Toko Zonga

11-9-2008

Today we stopped at the market to try and get the clippers for the kids; we really don’t want to leave without getting them. Fortina runs up to us each morning, first to greet us, and then tell us that he doesn’t want a haircut. We must get the clippers.

While stopped at the market, Paul and Gabi were browsing and the rest of us were in our display case on four wheels. Of course a crowd gathered and a military officer offered his assistance; again to make us more “comfortable.” Frank was a real character and a bit erratic – he was very excited. Doug managed to get out of him that he was a Sergeant in the Army, but it was really hard to tell from his uniform – aside from the stripes on his sleeve, there weren’t many badges.

So Paul and Gabi came back to the Landcruiser and Corrinne decided that she wanted Frank’s necklace. She pointed at it and he gave it to her, which of course means that her Father is indebted to Frank not only for the necklace, but also for the protection! Paul wasn’t the happiest as he was running low on Francs and the smallest USD was a $20. Paul pulled out what little Francs he had and Frank seemed okay with the $4 in Congolese Francs, and then proceeded to celebrate the payday by yelling; drawing even more attention. He then insisted on taking a picture with Corrinne – at which point Corrinne said, “he’s a little creepy.” Shannin said it was alright and Rin got out of the Landcruiser for the photo. From the picture you can tell she is a little apprehensive and Frank is definitely showing his unique character.

Well, the photo certainly made Frank celebrate louder, drawing an even bigger crowd, so we quickly shoved everyone in the truck and sped away before it got more out of control. As we were speeding away Corrinne said, “okay, that was creepy.”

The building is nearing completion – I’d say we’re 90% of the way there. The electric tested out fine and is finished except for the replacement of a couple of bad switches. The painting is close to done as well, but no murial – this was too lofty a task, and will have to be saved for another day…or trip rather.

The kids actually spent their first night in the new building, tonight.

Since today was our last day, the staff prepared a special treat for us in dedication of the new building…traditional dancers. The whole community showed up and the cooks had roasted peanuts this morning for a special treat. John also carted in a freezer (with 4 other young men), hooked it up to the generator, and then loaded it with Orange Fanta and Coke – it was indeed a special day. These poor guys had to carry a 300lb. deep freezer for a mile just to have cold sodas. They were so hot and tired that they just sat down and put some of the remains of ice, from the freezer, on their heads.

The traditional dancers were absolutely amazing!! I have never seen such a performance; it was intoxicating. Doug and Paul filmed the whole thing so our friends and family can see it back home.

The kids also prepared some skits and performances for us. As Father Emery says, “the kids are going to animate now.” – he means perform, but his translation is more appropriate.

One of the skits was about where the kids came from – the streets. It featured them smoking (with real lit cigarettes although they didn’t inhale) and fighting while dressed in tattered clothes. It ended with them being redeemed by an authority figure and accepted into a much larger family which is the orphanage. We’re going to have to subtitle the film as most of the adults were laughing – it must have been quite good!

One of the pictures drawn by one of the orphans - to be used in the skit – was of a small child sent out in the morning by his menacing looking parent, to earn money. The script on the drawing indicates that if the child came back without earning any money then he or she wouldn’t get to eat. This is the picture that most of the kids came from.

I thought this picture, showing a united Africa and America through Christ, was neat as well.

It’s kind of sad…today we attempted to get some of the background stories on some of the kids, but there is so little information. Even when we asked the kids where they came from or who brought them, they couldn’t tell us. For most of the kids, we don’t know exactly how old they are, who their parents are or were, or what they came from. It would seem important for their sense of identity, but I suppose the most important thing is that they are truly in a better place.

As the day was winding down, the villagers left to the tin roofed and mud brick walled homes after having enjoyed the cold soda, peanuts, and entertainment. Some of the workers were hanging around as most knew this was our last day at the orphanage. We elected to distribute the last of what we had and gave our coveted shoes to those most deserving. The boys also parted with their shirts as we prepared to say goodbye.

It’s with a heavy heart that I try to describe for you what happened next. The sun had set, the dancers gone, and the kids and us milled about in near silence afraid of the wave of emotion that seemed to be welling up inside of us. The kids were uncharacteristically listless as they searched for an understanding of what was happening.

In this culture, those that cry are made fun of, and crying is reserved for only the hardest of moments, but Bala and Kiesse (two of the boys) had tears rolling down their cheeks knowing full well that we were about to depart. Amongst the hugs and attempts to console each other, the well of emotion just could not be held back any longer and we all sobbed – literally sobbed. You would have thought that we were attending a funeral as the kid’s cries were the only thing that could be heard in the still dark night.

Gabi tried to cheer the kids up, but they would not be comforted. Boys, Girls, and Adults all had tears in their eyes as we held each other. Gabi tried to get us to walk the kids over to the kitchen as it was time for the evening meal; once there the kids refused to eat. Paul gave a traditional African promise in which he drew a line on the ground, brought his finger across his neck, and pointed at the sky swearing by the earth, himself, and to God that Toko Zonga (we will return again). This did nothing to ease the pain and Gabi thought it best that we go after a brief word of prayer.

