The Lord Giveth and the Lord Taketh Away
Yesterday was a long day. I started the day feeling well and quickly deteriorated around 10am. Father Gab and I traveled around looking for some wood and steel to finish the basketball hoop. We got the wood and had a hard time explaining to the blacksmith what we wanted as a basketball rim. We drove back to the convent photographed one, brought it back to him and he thinks he’s got it now. I trust him he is about the only reliable, hardworking person I have encountered within the city limits (he built the soccer goals). Well I was feeling pretty lousy when father and I returned to the convent to grab the photo for the blacksmith, but I decided to head out to the orphanage and try to get something accomplished. We were at the main road waiting for father’s sisters and cousins; they were heading out to Plateau to check some of the farming land I described earlier. We noticed a young child at the corner. We had seen him there several times before. He is about 5 years old, maybe 3. No telling. Father left the vehicle, then his family arrived and they too approached the child and began asking those nearby questions about him and his family. After about thirty minutes of waiting it turned out he had been left there by his family 6 weeks ago, and had been living at the police station. Father put him in the car and shortly after we were on our way to the orphanage with a new orphan. The kid is cute, looks like he could be autistic or special needs. No deformities, but his tongue is permanently at rest between his upper and bottom lip. I took a good look at the fellow. He wouldn’t talk though he understood Languala. I quickly noticed a couple of cigarette burns on his arms and some bruises and irritations on his head. Kid has been through a lot. All this put my aching head and body in perspective and suddenly I didn’t feel quite as bad. We got him to the orphanage and had him bathed and introduced to the staff. The children were at school so the adults had a chance to interact with the young man. Some of the staff members are particularly good with children. In the car we couldn’t get him to talk, but once Siprene began to interact with the kid he began to open up and play. The young man is quite a drummer for his age. When he began to show his natural ability, everyone agreed that he was Congolese. It didn’t take long and I quickly realized why his parents orphaned him. He is a little devil. Won’t let you touch him, won’t let you touch the soccer ball which he now thinks belongs to him. He tries to hit you if you get to near and he spits and scream’s a terrible scream if you get to close to him. I don’t like him. Well I didn’t like him, that was yesterday and I can see that he has become a little more normal since then. I told father that I thought he was a little devil and he told me that the family had abandoned him because they thought he was a witch doctor (evil). He very well could be. He has replaced Clovis as the orphanage Mubulu (trouble maker). Lucky for Clovis that was starting to irritate him. We let the little guy play with the orphans for the afternoon and then let them decide if the little devil should stay or go. They unanimously voted for him to stay and it looks like a life has been saved. Well all this was going on I was very ill. I slept for a few hours and spent a few more in bad shape. But then around 3pm I snapped out of it and felt better than I had since I injured my foot. It’s been two days since and I am still feeling great. I made some progress on the backboard of the basketball hoop. Unfortunately the power drill I brought all the way from the United States decided to burn up on me. I was using the converter, and could not figure out why it had happened. Then I looked close at the converter and it turns out someone switched the voltage on me and never turned it back. It’s a shame because it’s an 80 dollar drill and there are a few projects that I won’t be able to finish without it. I’ll try to get it fixed but it is such a headache here to deal with people who think they specialize in a particular field. Which leads me to another realization. To some I am going to sound like a major hypocrite for saying this since education has been one of the things I have bad mouthed throughout my life. I now appreciate an educated population. More than I appreciate running water. The people here are not very intelligent. Some are. But most are not. They give you the wrong change when you purchase something (which is the only good characteristic). They think they are educated and therefore they act conceded and headstrong when infact their actions/product doesn’t back em up. People drive terrible; in America there are many terrible drivers, but here there are many ignorant drivers, people doing things that are so unexplainably ridiculous that there is no logical explanation other than that they are simply stupid. People sell food along the road next to very large muddy puddles. People think Michael Jackson is alive or on the moon. Yesterday I caught a lizard/bearded dragon and nearly fifty people ran because they thought it was going to kill me and then come after them. Same thing with a toad. Pedestrians don’t yield for vehicles. People don’t change their oil or maintain vehicles and park in the middle of the road when the wreck they are driving falls apart on them. They believe in witch craft and evil spirits. They think that America is the answer to all their problems. They don’t refrigerate meat, and wonder why they are sick so often. They litter the streets with everything from human waste, to organic waste to plastic and glass and trash and then continue to wonder why they are sick. This place is going to be 3rd world for a long time. There is hope though and it’s the basis for my appreciation of education, the priests I am living with are very intelligent and there education shows. Several of them have studied abroad, but all of them have spent 9 years in the university. Now there is one thing I must bring to light and that is that all the people here speak at least two languages fluently. Most of the adults speak between 4-5 languages. This could be taking up their capacity which is used for rational thinking and decisions making. Hypothesis- The lack of education prevents your mind from developing to that of an educated person. I am no genius as you can tell by my frequent grammatical errors and often incorrect punctuation and sentence structure, but at least I can write, I haven’t asked but I got a feeling that most of the people here cannot.
