Leaving Kananga

Friday 13 April – Saturday 21 April 2012

Freezer arriving at the guest house

Our last eight days in Kananga is a winding down time, wrapping up of what we have been able to do while here.  We have gone as far as we can on the guest house project. The freezer and toilet purchased in Kinshasa on 22 February arrived, but the two 500 liter water tanks, the gutters and a few other guesthouse supplies are still on the ground in Kinshasa.  Jacques left 14 April for Kinshasa and on to the U.S. and the Methodist General Conference on 20 April.  Cistern work may not resume until Jacques returns to Kananga in late June. 

Guest house renovation project equipment

Burning trash next to the guest house

We cleaned up and stored project supplies and burned trash.  We decided what to leave and what to pack.  Jim kept telling Sue all her stuff weighed way too much.  Heck – he’s right…  We left what we didn’t take on the table in the dining room.  Friends at the compound will see if there is anything they may want.  We were both able to pack in two pieces of luggage rather than the three each had upon arrival.  Sue left her big red duffle bag behind; Jim packed his duffle inside another bag.  We weighed each bag and knew we were both over the limit, but decided to go with that.

Jim reading

Market on our walking route

Sue reading, or is that napping?

We had more time in this winding down time to read and walk; to really observe the chick explosion, and to notice how low the planes really do fly over the house as they land and take off, to watch a storm coming, and see the beautiful skies – for these few days - more time to enjoy the moment…

Georgette and the new chicks

Plane coming in to Kananga Airport over the compound

Storm coming in

Clear skies ahead

On Wednesday a delegation from the French speaking church across the street came to visit with us, and to let us know that they are working on providing a translator for French into English, so that we can attend church there an understand the service when we return.

Friday 20 April

Simon - off to Kole

Simon left for Kole, a mission up country.  He is flying five people there to check on and work on a project.  He’ll be gone for 8 – 10 days, so we won’t see him again.  He goes home to England on 12 May.  We’ll keep in touch by Internet.

We had two sets of visitors from the Kananga UMC District Offices.  In the morning the Kananga District project coordinator came with an interpreter to give us five or six potential projects, all written in French, naturally.  We asked for the electronic version, so we can run the proposals through Microsoft or Google translator.  They left with a flash drive and a promise to return later in the day.

District Superintendent Mutambwe and the visitors

In the early evening the District Superintendent arrived with four church men, bearing several more proposed projects and a nice Congolese wooden statue for each of us.  These proposals had already been translated into English.  We reiterated what we have said all along, we will bring the proposals back to the U.S., bear witness to the desperate needs in the Congo, and work to see how some of the priority projects may proceed toward funding and possibly bring over volunteer teams to work for short periods of time with Congolese partners. There are many things to think about, many challenges, many obstacles, much need…

Jacques and Valentine were gracious and welcoming hosts.  We’re grateful for the time we spent with them and for the new friendships we have make here in the Congo.

Saturday 21 April

Rainy season farewell to Kananga

The thunder and lightning storm that rolled across Kananga early Saturday morning was not what we wanted to hear and see on our last morning in this city.  We were up early and it was pouring down rain, dark and gloomy.  Since we had packed our bags the night before, we were ready for an early breakfast and then the trip to the airport.  All our bags were loaded by Françoise and Victor.  Answered prayer… the vehicle started.  We said our good-byes using our few words of French and started off to the airport amid rain soaked deeply rutted roads.  More answered prayers… the road was not washed out and there were no other cars, broken down or otherwise, to impede our travels. 

We were the first to arrive at the airport and the folks at the Central African Airlines (CAA) counter were just getting ready to open the check in process… great, we thought, no problems and we’ll be on our way when the plane arrives in from Kinshasa and makes the quick turn-around.  Wrong.   Departing the Kananga airport is not for the faint hearted.  It is a maddening, cumbersome, irritating, inefficient scene.