We started walking and despite that the kids had been ordered to stay and eat, they refused and followed slowly behind us. As we walked down the moonlit sandy road the crys of the children slowly faded away – it is so hard to leave them!

John and Yvonne also walked us out and after we crossed the river we stood there in a circle holding hands. Two countries represented, and despite an inability to communicate, we had become family. John held our hands and raised them up saying, “America in Africa.” Doug then started to sing They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love in which we all joined in. Then, Yvonne and John sang an African prayer for us as well – it was beautiful! John walked around the group hugging each one and began to sob. This was the first time that John hugged as Africans don’t do this. There is a traditional African greeting or farewell in which you touch heads 3 times alternating sides – if it’s truly heartfelt you will touch foreheads afterward for a brief pause.

Yvonne and John are such loving people and really care about the children; we know that the kids are in good hands.

This evening will not soon be forgotten. I've seen some who have little or nothing, and yet are happy; while those who have much, seem so miserable. The problems seem so big and insurmountable that we can't possibly make a difference, but in the mean time we’re going to just try and make sense in a senseless world – if only in a small way. We’re going to do our part with random acts of kindness and attempt to help just one. What if we all…

We came to Africa to make a difference in the world, and while we’ve done what we could, and will strive to do more, it is our lives that have been changed forever.

Prisoners of War…Almost

11-8-2008

Tim: Yes, we can indeed ship to the orphanage. Mercy For Children is arranging their first container containing clothes, tools, supplies, and a vehicle. Anything you would like to donate would be welcome.

Bob P: Good to see you on the blog…just wanted to say hi.

Today was a good day as we woke up to electricity. In fact, right when my feet hit the floor, it came back on, which means we can have toast for breakfast!! Unfortunately we came home to no power which means that we won’t have a fan for going to sleep; not for the noise in order to drown out the music that people like to play into the wee hours of the morning, but for the movement of the stale, humid, hot air on our perspiring bodies. Oh well…at least we had toast.

We arrived at the orphanage expecting the usual mob of children running out to greet us, but today…nothing! It was a ghost town and Zach started whistling the famous Wild West whistle (can’t think of the movie) expecting to see a tumbleweed roll through. We hunted for the kids and discovered that it was bath time and everyone had gone down to the river for their bath. It seems strange that while the new bathrooms have showers, the children and staff still elect to go to the river to bathe. It’s probably more fun that way, but for health reasons, we should attempt to get them to take their last bath of the day in the shower.

Progress is moving along on the building, but we’re a little behind schedule. The concern is really the wiring as we’re missing some supplies needed to complete it. 2 rooms have tested out fine and hopefully we can get it close enough for the locals to follow some simple directions to completion.

Ashton slept most of the day as he has not been feeling well. Hopefully he’ll do a little better tomorrow as his “team” is waiting to play. This is a pic, right after he woke up, with his guys.

We had a staff meeting with all of the orphanage workers to try and bridge the gap and uncerstand the concerns that they have in caring for the kids. Yvonne (the caretaker/teacher) said the most beautiful thing. She said, “Your visit here has taught us many things. It is like the brightest light making everything clear.” She pledged to be praying for us as we travel back home. Perhaps our example has caused them to think about the possibilities of what could be.

(Paul filming Bati)

We also discussed that this orphanage is going to be a place of international gatherings and that each culture would have to learn from the other. One example is the trash; although trash here in the congo is simply disposed of outside the door, culturally speaking we feel that most Americans would see this as the locals not taking pride in their orphanage. While this isn’t the case, we probably can’t afford the “bad press” and have elected to have them dispose of the trash in a mini-landfill.

We also asked the staff for their needs. With 52 children, the one cook, the one laundry lady, and the two care takers are feeling the strain. It’s no wonder that the clothes the children wear are dirty when you have 52 kids playing in the dirt all day and then 1 woman to wash the clothes by hand. While it would be simple enough to send them a washing machine, there is no way to plug it in. We going to need to bump up the staff.

Making sure the staff is well taken care of is also our concern. How could they possibly have the energy to attend to the individual needs of the kids if they themselves are worn out? We’ve got to get this place running more like a well oiled machine, but we’re still in the early stages.

It’s interesting to note that I’ve seen 6 Albino Africans while I’ve been here. I probably pass that many in the U.S. in the course of a week, but they don’t quite stand out the way that they do here. One guy grabbed an albino as he was walking by our parked Landcruiser, and shouted that “Look! You are the same.” Funny.

(A fun dancing game we played with the kids)

Today we were stopped at a traffic stop. The two military guys demanded the car registration and the driver’s license then ordered us to pull over. Gabi got out of the car and walked back to them to discuss what was wrong. Panic started to come over a few of us as Paul used his phone to get a fix on our GPS coordinates and readied to call the Embassy’s hotline. Doug pulled out his hidden fanny pack and started to shove his money into in case they rifled through our stuff. We stowed our memory cards in case they took the cameras, and then sat poised, ready for any contingency.

