Bob's follow-up update

This is a follow up to Bob's earlier story:

I asked around about the possibility of getting a small water testing kit to check for bacterial levels in the water well I mentioned. From the response I got there isn't one on the continent. Plan B was to get in to see the World Vision office in Lukasi and ask for their input or assistance. Much to my surprise Desi and I got right into see the head of WV and he gave me two of his staff to go directly to the site. The good news is that the residents already understood not to use that well for drinking. I also learned that there was a serious Cholera out break there and an NGO had given everyone chlorine to treat their wells. So all's well that ends well.

Bye for now
Bob

The Story of Longtin

The latest news from Desi:

Did you know you can find real life heroes living in a slum? I tell you, you can, I met one today, a broken old man who has something to live for.

Twenty years ago the love of his life went blind suddenly & he has taken care of her ever since. Just over five years ago his son-in-law died of AIDS & he began taking care of his daughter & 3 children. Five years ago his daughter also died of AIDS leaving 3 orphans for him to care for, one born HIV positive. What is the life expectancy of a child born HIV positive? I tell you it cannot be much more than 5 years.

When we got to the house this evening Longtin was standing on the front porch coughing endlessly. She is a beautiful child, though you would never guess her to be 5 as she is so small. We heard stories of how she has fought so hard, with her grandfather encouraging her. She is finally old enough to go to school, has a uniform & everything. Unfortunately, she doesn't have the strength to make the trip. Sometimes when her grandfather is feeling strong he will carry her to school, otherwise she just puts on her uniform & sits on a bench at the front of the house. When she does make it to the school, which is sponsored by Hands at Work, the wonderful lady who is their teacher goes and gets a big comfy chair from her house for Longtin to sit in.

Her CD4 blood count gets checked whenever her grandfather is able to make the 2 hour journey with her to the hospital in Lubumbashi, on the bus. Her last test results said that she was finally healthy enough to begin taking the life saving anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). Unfortunately, there are none available and her condition is worsening once again.

There we were all squished into the living room of their tiny 2 room shack. We gave them some food that we had brought, as they are a part of the Hands at Work orphan feeding program. Margaret then told them that we were from Westside Kings Church. She told them that Westside was the one that had been supporting their work here in DRCongo. She told them that we were the ones that had been supplying food, school fees & funds for health care to the family.

The grandfather began thanking us, thanking us for giving life to his family. This is one of those times I find extremely difficult. It becomes hard to put into words due to some sort of confusion. On one hand, I am honored to play a small role in what Westside & Hands at Work is doing in Africa. I am honored to be the individual who is able to receive this gratitude, from such an incredible man, for giving life to his family. On the other hand, it is hard to miss the fact that they are still barely surviving. You have to ask yourself, "is this enough, is this the best that I can do?" Or maybe even a better question, "is my being a part of this family barely surviving worth such gratitude from a man who labours every single day for their survival?"

Did you know you can find real life heroes living in a slum? I tell you, you can, I met one today, an incredible old man who has something to live for.

A short note from Bob Wall

Here is a short update from Bob:

How basic is water? Brian and I went on Home Based Care in the townships yesterday. I asked to see their water supply and they were very proud to show me the well that had been constructed. A cup was attached to a string and dipped into a small hole about 8 feet down. Several small children painstakingly were filling discarded plastic bottles to take home. Six feet behind us is a steady stream of raw sewage which is the source for the well.

I am going to try and do everything I can over the next week to correct this lunacy.

Please tell Debbie and the Wall flowers that I miss them more than they can know but we have some work to do here. All my love. Bob

A Moment, from Paul Smith

Well, we have a story coming in from another member of the team, Paul. This is what he wrote:

I went over to see how the pastor was making out, as we had lent him two wheel barrels full of concrete to repair the toilet. When I got there this beautiful little girl of about 2.5 years old was sitting and watching the pastor work. I decided to sit down beside her on an upside down bucket.

She was adorable. The pastors wife came over and had another girl bring me a chair. I certainly didn't need one, but they brought it and I sat in it.
Then an identical girl to the first one came over wearing the same pretty yellow dress. Then more chairs came out and more people sat down. The pastors wife told me they had about six orphans there from the same family- the twin girls, a boy about 9, and three girls in their mid teens. All beautiful children. Their father passed away in aug 07.

