Except Ye Become as a Little Child

 On the way to Kimbanseke, George wanted a picture his favorite innovative vehicles......   

Have you ever see a retro-fitted motorcycle & trailer combo?

Just an example of the "open door" policy of the majority of taxis.   If a door is not off completely, it is held together by dubious methods. Most of the time, someone is standing outside of vehicle's open door or even standing on the bumper and hanging on at the back.  It's not unusual to have a door or other piece of a vehicle fall off, see someone jump out, pick it up and off they go again.

A old beat up taxi with seats taken out and board benches placed inside can  hold up to 24 people.  The concrete you see is what is left of a 50 yr old Belgian-made median and "sort of" marks the middle of the road.

Can you imagine how heavy the load on this "pus-pus" is?  Also, in the picture... used furniture or similar things are often displayed for sale outside.  I'm not sure what they do when it rains.

It seems as if every other store in the Congo is a "Pharmicie".  I guess the owner of the "pus-pus" stopped for something.  This picture also shows a common sight,  a vehicle whose wheel is off.

Whatever it takes.  Congolese will buy old European vehicles and use them until  you think they can't  run anymore.

The Liberté Marché stretches out for blocks & blocks.  An outdoor Walmart that sells everything.
On the left is a display of costume jewelry.  On the right, cassava... the leafy plant that is the staple food of Africa, packed into and on the loaded van.

George captured the attention of this young girl who got a big kick out of him and "posed".

This little sweetheart  was the first to greet me at the orphanage.  She is one of  four children who will be adopted by Americans this month.

On the left, sewing machines to teach women some marketable skills.  In the middle, a young woman who has been at the orphanage with her younger brother since she was a little girl.  She has stayed on as an adult to help Philomene take care of the children.  She and the other woman are using cassava to make "foo-foo", the favorite food of the Congo.
On the right is her brother, "Arnold", who touched my heart immediately.

Some of the children holding up a few of the food items we brought.  Curious neighbors and passers-by pause to watch.

Papaya anyone?

Here is where it starts to get hard.  THIS is their school room...ancient shelves, pitted and dirty concrete walls and a piece of corrugated  tin over a three-sided dank and dark room.

Yet, look at these precious, happy faces... 

Don't complain about our blackboards.  This is theirs... a concrete wall painted black.

This is Jonathan.  Fils, who came with us to act as translator, told us that Jonathan is 14 and the president of his Teacher's Quorum in Kimbanseke Ward which Fils also attends.
He and his older sister have been at the orphanage since he was a little baby.
He is already talking about the day he will serve a Church mission.

Our little cutie was the first to get in line for George to lift up high off a wall. 
Notice the curious young men who were walking by watching in the back.

I'm not sure who enjoyed this interaction more.. the kids or George!  
He is so incredibly sweet with little children (one of the reasons I love him).

The wall dividing the property from the neighbor on one side was formidable with broken glass bottles on top.  They have probably been there for decades & decades.

When I got close, it was if this guy knew I was there and he struck a pose.

I could hear him saying, "Wait a minute.. THIS is my better side!"

Here is the "bathroom" for all the children... It is nothing but a hole in the concrete and a door that won't even close.  We are working on a way to get a proper latrine built.

Papayas on the left and green bananas on the right.

This is "Arnold", who stole my heart.  When I first saw him, he was sitting next to this door, leaning against the side of the building with his hand up on the wall, as you can see in one of the first pictures.  I asked Fils to tell me about him.  He said that Arnold is 16 and a very good young man who attends the same Kimbanseke Ward as Fils every Sunday.  Arnold  is blind and  goes to a school miles away in Kinshasa by taking a series of buses every day.  I asked Fils to help me communicate with Arnold.  As soon as I walked over to him and introduced myself, he visibly perked up and then we had a sweet and insightful communication with  my halting French and Fils' help.  When I asked if he knew how to read in braille, his mother quickly brought out some papers and handed them to him.  He rapidly discarded some by "reading" the first word and, knowing what he was trying to find, finally settled on a "test" paper.  I asked him if he made good grades.  He does.  He is VERY smart and has so much to offer.  We are working in conjunction with others to help him have opportunities to progress and fulfill his potential.  
I feel a love for him that has surprised me in it's intensity and I cannot talk about him without crying.

Philomene called all the children to gather at their chairs and they quickly and obediently did so.  Wouldn't every teacher we know just love to have such a good group?

