Sunday

I’m sick with a bug I can’t shake. Antibiotics are keeping the symptoms under control, but its got me drained achy and uncomfortable. Yesterday was an entertaining one. I began the morning with a trip to those nurses to find they were closed. I took advantage of by break and decided to journey the streets with my little pal Nokia. Got him a pair of sunglasses, ate some food from the street vendors, looked for souvenirs to bring back to the states. Came across one of many makeshift foosball stations. Vendors set them up and charge the children to use. I challenged the vendor, paying him the equivalent of 10 cents in Congolese francs. I told them I was American and before I knew it there was a crowd of about 20 people around cheering. I said it was America’s chance at redemption after their loss to Africa (Guana) in the year’s world cup. They don’t understand anything I say so I just humor myself with English. The game was exciting, America controlling the lead until team Africa snuck by my goalie three times in a row finishing me off. I shook hands and continued back to the convent. The Fathers don’t think it’s safe for me to be walking the streets with a 12 year old who cannot speak English (not because of physical harm, but because someone will try to take advantage of me and the dollars in my pocket). Someone could rip me off and I wouldn’t even know it things are priced very unusually here. But that’s ok id pay just to be out there and experience the street, its like a street parade/circus/zoo. I continued back to the convent, but not without first buying myself a few beers and my pal Nokia a coke. I knew I wouldn’t be able to compete in the afternoon’s football game so I figured grabbing a couple “Road Dogs” (beers to go) wouldn’t be a bad idea. It wasn’t. Got a mini lecture when I got back to the convent, no worries. Hopped in the truck with father, popped open a beer and headed out to the orphanage. No open canister laws here. Actually there are no laws here, the police are self employed. Their salary is composed of the bribes they can get violators to cough up throughout the day. It’s pretty awesome. The game was exciting. But I was raging mad because there was a clear biased by the ref favoring the opposing Passionist team. He is a Passionist priest but I figured that since he is a holy man he would call it like a Christian. Wrong. I didn’t curse but I and the rest of our supporters let him know how we felt about each of the terrible calls.(Anoklay "Contray") I am about to eat dinner with him. The game was won from a penalty kick that was the result of a terrible call. Whatever we shook it off, we played well. The people here play a different kind of game than we do in America, less brain and more kicking. Father Gabriel made it onto the field and put on a pretty impressive performance during the first half. Between the bad calls and the fatigue of a dirt field he was finished at halftime. Well the night fell shortly after the game and we hopped in the cars to head back to the convent. Cars rather than car tonight. Father had some friends who he needed to get a package to that was back at the convent. I drove the land cruiser packed with the usual suspects and followed close behind father and his friends in another Toyota (i think i am the only other person with a driving license). There were 7 people in my truck and 5 in the one in front of us. We trailed them down the dirt road and made it on to that one terrible road I have spoke so much about. About a quarter mile into the drive I seen the other Toyotas emergency blinkers come on as they made their way towards the shoulder. I slowed and as they neared the shoulder the front right wheel fell off the car. Thank god they were only going a couple kilometers an hour, if that had happened a minute sooner at 60kph it would have been a terrible scene, likely resulting in me flying back to the states alone. As I now except and expect “it’s always something in the Congo”. I had to drive a few kilometers forward to escape the strategic zone (military area) the vehicle had been disabled in. I gave one of the passengers 5.00 to buy everyone in the car a Coca-Cola, because I knew we would be there a while. As most people do here, they never give me change and then BS with me thinking I am stupid enough to give them more money. The 6 sodas at most cost 2 dollars and he came back asking for more. That pisses me off, I am driving this kid saving him a 2 hour walk and he pulls that. If I let him in the car next time I think I’ll give all the other passengers a gift and make an example. We were there for a bit and then someone walked from the scene to us. He instructed me to turn back towards the disabled vehicle where we would pick up father and all but one of the other Toyotas passengers. When I got there, the military was giving them a hard time trying to lift some cash off of them. I don’t think the military gets paid either; they push for bribes just as much as the police do, except they have fully automatic weapons. We managed to get out of there with everyone on board. I am not sure what happened to the vehicle, but I bet it’s still there. This is my forth day in a row without running water. I am tired of bucket showers, bucket flushes, teeth brushing and face washing and hand washing. Most of the water I use in the buckets is full of mosquito larvae and smelly. It’s been a week since my injury and I am still hobbling around. I am usually quick to recover from injury, but here both my foot and the cuts on my body are taking a very long time to heal. I think it has something to do with nutrition/diet. My buddy Nokia is sweeping the floor of my room while I listen to the Doors. He keeps talking to me as if I speak French. I just answer wi/no to every other question he asks. My floor needed to be swept. I am learning the children’s names. I think I got about 60% of them memorized. Its tuff, cause some of them hide or play away from the rest of the children most of the day and are only seen at meal time, or movie time. I will say though the children who were shy when I first arrived here have really opened up to me. One kid named Simba, would wear a beanie over his head and eyes the first couple of weeks and never talked or confronted me. I always saw him taking old flashlights or radios apart and putting them back together. This reminded me of myself as a young’n and I felt a need to connect with the young guy. In the last week he has become one of my go to helpers and has really opened up. The kids and I have created several handshakes and he and I created one yesterday. The orphanage is really coming together. Father’s cousin built a room for the new generator. The Henkelman dining hall is nearly completed. The rain has flattened the soccer field and made the quality of play pretty good yesterday. The electrical wiring is in better shape than when I arrived. Some of it was very well done by the Americans that visited last but much of it had been jerry-rigged since.

Father was telling me about another exciting confrontation I am sorry I missed. It occurred when he drove to pick up my x-ray. I guess he didn’t use his signal and some policeman pulled him over and started giving him a hard time. The man was relentless. Two captains came through during the confrontation each siding with Father since he is a priest asking the man to back down. The man refused to and continued to bark at father. At some point the man insulted father’s sister Alphosine who is a nun and an incredible person. I guess he said something about her hiding from the world when she became a nun and this is a terrible thing to say to a nun here. Rather than punch the man father grabbed him around the neck or collar and began to shake the man relentlessly. I heard it was quite a scene. I wish I could have put a video camera in that cops face, and caught the spectacle to share. The crowd which had been watching from a distance quickly grabbed the officer and pulled him away and giving father a chance to bolt. The policeman was humiliated and stormed off. Father is awesome, he is very passive until someone crosses the line and then he lets em have it. Well the dinner bell is ringing. I am ready for some American food; pizza, sweets, fast-food, salads, and most of all beef. I finished the book Deep Economy today. What an incredible read. Thanks Dad

To Control is to Fail

Take care