Rex Wrote: On July 11 Shamal was baptized. He is 17 years old and works with Brother Kumar in the fishing business. His mother and family live in the Squatter Settlement of Namara. This means they live in the tidal swamp in the middle of the Mangrove trees. The land does not belong to them, and it is illegal to live there so the rent is very cheap. People put up shanties and live very simply.  Since it is not part of the city, people have to hook up to the water line and bring it to their house themselves. The water hookup for this family is about a block away. They had already run a line halfway to their shanty and had been hauling the water the rest of the way from there.

On Thursday July 17 Elder Kumar, Elder d’Aquin and I went there to complete the water line to their place. The family had bought five 20 foot lengths of ½ inch PVC pipe. We hooked these together quickly but they only reached a little over half the remaining distance to the lot. They had some old used pipe and their plan was to scab all these short ugly pipes together. Elder Kumar would heat the end of the scab and when it was soft he would push the end of another scab into it and make a “Bush Connection.” A video is at the end.
We did this for a 10 foot piece, and they were trying fit a 4 foot piece next.  They failed on their first attempt, cut the pipe shorter, and were trying again. I looked at the small group of scabs and said, “even if we hook all these pipes together, we will still be short of the house. Why don’t we just buy some more pipe and take it on over?”

I stepped it off and found we needed 80 more feet.  They found another pipe that had been left rolled up in the bush. That meant we needed 3 more. The mother gave me $5 Fajian and said that was all she had. I said it would be enough. I went with the Elders and bought 3 more 20 foot pipes. They cost about $14 Fajian total. I made up the difference. We returned and fitted the rest of the pipes and hooked up her spigot where she wanted it just a few feet from her outside kitchen. After the work was done, she fed us a lunch of curry chicken and rice. I know we are not supposed to give charity, but it was a small price to pay, and it felt good to get it done and do it right.

Even though my contribution was only $4.50 US, it reminded me of how Christ will treat us. We do all we can to be like him, to follow him and keep the commandments, and then his atonement will make up the difference so we can live with him and our Father again. 

They have baby ducks!

Their home with crab nets they use to get food out of the swamps..

Not quite like the troll in Three Billy Goats Gruff, but we had a neighbor who said, "You can't put your line under my bridge. That is where my children play, and  they might break it." She wanted us to go under the road, put it on the other side where the bridge was, then bring it back under the road and go on. The other side of the road was where they burned their trash. No. We  did it our way.

 Since the low temperature in Fiji is about 70 degrees, there is no freezing. 

They don't have to bury their pipes. 

They just leave them above ground unless they want to plant over them.

Kish Kumar

Elder Kumar from the big island of Fiji, Elder d'Aquin from Atlanta,
and Shamal's Mother, a nonmember.

A meal after to celebrate.