Part 1 - What a way to end the year

We have had some interesting days the past two weeks. The week of Christmas was basically a vacation for the Church employees so most of the offices were closed in the Seminary and Institute offices were closed. Frère Didier said he too was taking a break from the office until January 6th. He gave us the option of coming to the office or not. The two young men that help asked us to come because they had "work to do". The work to be done is to take money accompanied by a student and pay fees, and tuition. Well we felt that the work must go on. Because of the orphanage visit on Christmas Day, we had things to do for that and decided to not go to the office so we could be ready. One helper called and asked if we would come and let them have the keys to the office as well as a key to get into the building. We do not have a key to the building and told him. As we considered the request, we wondered why he asked for a key to the building. We apologized that we could not help them. After only a gap of two minutes the other helper called using the same phone as the first one, and asked the same questions, will you bring us the keys? Our answer was the same. As we talked about the requests we realized that no key-holder was going to the office, so see if the Volunteer Couple Missionaries will bring the "keys to the Kingdom" so the usual crowd can have their usual place to hang-out. That was when we decided to also avoid the office during the two weeks; we chose not to be the enablers. The S&I building has become the place for so many youth to just "hang-out" and "Veg". They want you to supply them with water, air conditioning and food if available. Some just lay on the floor and sleep all day. One takes over the keyboard and bangs on it all day long - never taking a break unless he sees new "meat" to beg for food. So much for self-reliance.

The orphanage Christmas was quite an experience. It is a "private" orphanage operated by a member. She has eighteen children from three to twenty. She receives some money from a charitable organization in the United States. This organization paid for the construction of a school building where the children could be taught the basics because they do not qualify for any other school. The Gates and Sneddons had family that wanted to donate all their Christmas funds to help this little group. They gathered clothes, food, toys, shoes, school kits, hygiene kits, had benches made for the children to sit on in the school and much more. The day before Christmas, there was a serious rainstorm. We live in what would be called the "downtown" part of Kinshasa and as usual, the rain "drains" somewhere and the only evidence of rain are a few puddles or ponds in certain places along the road. The evening and the night of Christmas Eve was rain-free and the early part of Christmas was also clear so it was decided to attempt the trip. The orphanage is not on a paved road, can't really be called a road, just a rutted trail. The first part of the trail had a huge puddle that the caravan was able to cross. A little farther on that road we turned right onto a rutted trail that could have swallowed up our trucks unless you negotiate the best way to avoid the deepest holes and the biggest rocks. It was not too far down this trail that we stopped and walked the rest of the way because the trail became a footpath not meant for trucks. The trail went along a canal on the left and a "lake" of muddy water on the right. The trail went around the school building and widened to reveal the lake of filthy water, a flat-roofed building with four openings and some women using buckets to bail water out of the residence part of the orphanage. 

The children have bunk beds in this space and when the room fills with water, they double up on the top bunk because the lower bunk is under water. The missionaries carried in plastic chairs and a table and started piling all the gifts, food, and such on the table. One weak leg gave way under the weight and collapsed, spilling some of the food and gifts into the black drink. One camera ended up in the muck.

We have just cleaned off the table.

They were planning on having the festivities in the "yard" but it was filled with water so they decided to open the school and use it. The head of the orphanage could not open the lock, making us wonder how often that building is used as intended. After trying for twenty minutes, Elder Gates broke the lock and we were able to get in. The school was also flooded with several inches of water. The older children and some women worked to push the water out. So after an hour, we were inside setting up tables for the lunch. It was a simple lunch, chicken legs, french fries, drink and roll. The children and adults were fed, the tables were cleaned up and the presents were brought in. Each child got a pair of shoes, three or four outfits and each got a toy. The older boys got soccer balls, the middle group model cars and the little boys got smaller cars or motorcycle. The girls got dolls but I forget what the older girls got.

Little guys hanging on tight to their pops.

 

The boys joyous over basketball shoes, while Philomene, the "mother" cries. Two of the boys, center, are legally blind.

Mark had talked to managers of several large markets in our area and they were anxious to help provide food for the children at the orphanage. When he and Brother Sylvestre went to collect the goods, they offered enough canned goods to fill several trucks. They filled our Isuzu and threw in on top one hundred frozen pizzas. This store is owned by Muslims and they do not sell anything that contains pork so they had to get rid of these pizzas.

Bro. Sylvestre and Mark with Amer, the grocer, center.

Well, you need some kind of refrigeration to keep frozen pizzas frozen and Mark realized that they would not make it until Christmas, so what an experience to give away pizzas quickly to people that do not have refrigerators or freezers. It made for a long day for him. There is a small kitchen in the S&I building, so we cooked the ones that could not fit in the freezer. We fed as many people that were around as much as they wanted. For most this was their first taste of pizza. One local brother took some frozen pizzas and put them on his desk in his office not knowing what they were or what was needed to preserve them. The canned goods were carried to the school and the amount was overwhelming. We learned later that they did not have a can opener. There was a large supply of canned pop. I wonder what happened to the empty cans, did they recycle or are they in the bottom of the swamp? We had to back up the truck to get out because the "neighbors" wouldn't permit us to use their space (I almost wrote driveways) to turn around. We got the three trucks pointed in the right direction and were able to get to the major road before more rain.