Wednesday, August 27, 2012
Slept til 7:30AM, then took another cold spit bath, and washed my hair cold!
Only 2 crises today,..for Congo that qualifies as a "slow day"!!!.
WATER CRISIS: no water from the 'town' for the second straight day. While we had saved a good amount of water in our "crisis containers", we can't go forever without water,..especially with 3 of us using what we have. So, Tom gave us the 'rules' for water management/conservation: re-use bath water, re-use sink water, only flush 'solids & brown water', re-use teeth brushing water, conserve drinking water, and conserve coffee water!!! Things aren't critical yet,..and, we can buy bottled water at a store, but it is an expensive way to go. We would only do that if the situation hits "critical", by our standards. The word on the street is that the water will be OFF indefinitely, they are supposedly 'fixing something'. We had enough water for 2 days,..so we had to see how things turned out,......
ELECTRIC CRISIS: no electricity from the 'town' for the second straight day. Tom's battery system was still good, PTL. If things were to get "critical", we'd have had to set up the solar panel to charge the batteries. So far, so good,.......stay tuned.....
The Bukavu evenings are cool,..and the mosquitoes appeared at sundown, too!. Kathy had a small bunsen-burner type device with a citronella candle, (I think), which she lit to put on the floor under her chair in the evenings. Fire code?????!!!!!!, what firecode????? Thank goodness for the mosquito nets at bedtime.
Word came of an "African" chance,..meaning a big, FAT, MAYBE(!!),.....we could get a truck of some kind Downcountry to drive to Station Katshungu. We would love that, but 'this is Africa',..so the chances are "slim and none!" Word also came that we'll sleep in Jansen Hall at Katanti! Yay! That is the house I fled from with my family in 1960. The reason it is still there, it was built with bricks and has a good tin roof. While it IS still there,..it is crumbling, and has been stripped by the soldiers several times! I can't wait to see it again!!
An African man came by with a mini-cassette he wanted us to play for him. Alas, we don't have any devices to do that. Pictures were still a big problem,..and one that wasn't going to be fixed. Remember, it is unsafe to shoot pictures in the villages & towns of Eastern Congo. I'm learning to sneak a few here and there, but must be very discreet.
As the day wore on, we couldn't get ahold of the African who "MAYBE" had a truck downcountry for us. It was probably too good to be true,..and the road may be impassable to cars/trucks anyway. It is SO HARD to move between villages, cities, & towns here! You need a passport, visa, Go Pass, and whatever else they can think of,-just to go between places. Yikes! And, someone always has their hand out for $$!! If for no reason,...they'll just make one up!! Then, negotiations begin,.....
A man, Flavien, came from an orphanage in Kaziba, outside Bukavu. They have 60 kids,..20 are infants. These are children of the wars, AIDS, & HIV. So sad. Flavien speaks English & Swahili. We discussed the Buyamba Uganda orphanage I'm a part of, & he invited Kathy & I to visit his place when we return from Downcountry. Rich MacDonald, the missionary radio station owner, came by again. Meanwhile, the cargo plane agent still has not brought a scale,-finally, he came by mid afternoon.
Suzanna, SaSimon's granddaughter, came bringing Bibles, songbooks, & Bible Seminar lesson books for us to take Downcountry. We will have a load,....
Today we had some boiled peanuts,...GREAT! I haven't had boiled peanuts in years & years. For lunch: Spanish rice, sardines in red sauce. Nice change. We also bought 2 cases of drinking/coffee water.
At 4pm it was time for us to go to the Pageco area of Bukavu & meet with the Balega elders of the Berean churches. Took a taxi,-Tom, Kathy, Suzanna, & myself. There were thousands of people just teeming around near the grounds of the Berean Center. We met Kitoto & 25 others, who said they'd waited in vain for us YESTERDAY! (For no reason,-...we had always planned today!). All of them were introduced, as we were as well. Here is what they said they need: funding, sponsors, permanent missionaries, ideas, & help. Meeting was about 45 min. Tom translated as I spoke for 5-10 minutes. We had to leave before dark, as it isn't safe too be out after dark.
Words CANNOT express what I saw in Bukavu,......and, Lord, have mercy, this is only maybe 3/4M people! In the capital of Congo,- Kinshasha-, there are reportedly 15M,..mostly in shanty towns & slums !!! We saw places where my parents had worked, & met several guys who still remember my Dad/Mom.
All of us were hot/tired upon returning to the apt. Dinner will be leftovers: rice, sausage, avocado, pineapple, cheese, bread, peanut butter, jelly, & carrot sticks. I had 2 helpings of PBJ, 2 rice, 2 pineapple, & carrot sticks. I was hungry, after all the trooping around!
Had good talks with Tom/Kathy re: Congo/Africa politics and crises. Also, we reviewed my day's events & critiqued my responses to the Africans. Valuable info,.....
Fell into bed,..tired & happy. What a God,..what a day,...what blessings! Tomorrow we make final prep for heading inland & Downcountry,.....
Rogers
