The wet season

One sleepless night with a thunderstorm raging outside, I went to the living room window to watch the lightning. I got halfway to the window and realized that I was walking or slipping in water. I turned on a light and saw a stream of water coming out of an electrical outlet on the wall. I hated to wake Mark, but when one suffers we all must suffer right? We mopped from midnight to 4:00 a.m.

This was the second "flood" we have had. The first time was when an AC unit clogged up and drained into the house. This flood was caused when rainwater overwhelmed the draining system in the flower boxes around our apartment. The rain came again the next day, and another flood to clean up. The third day it started again, so I got out the little shovel Mark bought and started digging into the beds that surround the apartment and started bailing water over the edge of the planter box down to a "patio" below. We were able to slow the flow and rest our backs from the bending. The building where we live is part apartments, level three to ten, and the first three floors are occupied by USAID. The building was constructed thirty years ago or more and the system of draining these flowerbeds worked, but as the roots have grown and clogged the holes they don't work as planned. Well I created holes deep enough to act as catch basins. So far so good.

Catch basin in flower bed just outside living room window

Bailing out the catch basin

A few days later, we had plumbing problems, so workers came in and "fixed" it so it does not work at all and the promised fix has yet to be completed. We do have a second toilet so we still have facilities. Then the tub faucet sprung a leak, so we called the mission office (they have jurisdiction over apartments) and scheduled someone to come and check it out. Didn't come when they said, so we went to the office. Some water was then leaking but it went into the tub, not to worry. Wrong assumption. When we returned at 4:30 pm the whole apartment was flooded with at least an inch of water from the front door to the back corner. We started the task of cleaning this up after trying to turn off the water into the apartment, finally finding the right valve. Elder and Sister Bybee stopped by to get drinking water and ended up spending an hour helping us mop up. Elder Bybee found the best tool was a dustpan. Thank heaven for good people like the Bybees. The Super, a local, got involved when a man that lives just below our apartment complained about water covering his living room floor. Next day repairs were made and all is dry.

The church General Conference was another great time; we were able to use a wireless modem, a projector, and a wireless speaker to host the couples for conference sessions. We were able to watch four sessions live streaming and the priesthood at 6:00 am Sunday, thus Sunday started at 6:00 am and ended at 11:00 pm, well worth it. We also attended three hours of church between Priesthood Session and Sunday Morning broadcast. Great day.

iPad and nano projector with conference image on the wall

Sister Cook asked the senior sisters to help her with a Sister Missionary Conference. Each sister gave a talk; my topic was getting along with your companion. Sister Cook instructed the sisters about the use of sacred funds among other things and gave each sister an apron she had made. The sisters wanted their picture with the aprons and they wanted to pose with Elder Smith and Elder Bybee who were wearing their wives’ aprons to emphasize that men do household work alongside their spouse and children.

Presenters Sis. Sneddon, Sis. Bybee, Missionary Training Ldr., Sis. Smith, Sis. Johnson, Sis. Cook

 

Bon Weekend!

We were able to do something different this weekend. Saturday Elder Smith played basketball, the only day he can awake and get up before 5:00 AM. He had a good time because he played on President's winning team. I was awake at 5:00 AM but my day started with laundry and Permethrin treatments for bugs in the apartment. I tried to think of something different to cook and decided to make tapioca.

The manioc plant, the most common plant in every garden here, produces the main ingredient for foufou and tapioca. We have tried foufou and it's hard to describe, but Mark calls it library paste. Leaves of the manioc plant are cooked and eaten as greens like collard greens, and the root is processed to make foufou. The root is "beaten" with a wooden mallet until it is a fine mash and then they add maïs to make it a tasteless dough. The locals prepare delicious sauces and the foufou is like bread that is dipped in olive oil. It has the consistency of homemade Playdough. It may be that the orientals made a similar dough but turned it into "pearls" that are dried and reconstituted in a liquid to make fillings thick. Our tapioca was a bit thick, but with a little (a lot) of whipped cream we were able to "smooth" it out a bit.

