We need a shower

I was asked by Paul to update everyone! No power, no water, no internet for 2 days! Hopefully we will hear from them soon! April

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.

We Feel Their Pain

So sorry that the updates are not on time; the internet was down again. Everything seems to be down all of the time. We’ve only had running water once, on the day we arrived, and since then the water has to be fetched in buckets from two giant plastic containers (the reservoir). “The bucket” is losing it’s novelty and tonight we “showered” under a gutter during the rain.

More of us seem to be succumbing to the pollution. I’ve noticed that all of the cars do not have catalytic converters. For one, the catalytic converters have precious metal in them, which can be sold, and removing them while thinning out the fuel air mixture improves gas mileage. Needless to say, while burning less fuel, they pollute the air exponentially more.

About half of us have sore throats and on-again/off-again low grade fevers. Corrinne and even Gabi have lost their voice from the constant irritation. It’s pretty amazing that the human body can in fact adjust to these conditions; we’re obviously just not used to it. Despite all, our spirits are high and we’re feeling good – if not only on the inside.

We’re learning that schedule seems to mean very little. We said we wanted to arrive at the orphanage early and have all day with the kids and somehow we still arrived at 4P - Tonight we held a meeting to map out the schedule for the rest of the trip. When we got there the kids ran out to greet us with the usual crossed arms out of respect, but they quickly turn into open arms for hugs as they’re getting used to us hugging them. They simply can’t contain their smiles!! Today was a craft/game day at the orphanage. It started to rain almost as soon as we got there so we had to go into one of the building’s multi-purpose rooms. There was very little light and since we were stuck indoors, Gabi talked to John (more on him later) about turning the generator on. The generator that they have is very old and not running properly, consuming quite a bit of fuel. They use the generator to operate the new well (refilling the reservoir at night) and to provide a little lighting (2 bulbs for an hour a night with the sun going down at 6P). Gazole (Diesel) was in short supply so Paul gave John some money to fill up.

John is one of the orphanage helpers and is about 17 years old (no known birth date). Being an orphan himself, he’s decided to stay and help with the other orphan kids in order to be a kind of big brother to them. He’s a neat selfless guy with a ready smile and bright eyes. He practices some English phrases at night in order to use them on us the next day.



So…we’re stuck in the multi-purpose room with a torrential downpour outside. With the tin roofs, the noise level exceeded that of a Billy Joel concert.We picked two games to teach the kids: Duck Duck Goose and Musical Chairs. We would first demonstrate the game and then bring the kids in. Duck Duck Goose was fun, but Musical Chairs was a hit! The game even sucked in two of the adults who about pummeled the kids in order to find their seat. Since we had no means of music we decided to assign someone the duty of clapping. What fun!

While playing, someone stepped on one of the small boy’s toes. “Stepped on” is perhaps an understatement as the end of his toe was somewhat mangled. Shannin swept him up in her arms and took him down to the infirmary (an 8’x 8’ room with a small bed, one table, and a single lantern). Shantel is the “nurse” there, and while she does the absolute best she can with what she has, it does not come close to anything that I’ve seen. Shannin held him in her arms while Shantel cleaned his toe; Maduchi screamed and cried his head off while it was cleaned and dressed using dirty water, alcohol, and a strip of gauze.

The reality of the pain and conditions of this boy’s life was more than Shannin could bear and she couldn’t hold back her tears any longer. Shantel was a little puzzled as, to her, this was just as it is.

The day before, Elisabeth had Asnoche (a little girl) sitting on her lap and noticed she was extremely hot (running a fever). Her toe was inflamed and feverish to the touch from an earlier injury – she had a serious infection! Beth and Shannin brought her to Shantel; she took her temperature and it was 103! Shantel thought she should just sweat it out, but the girls tried to explain to Shantel that she needed to give something to Asnoche to bring the fever down and start fighting the infection. Shantel rinsed the little girl in cold water, gave her an antibiotic pill, and then laid her down. Today we noticed that she had a high fever again and we brought her back to Shantel. Turns out that the antibiotic she had been given the day before was the only thing she had been given – Shantel is not even aware that antibiotics have to be given over a course of 7 to 10 days.