There seemed to be a dozen folks working behind the counter, but actually only one person was really accomplishing anything.  For quite awhile there were as many setbacks as gains as the computer program was not working correctly with the weigh scales, so the bags had to be weighed manually.  Just when we thought we were closing in on baggage weight figures, we found out that, unlike all the other airlines we had flown - where you get a purse/laptop bag or backpack AND one carry on piece of luggage, CAA only allows one piece of cabin luggage.  The carry-on bags, already returned to us, plus now the backpacks, had to be handed back and new weighing and calculations were made.  We then had a hassle about how much we were over the limit for the checked bag and since the carry-on luggage had now become a second checked piece, which is not normally allowed and thus would be counted as excess baggage, we had another go around about charges.  Fortunately, poor François had been through this drill on more than one occasion and he just kept smiling and trying to explain to us what was happening.  At one point, Francois went around and into the baggage weighing area, giving the airline workers instructions, trying to limit the damage.  Long story, happy ending and it only cost us $76 additional dollars to get our entire complement of luggage and ourselves ready to make the dash to the airplane, when it finally arrived.

All this time, we had been standing by the side of the counter watching many of the airport workers wandering around on the tarmac looking at an Orient Thai Airbus 340 which had flown in the day before on what we think was a charter flight.  The plane had run off the taxi way. Its nose gear was buried in the mud about 20 feet off the tarmac.  We can only speculate what will be involved in getting this huge, commercial aircraft unstuck, safety checked and out of this remote, central Congo airport which does not see much commercial traffic in a week’s time.  The UN aviation contingent stationed at Kananga did not seem to have any equipment which might be needed to lift or pull the aircraft back onto the tarmac, so it will be interesting to hear from someone how they finally got the plane unstuck. Luckily, this was not our scheduled aircraft.

We were waiting for the steadily building crowd to gather at the one exit door, as there is no order or rationale to how the planes are called for departure, when we were summoned by an immigration official who wanted to check our paperwork.  After trying to tell us we had over stayed our visa (we had not and had two weeks left on the three month visa we had), he finally tried the approach that we did not have the right kind of visa:  we had a tourist visa and we should have had a missionary visa.  Needless to say, there is not a missionary visa, only business, tourist or work permit.  We were told by the DRC embassy in Washington that a tourist visa was what we needed for volunteering.  The “official” simply was looking for “special considerations” and straight out asked for “something special” for allowing him to examine our paperwork.  We ended up, with Francois’ concurrence, giving the official the equivalent of $1.50.  He made an elaborate gesture as if he was going to write out a receipt, but alas, he could not find his receipt book.  The “consideration” was unceremoniously whisked under the blotter.  All smiled and au revoirs were said.  Little extra expectations of officials are certainly the way of doing any kind of business here.

The plane arrived and we made our way, after several VIP’s to include a Congolese senior military officer were escorted ahead of us, onto the plane.  We still had to go through three more check points, as we walked across the tarmac toward the plane.  Paperwork for the special airport tax and the Go Pass payment, another fee just to get out of the airport, were examined.   Our paperwork was in order.  Answered prayer. 

Leaving Kananga

Drive across Kinshasa, the dusty...

Drive across Kinshasa, the shade...

The flight over to Kinshasa was uneventful, and, even with a little bit of turbulence, a pleasant flight as we were now one step closer to actually heading home.  We were met by John Wesley, the Bishop’s administrative secretary and driven across town the 40 kilometers to the Methodist-Presbyterian Hostel (MPH).  We were greeted by Cindy and Clay Dunn, two volunteers who have been here two years running MPH and who have made some major improvements in the appearance, comfort and daily operations of this important stopover for missionaries and other church guest arriving and departing the DRC.   We’re glad to be back in Kinshasa.

MPH - Methodist Presbyterian Hostel, Kinshasa

Welcome to MPH

Gutter talk

Monday 9 April – Thursday 12 April 2012

And you thought you had heard the end of gutter talk…  Not so.  The main event the week of 9 April was cleaning, re-hanging, and placing screening over the top of the gutters - on the back of the main house, and cleaning and screening the gutters on the side.  The gutters were full of leaves from the lovely shade trees near the house.  The gutters in the back needed a steeper pitch for guiding the water into a 55 gallon drum and then into the cistern.

