Photos from Glo

Off to the jungle.

Saw this on the round to Sangamamba and thought of my own "Winnie" (daughter Lindsay).

This is Codi,  Her mother died when giving birth to her 6 years ago.  She was left with a family we just spent time with in Sangamamba.  Her full name is Consolation Divine, appropriate given the circumstances.  She can count to ten in English, is very huggable.

Ro and I hit the road early most mornings to run/walk around the plaza across the street from our apartment (see to the right in background our building) We have made all kinds of friends on the Place 30 Juin.   A bunch of people work out every morning, no spandex, no mirrors, no mats, no weights, no Nikes!  Just hard cement ground and lots of enthusiasm.   Here I am working out with some of my fine friends.  (Ro doesn’t like rolling around on the ground so he keeps running)  These kids…. and I do mean kids, love it that this old white woman joins in and pretty much keeps up the pace.  A few seconds after this picture was snapped our “trainer” gave a command in French of course and I had no idea what would happen next.  The rather substantial girl at my left grabbed me locking arms from behind, picked me up and flung me around like a sack of flour.  There was much pleading for mercy to no avail.  I was able however, to  treat them to a performance of the splits before I ran home.  I seem to keep coming back for more though!

For some reason, we were invited to the American Ambassador’s home for a 4^th of July celebration.  And quite a celebration it was.  I haven’t been in the presence of so many white English speaking people in six months.  Hamburgers, potato salad, an American Flag cake, soda…..THE WORKS, all being accompanied by the Beach Boys for us to rock out to.   I LOVED IT.   Not hard to miss in a crowd was Dikembe Mutombo, a Congolese hero not because he is an NBA star but because he is a humanitarian in his own right having built a fine hospital here in Kinshasa.  During our chat I of course told him that my daughter Lindsay had been the star of her  5^th grade basketball team (ok ok JoLane Jr High and Roseburg High School too)  What a delightful joyful man!