The good news is that Shantel is very eager to learn and while there is some antibiotic available to her, she doesn’t know how it should be given, and in all fairness it is virtually impossible to take care of 50 kid’s medical needs. We’re going to have a little education session with her before we go and certainly subsequent visits from any doctors we can drag out here would be a big help.

While on the walk into the orphanage one of the little boys was being taken to the hospital via bus by John because he has malaria. Poor little guy has to be just so miserable during the 5+ hour trip to get the attention he needs.While the evening was starting to wind down Father Gabriel (Gabi) asked the kids if they had any requests. One little girl mentioned that she wanted some medicine as her ear and stomach hurt; turns out that she had an ear infection from bathing in the river. The kids have so many little ailments that would put Doug or Paul in bed, but these kids remain joyful, happy, and interactive. The really sick ones are visibly lethargic, but don’t whimper or complain all that much – they are such brave little souls.

While there is hope, it is still so heart wrenching to be here and witness some of the pain that they go through on a daily basis. There are so many things that we can do to prevent some of these problems; 2 drops of alcohol in the ear after bathing in the river, improved personal hygiene, education on basic medicines, etc. We will desperately need some medical personnel on the next trip. The exciting part is that there is truly so much that we can do to help – you can make a difference! That is the hope we feel.

We are all OK, the internet is down. Paul will blog when he can.

The Sauna

Quick note…the violence that some have referenced is not affecting us. It is quite a ways away – equivalent to a conflict in Canada from Florida. However, we are and will stay vigilant as the social climate here can change quickly. We have the emergency assistance numbers from the embassy and we’re 20 min. from the airport. We’re good.

Also, would some of you sign your comment entry with your name so we can identify you? Some of the usernames are difficult to figure out. It’s always good to put a face with the comments.

And yes, Beth has been fine…unfortunately, since we were looking forward to some good material.

It would help if you guys would stop talking about the things like Gelato, Hot tubs, cool weather, Shaner’s, etc! :-)

April, Ash wants to know what the count was.

George (our pilot friend from Chicago airport), good to see you on the blog. Your words made our day!

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I’ve forgotten to mention that we’re awakened every morning to the sound of beautiful African singing, performed during the morning mass. It truly is a treat. Some mornings are better than others dependant entirely on the weather the night before and whether or not people can traverse the streets in the morning; rain equals small attendance.

We got an early start this morning going first to the paint store – I mean paint closet – to pick out paint for the new building. Zach and Shannin were the color-maestros and picked four colors from the one page of choices: green for the boy’s rooms, pink for the girl’s rooms, beige for the multi-purpose room, and yellow for the outside. Once again we started out with a $3K estimate and somehow it turned into $650. We’re pretty sure that the color consistency is going to be poor as the paint and dye was mixed by hand…yes, literally by hand. No computer color matching here.

While the paint was being mixed, we left for a soda and to get some money changed. We’ve noticed that if we stop moving for any period of time, we are quickly surrounded by curious onlookers. The money changers were gawking at Elivia and Corrinne and were asking to court them. We’ve learned to create a circle with the boys and put the girls in the middle to prevent them from getting rubbed, pinched, squeezed, etc. Strangely enough, people here like dollars as the Congolese Franc has the worst appreciation rate in the world (>1,000,000%). The highest denomination of the Congolese Franc is 500 and it is worth less than a dollar. What is bizarre is that the money changers won’t take the 1 dollar bills and they also don’t like creased bills. We changed two $20 bills and ended up with 69 500CF bills. It’s comical to pull up to a gas station and see the gas station attendants carrying stacks of Congolese Francs wrapped in rubber bands large enough to look like a stacks of magazines.

From the changers we grabbed a quick soda at an upscale soda shop and left to buy some drums.

The drums were located at a street side market along the only “maintained” highway in Kinshasa. We stopped among a mass of people and were immediately swarmed with street vendors peddling wares; from potato chip cans that had been turned into TV antennas to fans, goats, fruits, etc. Since Kinshasa is not a stop on the European Tourist Circuit it was a working market for the locals.

The drums were amazing. It’s amazing how many different sounds they can get out of just two drums; while they don’t put Gordan to shame, it would make for a nice drum off. The kids all bought smaller drums that we can take back on the plane, and brought them to the orphanage. The kids went nuts and didn’t stop drumming until we left 3 hours later. Ashton went to go play soccer with the boys again and asked if it was okay to leave his drum with the others. Shannin said yes and the Ashton replied, “clearly they handle them better than we do.” Paul and Zach had a migraine so it was a little tough for them…we called the whaambulance.