Saturday afternoon we joined other couples to attend a dance concert called "Rhythm in Motion In Celebration of Black History Month". Sister Ellsworth is the Director of a English Language Institute in Kinshasa and invited us to attend their concert. All the dances were accompanied by drums, even the dances that originated in the United States. There was a young woman playing a violin, first instrument besides a guitar, recorder and keyboard I have seen here - oops, I forgot the drum. The professional dance troupe displayed great athleticism and performed for about an hour and were about as energetic at the end as they were at the beginning. A couple of members were in the intermission troupe. 

  

After the show we were invited to a barbecue at Ryan Dain's apartment. He is the Construction Manager for LDS chapel projects and the Kinshasa Temple project. It looks like he is committed to work here for at least five years, maybe more. He has had two short-term helpers that will be returning to the states, giving us reason for having a social.    

The food was great, the company was great and we were able to meet Papa Norman, a Kinshasa legend. Papa is a native of Kinshasa and a member of the Congress and was a very wealthy man when a coup toppled the dictator Mobutu and put all those associated with him or his regime on a hit list. He was able to get his wife and three children on a plane to South Africa. He had worked in the airline business, so he had plenty of tickets. He was secreted aboard the plane through the catering services where he had connections. He left South Africa and went to Zambia, but had to flee when he was told that the "new" government was demanding he be extradited back to the Congo to face charges (and certain death). He then fled Zambia and flew to Washington DC and started application for diplomatic immunity. It was a long process, but he was able to live in the U.S. He is a big man with a booming voice so he sold hot dogs and hamburgers on the street. Later, with another change in DRC leadership, the charges against him were dropped and he was able to return and claim his property. While he was in DC he met LDS missionaries while he was selling hotdogs. They asked him if he would be interested in a message about Jesus Christ. The Congolese are accommodating, so he said yes.

Like many Congolese, a message about angels and heavenly visitors was believable to him. He agreed to go to church on Sunday which was a fast-day meeting and they left very confused. They decided they would find and go to a Baptist church instead. However, the missionaries did not give up on him and did service for him like shoveling out his snow-covered car and a "Secret Santa" Christmas. He and his family returned to the LDS Church.

The elders took the family to the Visitors Center and they walked around the Temple. As they walked he heard words like, "This is the true Church of Jesus Christ" and "Joseph Smith is a Prophet". He, his wife and three children were baptized in 2000.

The CEO of Westland Construction, Stan Houghton, has a son who was the missionary that taught Papa Norman the gospel. When Westland was discussing temple construction with the Church Temple department, he told them about Papa Norman and he has been instrumental in getting to the right people here in the Congo, making the process a little easier.

Dean Schick, Papa Norman, Stan Houghton, Larry Turley, and Ryan Dain of Westland Construction

Sunday we had another great adventure. We attended the Conference of the Ngaliema Stake. President Jean-Pierre Haboko works in the office next to our PEF office and invited us to come.

President Haboko consults his iPad.

We asked the Bybees if they would like to go because they knew (sort of) where to go. President Cook was also invited, so the three couples got in the President's SUV and headed out with Pascal, the Mission Office Manager, guiding us in another vehicle. It was raining and didn't seem too challenging for the first part, but closer to the chapel it became a "typical" DRC duck and dodge game. President Cook said it was the fastest time for him to make the same trip. He said it usually takes an hour and a half; today we did it in twenty minutes. We were ushered to the front row, not our favorite, but there were only six mundeles (whites) in the congregation of twelve hundred. Great meeting, but hard to follow because they mix French and Lingala at will. But the choir was a special treat. Choirs here rarely sing up to tempo, but this was up-tempo.

After the meeting we rushed to another chapel and then another chapel trying to find a baptismal service. President Cook had promised the husband that he would personally attend so after a longer-than-twenty-minute trip we arrived at the chapel to participate in the baptism of two women and one man. President Cook had conducted the baptismal interview of one of the women and had to say no because she said that she was not married. The husband and three children were already baptized (about a year ago) and President Cook wondered how that happened. The woman left in tears. Later the husband called president and explained that his wife was embarrassed because they had been married in a civil ceremony, not a big fancy public marriage. She didn't think she could call herself "married" officially. President Cook then wanted her to know that she was worthy to be baptized, and he promised to be there personally.

These little girls were at the meetings with their families, and they could all be sisters.

