Handover Ceremonies for November 2015

The first Handover we had was on November 6, 2015 with the Village of Fo'ui.  We were able to get them a new water engine. They had been suffering from lack of water for quite some time, because their old pump kept giving them problems, so they were spending their funds for that as well as putting in water lines to the houses in their Village.  Needless to say they were short on funds and came humble asking for help.  The Town Officer just kept saying he does not like to depend on anyone else, but he could not see any other way to go.  He was so humble!  Following are some photos of the Handover Ceremony.

This is the new engine we were able to purchase for them.  Once it was installed they have not had any more problems with being out of water.  They were so grateful!

This is our Champion, Hoseci, in this project.  He is so organized and works very hard for the people in his Village.  He is also in the Bishopric besides being the Town Officer.

This is Ana and Elder Murdock, instructing the people the importance of having a maintenance fund so that when their pump does go out again they will have the funds in place to repair it.

This is the group that we worked with on this project.  They are all very good people and very hard working.

Here we are enjoying the refreshments that we brought for the Ceremony.  All seemed to enjoy them.

Here is Ana sharing with this young man, he was so cute.

And of course we were not allowed to leave empty handed, our trunk was filled!

This Handover Ceremony was for the Village of Holonga.  They had a problem with their old water tank stand that collapsed onto the school grounds of the Government Primary School.  Thank goodness there were no children around to be hurt by the falling water tank and stand.  There is still one stand and tank standing on the school ground.  In this project we agreed to help them, but that they were to move the other stand next to the location of the new stand that we built for them.  They did agree.  They also were able to repair the tank that fell so they could use it on the new stand.  They were also needing a new pump as the old one did not have the power needed to pump the water to the village, so the people were continually running out of water.  The construction company that built the stand did a wonderful job and worked very hard and efficiently.

This is the footing of the new water tower.  We were impressed that they used this much re-bar!

Here they are moving up the columns of the water tower.

Next they are putting the frames up for the next beams.  No cranes to lift anything, all done by hand.  Even all the concrete was mixed by hand and hauled by buckets to pour the beams and the columns.  It was amazing to watch how hard they were working.

Here they are setting the frames for the upper columns, again all by hand, no cranes of any kind!

Here the upper floor is done and they are putting up the railings.  The man in the orange shirt was welding with just a pair of sun glasses.  Elder Murdock was amazed at this!

Here the water tower is complete and ready for the tank to be put up on top.  We feel they did a very nice job!

Here we are having them spray paint LDS Charities on the cross beam of the water tower.

On November 17 we had the Handover Ceremony.  This is our Champion in this project, he worked very hard!

This is Ana and Elder Murdock instructing the people as to how they need to proceed in moving the other tower and tank next to the new one so that there will not be any accidents on the school grounds.

Here the Stake President is handing over the tower and pump by cutting the ribbon on the water tower.

Here Elder Murdock is putting our LDS Charities sticker on the new water pump.  The village has not had any more problems with running out of water, they are so very happy!

Instead of filling our trunk with food they took us back to the church and had a feast for us, then they filled out trunk with the left overs, such as pig, roasted chicken, ufi and a bag of fruit.  As well as some very nice gifts.

These are the gifts that they gave to us, a wall hanging, a small matt and a 10x20 foot tapa cloth, a bag and a fan.  They were so generous with us!

Sister Murdock had to take a selfie of the lei they put on her.  She said it is one of the most beautiful ones she has received and she has received many!

"It is human nature to seek elsewhere for our happiness.  It is precarious to dwell on why we have not been given more.  It is, however, beneficial and humbling to dwell on why we have been given so much."   Steven e. Snow