There is a neat little guy at the orphanage that “raps.” Not really our kind of rapping, but he dances and makes up songs on the fly. His name is Bati, but his stage name is Tiko. The other kids love to hear him rap and always ask him for more. We’re going to work on a music video for him.

Now the wedding…oh my goodness! The wedding took place in the evening, but normally a Congolese wedding would take place in the morning. Since it was at night, and they needed a generator to power the lights in the church, they cut the service short to only 3 hours; normally it’s five. The church is a tin roofed building with no fans and it was hot. I would have liked to weigh ourselves before and after to see how much water weight we lost, but it had to have been a lot – even though it was evening time. It was not cool.

The service was beautiful, the music…off the hook, the processional danced down the aisle, and nothing like any catholic service we’ve seen in the US. Gabi wanted us to film it and take lots of pictures which turned out to be tough since there was little to no light. Taking pictures of dark skinned people in dark areas is proving a technical challenge for Paul and Zach, but they are learning – over exposure and long shutter times. Flash photography is not working the best. They took 800 photos between them and will probably get a few good ones.

I forgot to mention that Shannin and Beth had to go to the potty (the easy number) right before the wedding ceremony started. Au Francine (Gabi’s sister who is also a nun and doesn’t speak any English) took them out to the bathroom…well, rather the stink closet. It was so bad that Au Francine wouldn’t let them go in as it was below her standards as well and pointed at some grass alongside the stink closet. There was a bit of an awkward pause as the reality of the suggestion set in. Shannin just kind of stood there not sure what to do and told Elisabeth, “I think she’s telling me to go in the bush.” Since Shannin hesitated, Au Francine pushed her into the bush and made a motion to hike up her skirt! Bladder relieved, they went back to the church. Beth pretended that she didn’t have to go and was just there for moral support.

From the main service we went to a private reception area where we captured a beautiful photo of the bride and flower girl – the only light was a single candle.



From there we went to the reception. On the way out, we noticed that the getaway car’s lights were very dim. Evidently the hired driver had his lights and radio on the whole time during the ceremony not knowing that it would run down the battery??? We were the only car around and Paul told Gabi that they better try and start the getaway car before we left otherwise the bride and groom would be stuck – the Jeep Limited was dead! Since any metal in this country is a luxury and something to be traded for food, there were no jumper cables. Doug went foraging for any kind of wire in the trash heaps and we managed to scrounge up two 3 foot sections of 14 gauge wire; hardly thick enough to jump start a car. Paul told them that if they held the wire between the two batteries for about 10 mins that it would charge up the car enough to start. Doug and Paul held the wires with the hands while Zach, Christian, and Ash decided to start reporting on the incident with the cameras. Since there are no street lights it had to be shot with the night vision.

Miscommunication ensued and while Paul and Doug were holding the wires they tried to start the car which made the wire heat up…10 min. later the car started, everyone cheered, and the locals took notes and pictures on how to get a dead car started with spare wire. They were very grateful, and if things don’t work out for Paul at Microsemi, I think someone has a future in the DRC.

The reception was somewhat typical just with different music, slightly different customs, and a very unique menu. Some of the food we didn’t get identified, but there was a steaming pile of herbed grubs, fish heads, an aged form of Cassava famous for backing you up, fries, chicken, and something they called spaghetti. So Zach put a grub in his mouth and starting chewing, but couldn’t swallow. He also put the fish head in his mouth, but immediately took it out and heaved. Paul called him a baby and ate a spoonful of grubs and ate the fish head eye saying, “here’s to Karina.” He said the grubs tasted like Pesto and weren’t bad, but the eye was a burst of the fishiest tasting liquid he’d had with a hard chewy center. I think he had a tough time keeping a straight face.

We met a neat guy at the wedding who was the groom’s brother and spoke great English. He started off saying his English was terrible and then proceeded to have a lengthy conversation with Zach about who he was, what he does, what his likes and dislikes are…Zach couldn’t get a work in edge-wise. We gave him the microphone and he started doing interviews with the family.

