Drumbeats from the Congo

One of the many things I love about the Congolese they are very frank and yet kind and rather child like for instance the following:

Currently Marie and Van Christensen who are Immunization Specialists sent by Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City to help us prepare for a massive immunization campaign are here in Kinshasa.  They were the Humanitarian missionaries here 2007-2009.   They of course made many wonderful friends while here so there have been many joyful reunions.  One of the first things that the locals say to them is, "Oh you have gained weight".   Now they are certainly not obese people but probably have filled out a bit since 2009.  I was at first taken aback by this comment but Christensen's reassured me that this is a compliment!   I am not sure I want that sort of compliment.  

Speaking of compliments, this is what I would describe as a "left-handed" compliment.  I was chatting with a local woman and she said to me, "I think that when you were not so old you were probably a very beautiful woman".  It was one of the few times in my life that I was at a loss for words! :-)

The congolese women are amazing .  Such hard workers.   They have a very hard life.   So they love this crazy mondeli lady who comes to visit them and tells them they are beautiful  wonderful  and leaders of their communities.  They love it that I have a little lingala and hug them and kiss their cheeks.

More hugs from precious women.

He in his congolese shirt and she in her pagne.

 L to r   Eric  Eddy  Felix   Don't have a clue who the other guy is.    The congolese  love to have their  pictures taken and will often jump into a shot uninvited.   I love our guys.   Fine men they are.

Heading into jungle, I met this girl on the trail. Eddy was thrilled that our pagnes were made from the same fabric.

Water projects, schools, friends and fufu: an update from the DRC

A meeting at Mpululu Mbambu; about 100 residents of village attended a 90 minute presentation in which we (Ro and Glo, Eddy Matondo, Eric Kahunda and Felix Wampatu) urged them to show us that they were prepared to have us submit a request to build a water system in their village.

A picture of Eddy with three older men who reside in the village and are members of our church.  They wanted to escort us out of the village. The only access to the village we know of is down a steep ravine, so we had to leave our car several kilometers away and walk in.

Glo eating the fufu of Angel Lono.

Angel Lono, proprietor of her own fufu restaurant.

Angel's futu restaurant.

Ro, Angel, and Glo.

Felix and Olga, our friends.

The hospital where Olga had a benign tumor removed.

The LDS Humanitarian Missionaries' office.

This and the next five photo are of a school faculty and students.

This photo and the next are of women carrying bags of charcoal.

Update from the Congo!

One of a dozen videos of African folk dances‏.

Meetings in villages March 12 (and following two pictures).

March 15--closing ceremony of the RVA irrigation project.  There are about 100 acres of garden plots adjacent to the airport that the government owns and lets people use.  Previously people had to walk to a river to haul water to irrigate their gardens.The project was to connect a pipe to the public water supply and then distribute it to a number of ponds lined with think rubber bladders so the water wouldn't sink into the soft sandy soil.  The ceremony took place at the Kimbanseke stake center, across the highway from the garden plots.  Here are some photos of the set up. Sorry these photos are scattered about--the rest of the unmarked photos are associated with this opening ceremony.

Door 3' high in bank people go in and out all the time‏.

Waiting for dance to begin‏ (see above video).

Here's a photo of a fabric shopping area near our apartment.

People selling plants at entrance to 100 acre garden plots; on the way to one of the irrigation ponds; at one of the ponds (women are washing their amaranth plants).



Marcelline and Glo‏.

With the wonderful Nilza.  An adorable Portuguese lady who is on my Sister Power Team!  This women gets things done!   She had some fabric like Skirt #3 so we will be twins. 

Ridiculous onions the size of walnuts‏.

Papa Norman.

Roland with the village chief (sorry this is sideways!).

Photo of the meeting itself. Everyone (except us) are singing the Congolese national anthem.  In the second photo the president of the gardeners' association is speaking in Lingala so I only understood the occasional French word thrown in evidently because there wasn't a good Lingala word.

Close- ups of women washing their plants and the all-important cutting of the ribbon.  Afterwards I was given a piece of the ribbon as a memento.

This is one of my buddies--President Lono, stake president of the Kimbanseke stake.  We're taking pictures of each other simultaneously after returning from the ribbon cutting and the garden area.  Note the soft drinks in the background.  We served refreshments to about 100 guests.

Site monitor Eddy, recently called as a bishop, is in white shirt and tie; translator Felix is on my left; the village chief is on my right.

Site monitors Eddy (above) and Eric (below).

Temple cconstruction advance team‏.

Two photos of the enormous hole in the road that we drive past every day. We have to pull into the opposite lane to avoid the hole.  Too bad there's rain water in the hole, because the hole is at least three feet deep!  Nobody thinks it will be filled in within the next 16 months.

Our translator, Felix.