Saturday,
August 24
How to
describe the past week, or has it been a little more than a week? We were
feeling really blessed and protected because we have been here for three weeks
and have yet to be stopped by the "police". Well, we made up for it
in a two-day period. The first stop we were able to plead ignorance and they
really had no justifiable reason for stopping us, so they sent us on our way.
The day after, Mark was driving our office manager, Didier Mutombo, to a
Western Union office to get a money order from a PEF student making a payment.
I stayed at the office, so Mark had to go through the hellish experience with
the police on his own with Frère Didier. Frère Didier was a great help and had some money to
"pay" the fine. I will let Mark give the details, but I characterize
it as the bullies with their spiked boards, their gang mentality and their
clubs, and the defenseless "white" driver. It didn't seem to help
that he had a local with him. I guess the outcome was better than most because
it cost Mark $20 for not stopping at a "stop" sign. Other
missionaries have had to pay more, one $120. Hope we can document the
"sign" to illustrate the "keystone cop" qualities of their
harassment. Note that the stop sign points the wrong way. You can read it only when you pass it.
An article in the current National Geographic Magazine describes the situation:
Only a few of Kinshasa’s roads are paved. Its schools are unaffordable for most Kinois. Despite its status as the capital city of the second largest country in all of Africa, Kinshasa is a marvel of dysfunction. Each of the government ministries has to be, as one U.S. official tactfully puts it, “basically self-financing”—meaning much of the money it has is generated by bribery and extortion. This is especially true of the police, who, says the aid adviser, “are one hundred percent on the take. Every one of them is an officer for one reason: to collect for himself.”
Mark has
had three episodes of severe pain in his right side a few inches above his waist.
Without real medical care options, we rely on the Priesthood for blessings. Any
diagnosis is based completely on conjecture. We do have a nurse, Sister Moon,
but nothing can be confirmed - only a guessing game.
We went
"shopping" as a group of three couples and Sister Smith 1. It felt
like a school outing. We went to a store called American Eagle. They have three
floors in their building, the first level is sort of like a Lowe's store with
drapery fabric, carpet, hardware, towels and much more, the second floor was
all office furniture. One desk on display was marked $1,000 plus, quite plush
for Kinshasa. The third floor was home furnishings like leather furniture of
all kinds, very expensive.
The store is owned by a Lebanese family by way of
New Jersey and Detroit running a very profitable business here. We met two or
three of the sons. One is a medical doctor, but decided because of Obamacare he
would not be able to make enough money to pay for his education let alone make
a good living for his family, so he works in the family business, spending time
in DR Congo and at home in Detroit or New Jersey.
Our
second stop was at the fabric ally. They have between 30 and 50 stalls selling
the same thing, fabric. The fabric comes in 6-yard pieces and 12-yard pieces. I
bought a 12-yard piece for $13. (On closer inspection the piece was not twelve
yards but six - they left the labels on but cut out six yards from the center
of the bolt - a little bit of a problem here concerning honesty). When you
"discuss" the price with some vendors, with the flick of the wrist
they send you on your way. The woman we talked to agreed to a lower amount but
then acted as if we were the enemy, spitting on the ground as we left. She was
upset when I was dumb enough to pay for what I thought was twelve yards and get
six. The fabric is manufactured using a process called "Finex wax - guaranteed
wax blocked print". One sister told the story that the Dutch developed the
method of printing on fabric but failed to attract any interest in Western
European countries like Belgium and France. So the Dutch shipped the fabric to
the colonies in Africa where it became a huge success and is today. The
Africans have added their own style with bold colors and prints, some leaning
to the garish.
The third
stop was the "thieves market", land of the gaudy, shoddy trinket
trade. They sell "paintings", (I was going to call it art but there
isn't much there to call art). Our outing ended abruptly when Mark had another
attack of pain in his side. We have spent the rest of the day at home working
on this and that.
I forgot
there was another stop, Bononos, a gallery that has legitimately beautiful
African crafts and some ancient artifacts for sale but way too expensive for
this Smith couple.
Sunday,
August 25
We attend
church in a building next to the office where we work (just in front of our
buildings the Kinshasa Temple will be built). We were asked to go to that ward
because it is within the boundaries of that ward. At one time they assigned
couples to be member support to branches far afield but it was too hard and
dangerous for the couples to drive that far. The members in those branches
would let them do all the work as well as request "help" constantly.
We see that some here with people hanging around the church coming up to us and in a pleading voice, asking
us for help (which means money) to take a transport.
Elder Carl B. Cook, a member of the Presidency of the Africa
Southeast Area will be here this week. The members are always so excited to
have a "General Authority" visit. The members were advised that they
had to be in their seats thirty minutes before the meeting times. The
custodial/groundskeepers have been working hard to plant new flowers around the
two buildings and get things clean, clean, clean. (I wonder what it will be
like when Elder Bednar, an Apostle, comes in November.)