They were treating us like the guests of honor and got a kick out of Shannin and Beth dancing with the rest of the ladies – the men and women don’t dance together and when Doug got on the dance floor they kept telling him no.

They kept giving the boot to some of the families’ guests so we could have better tables. While we appreciated the honor they were giving us, we noticed that some of the displaced individuals were getting their feelings hurt. We made it right by grabbing a table in the corner and celebrated till 2A - the reception went on until 7A this morning.

We’re extremely tired today, but wouldn’t have missed the wonderful experience we were honored to be a part of. We’re headed to the orphanage this morning.

More later.

The Cracks Are Beginning To Show…

One of us was beginning to show signs of wear this morning, and since I really don’t want to pick on anyone, I won’t mention his name, but here is his picture.



After breakfast we went and stopped by the embassy to make sure that our registration went through and that we had all of the proper telephone numbers in case we needed anything. Turns out that there are only 15 Americans in the whole of the DRC and we happen to be 9 of them.

From there we went to the main shopping district which is busier, dirtier, more polluted, and seemingly hotter than usual. We went to a little cubby of an electrical supply shop in order to buy supplies for the new children’s dormitory. We started with a $4,000.00 suggested bill, and since Paul had already seen the building, this didn’t seem right. Each line item was meticulously negotiated back and forth and after 2 ½ hours, Corrinne broke out in hives due to the something she came in contact with. Shannin, Beth, Doug, Christian, Ashton, and Elivia went to get a soda to try and deal with the heat. While crossing the street a truck just about ran over Shannin, and hit a big mud puddle splattering sludge all on her legs. Seeing as how they have no central sewer system or sanitation department to collect garbage, we’re expecting Shannin’s legs to fall off. The soda man ripped us off as he had Doug pay while speaking English and then went to Father Gabriel to ask for money in French. The locals realized what he was doing and started to tell the guy he was going to hell for ripping off a priest and missionaries.

Doug was quoted as saying “why would anyone want to live here? I’ve been here for a few days and I’ve already had enough!” I have to admit that the pollution, dirt, garbage, and general filth begins to wear on you.

We left the shop paying $312.00 for 6 spools of wire, wire nuts, and electrical tape. Can’t wait to go back for the rest of the stuff needed to complete the job.

From there we had a real treat; we went to a very wealthy section of town and ate at a very expensive restaurant that only the rich can afford – The Hunga Busta. There you can get Pizza (Is it delivery? No it’s Digiorno), Burgers, Chicken Fingers, Gyros, and Sushi – yes Sushi. We went for the Pizza – It was good.

From there we went to the orphanage…what a blessing to go out to the country. The country people are much cleaner than most. The bridge is totally out, on the way to the orphanage, so we have to walk in and the children came out to greet us this time. It was soooo rewarding! They walked up to us with arms crossed (to show respect) saying Bon Jour Papa or Bon Jour Mama then most would come in for a big hug. We have bonded already after only one visit – they are such a blessing. Corrinne and Livy led them in song and dance with Zach while Christian played the guitar.


Paul and Doug went to work on the electric while Ashton played a game of football (soccer for you Americans).

The children cheered when Ashton took off his shoes because I think he was stepping on some little toes. Corrinne has found a special place in her heart for a little girl named Gracie’ (Grace).

On the ride back, the traffic was so bad, and I think we got black lung from all of the pollution. Seriously, we talk about global warming in the US, but after being here, I really don’t think we’re the main contributor. Paul says China is just as bad. We’re simply not used to the air quality and our sinuses swell making us sound like we have a cold. We’d really rather stay at the orphanage in the country.

The Internet is down tonight for the whole country - even Paul’s phone isn’t working for data service – so you’re likely going to get this late. Sorry as we have so much enjoyed the back and forth and will miss hearing from you in the morning.

April, we’re loving your pithy comments; you’ve got the kids in stitches – keep them coming.

We’re looking for a bride for Zach – I think we could get him a cow and one giant terrier sized rat for a dowry.

We love you all.

Internet down

I just received a text from Shannin. Their internet in Africa was down yesterday and today, that is why we have not received any posts from them. So when they do have internet, she has a lot of catching up to do... I guess when they start serving them rat and insects, the fish will look pretty good... Sorry my writing and whit skills are not as funny as Shannin's :-) April