This system is the principal way that water is collected for drinking, bathing, flushing and clothes washing here at the compound.  We understand from our hosts that many do not even have this system.  They must go to a river or stream to get water.  There are a few boreholes around town where water can be bought, but that is a last resort option, especially when money is tight for most folks.

Kananga

Kananga traffic cop

Relaxing on the curb

Before starting the project Francois took us into Kananga to look for screening.  We did find suitable screening and took the information back to Jacques.  We stopped by the shop where the last two of the six beds made for the guest house are nearing completion.  They will be ready for pick-up tomorrow.  We also visited a brick maker to gather information on the cost for him to make the bricks now needed to resuscitate the collapsed cistern.  The brick looked very well make and sturdy.  Jacques hasn’t yet decided how he will have the bricks made this time.

High wire act

So… it’s back to the high wire act, but rigged up outside on a trailer, 3.5 feet off the ground - 55 gallon rain barrels, a Rubbermaid trunk on top of each, the extension ladder laid between the two towers, and boards place on top of the ladder rungs.  For one part of the operation we even had a wooden trunk on top of the ladder.  Sue didn’t get a photo of this, she was too busy stabilizing the tower and praying there would be no great fall.

Francois and the generator

After removing the gutters in the back, wooden blocks were installed to hang the gutter supports.  Francois brought out a small generator, drilled the holes in the wood, Sue put nails in the holes and handed the “package” to Jim on the “high wire”.  A string line was then run from the high point to the new low point for bracket installation guidance.  Holes were then drilled in each block at that line.  All we needed now was wood screws for the brackets.  This required another trip into town.

5 meters measured out with a little help

We stopped at the hardware store first and bought the screening for the gutters.  The roll of green, square grid screen was taken out on the sidewalk in front of the store and laid down.  Five meters of screening was rolled out, measured and cut, with help here and there from a passersby.  $35 for the five meters. 

The market

Next stop - the open air market, as the hardware store didn’t have the size screws needed.  As we started down the row of mostly salvaged parts, all eyes were on us.  Francois asked a vendor for small wood screws and some are produced, but not what we needed.  As we progressed along, the word goes out that we want wood screws of a smallish size.  A woman vendor appears with about the right size screws and another comes right along with another offering.  We select 30 screws from one of the women, paying about $3 in Congolese Francs.  On the way home we stopped at the gas station market, the only place we’ve found Coke Lights.  We bought a six pack, a real treat.  The cost about $7.   We’ll probably only have one every other night - stretching out the enjoyment…

Brackets installed

Back at the compound, we cut the wire screening into five, one meter sections.  Jim installed the brackets and we were done for the day.  We enjoyed the Coke Lights that night to a show of cloud lightning off in the distance, constant, bright and silent.  Nice…  The next day was, unexpectedly, a day of rest, as it rained off and on much of the day.  We “harvested” the rain barrels outside the guest house, filling up the water tanks in both bathrooms.

Gutter cutting

The next morning Jacques, Francois, Jim and Sue were ready to finish the gutter work.  First thing, a gutter section fell off the trailer and cracked.  Now what?  Two plastic pieces were found, cut and placed both inside and outside the cracked section using very old, very hard putty softened with kerosene.  We’re back in business.  Three one meter long gutter sections were returned to the newly hung brackets, the screening was installed over the gutter top and bent down both side then secured with wire wound around the screen and gutter at half meter intervals.  This is when we added the trunk on top of the ladder and walk boards. 

Working on the down spout

In the afternoon, the gutter down spout leading to the rain barrel and ultimately the cistern was cut and reattached at the gutter’s new, lower position.  To clean out the gutters on the side of the house the trailer was moved and the scaffolding was reassembled.  Now we had, in addition to the four morning workers, also two to three young men who helped steady the scaffolding barrels.  We also gained one or two observers.  These gutters were cleaned out while in place, screened and secured.  It was a wrap by 6:30 p.m.

