This is Africa

P-day but still work to do as my wall street banker
husband does high finance and prepares soutein
(support money) for some of our missionaries



Greg is holding $400 in each hand.  The small stack is American money and the big stack is DR francs.  Their highest franc bill (500 CDF) is worth 50 cents.  They accept both here.  CDFsare important for buying fruit and veges off the
street but most people want dollars because they are more stable than their currency.  Nobody trusts
the banks so everything is done with cash - no   checks, no credit cards.  That makes life tough for the mission
finance guy.  Greg doles out bills from his till all day long and hand records it on a ledger.  We often think we live in
the old west of a hundred years ago.




This is the hospital where we took our sister missionary that I told you about and all of our sick missionaries.  The only one that has gone to the new surgical hospital is the elder who had hernia surgery the day before Christmas.  That new hospital only does high tech surgeries (hernias.)  The hospital in this picture is also the place where I would have gone to get my tooth repaired.  Thank you super glue!



This is the truck that I told you about that tipped over in front of our apartment.



One of our elders washing the baptismal clothes
at the church after a baptism - I was thinking of
Debra and Dan as I saw this.




LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!!!!!




Her hair is a work of art.  It is braided in swirls on the top of her head and the rows that crisscross on the sides.  I love their braiding talents.  I have seen so many wonderful hairstyles.  I like the creative braids the best. 



NOURRITURE or FOOD









I have had lots of questions about the food here so I will try
to tell you a little about it.  There are lots of small stores like
these which line the streets.  These are in a modern area - the
vodacom is a cell phone store and the technology store is
modern.  Almost all the stores have plastic chairs out front
and you see little money change stands everywhere.




This is a large open market near our apartment where all the locals
shop.  You go down this alleyway and there are lots of stands
covered with plastic.  Every day we see people carrying loads
into the market and we see people carrying large bags out of the
market.  They buy big bags of rice, beans, flour, potataoes etc.
This picture doesn't show how huge this market is. 




Another view of the same market


A


Our church has a kasava plant where they make flour from the
kasava root.  This plant provides food for many people here.
This is the staple diet for the locals.  They cook it many different
ways but one of the favorite ways is to make it into foufou which
is a ball of wet dough and they eat it with their fingers from a bowl
with each perxon eating from one area of the bowl.  After picking the
roots the first step is to wash them well.




Next they coarse grind the roots in a machine.




Next they soak it in large tubs of water for 3 days to remove the
arsenic.  That is pretty appetizing, isn't it?





This is the finished product - kasava flour.  Ready to make
foufou.

This is one of the 4 stores which caters to Europeans and Americans.  This store is quite new and modern but is very small.  We usually have to go to 3 of the 4 stores each week to find what we need because the inventory is small.  We always buy our meat here.  The prices are high in the European stores but we are certainly thankful they
are here.  Each week the food issue becomes easier.  Now that it is the rainy season the quality of vegetables has gone way up.  The quantity is still very limited.  We can get great avocados, pineapples, mangos, oranges, and apples.  Life is good. 

THANK HEAVEN FOR PLASTIC






An entrepreneur decided to set up these gas stations.  There are
about 10 normal gas stations in the city but a mile or two
out of the city center you see many stands like this that
sell plastic bottles of gas.  Some of the bottles are re-used
pop bottles and they make a funnel by cutting off the bottom
of a pop bottle and tipping it upside down.  We actually bought
gas from one of these stands to douse our charcoal to grill
hamburgers on Christmas day. 

 

Carbon (charcoal) for sale.  They cut down trees and heat them in a pit until they are charred and ready to glow instead of flaming when burned.  Then they wrap them in bundles in these plastic re-used flour sacks and then men and boys tie two, three, or four bags onto the back of their bicycles and they ride them into town to sell for five dollars a bag.
All the locals buy this because it is what they use for cooking on little hibache grills. 



Grab a plasic bucket and voila - a car wash business



A bread store.  They load the loaves of french bread into
plastic containers which the women carry on their heads
and sell along the streets.



If you don't have a plastic chair then an old empty barrel is
just as good.




Broken window - plastic to the rescue.

Women are such good multi-taskers.  They carry babies on their backs all the time and it doesn' tseem to interfere with their work.