Turns out they were traffic cops and claimed that it was illegal to have our cooler on the front seat. Hmmmm, in a country where we have seen people riding on the outside of the car at 50mph or riding on the roof – literally the roof, this seemed ridiculous. The 2 officers held their ground, but claimed that the whole mess could go away if we paid them a little money - therein lies the rub. Gabi told the two that they were nuts and to give him a ticket and he would fight it in court. Eventually, they let him go and we went on our way – a little sleepy from the adrenaline rush we had just been through. Situations seem so much larger when you don’t understand the language and only here the shouting. I think Zach soiled himself. :-)

Medicine For The Soul

George: None of us are medical professionals! Although, Shannin and Paul did take a year off of college to go through EMT school – it’s more of a “pack-n-go” though. What little we know seems to be going a long way. The Pierro’s leg (the one that was filleted) is healing wonderfully. While Mercy For Children has no official church affiliation, the eight of us are indeed Adventist and attend the Florida Hospital Church in Orlando. The pastoral staff there is awesome and employs true Christian principles; one in which an individual is challenged to think and form their own conviction about what is presented. There are two services there and we go to the contemporary one; sometimes leading out in Praise. Father Gabriel is obviously Catholic and the local Passionists are also Catholic. We are a multi-faith organization though, with Jews and even Muslims in the mix; each following the whispers of God to do what he or she can. If you’re ever in Orlando, we’d love to see you and put you up.

Teri: thank you so much for your encouraging words! They come as such a blessing to us and really fill our souls! Teri, Shannin says she could really go for “coffee time”! Love to the Maksoudians…Tell Noelle & Chloe the kids say hello and miss them!

David (Sunshine): Thank you for your comments…What happened to you? We haven’t heard from you in a couple of days!

Adrian: Livy lost a tooth, have you lost any yet?
Vickie: There are other orphanages, but few are taken care of and Gabi says that some of them resemble a concentration camp – in fact, some of our kids have come from other orphanages very malnourished. There are a couple that have asked Mercy For Children to take them over, but there simply isn’t the funding yet. We are looking into it for the future though.

(Zach and Fortina)

Mom P: Yes, there are dogs here, but we have not noticed any particular breeds. All of them are skinny and medium to large sized mutts. Perhaps, the fat ones get eaten.

Ape: Yes you made Shan laugh…all of us! We love you very much and we really enjoy your comments…see you are funny! Very funny!!

To all of you: We love you all very much and your comments are truly just the encouragement we need for each new day. We serve an awesome powerful God, and we are humbled to be here serving him in the DRC. Today is a good day! It is our Sabbath, and what could be a better way to spend it!

With the fighting going on in Goma we have noticed an increased military presence. I failed to mention yesterday that, while coming back to Kinshasa after our lovely lunch in the mountains, we passed through a military checkpoint. The military in the DRC is seldom paid and quite frequently the soldiers will ask for a “gift” for keeping everyone safe. Sounds a bit like paying the Italian mafia for protection from the Italian Mafia. We paid them the equivalent of $0.75 which they accepted and we went on our way. It is quite common for Gabi and Father Emery, but it does make the Americans in the group a little nervous. No worries though, we’ve had no problems.

The military do not like their picture taken and this photo was shot from the car as we passed by. Didn’t really mean to take it as I was shooting something else, but I continued to click away as we passed them.

David A: Nyesha’s shoes came from Samantha in Collegedale, TN. We learned that she had to save up her money for 4 months before she could buy them, but chose to sacrifice and give them to an orphan in Africa. Special girl and her shoes also went to a special girl. We hand carried these rather than pack them in the crate to make sure that her sacrifice was fully realized. Nyesha is eternally grateful.

Nathan: Christian says that he plans to pump up the volume (in the classroom) when he gets back.

Luke: Christian says that he’s in chapter 15 in FE.

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We’ve found a little 600 sq. ft. modern grocery store that we have nick-named “Publix.” They have a lot of the usual junk we’re used to like Peanut Butter, whole grain bread, yogurt, and yes potatoes chips. We’ve elected to start bringing our lunch to the orphanage so that we can save the time of getting shuttled to a nearby monastery for the noon-time meal. Since we arrive around 11A, it doesn’t make any sense to leave 45 min. later to waste another 2 hours for lunch.

We’ve noticed that the little boy that received the haircut, the day before, now has a lot of infected soars on his head. Too bad he didn’t get saved by Mama Shah-neen (Shannin) before he had to endure the razor blade trim.

Progress on the building is moving along. Painting is about 50% completed on both the inside and outside. Electric is slow as Paul and Doug try to show them how it should be done before they move onto something else. Later they return to survey the progress and then need to correct some of the mistakes. Probably would be better just to sit there and watch, but no one likes to sit around. Paul has started drawing the diagrams in the dirt in order to try and make it clearer.