 

We have had a quiet evening and are ready to call it a day.

Elder & Sister Smith

The night is long and I am far from home, lead thou me on

When you cannot sleep it is forced reflection situation. One starts to think about loved ones here and passed.

The office in our apartment faces an abandoned construction site. It was "designed" to be a hotel with commercial spaces on the first floor. Only two times has there been any humans on the site but at 3:45 AM I see a guard walking around the first floor with a torch. I wonder if there are more or if this is a solo assignment.

There is another "hotel" being built out our "river" view side that has had work ongoing every day since our arrival. Our view is mostly of the back side (away from the street and river). The past few days two men have been putting a coat of "stucco" on the facia, each room has an air-conditioner installed and a swimming pool in the courtyard looks like it is ready to be filled, nice Caribbean blue, can't tell if it is tiled or painted that color. This is only one of many "hotels" being built here. It is uncertain who will occupy any of the rooms. I think it is a reaction by this "President" because a National Geographic article was very critical of the country and the lack of amenities for travelers so now there must be five or six of these thousand-room mega buildings going up along the two to three mile boulevard. I believe that this corrupt leader can skim more of the cream from these big projects than he can a "chapel" project. The government "red tape" makes a simple chapel project a twelve-year marathon. The chapels being built, five are now in process, are using a "pod" configuration so they can be built under the residential codes instead of commercial. Instead of one large chapel there are three or four pods, one a large open building to be used as a chapel with two or three buildings for classrooms, kitchen, etc. It isn't easy either but they have fewer "agencies" with their hands out (or is it under the table) trying to get a little more "grease" for the "President's" Swiss bank account.

The day begins in an hour and I don't know how I will fare with so little sleep in the tank.

I am intrigued by a fig tree that can be seen from apartment. In the six months we have been here this tree has twice lost all of its leaves and within days, new leaves are breaking out all over the tree. It is so out of the cycle of plant growth we are used to so it is quite a sight to see this tree one day dropping all of its leaves and within a week a new "crop" of leaves. 

 

There are two seasons - wet and dry. We are in the wet period. it is not a rain-forest ecology because much of the growing things in the beds around our deck are also dying mainly because there isn't enough moisture in the soil. The "soil" is mostly sand which doesn't help things grow. Produce like tomatoes, cabbage, potatoes, courgette (a lightbulb-shaped zucchini like vegetable), bananas and onions are available all the time. We spent $6 for a head of Belgian butter lettuce yesterday and you say - wow, what are we thinking - but it looks so good. We have discovered that "good" meat is available at a market called Extra. After eating canned tuna and eggs as our main sources of protein we decided to give their meat a try. We have tried meat from other stores and were not too pleased with the results but this time the meat is good. We bought some "stew" beef, a hunk of bone with some meat around it, and made beef stew for Sunday dinner, a great dish.

Mark loves marzipan and while shopping in a store called Hasson et Frères he found a 250g block of the genuine thing for $3.50, that may sound expensive but it is about the same as $6.50 a pound and it is delicious. Other finds; hot fudge sauce for $.50 a bottle also high quality, a French baguette as good as anything in Paris, and Mark's favorite pastry called a religieuse (named after a chubby nun) which he labeled even better than the ones he had while serving his first mission in France and a great baguette to boot. The bakery is called Eric Kayser and can be found in many large cities around the world. We left the restaurant after eating a religieuse and a molten chocolate torte suffering from chocolate overdose; next time we will restrict ourselves to only one dessert divided.

We have two favorite produce sources where we find excellent tomatoes, apples, cabbage, onions, cucumbers, potatoes, sweet potatoes (white flesh), carrots, bananas. There is a store called City Market where Mark's friend Amer is a manager.

Mark and Amer on the day he gave us a pickup load of food for the orphanage

Amer is from Lebanon and went to  Boston College. He has developed a promotional department where he puts items that are near expiration at deeply discounted prices. We have found many luxury products there like Nutella, Ocean Spray cranberry juice, Crisco sticks, honey, Betty Crocker cake mixes, Lay’s Potato chips, Raisin Bran cereal, Heinz ketchup, pickled onions, Ortega salsa, Orangina, canned chow mein noodles, and the list could go on. It gives us more choices of what we can eat and how we prepare it and brings in a little bit of home.

