Right On Schedule

George, we went to a street vendor to get the money changed and you’re right about the money being smelly. There are some bills that you’d swear have been used for toilet paper. We’re flying back on the 10th arriving the evening of the 11th in FL; it would be great to see you again. Tell Oscar we said hi back. Ashton and Christian were the boys playing the dollar trick; Ashton is the taller one. Corrinne is the older girl with blonde hair and Elivia is the brown headed one who is the youngest of the kids. Doug was the stockier dad who was there the longest as Paul (short and thinning head of hair who is the Father of Ashton and Corrinne) was off videotaping Zach (The only single one in the group with the glasses). Father Gabriel (Gabi) was the only DRC citizen with us. Au Francine (a nun) is Gabi’s sister who lives in the DRC. Shannin was the shorter of the two Moms who looked Italian (long brown hair with brown eyes). Beth is the taller Mom with short brown hair and blue eyes.

Someone tell us how the election goes please.

So yesterday we sat down and scheduled the week deciding to wake up at 7A, eat breakfast at 730A, and leave by 8A for the orphanage to start the paint. What we did was wake at 7A and eat breakfast, sit around until the car arrived at 1030A and the leave to go errand running at 11A. Schedule has no meaning here as people are extremely laid back – except when it comes to driving. We weren’t sure why we were going shopping, but it turned out to be such a miracle that we did.

We arrived at a nice hardware store that actually approached the US standards. Although it was not quite as fast as marching down an aisle, picking what you want, and marching to the register, it was getting close. The merchandise was on shelves and there was a decent showcase. The price in this shop was more fixed and we discovered that the prices were very much reasonable; more so than the previous electrical supply “closet” that we had been to. We decided to get the rest of the supplies that we needed to complete the electric run and pick up a high efficiency portable generator to increase the generator use at the orphanage and cut down on the cost.
Of course, it still was not a quick experience and while there Christian had to use the restroom which was upstairs. He came back down scrambling down the stairs with eyes wide open exclaiming, “the bathrooms are like our bathrooms and they have real toilet paper!” It’s true that the toilet paper (when we have it) is more like a party streamer – literally! It’s crinkled, purple, and full of holes giving you the constant danger of a blow out (I’m not going to describe it as this is a family blog). Christian discovered the joy of soft white toilet paper as he was rubbing it on his face and arms reminiscing about home. Everyone filed into the clean modern bathroom to feel a little piece of home.

Back to the electrical negotiation…so since we arrived close to noon, the shop closed up for lunch while we were there and told us to wait for 30 min – remember they’re laid back? The cashier returned soon enough and we tallied up the bill for the 27 light fixtures, spools of wire, 60 screws, recepts, switches, and screwdriver. Paul calculated that it should have run about $1000, but the casher told us the total was slightly over $500. Puzzled, we told her that she wasn’t charging us enough, she said it was fine!?! She said she wanted to drop off 4 orphans for us to take care of. We thanked her over and over as the $480 savings would feed 4 kids for 6 months, and left our phone number in case she got into trouble so we could come back and give her more money. What a miracle; first modern toilet paper and then a 50% discount.

Doug decided to go for sodas with Au Francine while we waited and when he was coming back a thief tried to take them from him. Au Francine smacked the boy on the arm and proceeded to give him a lecture. Surprisingly, the boy stood there for the whole thing. I think Doug could have took him if he could have caught him. :-)

2.5 hours later (the magic number for any stop at a store)…we had burned a lot of daylight so we decided to stop in a fabric shop that was close by and shop for our authentic outfits. The area is famous for thieves and homeless people so Gabi said to keep our stuff in front with arms around it at all times. You can see some of the street thieves with empty plastic bags who wait for a vulnerable moment to grab and dash. We made it into the fabric shop and narrowed our selections.What an array of colors! We spent the obligatory 2.5 hours in the fabric shop and walked away with our prizes.

Valerie (the bride from the wedding, Gabi’s other sister) and her friends are going to make us the outfits – we’re so excited to wear these back home for church. While leaving the fabric shop we noticed another street vendor with a very nice modern African suit. We thought that Andy would look perfect in it and Zach purchased it for him – we can’t wait to see it on.

Well the day is shot and rather than go back to the orphanage we went back to the mission hoping to start the next day early enough to get a lot done. We had a little time before the sun went down so Liv, Rin, Doug, and Beth went for a walk in the local market to get some baked goodies and perhaps a souvenir. From earlier trips to Mexico and Honduras, we’ve learned that Corrinne has a love for negotiating and has learned a punishing technique of baiting them with dramatized interest and then walking away, coming back, offer a price, then walk away again. She continues this charade until the vendor is frustrated enough and loses interest in selling their wares to her and then goes back and offers the last price she heard gleeful that she got them to the bottom. Sweet girl, but ruthless buyer. She attempted to teach Elivia her technique and since she doesn’t speak the language she grabs a stick and writes her offers on the ground. I think we’re going to let her negotiate for the orphanage supplies.

Zach has latched onto a little boy at the orphanage whose name is Fontina. He has only been there for 2 months and we know very little about who he is or where he has been. He is still very much malnourished, but is slowly gaining his strength back with the improved conditions of the orphanage. It’s funny, we talk about the conditions of the orphanage usually in a negative context, but the orphanage is a resort compared to some of the conditions that the orphans come from – I am not exaggerating. Zach said something about bringing him home and I asked him how he was going to take care of him – Zach said something about his roommates filling in here and there. :-)

We had the pleasure of being at the orphanage during dinner time and got to see what the kids ate. The received a large bowl of rice, piled with Cassava greens, with a piece of chicken on top. It is a very balanced and nutritious meal. The evening meal is traditionally the biggest of the day, with breakfast being toast and tea, and lunches are a kind of thick porridge. The food at the orphanage is pretty good.The cost to feed a child at the orphanage is around $20 to $25 per month and it is that low because they grow much of their own food. They have 4 acres dedicated to cassava and some other kind of food that I can’t remember the name of. Our goal is to get them totally self sufficient and not dependent on foreign aid – we’d like the aid to go to improvements.