DEEPEST, DARKEST AFRICA - THE CONGO AND DRC"

Today is Monday, February 6th, we left early for the airport - the long awaited trip to Congo and DRC.  After many visa problems we are finally on our way.  We landed in Kinshasa, DRC where we were picked up by President and Sister Jameson, who are literally angels sent from heaven!  Mission Presidents usually serve for 3 years - but this mission is considered such a "hardship mission" they are only called to serve for 2 years.

How do I even begin to describe the ride from the airport to the mission home when I can't even explain it to myself.  Pictures are not really allowed here - if you are caught you can be arrested and lose your camera.  Because of this, most of the pictures were taken quickly from the car windows.  I didn't even bring my big camera as I had to be so discreet - unfortunately the quality is not very good.  What you must understand is that the Congo is a very hard lace to be - let alone live.  How do you spell Congo?   I spell it just HARD!

Kinshasa is home to about 10 million people.  Almost all of them live in extreme poverty.  They are however dressed very nicely - most of their clothes coming from humanitarian bags from the US.  Most all of the older women dress in very African type dresses.  People everywhere are pleading for someone to purchase their wares - everything from car chargers or a single red belt. (One man they have nick-named "Billy One Belt" who stands on the corner with one belt everyday.  Once he sells that he returns with just one more belt - until he sells it.  That's why they call him "Billy One Belt." They sell anything and everything in the morning to put food in their children's mouths at night.  Not much could be stored anywhere as they have no electricity or water. Watching the masses of people on the streets, living like this, though very interesting is so unfathomable to me.  I know I would not last a day on the streets here.  But most of these people seem excepting of their struggle to survive everyday.

This "butcher" used his machete to cut "stomach." 

The flies were horrible - this was almost enough to make us vegetarians!

Congolese people wash their clothes in buckets of water by hand while living amid the mass amounts of garbage in the streets.  There is garbage everywhere.  There is no garbage pickup in the entire city - people literally drop their garbage where ever they are standing. Garbage is everywhere and I literally mean absolutely every where!

 This is a school yard

Taken by the side of a main road.

I tried to take pictures - tried to understand what I was seeing - I wanted to record it so I could try and share this with you. I cannot even begin to describe all the sights, smells and sounds of the Congo.  There are 100 missionaries here in Kinshasa - all of them African. 

The heat was not as terrible as I was expecting but it seems to bring swarms of flies attracted by our perpetual sweat. Even when we shooed them away, they return in seconds - crawling all over us.

This man is carrying stacks of eggs on his head!

The people and the missionaries use charcoal to cook with.  They make charcoal by first hacking  down branches - then breaking them into smaller pieces.  The wood is allowed to dry out - then piled and covered loosely with soil, leaving a few small holes allowing a fire to be lit.  The fire burns for several days, gradually transforming the wood into charcoal. 

We spent a delightful evening with the President and the other senior couples.  Hearing stories that could only happen in Africa.  Their are no restaurants or movie theaters here.  All food is made from scratch - if you can get the supplies.    

A popular treat in Congo is "Monkey or rat on a stick."  

Most people work hard everyday just trying to survive.  Only about 50% of children go to school. They do not have TV's or the internet.  There is nothing to do in their leisure time - but leisure time is a luxury few can afford.

Just when you think you have about seen everything - you quickly realize you haven't!  We left early the next morning to go to "The Beach."  Sounds nice - well its not!  Thierry, a wonderful Congolese man and church employee drove us to the banks of the Congo River where were to take a small motor boat across the river to Brasaville.  

We arrived and were escorted through a large metal gate into a parking lot.  We paid $100.00 to a man who approached our window - giving him our passports also.  Everything is in french - there is no way we could even begin to cross the river without Thierry's help.  He sat with us in his truck for 1 hour - finally the man returned with our passports and our $100.00 - changed into Francs.  He said, "Lets go," and with those 2 words we blindly followed him, through several more locked gates - all guarded by the military with AK 47's slung over their shoulders.

Military soldier demanding a young boy to shine his shoes for him. 

Only about a month before the military had shot and killed so many people - throwing their bodies into the River - that Brazzaville Mayor complained there was too many bodies washing up on shore that the boats couldn't  get through!

We were led down ramps where we boarded the small motor boat to cross the filthy, dirty Congo River - taking about 10 very nervous minutes.  On the other side a man wearing orange pants, shoes and shirt gestured for us to follow him up the hill where we were greeted by a young man in a white shirt and tie!!  He waited for us to get though boarder clearance - where the "orange man" had once again taken our passports and immunization records.  We have repeatedly been told never to let anyone take your passport away - but we had no choice!

Finally we got all the "stamps" we needed and we took a taxi to the Maya Maya airport where we, along with masses of people took a flight to Point Noire.

99% of the women here dress in the bright printed Congolese dresses. If I had known I would have worn mine.  We couldn't help staring at people - and they couldn't help staring back at us.  We were all a sight to behold!  

We spent a few days in Point Noire and Brazzaville then headed back across the river - flew out of Kinsaha Sunday afternoon (I could write a whole blog on that experience alone!)  We were finally back to our flat about 8:30 pm - did laundry until 2:00 am (our washer is VERY small) and left at 8:00 am Monday morning for Zambia and Malawi.