We have heard disturbing accounts of bad choices among the members. One person was caught selling fuel used to power the generator. Another was a sister going into the expats houses and stealing money from purses. One Canadian sister whose husband is here on assignment told us that they cannot stock cleaning supplies in the chapels. After supplies arrive the custodian closet is empty by the next week. Hymnbooks have to be gathered by deacons as the congregation leaves or they would disappear as quickly. Each ward (our chapel has two wards) has their own set of hymnbooks and guards them carefully. The Gospel Doctrine teacher left a projector in the Relief Society Room where the class is held and he went right back to retrieve it. It was gone not to be seen since. I guess things like this happen all over the church, but it is disappointing nonetheless.

Where did January go?

Usually January is a very slow month in Utah: cold, snow, cabin fever, longing for seed catalogs and anything spring. Here in the Congo, the Christmas decorations were finally removed around the first of February and the advertisements for Valentine's Day has begun. Is it because there is a strong Catholic population here or is just for the expats?  Well January has disappeared from the memory and now we look forward to March. Why March? We will be making a trip to South Africa to attend the training for the "roll-out" of the new Perpetual Education Self Reliance initiative.

We seldom see a bicycle, the man-powered kind but lately we have seen several. We wonder how they stay alive in this traffic. 

I dropped my cell phone (I have never had a cell phone but we are required to carry one). It was in the parking lot of our apartment complex and it hit in such a way that the screen shattered and sent a shard into the "brains" of the phone. I now have a new one and we have a new learning curve because it is not the same as the first one-not easy for a cell-phone impaired person. So some of the pictures we want to share were taken with the new Samsung phone.

For the past month we have participated in a Family Search Indexing training on Saturday. Sister Mary Clare is in charge and asked that we help. Mark's language skills saved the day again. I could remind him of how to do it and he was able to explain it to the group. Each week a different ward in our stake sent priesthood members to learn how to index. 

The first week was one of frustration because the Internet was impossibly slow so the next week we took our own internet mobile device, same problem slow response from the Church site and by the third time we had loaded batches of records from Belgium before we went, we had a great time. Mark also brought a nano projector, it is about the size of wallet, also battery power. We were able to project the computer image onto the wall making it easier for all to see what was going on. Mark's High Priest Group Leader who works at the U.S. Embassy joined in for a very effective class. The local brothers picked up on the indexing immediately and seemed to enjoy participating as you can see.

Another LDS family living in Kinshasa because of work (he works for USAID) invited all the senior missionaries to dinner at their home. They have three children, two girls and one boy. President Cook and Sister Cook were also able to join us. It was a welcome evening with all the grandparents in the room having an opportunity to interact with three wonderful children.

There are so many different plants but most are hidden behind dirty crumbling walls that surround most all properties. The white flower is near the entrance to our office. It has the look of an orchid, beautiful. We met President Haboko as he arrived and in his jovial way had us laughing as we entered the building. He likes to speak English and he also likes to josh with Mark who gives as good as he gets. When he wants to make a point about what is right, he starts speaking in Lingala - game over.

The Church has hired a landscape company and they have been working for weeks to "mow" the grass. They try to use an electric mower that is maybe 1/2 inch above the ground. There are many slopes around the chapel and SI building so last Friday they were using machetes to cut grass, it works but boy it is hard work.  

We are amazed at times what these people carry on their heads. They take offense if you try to take their photo so we try to do it without being observed. It is often others around that start yelling and shaking their fists at the white dude with a camera. This method develops great posture from all that "core strengthening".

We went to Shoprite when a bus full of preschool children were visiting the store. They were seated on a curb and a photographer would take several children with him into the store and  took pictures of each child somewhere in the store. They were so cute and the supervisors let us take some pictures and they like all students were wearing uniforms.

We hope Spring comes soon for you.

