Dear Family and Friends,
This week has great potential to be interesting and exciting
here in Kinshasa. The City is hosting the 13th International Francophonie
Summit beginning this Wednesday and ending next Sunday. Francophone means
French speaking and Francophonie is a term coined for an organization of French
speaking countries. There are 56 countries represented as members of
the Fracophonie organization. They hold an international summit every two
years. Representatives from most of these 56 countries, including
some heads of state, will begin arriving here early in the
week.
We live near many of the residences for ambassadors from
countries throughout the entire world. Ambassador row is about four
blocks away from our apartment. Many of the Francophonie member countries
have ambassadors who live on that row. Security is being tightened
up throughout the entire City but especially in the Gombe District
where we live. We have often seen truckloads of policemen patrolling the
City. They sit, back to back, four abreast, on
benches positioned in the bed of the trucks. They carry automatic
rifles that look like AK 47(s). This isn't new. We have seen these
trucks since the day we arrived. What is new is that we see armed
military men in camouflaged uniforms guarding every street corner and sometimes
spaced about every 100 yards up and down the streets. This is in addition
to the four to eight policemen we normally see at all major
intersections.
There have been threats of peaceful demonstrations during
the summit. The major opposition party in the last Presidential election
has announced that they will hold demonstrations denouncing the election
results. The U.S. Embassy has advised American citizens to take caution,
avoid crowded areas, and stay away from sensitive governmental facilities
during the summit. There will likely be increased traffic congestion,
road blocks, and checkpoints where they are not normally located. We, as
missionaries, have been asked to be safely at home before sundown while these
events are taking place.
So, for us, the interesting and exciting part of the week
isn't witnessing or participating in the events. What should be
interesting and exciting is finding a way to do our work while tolerating
the inconveniences of increased security.
It has already been interesting to see all the preparations
the City has made for the summit. These preparations have been going on
for months. Streets have been torn up. During the last week there
has finally been a lot of pavement put down. The main highway out to the
airport is nearing completion. Pavement has been put down, lane striping
has been done, and there are even direction arrows for traffic flow on the
pavement. However, it seems that many of the drivers don't know what the
direction arrows mean. Or, if they do know, they don't care. The
City has removed many roadside shops that, over the years, have encroached on the
right of ways for roads. There are hundreds of people, wearing green
vests, sweeping the streets. Dirt, mud, and trash have been removed from
the open storm drains that line the streets. Planter strips along the
main roads have been cleaned up and new grass has been planted. There are
even mounded flower beds in some of the planter strips. Many shop owners
have refinished their storefronts adjacent to streets. Improvements are
noticeable.
Just a bunch of what is happening in Kinshasa. Hope I
haven't bored you too much. I do hope all is going well for each of you.
With love,
George
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Hi Family and Friends:
I thought I would add a bit to George's email because I don't
usually send emails to everyone, but occasionally I will add some to his to
give you a perspective from a female's point of view.
Every
morning when I get up, I lift the mosquito netting and get out of bed. I do not
bother to make the bed now, because mosquitos get under the net while I am
making the bed and then I get bitten in the night. I turn the light on in every
room as I go to check for cockroaches. I spray a roach killer around the edges
of the rooms every 2 to 3 weeks. It works very well and a lot of the time the
roaches we find are already dead. I also watch for the lizards. I think they
are Gecko’s. I actually like to have them in the house because they eat the
bugs and it’s fun to watch them run up the walls and across the ceiling. Once I
took a shower with one hanging exactly over my head watching me. When I go to
take a shower, I always unfold the shower curtain, because the smaller
cockroaches like to hide in the shower curtains, or in the tub. I never walk
barefoot in the apartment because even the dust that blows in can have hookworm
or spores of other parasites that can get in my feet, so I don’t take the
chance. I usually sleep in curlers at night because my curling iron has blown
out 2 or 3 extension cords because of the difference in electricity. I dry my
hair with the blow dryer when I shampoo, but I have to unplug the air
conditioner to get enough power to make the blow dryer work. I look at my
wardrobe and say, “What is the least amount of clothing I can wear today and
still be decent?” It is always so hot and I don’t tolerate the heat well. I
usually end up with a skirt and a white blouse. Before I leave for the day, I
spray my legs with 100% DEET because in the church buildings where I work, the
windows are usually open to let air in, and there are no screens, so mosquitos
are lurking.