Today we brought the kid’s clothes to the orphanage that we had brought with us. The kids were extremely excited and lined up at the door to the multi-purpose room by youngest to oldest. Since Americans are generally on the “healthier” side and African have a tendency to have a minimal body fat percentage, we’re running into an issue with sizes. We’ve got a dozen pairs of husky pants and no one to put them on. Some of the clothes, and there larger waist bands, have puzzled some of the locals. So let’s just call it what it is, we’re fat and could probably lose a few.

Each kid would proudly pick out his new clothes and go through a quick fitting session, march over to John (the orphanage worker) so he could write their name on them, and the do a little fashion show strut to Shantel’s singing. They were so proud of their new second-hand clothes and immediately proceeded to put them away for a special occasion; putting their old clothes back on.

Once they discovered that we had shoes, a frenzy broke out. Shoes are a very coveted item here and the order that we had previously maintained, with them marching in two by two, was transformed into chaos. While the clothes were divided up over the span of an hour, the shoes took all of 5 min!

Near the end, we kind of left the left-over clothes unattended and the kids proceeded to grab as many of them as they could – even ones that didn’t fit – and horde them away. It’s easy to criticize this behavior and the apparent lack of discipline, but I guess this level of poverty just simply creates or programs the behavior. It simply cannot be overcome even though we tell them that there is plenty to go around or we’re sending lots more. It’s sad, but a product of the conditions.

Every single thing of value in this country has some sort of lock on it or protection around it. Whether it be a home (it will have tall wall around it), car, or shoes. If it is unattended, and freely accessed, then you must not want it anymore. The old government (before the 1997 war) erected a tall monument of National Pride, and put a sample of the most valuable natural resources this country had to offer: silver, gold, diamonds, uranium, copper, and iron ore. The government thought this monument would be impossible to scale as it sits at least 300 ft. tall. Guess what? Someone climbed to the top and stole the goodies. Several others died in the process. It feels like a total lack of respect, of other people’s property, when in fact it starts as a product of the environment and then quickly becomes a way of life. It’s similar in Honduras.

Sadly, Fortina was crying that he didn’t get any shoes. His feet were just too small for the shoes that we had. We loved on him and he was smiling in no time.

It’s interesting to note that Shantel was much more affectionate with the kids today. She gave one of the kids a piggy back ride (like we’ve been doing) and has been joking around with the kids; even singing them songs while they strutted in their new clothes. One of the women (Annie), commented to Nellie on how much we like to hold the kids and was marveling as to why. Father Gabriel thinks that we have made a silent impact with just our example…we’re hopeful.

I know I gave a little background on Fortina in one of the earlier posts, but can’t remember if I mentioned that when we first arrived he was one of the new kids at the orphanage; having only been there a couple of months. Gabi has been worried about him as he has not been very interactive and hasn’t gained much weight. In the few short days that we’ve been here, he has absolutely blossomed. Earlier, Zach has been carrying him around everywhere, but now he is bouncing between all of us, always ready and willing to flash a smile when his name is called. While Gabi’s original concern was that perhaps he had a medical condition, turns out, all he needed was a little TLC. He is the neatest little guy.

Honore’ and Paula (the new arrivals) seem to be responding well with the affection and new surroundings. Paula is very interactive and we got Honore’ to smile today with a little tickling game.

We had a new orphan dropped off last night. We don’t have the background yet, but will fill you in when we do.

Some of you might wonder…all of the kids at the Mercy For Children orphanage are screened for various diseases including HIV. The sad thing is that if they are found to be positive, they will be forced to leave as there is no care for them and they will endanger the other kids. It’s a true death sentence and the thought sending kids away to die is unconscionable.

Honore’ and Paula have yet to be tested for HIV, but if found positive, they too will have to leave.

(Honore’s and Paula’s Mom)

Left Behind

11-6-2008

We got an earlier start this morning, and with only one stop at the cabinet shop, we arrived at the orphanage the earliest we’ve been there to date – 11A.

Several rooms are painted and one room is wired. We’re making progress!!



It was generally a sad day at the orphanage; it was most difficult for some of us as the facts of living in poverty weighed on us heavily. We’ve dealt with the cuts and bruises, minor infections, belly aches, and ear aches, but today seemed senseless in several ways.

First, let me say that this is a harsh land that they have to live in and the kids are brought up without any pampering, forcing them to try and survive – survival of the fittest. Even in a solid family environment, there seems to be little caring or empathy from a U.S. perspective although we know a lot of this is just cultural differences. The orphanage workers, although providing care, do not seem to be concerned with how a child is feeling, but perhaps it’s just that there is no perceived alternative.