Mark & Elaine

The dearly departed

Tribute to the dearly departed, Elder and Sister Moon

When we arrived in Kinshasa six months ago we met all of the couples one at a time as they hosted us for dinner while we acquired the necessary stuff to make a meal. Our situation was also complicated because the truck assigned to us was "totaled" earlier the same day we arrived. We were chauffeured around by missionary couples until a "suitable" replacement vehicle was found, which took about a week. As Elder Moon was taking us to church he also tutored us on how to "drive" here. I remember the counsel he gave to "stay in the middle lane". It has proved to be the best advice (the police seem to "work" the left lane and the far right on the big boulevard. All the couples were generous and provided enough food that we could "survive" (we actually thrived).

Our apartment is "5A" and the Moons' apartment was "5B". They have been constant in their friendship, sharing and service to us. We shared many a meal at their table as well as great conversations and testimonies.

The Moons left on Thursday the 16th of January at 5 PM (the departure time was 11 PM but it is always good to be "early" because traffic jams and tedious procedures at the airport can fill that "extra" time.) The Moons' were a little late returning to "the compound" and we were all waiting to say goodbye. They had been to their office to complete last-minute items and to help the new couple, the Johnsons, with details of the humanitarian program which had been their work for eighteen months. We sent them on their way with a rousing rendition of "Called to Serve" part in English and part in French.

Our memories of the Moons include chocolate cake. Sister Moon shared some of her chocolate cake, to die for. Elder Moon is a great bread maker and their lasting legacy is showing us where to buy freshly ground wheat flour.

 

Their Congo experiences spanned the emotional continuum from joy to fear, being towed by the police with them inside their vehicle, seeing how water projects bless the lives of people in remote areas, how more newborn babies survive because the hospital personnel have been trained to perform resuscitation to clear air passages, how wheelchairs can bless many, vegetable gardens and many more projects.

The last day was their signature. They served faithfully until Thierry's  truck was headed out the gate to the airport. (Thierry is the Fleet Manager for the Church in Kinshasa).

Bless them, they will be missed.

Part 2 - What a way to end the year

Two days after Christmas we went out to do some shopping. We had a few stores we wanted to go to for specific items that we needed. American Eagle is a Lowe's type store with only a hundredth of the inventory but nice Muslim brothers raised in Detroit with ties to New Jersey. They have been very helpful to their "fellow Americans" with special discounts and other things. When you drive up in front of their store there is usually a greeter to open your car door and another one to open the door to the store. That didn't happen this time and when we asked one of the "family" he gave a terse answer then turned around and busied himself without the usual help. We didn't find what we wanted so we left the store and again no one to help you get back into the flow of traffic. (The traffic is often two or three lanes and no movement, these workers usually stop the traffic and help create a space.) 

We needed to stop at a shop that deals in wireless modems but the traffic was too heavy and nowhere to park, so we decided to stop at City Market for a few items on our way back. The traffic was heavy and chaotic, nothing new. The cars and motorbikes were coming from every direction. We tried to park in front of the store, but the space was too narrow. Mark tried to back up to get a better angle and the "police" waved him to back up. He did but the policeman didn't stop us before we bumped a car. All Hell broke loose. A crowd gathered yelling that we had "killed the sacred cow". The "police" motioned us to pull up to a different space and get out of the truck. There was no way Mark was going to get out of the truck. He made a sharp left and went down a road. What a sight, the gang came running after us. Mark's language skills made it possible for him to explain that we knew the "fix was in" between the "police" and the car driver. They demanded money and when the other groupies gathered he took $20 out of his wallet, truly the only bill he had in his wallet. No, they wanted more. Mark said to take or it leave it but that was all there was. They accepted the money and left a big enough space that Mark was able to slip between two cars and escape. The "police" are scammers that help create a situation where they can demand money from the "white" guys. We may have been targeted because we were missionaries. We shop there often and they know us. We decided then that the holidays are scam time so keep a low profile.

We were treated to Family Home Evening with the Collins family. Sister Collins went to Provo High and lived in Grandview. Her husband works for USAID. She and her children, two girls and one boy, spent days preparing treats for the senior missionaries and for other couples that are in the Congo on work assignments. She had her dining table covered with every wonderful treat you can imagine. The next day the Grana family invited the senior missionaries to dinner. He is a Church employee in the finance office. She is Portuguese, he is Spanish and they met in England. Eduardo was working for the Church in the area office and Filzy his wife was working on a masters degree. They married and lived in England until this assignment. They have two girls and they sound like real Brits. They speak Spanish, Portuguese, English and French. 