This was all very difficult to communicate as they could really only speak French and Swahili and I have a very limited grasp of French and all I know in Swahili is "jumbo" (hello) and "mizungo" (white person - we hear that a lot) I will be unbeatable in charades when I get home.

More and more children came over to us and I just tried to be present in the moment. The pastors wife said that the six orphans' father had been poisoned. The pastor finished with the concrete and I got up to take it back to the job site, but he called a few of the boys who were sitting around and they took the wheel barrel and shovel back to the site. The pastor needed one more wheel barrel full of concrete to finish his toilet repair. I told him I would bring one back right away.

When I got back to the site there was no more concrete available for the day. I went back to the pastor's house to let him know that he wouldn't get his concrete until Monday.

I couldn't find the pastor but I did see his wife in the window. I tried to get her attention and she beckoned me to come into her home, which I did. She asked me to sit on her couch and I couldn't say no. I just wanted to leave her the message about the concrete when she got up and went into a back room saying she will be right back. A few minutes later she returned with some pictures and they were of this man who was poisoned and then of his funeral. Many pictures of his casket and mourners. I still don't know if this dead man and six kids were related to the pastor and his wife.

Ode to Ruth

Well, we have somewhat settled in. We are currently in the city of Likasi and have spent four nights in the same place, which makes this home. We are living in a great little house that less than a year ago was occupied by a German missionary lady who had spent something like 40 years here. She was forced to return to German due to cancer. Next door and sharing the same courtyard lives Ruth. Ruth, also from Germany has been living here for about 20 years now. She has been awesome and has more than taken care of us. Ruth had met us at the border in order to help us get across and 3 of us traveled with her from there to Lubumbashi eating her homemade banana bread all the way.

Once we got here, the following day, she let us know that there were homemade waffles in the freezer and that we should check it regularly for other surprises she might leave. I think she is happy to have some male company around as she is really spoiling us all. When the power is out she brings hot water for our morning coffees, when water is off (as it has been for the past two days) there are buckets filled all over the house. Tonight she had charcoal all set up outside in case we wanted to heat water for baths. She also let Margaret and Dominic know that she would like to have us over for supper for the next two nights. She sends her cleaning lady to our house every afternoon to clean up the house and do laundry. She said she will not have it any other way. So, I want to take up some special space here to say thanks to Ruth for making us feel so much at home.

Entering the Heart of Darkness

Update from Congo via texting from Desi:

"This is not okay" is all we could repeat as we drove through the town into Congo yesterday.

Two and a half years ago when I read an article by Stephanie Nolen on the DRC I broke. I don't ever remember crying so hard, especially not since childhood. I knew at that moment I could not have something affect me like this and do nothing about it. Now here I was in the DRC with eyes watering trying not to let it start.

Well, we've made it. It has been a long journey. I feel as though I am one of the privileged few. How many people feel the need to do something like this and actually get to do it. I am also privileged to be able to do it with four great guys. We left the farm in Zambia around 7:30 which put us too close to the border too soon. We were now to be meeting people there at 12:30 to assist in our crossing and so we stopped in a quiet little town close to the border to kill a couple of hours. Once the time got close we were off again. Within 10 minutes there were people everywhere. Big trucks lined both sides of the street leaving only one lane in the centre for both us and oncoming traffic.



Guys were running after our vehicle waiting for us to stop to try and sell us something or help us get across, for a fee, the first part of what seems to be an insane money grab but as we would soon enough find out was part of an elaborate economic system. It was all quite surreal.

I don't remember how many times I thought, "this is a first for me." I know I have done many "first" things, but this was one of those moments when all of your senses seem to be racing, trying to take in everything going on around you. I think that in times like this, because you realize you cannot grasp it all, an entirely new emotion gets created. You know how you can smell something and it takes you back to another moment in time or you hear something and you return to a feeling you once had. That is what this became in an instant, a place and time to return to. I don't really know how else to describe it.

I think it took us about 1 1/2 hours to make it through. First we had to check out of Zambia. After that we walked through "no mans land," a place filled with parked cars and trucks, people everywhere, garbage covering the ground and dust covering everything. We were almost there. We had to stop at a little shed in order to "check in." This was the second part of their economic system, although I am not sure how much this one cost us.