Today was hair cutting day and Shantel broke out a razor blade! She proceeded to shave the kid’s heads while they cried whenever a corner would nick their scalp. Literally she held a raw razor blade – no handle, no widget – and shaved their head. While doing so, they ended up with more than a 100 nicks and cuts, and sat there in silence afterward waiting for the pain to subside.

We were horrified and Shannin insisted that they stop - they were puzzled. Shannin asked Gabi why they didn’t just use clippers. He stated that they had never seen a pair of clippers and this was just the way it was. Even if you dismiss the pain that the kids endure, it seems silly to needlessly subject them to infection. Gabi told us that this was the way he received his haircuts growing up, and this was very common even among the middle class. Shannin put her foot down and said she would buy a pair of clippers with batteries so they could resume the hair cutting. Shantel was excited at the prospect of using this new fangled gadget for cutting hair!


While we were there a Mother arrived with 2 small children: Honore’





and his sister Paula. The kids were lethargic and malnourished, and their Mother was an amputee from a car accident that she had been in. She walked the kids in saying that she was there to drop them off – she was leaving them there! We learned that their Father died (from disease) and she could no longer take care of them. There were no tears, no goodbyes, no hugs; she simply dropped them off, signed the needed papers, and asked for bus fare back to the city. The kids were heartbroken, but did not shed a single tear. This was more than Shannin could handle and she broke down sobbing, slapped in the face with deplorable conditions in which there is no alternative.

What seems strange is that with new arrivals, in this situation, you would think that the local Orphanage workers would try and make the new kids feel welcome, but they didn’t. They barely spoke and simply pushed them into the circle of other kids. Apparently they’ll get the basic human needs filled here without the luxury of affection. Since most in this society are religious, we’re going to try and use the examples of Christ to show how he ministered to the heart first and try and change a little of the culture. I realize that we can't, and shouldn't, impose our culture on them, but this seems a universal need that has been lost here.


Honore’ is sick and has diarrhea so Shannin bathed and put some new clothes on him since no one else did. She pushed some vitamins into him, water, and a little food so hopefully he’ll look a little better tomorrow. Paula seems to have had to be independent, for a little while, so she began to respond to her new environment by the end of the day - interacting with the other children.

The word is out – people as far as 40km away have heard that we’re at the orphanage and arrived today to try and sell us some African crafts. It’s crazy in a society, where few have cell phones and there are no road signs, that they would know exactly where to find us.


Tonight must be National Burn Your Trash Night as we went to bed to the smell and smog of burning tires and trash. There is no trash pickup so people burn their trash to get rid of it, and since trash doesn’t burn so well, they’ll use old tires to get the fire hot.

I know we keep talking about the pollution, but you simple cannot imagine it. I’ve tried to capture a picture of it, but it doesn’t do it justice. We are experiencing some respitory distress and could use a little help from the big man upstairs to get us through the remainder of the week. I’ve joked that in order to acclimate, we would need to pick up smoking in the US for a month before we come out here.

Le Bozoba

11-5-2008

First a picture of the toilet paper since I couldn’t get it to you before.

Some of you have asked if Shantel (The Orphanage Nurse) has any formal training. I would have to say no, not like what we’re used to. She did work as a “nurse assistant” here in the DRC, but even if she were a full fledged nurse, I don’t believe that it would be up to the needed standards. We need to lobby ADRA or some other Mission Doctor org for regular visits to the orphanage and perhaps some training for Shantel.

Also, we’ve been asked several times who is writing the blog. Well, it is Paul, from a third person perspective, with group input on what we'd like to talk about. On the days where there are some grammatical errors or misspellings, those are the days that I (first person) have a small blip of a connection and have to hurry in fear of not being able to upload - English was never my strong suit anyway.

Today we went on a Sah-Fah-Ree (Safari) with Father Emery.

We visited a DRC reserve where they have Bonobos. Bonobos are only found in the DRC and are one of the 3 great apes that live here. They are only found in the DRC because they are terrible swimmers, and the land they occupy is naturally surrounded by water. They are such terrible swimmers that they use a stick, when walking through water, to determine the depth and to make sure that it is safe.

Bonobos look a lot like chimpanzes, but are a separate species with a very unique social environment. The women are the dominant ones. Not only are they the dominant apes, they are also the protectors as well. When there is a hazard to the group the males will flee into the trees while the women arm themselves with Batons (clubs) to protect the family. They are also highly intelligent as each has a name and responds to verbal communication – we had trouble as they only know French. Our guide mentioned that they have even used fire to cook their food!



They are also a very “intimate” group without lifelong partners. In fact, one could say that they are a bit over-sexual as they are intimate with anyone, and everyone, in the group regardless of sex or age. Father Gabriel tried to play down our guide’s words during the interpretation, but we knew exactly what the guy was saying.

The male Bonobos do not like human males at all. They were extremely loving and affectionate to the girls in our group, but would grab handfuls of dirt and grass and throw them at the boys. Doug and Christian actually got a face full of dirt and later Doug had a rock thrown at him.