Meals are
quite simple. George usually fixes breakfast while I get ready. We have
scrambled eggs, or oatmeal, or corn flakes. Eggs are the cheapest so we two
consume at least 30 eggs per week at different meals. Lunches are usually a
peanut butter & jelly sandwich or tuna sandwich or a bowl of beans or
homemade soup. We can buy beans at the open markets for very little money, so
we have eaten a lot of beans here. Our main meat at supper time is chicken.
From a little market run by some Lebanese men, we can buy 2 kg of boneless,
skinless chicken breast, for $15.00 (the chicken being killed according to
Islamic law by using a sharp knife – it says that on every package). We have
had hamburger here, which is very, very lean but it tastes nothing like
hamburger at home and is not very good. We have had a few beef steaks
(expensive and kind of tough). We do occasionally buy some slices of ham and
use those sparingly thru the month. That is very good, but very pricey. We make
a lot of tuna fish gravy on toast, or chicken & rice soup. We have a lot of
rice, usually with carrots, red and/or yellow peppers, and zucchini in it.
Zucchini is very prevalent here, but only as big as a small cucumber. We also
have coleslaw and a lot of fresh salad. We have fresh bananas, pineapples, and
other tropical fruits.
Fresh
vegetables are a lot of work. We usually buy vegetables from the open markets
grown locally. All vegetables have to be washed in bleach water and rinsed in clear
water. Imagine taking each whole head of lettuce and cabbage apart leaf by leaf
and washing it and drying it before putting in the refrigerator. All vegetables
and fruits are washed in this manner. Eggs also have to be washed in bleach
water because they come directly from the farm yard without being cleaned. We
always have to check carefully for blood spots and remove them. Almost all the
eggs here have blood spots.
For baking,
the flour is a project too. All the flour here has weevil, so when I buy a 10
lb bag, I put it in the freezer for 3 days to kill the weevil. Then I sift all
the flour and throw the bugs out. In about a 1 ½ cup I will sometimes have 10
to 12 weevil and sometimes none at all.
Cooking is
usually no problem, other than I have to convert to centigrade for baking. We
try to keep food on hand we can eat without cooking because the electricity
goes out frequently. We also store water in our apartment because often the
water is on in the morning and at night, but not at all during the day.
One of the
challenges a female faces here is the bathroom situation. There are almost no
public restrooms. If we travel out and about, we usually have to find an LDS
church house for a pit stop. Let me tell you about the public restrooms. Here
is a typical situation: When we were to fly out of Lubumbashi, we were at the
airport because our plane was to leave at 1:00. Then we were told 5:00 p.m. It
finally left at 6:30 p.m. – typical. I couldn’t wait that long so I went to the
rest room. Both men and women use the same bathroom and there are no locks on
the door. I have been walked in on by men twice. There is not a seat to sit on,
just a porcelain or tile hole in the ground. They used to flush but broke long
ago, so just outside your door is a bucket of water, or maybe not. They provide
no toilet tissue. There is no place to wash your hands. I always carry spare
toilet paper and lots of germ-killing hand-wipes everywhere. Even in the LDS
churches there is usually no toilet paper because people take it home with
them.
Well that
is enough from me for this letter. A female's perspective is much
different than a man's and I wanted the women to know what life here is
like. What an "Up" adventure - my very own "Paradise
Falls". We love and miss each of you and hope your lives are happy.
Love, JoAnn
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