January 25, 2015
We’re back in the saddle! It was very nice to have that week in the lap of luxury in Johannesburg, but we’ve spent this week trying to get our ducks in a row for new projects. I had never noticed how many idioms we Americans use until trying to explain them to a translator! Steve, our translator, is wonderful and has a great sense of humor. We celebrated his
25th birthday this week by going out for pizza with his fiancé, Matild. They are such a cute couple and are trying to work out a way to get married soon. Steve is required by tradition to pay his in-law family a “dote”, or bride price. Much has been said against this tradition lately by our church leaders, but Matild’s parents belong to a different church and Steve feels obligated to follow tradition. I’m not sure everything they have asked for other than a new suit and shoes for her father, fabric for two dresses for her mother, animals (like chickens, goats, etc.), and $1,000. Matild is the 12th of her father’s 13 daughters, so he has gone through this before quite a few times – but Matild appears to be special to him. Her father is trying to postpone the marriage by convincing Matild that she needs to serve a mission first. She’s 22 years old and is a university graduate. Steve says, “I need to prevent my heart from that pain!” haha She’s pretty independent and wants to get married, so we’re hoping it happens before we go home.
For those of you who have lived in Lubumbashi before, you’ll never believe what opened this week. It’s a huge
Western-style grocery store! Hyper Psaro has many locations around town, but this one is in a new “mall” area with a couple of little restaurants. It has good lighting inside, a big parking lot, and is almost like a normal grocery store! This is almost too much to mention, but we actually bought a teeny container of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream – only $4.00!!!! Very exciting!
Our two AP’s have been sick this week. They went to the hospital and were diagnosed with typhoid, but our mission doctor thinks it’s cholera. Anyway, it was quite an “eye-opening” experience for all of us to have them in the hospital. It’s one of the better hospitals in town, but these poor missionaries weren’t provided anything except a room. No food. No soap or towels. No water. No hospital gowns. Only a sheet and a pillow. Fortunately, they have rebounded and are out now, but it was a pretty grim experience. One very heart-warming part of the ordeal was that two other sweet missionaries stayed with them the whole time and took care of them for four days!
I just thought I’d show a little picture of a local traffic solution. This guy is known
as Robo Cop. He acts as a traffic light.
He turns around every few minutes so that the drivers either see the red light on his chest or the green lights on the ends of his arms. There are a few of them around town. Pretty clever!
The Congo is in a bit of a conflict right now. There are national elections coming next year, and the current president is already trying to make changes to the constitution so that he can run for a third term. There has been some rioting and deaths in the capital city of Kinshasa, and the president blocked all internet services and media so that it doesn’t get out to the rest of the world. (Good luck with that!) So our internet has been worse than usual – only on for an hour or so here and there.
We had planned on returning this next week to “the bush”. It’s the same trip that we took last June. Actually, it’s pretty exciting because we plan to present an ultrasound machine to the hospital in Luputa. That project has been a long time coming and we’re glad it’s finally finished. Also, we have encouragement from the Area Office to go ahead with plans for a well in Tshitenge – so we need to meet with contractors to get bids. However, the current political climate may cancel our trip for now. Monday – tomorrow - has been designated as a protest day and that will determine if we go or not. No worries about us here – we’re a LONG way from Kinshasa and there are no connecting roads!
We’ve gotten used to seeing goats around, especially out in the villages where they run wild. Here is a photo
of a few that were grazing near the railroad tracks here in town. The meat is a staple for local people.
Yesterday all of the senior missionaries and the Mission President and his wife
took a little field trip to Futuka. We’ve been there once before. It’s like a mini game preserve about a half an hour away that is owned by the governor.
Afterward, we ate at the little restaurant there, and Sister Vance ordered goat BBQ. In the photo, the meat is mixed with onions, so it’s a little hard to see. It doesn’t taste too bad – kind of like beef – but it’s SUPER tough!
We had kind of an adventure while at Futuka. I’ve told about this place before, but it’s where you ride in an open-sided Hummer around the preserve where the animals are. It takes about an hour and a half. Well, we saw some water buffaloes back in the brush and the driver of the Hummer left the road and drove into this dense jungle-like brush so that we could get a closer
view. It was pretty fun until he ran over something sharp. It popped a rear tire and we were stranded for a little while.
No worries, though. I got a really good shot of a water buffalo! They are not
attractive!
The man who owns the compound where we live has been gone for three months. Actually, we live in his home and he has been staying in a small apartment attached to the house. His wife has been in the US and Canada for ten months. We hadn’t even met her
until last Friday when they returned. Michele and Kieu (pronounded”Q”) are lovely people! I feel a little awkward to be living in her home while she is crowded into a teeny apartment, but I think they are using the income from the house for their retirement.
Kieu is LDS, as are their three daughters. The daughters live in the US, Canada, and France.
Well, I’ve rattled on too long! Don’t worry about us – we’re safe. Take good care of each other! God bless America . . . and the DR Congo! --Mom/Soeur Davis
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