It was a real privilege to see the Bonobo as they are endangered. Since the females don’t have many offspring (average 3) during their lifetime, they may not be with us very much longer. People are eating them!

We had a beautiful lunch on a mountainous lake in the middle of nowhere and took a ride on circa 1970s paddle boats. It was a glorious day as we needed the break away from the pollution. While there, the kids decided they would try and climb some bamboo, and Paul jokingly called them Le Bozobos (combining Bozo and Bonobos which we’d just seen). Turns out, this is a real Lingala word which means imbecile – who would’ve thought!



Last stop of the day, we went to the local craft market to get souvenirs. What a crazy buy/sell environment. You could have 4 vendors tapping on your shoulder at any one time trying to sell you something. Each vendor tells you that you are his best friend and to please just give him one moment. It’s not like they only ask once either. You just have to smile and continually say “No Merci” over and over until they give up. We got some good stuff though and headed back to a dark mission as the electricity is still out.

On the way back, Ashton spotted a little boy that was shuffling himself down the median of the street. His legs were lame, and he had flip-flops on his hand as he would shuffle forward dragging himself along on a bent knee – he crossed the street like this. This tugged on Ashton’s heart strings and he couldn't help but feel like he wanted to do something - there was simply no way for us to fill that need. The tragedy of not being able to help everyone hit him very hard.
David Achata gave Corrinne a quote before she left, “We can do no great thing, only little things with great love.” I guess we’ll just have to do what we can.

The Gift Of Tongues

11-4-08
Start praying prayer warriors…we’re feeling the strains of our environment - healthwise.

Today we went straight to the orphanage…at 10A and via 2 stops: one at the cabinet shop (Shannin is getting a lockable cabinet for the medical supplies) and the other to get paint supplies that had yet to be purchased. With each stop, we sit in the back of a very hot Landcruiser with a gathering crowd of curious onlookers. We can only imagine that we look like the caged lion in a traveling circus – evidently moms don't teach their kids that it is impolite to stare.


The journey this morning took 2 hours. Despite our best efforts to get an early start, or to try and get some work done, we can’t seem to do it! We have yet to finish painting, but we’re learning to go with the local culture and try and take it easy.

Doug is having the worst of it though as his American patience is wearing a little thin. He keeps telling all of us to just “take charge” and make a decision, and every time he does, the locals just look at him and do it in their own time anyway. It’s very comical.

Speaking of Doug…it’s also comical to note that Doug has inherited his Father’s language skills. To his credit he has tried to learn the Lingali and French words for the common things and has even written them down on a cheat sheet, but frequently he will mix Spanish (what little he knows) when talking to the natives. Not to mention, the hand gestures that ensue when they have trouble understanding the Spanish. If they still don’t understand the Spanish and hand gestures, he’ll speak louder broken English with a heavy Italian accent. Usually this situation ends up with him grabbing an interpreter.

Lee, you can be proud.

While the delays make us feel like we’re not doing as much as we could, we’re getting a lot accomplished. The local Passionists haven’t known what they needed for the new building and it seems that every contractor was taking advantage of them with their bids. We saved them a ton of money by finding new ways to cut corners without giving up much of the quality.

The new dormitory’s walls are raw cinderblock. Now, the cinderblock here is not what you’re thinking of at home - it has a much larger mix of sand than mortar and will crumble if you don’t pick it up with 2 hands. As a result it is extremely porous and absorbs the paint a little too readily.

How do we save on paint while still getting good coverage? We add mastic (drywall mud) to the paint at a one-to-one ratio, let it dry, and then cover it with a second coat of paint. Viola! The locals mentioned that they had never used the mastic in this manner, but it was good. Not quite the quality we would like for the walls, but $20 saved means another kid can eat for a month – really makes you think in that context.

(This guy, Montasi, is the spitting image of an African version of my nephew Steven)

We wanted to film the kid’s greeting us this morning so Paul and Doug went on ahead to get their hellos over with and break out the camera equipment. Needless to say it didn’t work out so well as the kids were looking for the rest of us and spotted us from afar. This of course starting a mad dash to greet us; Paul and Doug were left in the dust as they ran down the mile trail we hike in on for every visit. Of course, this should have been very predictable.

Today Zach and Shannin had a little medical clinic going over the little infected cuts and wounds that the kids have.

It’s amazing to me how many of these there are. While any one of these wounds would be something that would get cleaned, antibiotic ointment applied, and dressed in the US, they are simply ignored here as they happen way too frequently. Some of these have caused a systemic infection resulting in the high fevers that we have seen.