Here is the french bread.








Plastic roofs are common.

 



More plastic barrel chairs.




This is a house built on an abandoned termite hill. We see lots of these mounds and they are huge.   Good view, it won't flood, and a plastic roof for the rain.



SWAHILI MORMON WEDDING

Serge and his bride arrive at the church.






It is tradition to decorate the bridal car with paper flowers.




The institute choir sang for an hour and a half as we waited for the bride and groom to arrive (very African.)
They raised the roof because they were so loud and fabulous.




This is a Swahili girl who was dancing and
rockin' to the great music as people were
greeting the bride and groom.  She would give
Swahili whoops and trills often and it made for
beautiful and fun music



4 of our sister missionaries having fun dressing in matching
clothes.  They are joined by a sister to the bride.



Justin's 8 year old son (we work with Justin in
the office.)  This little boy stole my heart
because he reminds me of my 12 year old
grandson - Josh.  They seem to have the
very same personalities and I loved being
around him.




The next day we drove to a little town called Likasi to deliver
soutien (monthly support money) to the missionaries.    It is an
hour and a half drive from Lubumbashi ON GOOD ROADS so
it was a very enjoyable drive through beautiful countryside.
I took a few pictures of the homes.  These are typical of most of
the homes out of the city.  I will post some pictures of homes from the big
city - Lubumbashi - so you can see the difference. 





These boys were washing this live pig while it was on their bike.
They wanted us to buy it for dinner.  We met many people
selling animals along the side of the road.  We could have bought
goats, chickens, fish from the river, and unidentifiable rodents
and animals.  A new way to shop.



CONGO CHRISTMAS



A WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS
We enjoyed a 3 hour program put on by the children of our church.  They acted out several plays, sang , danced, and seemed to have a great time.  We certainly did.  They were just wonderful.




This is the African version of the Makarena.  The girl on the right (next to the woman) was a great dancer and she was really into the dance.  A joy to watch her.  



Notice this choir is getting ready to be led by this young 12 year old girl.  The woman on her left is Lily who runs the internet cafe below our apartment.  She is getting things set up for this young girl who directed the choir.



These kids sat quietly for an hour before the program started.





This is the play about Nephi and his brothers getting the brass plates from Laban.  They loved the sword fighting.



A few of the moms after the play -  parasols because it was so sunny outside

CHRISTMAS EVE
These are the two wonderful Congolese men that we work with in the office.  Serge and his fiancee are on the left and Justin and his wife are on our right.  The two girls are sisters.   Serge get married today!  It is embarassing for men and women to show public affection but Justin is learning American culture.  You usually don't even see men and women walking side by side in public.  It is a patriarchal society.  We had an office party and we went out to lunch with these four plus the Packers.  We went to an Italian restaurant and it was delicious and we didn't get sick!

CHRISTMAS DAY
This was a great way to begin Christmas Day.  We went to the hospital to visit one of our elders who had a hernia operation two days before.  They referred him to this brand new surgical hospital -  newly opened.  He was the only patient there.  We were so impressed with the cleanliness and how modern this hospital was.  It was built by a foundation and I hope it can keep up high standards.  As we were visiting our patient we decided we needed to run out and buy food for him because they weren't feeding him!  However, they told us he was doing well enough that we could take him home.  These are the Packers, our mission president and his wife, helping Elder Guehi leave the hospital. 

Another fun Christmas activity was visiting the new wildlife preservation.  The camel was the best part.  Look how friendly he is.  He loved having Greg scratch his neck -  just like our horses.  This park is making an effort at a come-back.  During the terrible 10 year war they ate all the animals in the preserve.  A year ago they only had one animal here and now they are up to a couple dozen.  It certainly wasn't a wonderful park but I think it has great potential and it is so gratifying to see this city moving forward.  We received an article from a very respected business magazine that gives predictions for the year.  They gave 100 things to watch during this coming year.  #1 was a technology item that had to do with 3D imaging which is a high tech company where Greg serves on the board and #2 item was "the emerging middle class in Africa."  We see it happening before our very eyes.  Every week we notice a little progress here.  It is moving forward.  These people deserve it.  They are humble, kind, happy people. We will never forget our first African Christmas.