The day ended well, rather than dragging myself to the vehicle I was throwing kids up on my shoulders and chasing others around as I had the first half of the trip. My foot still hurts, but I can finally put weight on it. The kids are sad to see me ill and thrilled to see me as myself. When I am feeling good this is a hard place to beat. I drove home and when I arrived I rushed to the restroom to relieve myself. When I was in there I heard some sort of wailing or chanting coming from the common area. It was a really weird and irritating sound that someone was making. I almost shouted to end the noise but when I realized what it was I was glad I hadn’t. Turns out one of the seminarians lost his mother and received news of it just as we arrived. Here people don’t cry they wail and morn when something terrible happens. It’s odd. I feel terrible though, this happened to one of the happiest and friendliest people I have ever met. His name is Dose-tee and he is 21 years old. The death was sudden. He has left the convent to be with his family. I sat with the seminarians as Dose-tee mourned in his room and they were laughing and carrying on as normal. I thought this was kind of odd and rude, but then I realized that death is just a lot more common and frequent here than in the States. The seminarians noticed I was looking bewildered and said as I have heard a hundred times “Death is just another part of life”. I guess so. Speaking of death I just read a note that Father slid under my door this morning in which he tells me we are going to a funeral today for a Passionist’s uncle.
Water is becoming more consistent. I am growing tired of African food and look forward to pooging this Thanksgiving.
Yesterday
Felt much better than the previous morning. Headed straight to the orphanage after picking up some of father Gabriel’s family and our painter. There has been progress made at the orphanage. If it were America all these people would have been fired a long time ago for working to slowly, but they are moving swiftly by Congo standards. Today’s mission was to organize all the gifts and distribute them to each of the children. Mamma Adeline and I began this but were interrupted when a Mundele(white man) and several natives arrived in a Toyota. They were here to give a presentation regarding the possibilities of solar power at the orphanage. This grabbed my attention and I was happy to sit in. They showed some of the systems they have installed in the region and I was very impressed. Solar power is incredible, the idea that you can have all the conveniences of society and stay so far away from it are enlightening and inspiring. Solar power could save these people, they don’t belong in cities. They go to the cities for the power and for the jobs and possibilities power creates. These people belong in villages scattered throughout the region. Solar energy would enable them to exist independently with the luxuries as well as the opportunities of the city. If only they could afford it. I am sure it would be pricy but it’s a onetime investment for 26 years of continuous power. I broke away once the video’s stopped and the French began. Mamma and I worked for a few hours on the gifts and finally had 62 piles of stuff for all the children. Father left as we were in progress and told me to distribute the gifts and photograph the children as we did. I agreed and continued. Later when I felt it was time to distribute, I called my translator to come and tell the staff to get ready. The kids get really rambunctious when they receive gifts. I’m talking- out of control. So we need all hands on deck. For some reason though the staff thought we should wait for father. I told them “Father Ipasu told me to do this” through my translator and he told me that they were all scared/apprehensive and didn’t want to upset father. Here is that education thing I mentioned earlier. People are scared here. They live in a tuff, harsh environment, are physically and domestically more capable than most people in the first world, but they fear authority. They are very submissive and will stay that way until education and empowerment change that. I could have made them do it but I don’t like giving the women orders they are not sure of. So I had some fun. My translator had asked me the day before if we could go over American slang. I being the crude young American male I am was happy to share with him all my knowledge of the tasteless American slang. This included phrases, slangs, expressions, but mostly curse words and sarcasms. We had a blast and after about an hour had filled four sheets of a legal pad. My translator, George is a great man. Intelligent, enlightened, inspired to teach the youth of the Congo English. He wants to be the best teacher he can be. He says the children ask him about curse words and derogatory phrases more than any other English definitions. I guess it all comes from American music mostly Rap. We even discussed human reproduction and all that might go along with that. George has been given a job at the Mercy For Children School since I have been here. He worked there earlier in the year but they worked him to hard without enough pay. 50 bucks a month aint much. I hobbled up to the football field and watched a game being played. The way they play here is so irritating. 15 on 15 and everyone but a goalie is on one side of the filed for most of the game. It’s madness. I have been thinking about the everglades. I am going to take an extended trip down there to make up for missing hunting season. Unless of course someone has a pig problem they need help with. Speaking of pigs there has been a litter born at the orphanage. Totaling 8. They let them run around in the evening, pretty cute little guys. There also has been a batch of puppies born. I believe there are eight of them as well.
The rest of the evening was frustrating. There was no harm done, but I have been asked not to blog it. It aint a big deal anyways. I can tell you I got a free beer out of the ordeal. Success.
It is now Thursday and my departure grows ever closer. I am anxious to return to the freedom of America, but if I could I would stay here another month, exploring this incredible country. Does anyone know anything about diamonds, some dude has a bunch of unrefined ones he is trying to sell me. I don’t know squat about diamonds. I got his email though. Well my American computer is showing its 2:30am on the east coast, so get a good night’s sleep and ill catch you later. That’s a goodbye phrase I gave to George.
James
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