 Christmas caroling at the Collins just two nights before Christmas.

Collins table loaded with homemade treats gave us a taste of Christmases past.

  

Elder and Sister Gates serve as Construction Missionaries. They are being transferred to Kananga where two chapels are waiting to be built with all of the permits in place. They will be going in a week to their new assignment. There are fewer couples coming so we have spent the last three days clearing out one apartment and redistributing items to the other apartments. We will miss the Gates. We now have two small refrigerators which together approximate one full-size fridge.

We attend the Gombé Ward in Kinshasa. The chapel is on the same property as the S&I building where we work. Saturday December 28th the Christmas Party was held. They had the nativity play, the youth performed an interesting story of three trees and how each tree was part of the life of Christ, one in his cradle, one in the cross and one in the boat Christ was in on the Sea of Galilee when the tempest tossed. It was followed with a "catered African Meal". It was African - rice, foufou, beans, chicken and fish. Glad there wasn't goat. After the meal they cleared the floor (just one observation, much of the food ended up on the floor. One ten or eleven year old took an open bottle of pop and did his African hip rotation move and shook the pop all over the tile floor. Being a former schoolteacher I went to correct the young man, told him to pick up the bottle he had thrown to the floor which he did, then threw it farther along the floor and dumped the garbage can I was suggesting he use and then left. The only words I could think of were English cuss words so I went back to my seat.) The music started and the "moves" began from youngest to oldest, so we decided it was time to "retire". 

Nativity

Collins' children sing in the ward Primary choir.

Monday we were going to do some of those items we had to abandon because of the "police" encounter but got advisories that there had been gun battles going on in three areas of Kinshasa, the airport, a military base near the chapel and the communications center where the state TV programs originate. We were told to stay in. President Cook and Sister Cook evacuated their apartment to come to ours because our compound is more secure. Elder Gates had gone to a construction site and was told to come back, no stay where you are, no come back depending on who was calling him. President Cook said he should stay for now. Elder Gates told his students if we stay we work. You decide. Most of them left. When more information was available he was told to return. He brought some of his students with him and they directed him to go a different route than the usual Blvd. Trente Juin, the major street in Kinshasa. He saw police assault vehicles riding in formation on the way home.

We learned latter it was some radical group unhappy about something so they tried to take over the airport, attack a military base and take over the TV station and broadcast their own grievances. it was reported that forty of the rebels had been killed. We had some of the pizzas in a community freezer chest so we made dinner for all the couples. The moving of furniture from the one apartment that was being closed continued during the afternoon. President and Sister Cook returned to their compound that evening. 

The pizzas were gifted to us, which is good, because they were marked $12 apiece.

The next morning at six, it looked like the town was still on "lockdown". There wasn't the usual honking of horns, the clacking of vendor's attention getters and the plaza music. The train that makes a run once a day didn't come again that morning. Later the traffic picked up with the usual packed transports, the honking and the music blaring outside our building. The the denizens were standing in lines trying to get transportation home on buses, taxis or transports. We were told not to go out wearing white shirts, so we chose to stay in. We were going to a buffet dinner that evening but it had to be postponed until noon the day after because we are not to be out after dark. The news reports that day said that one hundred and one rebels had been killed in this attack. Still not sure what it was all about, but with the quality of news reporting we may never know.

Did some internet searches to find out what was going on early Monday morning. The early reports said the group responsible for the attacks were supporters of a televangelist claiming to be God's chosen on the earth. One report said it had nothing to do with religion but was a political move. The evangelist used the "pulpit" to whip up his followers to overthrow the current President of DRC because he lost to him in 2006. His main complaint that causes the "tribe" mentality to go ballistic was the preacher's claim that President Kabila is not Congolese, but Rwandan. Then the reports stated that 40 attackers with machetes and some guns were killed. The authorities were incredulous because the attackers we not organized, had crude weapons and their numbers were so small. They attribute the attack to a desire to make trouble just before the big celebration of a new year and sort of an act of "dying for the prophet" mentality.

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.