Update from Congo: June 26, 2009
We haven’t been able to get online so far in the trip. We are currently flying on a 9 passenger Cessna Caravan (plus 2 seats for pilot and co-pilot. The pilot, David is with mission Aviation Fellowship. The co-pilot is Jim Carse – a member of our team who just happens to be a pilot so he got dibs to sit up front but isn’t actually the co-pilot.
We’ve spent the last week in Tshikaji, a small village near Kananga in the south central part of the Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo). Our routing was up around 6:45, breakfast and then off to whatever project we were involved in for the day by around 8:30 to 9:30. Somewhere in the middle of the day – usually by 2 PM, we would manage to eat and then often had a 2nd project for the afternoon. By dark (always at 6 PM) we would return to the guesthouse for dinner at 6:30 or 7. Some evenings we had additional activities.
Here’s the way things unfolded…
· Friday – conducted Bible School program at an orphanage ROW Congo-Kasai partially supports outside of Kinshasa. 25 kids officially in the program but about another 20 hung on the fringes wanting to participate. Games, Bible stories, photos of each child we printed and gave them, animal balloons.
· Saturday – flew to Kananga from Kinshasa and were greeted by Dr Joseeph Mulumba, the General Secretary of the Congo Presbyterian Church (CPC). CPC has some 2 million members in the nation. We actually had lunch in a restaurant in Kananga. It seems to be where they always take guests so it is considered the best in town. It is located over a gasoline station and owned by the gas station owners. We had a great evening meeting amongst ourselves and discussed the events and impact on each person.
· Sunday – worshipped in Tshikaji. They had prepared some special music since they had many guests. Normally only 2-3 groups would come through on mission trips each summer, but this time we were in the same location as a group of 12 from Charlotte, NC (Myers Park Presbyterian Church). In the afternoon, we organized all of our materials for the Bible School programs, took a short walking tour of the immediate area, mission station, infant nutrition center, bought some papayas in the local market, etc. Evening discussion centered on the worship from the morning and concerns with whether our presence may have distracted for the service. 21 “special” guests is a lot.
· Monday – We toured the Protestant Printing operation, IMPROKA, as well as a “pygmy” palm tree project. These little palms imported from Puerto Rico (I think) do not grow very tall and will start bearing palm nuts after only 3 years. Thus, it is a much faster planting to harvesting cycle than with the native palm trees. The palm oil is used for cooking (like cooking in corn oil or olive oil only far more is used), fuel for lanterns, making soap think Palmolive (palm + olive oil). IMPROKA also builds furniture for schools. After the tour we were treated to a traditional Congolese meal of bidia, greens, chicken, fried plantains, rice, and beans. They do not eat nearly this well every day but were providing a special treat for our group. Excellent discussion tonight on what really helps, what the Congolese really do or don’t need in the way of help, and how we can come alongside them.
· Tuesday – Morning visit to the School for Single Mothers that ROW Congo-Kasai started in December 2007. The first class of 20 ladies were all either rape victims or had been involved in prostitution. 19 graduated. One had to withdraw due to illness. None just dropped out. All had children (35 among them). The current class of ladies (30) were greatly encouraged by our visit. The program is 12 months long so they were almost at the mid-point. The curriculum includes math, a little science (hygiene and sanitation), French, and sewing. For graduation each lady receives a new annual sewing machine so they can begin supporting themselves. Part of our discussion centered on the graduates giving some back to the school to help the next group of students.
We took a walk through the village, winding our way along the paths past palms, papaya trees, bread fruit trees, and manioc plants – across yards and around mud-brick houses with thatched roofs – and went to see 8 of the ladies from the first class. Six were in the village and two have located their business to Kananga, the large city some 8 miles away. They make the walk twice each day – in to town and back to take orders and sew whatever people order. Of the 19 women, 17 are earning a living at some level from the sewing they learned. These two are probably doing the best and have even taken some courses in embroidery, etc to advance their skills. On Monday we bought some fabric in Kananga so we could give it to the women on Tuesday and get some things made – a shirt, dress, or skirt in traditional Congolese style. By Friday the were ready for us – all made by last year’s graduates!
Tuesday afternoon we walked (due to a miscommunication with the driver of the church vehicle) to the village of Lubi II about a mile away. We had 38 kids officially in our program and over 100 more who sang, listened to the Bible stories, and wanted to participate fully. The local Pastor, Josiah, had designated the kids to participate (his church), so we did as instructed. Watching the faces when we hand out the pictures is just too cool. Holding one picture aloft, they all shout the name of the kid in the photo and point for the picture to be handed to him or her.
After dinner, I went to set up and test equipment for the movie to be shown the next night, The Jesus Film (in Tshiluba). We needed a sound cable to feed into the sound system for the church but fortunately a videographer who was on site filming for a documentary (from the MPPC team) had a cable. The documentary is being produced by Kim Brattain who was a news anchor in Charlotte for a number of years.
· Wednesday – We conducted VBS in Ndesha, another mission village some 15-18 miles away. The drive is ridiculous on terrible roads, so it took around 45-50 minutes. As we pulled in over 100 children were singing, shouting, dancing, gyrating, and grinning from ear to ear. It seems they were expecting us J. Dr. Mulumba welcomed us and spoke to the children for just a moment before we dove right in. Photos, games, stories, animal ballons… for over 135 kids! We were swamped! At one point, as kids were playing with a huge 20” diameter nylon “parachute, I got a second group started with a smaller one. When I looked back while staring Frisbee, Dr. Mulumba was playing with the children and using the parachute to toss a soccer ball in the air and trying to catch it again. Umwe, ebidi, esatu, enai, etanu (1,2,3,4,5). He was having as much fun as the kids. The highlight of all 3 VBS programs had to be handprints – across the world. Kids in my church in Atlanta put their handprints on a cloth we brought over here. We then used brightly colored paint to add the handprints of the Congolese children to the same cloths. One cloth stayed at each location and one will return to GA with me to hang in our church. The concept was to communicate to children on both sides of the ocean to pray for each other. After the paint was applied to hands (using plastic plates filled with different colors so they could choose their color), the children pressed their hands onto the cloth and then rotated around to one of us to wash their hands and say a quick prayer for them. It was moving.
· Following the VBS program, we were treated to a traditional Congolese meal of bidia, rice, beans, chicken, and palm oil at the Presbyterian University of the Congo (UPRECO). Then a walking tour of the campus (168 students – law, theology schools), a pygmy palm project, a little pig farm, and a pineapple field of several acres. These projects will help bring in revenue for the university. Tuition is $250 a year for single students and $300 for married students. Low, but the annual per family income is only $300 for the Congo – less than a dollar a day!
· Thursday – We painted at the Kananga location for the Good Shepherd Hospital. We managed in 4 hours to do the front outside wall on the lower level as well as the central stair well area. In this tropical environment, the old paint was flaking and very mildewed, but this cleaned the appearance up greatly. The work was purely physical and very hot, but went quickly as 8 of us worked alongside 5 Congolese workers. We brought paint rollers, pans, and roller covers from the states because what is available here is extremely limited.
After painting we were treated to another traditional Congolese meal at the home of Mr. Bernard Kabibu, a close friend and the Administrator of the Hospital. His wife, Astrid had prepared the bidia, greens, plantains, rice, beans, and peanuts and they were excellent!