Then, she asked them to sing one of their favorite Primary songs, which they sang sweetly.  \
When they were deciding which song to sing, I said, playfully..."I guess they don't know, 'Once There Was a Snowman!" :P

Such beautiful children

Philomene is saying goodbye to Fils (who isn't praying.. he often puts his hands together when speaking)  & to Elder Stagg

As we left, we had to walk down the narrow, well-traveled, village path that also runs right through the grounds of the orphanage.  To the right is a ditch of filthy, debris-filled water.

When we were about to get into our vehicle, a little boy came running toward us down the lane with a stick and what looked like a bicycle tire rim.  If you look closely, you will see that he is not using this "toy" as an American would (by putting the stick inside the hoop) but pushes it along with the stick in the groove of the metal rim.  Nevertheless, it worked for him and his smile was as wide as the Congo River. 

 I watched him until he disappeared down the lane & thought, again about the ability of children to make the best of life, even in humble circumstances.

The Gift of Water

We arrived at the front yard of the property's owner, and after shaking everyone's hand, we sat down on the other side of the well, facing the dignitaries.  An opening prayer was given, then the dignitaries were recognized.  L-R The LDS Bishop of the ward for that area, DeDe our translator and organizer of the program, the Mayor (speaking), and the elected Water Committee on the front row.  The tribal chief was also present and spoke during the ceremony (no, he was in dress pants and shirt!) 

Here is the Bishop cutting one of the ribbons and being closely observed by a portion of the children who had crept ever closer to watch from the sidelines.

As the "MC" kept up a fairly loud and constant commentary, a young woman brought two glasses on a tray and everyone waited with anticipation for the young man who was manning the pump to bring forth water.

When the water began to gush out, all the people clapped and shouted for joy.

Then they all roared with approval when the mayor took the first sip and continued to show their enthusiasm with each person who followed.

 I loved seeing how attentive, excited and engaged in the ceremony the children were (with the possible exception of one).

How in the world could anyone help but fall in love with these sweet children?

It is common to see brothers and sisters holding, tugging & pulling along younger siblings or otherwise taking care of each other.

The Binghams, legally representing the Church, are signing over full ownership of the well to the community, to take care of it henceforth, under the direction of their elected Water Committee.

This serious little girl with the blonde in her hair seemed to be hanging around me for a long time so she managed to get in several pictures.  I kept smiling at her and finally got her to smile later!

Congo Contrasts

 Sister and Elder Stagg, Perpetual Education Fund Missionaries; Chris, a BYU student serving an internship at the U.S. Embassy; and Russell (who is a Bishop in one of the wards in the stake and also works with the Church Employment Services)

Elder Smith got way ahead of me,but I wanted to get a picture of this lovely chapel in Ngalieama.  It is high up on a bluff with many trees and flowers and a beautiful view. 

He's still ahead of me, but I'm gaining on him! 

 Elder Stagg introduced us to an example of "This is how they do it in the Congo".  Here is the Church Cultural Hall. Congolese are used to those inexpensive solid plastic chairs that stack into each other.  When they got their new chapel and all the furnishings, they just naturally put the chairs up the way they are used to doing it.  Apparently, no one can get them to do it differently.

 I love the way that all the meetinghouse buildings are designed with at least one central courtyard, usually with a beautiful delicate palm in the middle.

 The chapel was the setting for the graduation ceremony.  The program teaches and trains individuals how to strengthen and grow their business.  It also teaches them the importance of strengthening the Family and the Community, as well.  So it is a balanced approach to helping someone have a better life.  It's worked very well in other poor countries and is just beginning here. 

Prior to the graduation, we met Stake President who conducted the ceremony. Here he is explaining how the three-fold training program overlaps...   (family/business/community)       The next day, after the terrible ammo dump explosions, I saw him at our chapel in Kasa Vubu and asked him how the people got local news.  He smiled and pointed to his mouth and then to his ear! 

This beautiful young woman captured my attention with her radiant smile and her lovely Congolese gown. 

  

There were male graduates, too. But the women outnumbered them.  From what I'm told, the men have a tendency to spend their profits, but the women do better because they re-invest.  The Church is trying to help the men understand that concept.

 This is the view from the parking area overlooking the distant Congo River.  This location is apparently in consideration as a possible site for the new Kinshasa temple.

A pretty typical scene.  One of the points in the program teaches the advantages of having a clean, pleasant environment for your family, business and community.

  

What this picture doesn't adequately show is what we could see ahead... a log-jam of cars facing every direction irregardless of what lane they were in, as well as motorcycles weaving in and out, and the ever present jay-walking Congolese.

