"Enjoying Time @ 'Home', w/Friends from 'the day',..

    
                "Enjoying Time @ 'Home', w/African Friends from back in the day,.....

August 27, 2012, Monday, Cont'd.

                                               A welcoming group showed up to serenade us!,.....

     Still on our first day back at my home in the Congo,...we talked & talked, & had great times with the Africans.  A few were very elderly, & remembered working with my parents.  Others were sons/daughters of the 'old-timers', and even grandchildren.  However, as soon as I was introduced as 'Banuamazi, wa SaKatumbi',..i e: Roger Green of Ernest Green,.......EVERYONE remembered immediately!  I knew many, many of them as well.  What a reunion!,......

     Can you believe it????!!!!!   These poor people have next to NOTHING of their own,..however, herein lies the reason I call Congo a 'Land of Unbelievable Contrasts & Contradictions!!'  The group who came to serenade us, had bought a small solar panel & some batteries in Bukavu, the border town.  They trekked it over 200 miles thru the jungle to Station Katanti.  After they got it to Station Katanti, they hooked up the solar panel, batteries, & an inverter, to charge the batteries.  This allows them to play electric Stratocaster guitars, & use amplification,......all in the middle of NOWHERE!!  YIKES!!  The group sang/danced 9 songs. 

What's left of the 'girl's' bathroom from dormitory days...

What's left of the 'boy's' bathroom from dormitory days,.......

     After dark we took turns taking 'spit baths' in what's left of the old concrete tub, in the larger 'girls' bathroom from the dormitory back in my day.  Altho' the tub still drains, we save the 'grey water' for more 'spit baths'.  If you get my drift,..the last person used 'quite used' grey water for their spit bath.  So, we rotated,......The water was cold,..but oh well, better than nothing!  Even a spit bath refreshed us after almost 8 hours 'on the path!'  Each of us trekked in 1 towel & 1 wash cloth with us in our travelling bag/backpack.  The toilet had long ago been torn out of the girl's bathroom.  Across the hall is a smaller bathroom,-which was used for the boys of the dormitory,-back in the day.  It's toilet is still there,..and is flushable with a bucket.  (No running water anywhere).  Don't ask where the flush goes,..I have no idea,..and really don't need to know!!   Again, we conserve water as much as possible, since the best source is rain,..and this is the 'dry' season.   OH,..you wanted a toilet SEAT???????   Sorry, that had been missing for decades, so we just had to sit on the porcelain!,.......

                                                              Dinner in my Dining Room

Dinner with Mapendo & SaSimon

     Dinner was served by the 4 'bodyguards' at around 8 pm.  BTW, we were relieved to find they had boiled drinking water for our use,..and will do so daily.  Our own meager rations of bottled water are now depleted.  We had rice, sombe(greens), chicken in palm oil, & bugali(manioc root mush).  It tasted WONDERFUL,..just like I remembered from my youth!  YUMMY!  Another thing about the bugali(manioc root mush) is that it expands in your stomach to make you feel full.  Hence, it is a staple across much of Africa,-in various forms.

     Our beds were made up with mosquito nets,..which are essential.  One of the NGO'S(Non-Government Organizations) gave every African 3 mosquito nets a year or so ago.  Probably to fight malaria.....just a mat on a low wicker platform, one sheet, and the mosquito net.  You wanted a pillow????,..get serious already,  T I A,..This Is Africa...................

     Before going to bed one of the Africans informed us that the local Minister of 'Something' had heard we'd arrived, & wanted to see our papers,..i e passport, visa, & Go Pass.  So we sent them by runner to his place, probably 4 miles away, a place called Mapimu.  The runner returned to say that Kathy's paperwork was fine,...however, the Minister wanted to see Tom & Roger in person re: visa issues.  Specifically, the Minister sent word that my visa was invalid!!  Oh, really,.... So, it being late,..we decided to go appear before the Minister of 'Something'  the next day,.........neither Tom nor I were in any shape to have another 'standoff' over 'papers...............STAY TUNED,.....

                          My 'bedroom', in what was the Pantry, back in the day,.......
                        

     As I said,..STAY TUNED,.......
Rogers Banuamazi