially hand over the things that the Church has provided for a project that we have accepted. We handed over rice seeds, fertilizer, a boda boda (motorcycle), computer and printer, insecticide and many more things for planting upland rice. Sixty farmers were selected to start this project. We met at the Mokono District Farmer's Asso. and they had set up benches and tables on a platform to honor us. They had the news media there and a representative from the King, a representative from the government and a representative from the District. We asked the Mission president and his wife to set on the stand with us They had also invited all the farmers that the church was helping and served refreshments and gave wonderful speeches honoring us and the church. They used the analogy of the church being the Good Samaritan. These things are always humbling and very nice. This humanitarian job is the best in the church. We get to do all kinds of wonderful things that help people and we also get to see their graditude first hand.

Yesterday, we took Elder and Sister Mills to Jinja, a charming city, which is on Lake Victoria and the source of the Nile. We rented a small boat with a tour guide and sailed right to the source. You could see where the the water flowed right from the Lake and into the Nile. We also saw the most wonderful birds, all shapes and sizes and sailed over to the monument erected to John Speck, the explorer who discovered the source. It was so interesting. We could hardly believe we were there. We also saw the falls where the guys were doing white water river rafting. It was incredible. It is supposed to be the best river rafting in the world, but it looked dangerous to me. Two weeks ago we went to the equator and stood on the line - one foot on one side and one on the other. We are so blessed to be having these experiences and being part of the Lord's blessings on these people. We are having people come from SLC in August to show them around and express what we thinkg Uganda needs in the way of humanaitarian assistance. We are going to be asking for 750 wheelchairs and some money to do quite a few clean water projects. I have been hearing about all the wonderful and fun things you guys are doing. Fill me in about the Trek, that really sounds wonderful. I know that Torri is there now and hope you guys are having fun together. I heard that the Rhino made it to Lynnwood and wish I could be there to celebtrate the birthday event with you guys. Thanks again for everything. I miss those darling boys and think about them always. Love and kisses. Nana.

News from the Pearl of Africa

Kampala, Uganda

It is interesting how fast time seems to be going for us over here – and that is in direct opposition to the counsel given by Ssimbwa (our African helper) to just throw away our watches. Time does not seem to matter too much here. They will wait hours, take cab rides for hours, their patience is unbelievable. Muzungus (white people) always want to be on time! At any rate, we have just ended our second month as missionaries and looking at all that we have been involved in it seems much longer.

Sundays are kind of special – we go early and I meet with the Priesthood leaders of the branch, which usually means just me and the branch president for the first 30-45 minutes until the others trickle in. Transportation is such a problem as many have no money for a taxi, so it is a long walk for them, and throw in a downpour for good measure and we are on African time. Sacrament meeting does start on time but people come in throughout the meeting. Sandra is teaching the piano while I am in early meetings, she plays for the Sacrament meeting, and believe it or not I play for the Priesthood meeting (it certainly helps that many of them don’t know better!). We meet as couples in the afternoon for family home evening and it is a good time for us to chat and socialize. I used Luke 15 for the lesson this last week and the three parables therein.

Monday we went with the UN in one of their souped up SUV’s with a van of media people following, forty miles past Mubende and then 32 KM into the villages for an official handover of the last of a large shipment that the church had sent for the refugee camps. This camp had 16,651 in it as well as over 3,000 Rwandan Refugees that have been denied asylum and refugee status. They have been placed on the outskirts of the camp, but they have some rights as asylum seekers, The bulk of the refugees are from the Congo, and as such have automatic refugee status. The rest come from Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Somali, and the Sudan. They receive a small plot of land to farm and something to place as a roof (plastic or sheet metal) and they build their own mud hut/home. It is hard to describe the conditions. They live in huts made out of mud and the roofs are either some kind of tin or grass. but I thought they were much better than I had imagined as this is a very fertile country and it is easy for them to grow things. The UN has also been supplying them with some food and brings in water. Sandra and I handed out hygiene kits and school kits at a middle school. These kids are about 12 to 15 years old. Think about being so excited and so grateful just to get soap, toothpaste and brushes, and writing tablets and something to write with, a pencil sharpener and a ruler and a book to read that is your very own. They hugged us and kept saying, thank you, thank you. We went to another part of the camp (it is 81 square KM in size) and handed out clothing to men, women and children. These were the same bundles of clothing that we saw being sorted at welfare square in SLC (good, clean, used). We gave each a pair of pants and a shirt of some kind. They were all lined up and were waiting patiently to get their turn in the building where we were sorting and handing out this clothing. It went on for a long time before and after we were there, but we were representing the church and got a lot of press coverage both in the papers and on TV. I guess we were on the nightly news twice the next evening and once the morning after. We did not see the program, but a lot of our church members saw us and told us about it. They even showed the picture of Sandra handing out balloons to the little kids. That was unbelievable. She had a sack of 100 balloons in her purse and little kids ran from all over and mobbed her, yelling, please madam give me one. All you could see were little arms reaching for a balloon and almost knocking her off balance. We wish people who contribute to the humanitarian fund could see the end results. These people are so grateful for this assistance and need it so badly. We actually stood there with tears in our eyes. We rode back with the press in the van (7or 8 of them) and the rode forty miles out of Kampala is actually very good – but those last miles into town in the dark are something else. Remember no stop lights, no street lights, no car lights on most, no striping on the roads, potholes galore, bikes, boda-bodas, and mass amounts of people (no sidewalks) and you understand why I was happy to have someone else drive. It was a wonderful experience though and we have some nice pictures.

Yesterday we went to the marketplace at the lake in Kampala where they bring the people over from the islands and bring in their fish. A kaleidoscope of color and confusion. I then drove down to the equator where we did some shopping, had a late lunch, and took the obligatory pictures to prove we were actually on the equator. On the way back home, we stopped at a small little shop where they make the African drums. They come in all sizes and are quite unique. They are made of animal hide and each one is unique and has a different sound. They were making them by hand, off the road and down in a gully, under some big trees – an interesting process – and we ordered one to be made. A fairly small one, but it only cost 20,000 shillings (approx. $12.00 US) and we will pick it up in 4-5 weeks when the skin is cured. We bought some fruit on the way back as it is really inexpensive when you get away from the big city. Our breakfast this morning was a huge papaya (with fresh lime juice), fresh pineapple, small sweet bananas, and orange juice to wash down our malaria pills! We don’t like the beef here, but we certainly don’t lack in food.

We are both doing well physically – losing a little weight – actually a good thing and looking ahead to a very busy summer as we have more than enough to keep us busy and I find out more and more coming our way. We have a folder full of potential water projects and we understand we are having some experts come from SLC in August to look over some of these. We are also making arrangements to get at least 500 wheelchairs sent here. We have talked with the organization that will help the church get them into this country and help with the distribution. We celebrated Independence Day with no power at our compound. The two young missionaries that live above the garage (whom we love) came over with marshmallows and cookies and we supplied the chocolate bars and we put a marshmallow on a fork and held it over the candle flame and made “some mores”. It actually was very fun. Elder Monson brought his CD player over (battery powered) and we played a CD of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing America. We ate “Some Mores” by candle light and the missionaries read the scriptures pertaining to America being prepared for the restoration of the gospel. It was fun and a lot more impressive by candle light. We love and miss our family very much and once in a while a “melt down” occurs because we miss you so, but we feel we really are of help here and that makes it worthwhile. Love to you all,

P.S. A few pics: women in camp, Sandra being mobbed for balloons, and clothes handout.

New Pics

Here are some more pictures from the Beans!

Watch out for the gorilla!

The local Relief Society

Elder Bean has finally found someone to play (American) football with.