STILL Ready to Leave, But WAIT SOME MORE!!...

August 31, 2012: Katanti, Congo DRC, Africa:

     This is the 3rd post for Friday, Aug. 31, .....while we WAITED & WAITED for things to come together for our trips out of the Rain Forest to Shabunda,..then to the border town of Bukavu, Congo.  Yes, I was getting a bit impatient,...but reminded myself once again that "God Is Good All The Time",..& that T I A 'This Is Africa'.

     While we waited, Kathy & I walked to the Clinic/hospital.  On the way we saw both the old maternity/clinic building & a newer one.  The old Maternity is where my Mom delivered literally thousands of babies back in the '50's.  It always seemed like she was called down there in the middle of the nite,...-never during the daylight hours!    There are many, many stories about Mom's work with babies, injured folks, sick folks, folks attacked by crocodiles, snakebite victims, etc., etc.  Often she had to do the work of a medical doctor,..even though she was an RN.  You see, there was no medical doctor! 

Old Medical Clinic where my Mom worked,..

Front of New Medical Clinic,.....

     SaSimon sat on the front porch for hours.  Finally, thru tears,  he said,  "We are so happy when you come to see us,..but it is so hard to see you leave!"   WOW,..this is the same Pastor who 52+years ago was the one who told us we HAD to leave the Congo in 1960;-so we wouldn't be killed!  

     Late Friday afternoon we heard the "talking" drum beats from Masegesege,..a village perhaps 6 kilometers away.  The message was that someone from that village has been killed in North Kivu Province, in the current rebellion/uprising there.  Sad to hear,..even though North Kivu is 200-300 miles away from our position.  The word had just arrived in the village,....and, the family was in mourning.

     Some African boys picked 15 fresh guavas for us.  I eagerly ate one.  Back in the day we used to make wonderful jelly & jam from the guava fruit.  We probably planted the tree 60 years ago,....there is also lots & lots of bamboo taking over the station,.....

     Tom held forth answering questions from the African pastors on my front porch.  He covered lots of ground in 1-1/2 hrs!:

1.) Economics & foreign investors:  The pastors had asked why no one wants to invest Millions of $$ into the Congo.  Well, foreign investment is at a near stand still because of security/safety issues,...& the fact that anything that would be built up would be ripe for the soldiers to come & burn it down!   And, the West can get gold, silver, cobalt, tin, coltan(for cell phones), & diamonds from the Congo on the black market for CHEAP.
2.) Obama's presidency:  Africans cannot understand why he hasn't done anything to promote Africa on the world stage?  Good question,......
3). Rampant divorce in USA:,...discussed dowry system in Congo,  quick legal divorce in USA, quick marriage in USA,-along with other issues the Africans just don't understand.  They don't divorce here,...
4.) Same Sex Marriage:  These pastors just cannot get their heads/minds around the concept/idea of same sex marriages in the USA!,...PTL they can't!!  They want to know, 'if there's a same sex marriage,..then who is the MAN!???? 

     A 10 year old boy, Debaba,  was shooting birds with a slingshot,..EXACTLY what I used to do!!!  I watched as he killed 4 hummingbirds in short order!  They would bake them to eat,..altho' there really isn't much meat on a hummingbird!!   Back in the day I could shoot like Debaba,...but not anymore,....

Debaba, with slingshot & hummingbird in his hands,..

    Dinner was served,..meager as it was,-since our rations were very low.  The plan was to get up early Saturday morning, before dawn.  Then, at first light, we planned to leave on the first leg of our journey.  The piki piki trip to Shabunda(regional center) could be 3 hrs.,...or 6 hrs.  We'll see.....We were hoping & praying to be able to catch a cargo flight mid afternoon, to get back to Bukavu(border town) Saturday late daytime.  The planes only fly during the daylight hours here,....IF they fly at all!   There are no roads, no lighted airstrips, no runway lights, no control towers, & only mud/grass runways, or just a clearing in the jungle! 

    Return airfare was only $159 each, compared to the $300 each we paid coming Downcountry.  Since the planes fly back mostly empty,...the fare is cheaper.  We are ok with that!!,.....

    PTL, & thankful everything was in shape for our trip Saturday,.......well, at least we THOUGHT it was!!

Rogers/Banuamazi