One of the village workers cut his leg badly while we were there. I should say rather that he filleted the skin off of his shin in several places. I was a little surprised how bad it was. He was going to head to the river to rinse it out when we sent him to our little “clinic.” Latex’d up, Zach peeled the skin back, cleaned the wound with peroxide, applied Neosporin, and put a dressing on. It looked so good that the guy returned to work and was telling all of his co-workers that his leg was “straight from America.” Hopefully, it heals okay and doesn’t get any worse or he’ll think we were the reason why! :-)

(Nyesha gets her first pair of shoes)

Well, we’ve been out of power for the past 3 days. I’m told that this is pretty typical and can sometimes last a month. So…little to no water, no power, no internet. There is not much you can rely on from the government here. We’re learning to adjust, but it makes it difficult to get the laptop and phone charged up in order to get this out. Sorry for the delays.

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

A Bit Of Excitement…

First, thank you so much for your comments. We sit around every morning reading them as a group. The “righteous” one cracked us up. Mollie, sorry for misspelling your name.

Today we did not go to the orphanage; instead we had a meeting this morning to decide which projects we should tackle. We decided to paint the new dormitory, both in and out, and run the electric wiring. Zach is going to do a mural for us to paint as well.

We didn’t have a ton of time left so Gabi (Father Gabriel) decided to take us to the church that his sister is getting married in on Sat. It rained a ton last night and the roads were especially bad as most of the trash piles had turned to mud. Luckily we were riding in a 4WD Land Cruiser and were able to make it through, but we did have some difficulty in spots.

The church is embedded in one of the poorest sections of Limete and seeing a jeep full of white people turned out to be something. They treated us as celebrities along with reaching in the jeep to touch us and talk to us. Most were commenting about the car full of Chinese people as they had not seen many people of light skin. There is a significant population of Chinese here that are doing business and Gabi says all light skinned people look alike to the Congolese (Love the irony). There was one lady that got it right and said “look at the whites on holiday.” School had just gotten out as we approached the church and a lot of kids were being drawn to us.

On arrival a young man came up to the van and saw that Julius (one of the passionists) was riding in the back and said that he was happy to see whites and black together as we are all brothers.

We toured the church – it was very nice. We heard an amazing choir, with only a set of African drums for instruments, practicing for the weekend. I’m looking forward to hearing them on Sat. for the wedding.

As we were getting ready to go, a lot of the school kids had filtered into the parish through the gate and were beginning to gather around. Doug, Christian, Zach, and Shannin started dancing for the kids and then Christian decided to take a picture with a flash. As innocent as that sounds it sent everyone into an uproar. We noticed that flash photography is a very new experience for most Africans and they got very excited at seeing it.


Some of the adults promptly tried to calm everyone down and shoo the kids away. As we were leaving we were mobbed by little kids. The road was terrible in this area and it prevented us from going anywhere quickly. The kids were so close to the jeep we were afraid that someone might get hurt. We thought they were singing us a beautiful song until Julius told us they were chanting the name of a white vegetable. Gabi and Julius got out to walk alongside the jeep to keep the kids off of it. Gabi thinks we should walk in next time as it will draw less attention.

We’re glad to be back at the mission. Here’s a pic of Zach taking his bucket - white vegetable fits doesn't it?


And yes, we had fish for dinner. Paul’s getting a little tired of taking one for the team as he’s getting tired of eating the fish.

By The Way...

We needed the wet wipes!

The Bucket Bath

First off…guess what we had for dinner? Yes, the fish although I believe that they started to realize that most weren’t touching it so they prepared chicken as well. We also had the tradition cassava plant tonight. Most eat the leaves as a kind of green, but the root is a starch similar to potatoes. They make a flour from the roots of the cassava plant and then use it to prepare a kind of very thick porridge. It was very good.

I have so much that I could write, but I’m wasted and it would go on for hours if I tried to cover everything. I know some of you are looking for more pictures and tonight’s internet connection is better so I’m going to try. Unfortunately Molly, YouTube videos probably won’t happen.

The reception at the orphanage was amazing. The kids had prepared a series of special songs and dances and they even got us doing it – Ashton bravely stepped up, danced, and sung his name in the traditional Lingali dialect…as then did we all.

Most of the kids speak only Lingali while the educated citizens speak both French and Lingali.

The orphanage has grown already from when Father Gabriel (Gabi) was here last. It is good to see the new facilities under construction in order to house more kids once more regular funds are pledged.

We brought one suitcase with us that had all of the toys and candy in it. The kids thoroughly enjoyed it and would spontaneously break out in song and dance while waiting for their goodies.

One of the younger girls (I’ll guess around 10) wanted to ask a question, and rather than a question, she had a request. She asked if we could manage to provide a desk and chair so she could get more serious about her studies. Wow. No shoe request or ipod request…a desk and a chair. We’re going to work on that for her.

We also got a complete tour of the 14 acre orphanage and managed to visit the river in the process which the locals use for bathing and drinking water.

The villagers there were somewhat entranced and it soon turned into a performance or show in which they mimicked anything that the kids (including Zach) would do. We had a blast and the kids didn’t even notice that they were naked.