Since this day we have been checking the cistern levels.  The depth has, at least, doubled, so far...

Palm trees and the bats

Trimming the palm tree from on high

The other day we returned to the guest house from breakfast at the main house to find palm leaves falling to the ground near our entrance.  High up in a palm tree, a young man was cutting down withered leaves with a machete.  No ladder, no safety harness, just him, his bare feet, the machete - climbing ever higher, holding onto palm fronds as he cut.  After dispatching the fronds, he cut down a large, orangey-red cluster of palm nut fruit.  He repeated this routine with several trees.

Palm nut fruit lying on the ground

The cooking pot spied from the guest house

The clusters were broken up, but left on the ground for days.  Now and then we would see folks gathering the fruits and taking then away.  What happens to all the palm nut fruit, we wonder.  Recently we found the answer boiling in a large pot in the yard.  The pot sits on a circle of large twigs, covered with palm fronds.  The palm nuts are piled to above the pot brim.  Georgette, Victor, and Jaan frequently check progress.  The softened fruit is mashed in a large mortar and pestle, the juice flows out of the palm nuts.  There is a big mushy mess.  The mush is filtered and the palm nut juice is returned to the pot.  The pot full of orange liquid ultimately boils down to a small amount.  The result, so we believe from gestures and a French word here and there, is that it is palm oil, with added ingredients, very tasty, that is used for cooking chicken, meat and many other foods.  It is delicious.

The pot sits on a circle of twigs & is covered with palm fronds

Jaan, Victor, Georgette check progress

A mortar and pestle are used to mash the fruit

A big mush

The palm juice is returned to the pot

And boiled down

Oh, by the way, remember the red tin door repair and the displacement of the bats from the “bat room”?  Sue was worried that the bats would come into the house, but Jim didn’t think so…  Time has told…  A bat or two did come in a couple of times, but readily found their way out again.  Sue’s real glad about that.  With curtains back on the windows, drawn where there are no screens, we haven’t seen them in many nights.  But we do see fire flies, aka lightning bugs, and THEY are fun… a reminder of home.

Cistern cleanup continues...

Saturday 7 April 2012

The bucket brigade

Cistern cleanup continues.  Some bricks are recovered, but may not be useable.  A trench is dug around the work site to allow future rain water to escape.  After a rain, the trench looks like a river.  As of now, Jacques’s plan is to have new, more substantial bricks made while he is at the General Conference and itinerating.  Other modifications to the project are being considered, such as building a partition wall in the middle of the cistern.  When he returns in late June, the cistern building will start again.  All the funds we brought over for the project are expended.  We don’t know how the recovery will be financed.

A few of the bricks are salvageable

Jacquee helps dig a trench for rain water

Trench is done

All cleaned out

Trench doing its work after a rain.

Progress, progress, progress... disappointment

Friday 6 April 2012

Cistern ready for cover construction

2:30 am.  It’s raining very hard, with loud thunder and bright flashes of lightning.  Sue gets up to see if the rain pouring off the roof valleys is hitting the two new rain barrels.  It seems to be right on target.  We need the rain.  At 7 a.m. Jim, Simon and Sue are staring out the door at a scene we didn’t want to see – the two side walls of the cistern collapsed at some time overnight, probably under the pressure of the rain drenched earth packed in beside the walls.  The cistern hole is filled with water.  The side wall blocks are not visible at all, while most of the end walls remain in place, about half the wall’s height visible above the water.  Many of the end wall blocks are sheared in half by the weight of the collapse.

Cistern at 7 am on 6 April

Yesterday the cistern was ready for construction of the cover.  This morning we are looking at a water and debris filled hole in the ground.

Cistern cleanup begins

By mid-morning the cleanup begins.  The water is bailed by hand, no electricity available except every other night for two hours.  The bailed water creates a river around to the back of the house.  Next bricks are handed out, but most are crushed by the cave in.  By the end of the day there are still mud and bricks to bring out.  We're very thankful no one was hurt in the cave-in or during the clean-up afterwards.

A river of bailed water

Bricks coming out

Progress at the end of the day