Bumbu Village

June 24 trip to Bumbu to examine a potential garden project; our guide, Bonaventure, who lives nearby, wanted us to see a site where he would like to develop a garden and do some animal husbandry.

Bumbu village market scene.

One of 647,894,500,523 examples of people carrying loads on their heads.

A viewing before the funeral is set up right in the middle of the avenue.

The viewing itself.

Typical village market scene.

The entrance to our host Bonaventure's home.

The living room in Bonaventure's home.

Bonaventure treated us to Fanta and peanuts.

Here's another potential project; building a bridge over this stream.

As this photo illustrates, the existing bridge isn't too safe.

Close up of bridge.

The street where Bonaventure lives.

Examining a shallow (3 feet deep) well; such wells cannot produce safe drinking water.

Market days; people eat a lot of leaves in the DRC.

A lot of charcoal for cooking piled and ready to be sold.

Maize and manioc flour are staples in the DRC.

Yes, those are caterpillars for sale; most Congolese really do love to eat them with their "fufu" which is made from manioc flour.

July 1 we went back to Bumbu to see the 120 meter well that our friend Eloi is doing at the Bumbu ward chapel.  Evidently the public water utility is very unreliable and costs too much.

The well really had great water pressure.  The water will be piped to a "chateau d'eau" which is an elevated structure that will house some cisterns filled with water which will then feed into the building's existing plumbing system.

Camp Luka

June 21 trip to Camp Luka, an urban village.  The walk to the water source was very steep.

We took two ex-pat families with us, but were followed by hundreds of locals, mostly children.

The fish smoking on the grill looked pretty good.

We're getting closer to the water project off in the distance.

OK, this is it.  In the background is an underground stream, which our predecessors tapped into.  They pipe the water down to this spot where it is funneled into pipes so people can fill their cans out of pipes without having to dip them into the stream.

Example of people getting water out of the pipes instead of the stream.

The man in the blue polo shirt is Eric Kahunda, one of our site monitors.

Two beautiful mamas.  In the Congo instead of greeting people as "monsieur" or "madame" out of respect they are greeted as "papa" or "mama".

How about carrying 25 liters of water on your head?  Not easy.

Scrambling back up the bill after visiting the water project.

Looks like one of us has made a little friend to play with.

As I said, everywhere we went we were surrounded by dozens of people mostly children.  We were obviously the main source of entertainment that morning.

Post Camp Luka pizza feed at O Poeta, a Portugese restaurant.

Bonabo Sanctuary

Our trip to one of Kinshasa's few tourist attractions:  the bonabo  sanctuary.  Bonabos are a separate primate species closely related to chimpanzees and are found only in the DRC; the bonabos at the sanctuary are being prepared to be returned to the wild.

These are the hammocks where the bonabos "hang" out at night.

Bonabo playground.

First bonabo sightings.

Bonabo on his way to work (or play).

This bonabo looks a little like Yoda.

The path into the bonabo sanctuary.

A tableau of bonabos.

This guy was having too much fun with a plastic bag.

Our guide to the bonabo sanctuary.

The path through the sanctuary was really quite steep at times, but all of the missionaries enjoyed it.  Some came from as far away as Gabon and Cameroon.

Finally something really beautiful. :-)

The setting was actually very lovely.

The Magnificent Kimbanguiste Orchestra

We're meeting with the maestro Armand, who founded the Kimbanguiste orchestra, at his home.

Exterior garden of the Maestro's home.

People come to the maestro's home to practice their instruments.

More musicians tuning up their instruments.

Outside the maestro's home; the other couple are Howard and Sue Bybee who since have returned home due to illness.

43rd wedding anniversary dinner which we enjoyed before going to the orchestra.

Following our anniversary dinner on June 25 we went to a rehearsal of the Kimbanguiste orchestra.

Kimbanguiste orchestra and choir getting ready to begin.

Kimbanguiste orchestra in rehearsal. They performed many German classical numbers, but finished with the Hallelujah chorus from the Messiah.

The Wheelchair Project

We took the following pictures during the course of a wheelchair project.  We have left names out of these pictures but want our readers to know that each one of these people are remarkable individuals and deserve the highest respect in the world.

This man was stricken with polio as a child and has spent his life thus far crawling on his knees.  He is being interviewed, measured and prepared to receive a wheel chair.  What a remarkable difference in his life. 

This man was paralyzed in an accident.  He is learning how to get in and out of his wheel chair.

Wheel chair recipients learn how to use their wheel chairs. They don’t just hop in and go.  There are many types of wheel chairs but our projects specialize in only two kinds for adults.  We do not do children’s wheel chairs.  Depending on the specific need of the recipient there are three wheelers and four wheelers.   

This woman was born with scoliosis and then later was paralyzed from the waist down in an accident.  This is her first wheel chair.

Clinicians learn how to transport a recipient in and out of the wheel chairs.

Technicians learn how to custom build a wheel chair.  Any wheel chair is not better than no wheel chair, they must be specifically made for each recipient. 

Perhaps the most poignant of all for me personally was these two sisters.  The younger sister (in front) has been carrying her older sister on her back for over 30 years.  The younger was stricken with polio at age two.  Lovely ladies both, such an honor to be in their presence. 

This woman is adorable. Immaculate makeup and hair.  I could put my thumb and index finger around her wrists.  She loves to cook, sew and clean house.   She made the dresses that both she and her sister were wearing.   Amazing human spirits….both. 

This has to be one of the happiest moments of my mission.  The joy on the faces of this woman.  One so severely disfigured and that of her sister makes any small sacrifice on our part completely worthwhile.  Included in the picture is Marcia Dow wheel chair specialist who traveled from the USA to supervise the program and another sister of the other two ladies. 

Some of the professional team from the USA who donate their time to come and train the Congolese clinicians and technicians graduating from the training program.  The backs of their shirts read (in French) “Together we can make a difference”.  What a privilege to be a part of this remarkable project. 

Boxes of wheelchairs.

Testing their new wheels!

A joyful moment!