So we’re back at the city mission where we’re staying and last night we had a mono-temp shower that kind of dribbled water. Tonight, the city water supply isn’t quite providing enough pressure to push the water to a 6 foot high shower head, so we marched to the mission spigot to fill the 5 gallon buckets we had been provided. So instead of a shower or bath…we had a bucket. Worked out fine though. We’re clean and ready for bed.

Going To Meet The Kids

We're going to meet the kids this afternoon. We've separated the suitcases of stuff into several piles: children's clothes, adult clothes, toys, and medicine. We'll deliver just some of the candy and toys this moring and bring the rest later.

Before we load up for the 1.5 hour ride to the orphanage we took a walk in the very affluent or wealthy secion of the city - I can only imagine what the poor section looks like!

We just finished lunch; last night's fish head curry and spinach as well as some new things like french fries. Evidently they don't waste anything and since Paul is the only one eating the fish - all those trips to Asia has gotten him acclimated to exotic foods - we'll be having it again until it's done. Paul is going to have to step it up and take one for the team.

BTW...Beth drank some water from the faucet and while I don't wish her any ill will, it should make for some great material if she gets Montazuma's revenge. I'll keep you posted.

Going To Meet The Kids

We're going to meet the kids this afternoon. We've separated the suitcases of stuff into several piles: children's clothes, adult clothes, toys, and medicine. We'll deliver just some of the candy and toys this moring and bring the rest later.

Before we load up for the 1.5 hour ride to the orphanage we took a walk in the very affluent or wealthy secion of the city - I can only imagine what the poor section looks like!

We also had lunch, which was last night’s fish head curry, rice, and last night’s spinach. Seems only Paul is eating the fish - those trips to the Far East have come in handy getting him more acclimated to exotic foods. I imagine we’re going to continue to have fish head curry until we eat it all as people don’t waste any food here. Paul may have to step up and take one for the team.

BTW...Beth drank some water from the faucet and while I don't wish her any ill will, it should make for some great material if she gets Montazuma's revenge. I'll keep you posted.

Ben – this entry was for you as making them on the hour is really tough.

We're Finally Here - Experiencing Major Culture Shock!!!

So the trip from Brussels was no big deal; everything went very smoothly. We've notice that the African people on the flight seemed extremely friendly. Everyone was very eager to help out their fellow passengers; from an older gentlemen watching a newborn while it's Mother changed it's sister’s diaper, to a guy that got onto Paul for photographing the kids while they slept. It was a bit bizarre, but the guy started hasseling Paul in French for photographing the children; he didn’t realize they were ours! Paul managed to spit out "my child" in French and he then calmed down, started to smile, and proceeded to ask where we were going and what we were doing. This was a rather short conversation, but someone got out "missionnaire" and he understood that we were on a mission trip.

On the descent into Kinshasa we noticed that it was pretty dark compared to any other American City you might fly into. It was a rather bizarre checkerboard pattern of lights for a city that is over populated. It turns out that dark portions of the city were the ones were the power grid had failed; a rather frequent occurence. While staring out the window, a large portion of the city suddenly became illuminated.

Okay, now the fun starts...of course there was no terminal to pull up to. The plane was apparently randomly parked and then we marched down a set of stairs that had been pushed up to the cabin door. We were escorted straight to the customs "hall" - more like a room with three wooden boxes at the far end: one for Diplomats, one for Expatries (foreigners), and one for Nationals.

Blowing through customs we entered the Baggage Claim Area. This small room is packed with people constantly milling about and all simultaneously talking so that the background noise was quite high. The only thing I could compare it to would be standing in the middle of a commercial chicken coop or perhaps being in a mall around Christmas time when there is a run on Hannah Montanna paraphenalia - use your imagination.

I can't help but mention the terrier sized rat that was milling about in Baggage Claim. We almost thought someone's pet had gotten out of it's carrier.

We had previously instructed the kids not to let go of their luggage for any reason and to stay close. I'll fast forward by saying we were stuck in the baggage claim area for around 2 hours waiting for the 20 bags of stuff we were bringing for the orphans. In the mean time we had several individuals that were loitering close enough to our stuff that the Congolese Police and Military came to stand next to us to make us more "comfortable." They were extremely nice and we were grateful for the help.

Interestingly enough, one of the Police officers asked Ashton if he could "see" his cap. He asked Paul and of course Paul negligently said yes. As soon as Ashton handed it to him he walked away laughing…we saw him a little later fighting with another policeman over the hat, and that was the end of that! Evidently "see" means "donate!"

On the ride to the Mission from the airport, the streets were littered with old VW buses moving under their own power or being pushed by several hired hands. The streets were lined with people milling about the street vendors whose stands were lighted with candles, as there was no power in the middle section of the city.

When we arrived at the Mission they welcomed us all with open arms, treating us very well! The hospitality is amazing. They prepared a wonderful Congolese meal, for us, which included whole fish curry…even the eyes! The kids handled it very well, but Zach was a bit squeamish!
It’s getting late and we’ve all partnered with someone (except Zach) to sleep head-to-toe on a twin bed.