  

I got this picture (and an even closer, but less clear one, too) despite Elder Bingham's warning that these groups are sometimes rough, gang types who can get very angry at having their picture taken.

 Chris is house-sitting for a U.S. Embassy couple who have been gone for a couple months.  Walking into this back yard was quite a contrast to what we see every day. 

A real living room, with lovely furnishings... sigh!

 I've always been partial to arches and thought the placement of this series of closed and open arches was quite beautiful.

Just another view of our tax dollars at work.

This painting was in the home.  It is so true to what you see along every street and I just LOVED it!

No Rest For the Weary

 First day at work.  We actually looked bright-eyed & bushy-tailed!  Hard to believe we'd gotten to bed late the night before after our 30 hr flight to Kinshasa.

 The second day at work was happily interrupted by a "Sister's Conference" and luncheon for all the young sister missionaries.  These are beautiful young women with beautiful spirits.  They were so happy to be with each other and with all of us and they loved taking pictures.

Everyone helped, whether it was with preparing the food, serving, re-stocking, cleaning up, teaching (or, in my case, being official photographer) 

L-R: Sister Judy Bingham (Humanitarian), me, Sister Lorraine Jameson (Mission President's wife), Sister Suzanne Staggs (Perpetual Education Fund), Sister Ruth Renland (wife of our Area Seventy), Jackie (our Congolese "Girl Friday"), Sister Dixie Hatch (for her bitter-sweet last day in the Congo).

 

First Sunday..The hibiscuses that we are wearing in this picture were shyly given to us by the cute little adopted daughters (Victoria & Carla) of our new friend at Church, Cecile D'Agostino.  She is from Geneva, Switzerland and has been sweet enough to volunteer as a translator for us in Sacrament Mtg.

 

The Binghams invited us to go for a quick tour of some sights after Church and then to drive with them to check up on a water project in Luntendele.  We also picked up Chris, a young BYU student who is interning here at the U.S. Embassy and likes to go on these excursions.  We went down Embassy row and he was very nervous about my taking pictures of this large tile mosaic on the front of the Iranian Embassy.  Certain entities in the Congo do NOT want you to take pictures  of their facilities and will come after you if you are spotted.  I suspect that Iran might be one of those.

This is just a small example of the car, truck, motorcycle & pedestrian jams

 

This was the entrance to the grand and guarded home of President Kabila's brother.  When one of our Congolese office assistants was asked what this man had done to amass such wealth and have such a nice home, he looked amused at the question and said, "He's the President's brother!"

This is just a lovely view on our ride to Luntendele.

We stopped to visit with this woman (center) who the Binghams have been working with relative to the placing of a well on her property for the area.   The daughter (left) has been attending "college", which is the equivalent of 8th grade here, and spoke English.  The woman behind was very friendly, but camera shy.  The woman with the bananas insisted on giving us half a dozen of them, which took two weeks to ripen, but  were delicious when we were finally able to eat them.

The well in Lutendele has provided clean water for many hundreds in the area and attracted many more to come there.

Everywhere we stopped, the kids would yell, "Mundele!", which is the Lingala word for "white person".  They were all friendly with the exception of this one little girl who looked at me as if I were a ghostly apparition and then burst out screaming at the top of her lungs.

Children gather quickly when the "mundele" come and George always attracts kids anyway.  My skeptical little baby girl is not yet convinced that she wants anything to do with us.

The woman had been washing her clothes here.  The man had stripped down to his skivvies and was washing himself AND his motorcycle right where we needed to cross, so he hurried to move.

When I said, "Bonjour!  Comment ca va?" (basically, Hello.  How are you doing?) to this woman, she answered, "Un peu ca va" (Not doing very well.) and told me (in French) that she has Malaria and something else which I couldn't understand. She and her husband, a preacher, had given permission for a well to be built on their property.  It was almost finished and the closing ceremony (where the Church basically turns over the ownership and oversight to a village-elected Water Committee) was scheduled to take place two weeks later.  Again, we have an apprehensive little one who is not used to seeing such pale-skinned people.

Other Churches and groups are in evidence and some really try to make a difference for the people.  This was a Catholic Church we saw on the road.

UNICEF has sponsored projects such as this one, which promotes the concept of latrines and helps the people learn how to make them.  This is also something which the Church has done in Africa.

Laundry day... but who needs a dryer?

To get into the entrance to our apartment building (right), we have to go around a large traffic circle which surrounds the Plaza (left).  After a long day, this was a welcome sight.  It may not be pretty, but it is HOME!