Next we filed into a packed hallway of people waiting to see a customs agent. Our passports and immunization records disappeared and we waited standing, trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening in the offices. There were two people who had met us in order to ease the procedure who were in and out of an office, arguing amongst themselves while the guy who had been following us around, looking for a way to be of use, for a fee, was trying to keep busy by going into the office every once in a while only to be yelled at and kicked out. The entry fee was finally negotiated. 10USD each ($50 total). Not bad. Margaret turned over a $100 bill and we waited for change. There, of course, was none as the fee had suddenly jumped to $20 each. Ruth, the German missionary who had come to help us, caught wind of this and marched back into the office with $50 and a yell and came out with the $100 bill. It pays to have friends at times like this.

We were done and on our way. What I saw next was a town that God seemed to have forgotten about. I know that sounds sacrilegious, but I could not help but wonder where God is. You feel that if He knew what was going on here he would surely punish somebody somewhere for allowing such a thing. There was garbage everywhere and it stank. There were little shacks built mostly of plastic bags and torn tarps over sticks. Those with any walls were the lucky ones. Naked children playing in the dirt next to a river of free flowing sewage. I have never seen anything so appalling in my life. One sentence kept running through my head over and over, "This is not okay, "This is not okay", "This is not okay." There is no level where this is acceptable. No human should have to live the way that I saw them living today.... this is not okay. I don't really know what else to say about that...

They stayed in Lubumbashi last night in a guest house and Margaret took them to her favourite restaurant for Chinese food where she is a VIP and they even got the VIP room.(I can't wait to hear what that's like) Desi said it was really good. Today they drove on to Likasi and arrived at about 4PM. Thirty minutes after arriving to their house the power went out.

Chickens, Monkeys, long walks and lost bags

Well,
Their time in Zambia is coming to a close. I'll add here the odds and ends of stories and information that I've gotten. But overall, this was an excellent location for a few days. They've managed to get a lot done at the farm. It was a really good time to prepare themselves for Congo, getting ready/getting rested/ getting on schedule. They feel mostly prepared. So now more about their time in Zambia:

In the last update Desi mentioned Bob going on a long walk with Matthews. When I spoke with Brent's wife, Carol, who was in Zambia last year said she too had been privileged to go on that same walk and that it was a highlight of her trip. I told Desi this and then I got this text back from him the next day: "So you can tell Carol that I started asking Mathews about his morning walk with a lady last year. Right away he said, "you mean Carol?" I said "do you remember her?" He said "oh yes, Carol. She is my friend" and then he started giving details of the walk. He then pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and said that Carol had given it to him. He is now pretty excited to meet her husband."
I love the connectivity in this story. How our lives here in Canada are becoming more and more intertwined with those of the beautiful people of Africa we are working with.

Now to the monkey. There was a little tree house on the farm that wasn't there a couple of years ago. Desi asked Oswald and Matthews about it. They gave him this story about how there was a UK team that came through and they'd mentioned to Pastor Jacob that they had expected to at least see a monkey in Zambia. Well, Pastor Jacob, trying to be the good host decided to buy a monkey for the farm to live in that tree. The tree house was his. George heard about the monkey and called up Pastor Jacob to tell him to get rid of the monkey... what if it bites someone, what if it gets away and eats the vegetables in the garden for the orphans... And that was the end of the story. But then they ask, well what happened to the monkey. And Oswald and Matthews proudly say "We ate him for Christmas." Then the next time Desi saw Pastor Jacob, he slyly mentions that he was surprised not to see any monkeys here in Zambia to which Pastor Jacob replies, "OH NO, if I buy another monkey those two at the farm will just eat him."

So, now on to what they've been eating. The previous update mentions Desi making arrangements with Oswald and Matthews. The team would buy the food and the two would cook it. The practice was a lot more blended, which I love. Desi also wanted to include their families and wanted to have a large Zambian feast together to start. So from the market they picked up 3 live chickens, pumpkin leaves, roasted nuts and of course Nshima (a cornmeal mush that is a staple in Sub-Saharan Africa). And they all pitched in to prepare this meal together and had a large cook-out outside of the farm. They had enough food for two days. I just love this image of them chasing chickens and plucking the feathers. After this our guys cooked a pasta meal for everyone that Desi says was really good too.

Our team has not had the best luck in regards to luggage. Desi had a suitcase lost from his flight between Johannesburg, South Africa and Ndola, Zambia causing him much frustration. There is still no word on if he'll ever see the darn thing again. And now, as Brent has just flown in to join them, he too has had to suffer a lost bag. His contents included the shoes for Desi that I had sent with Brent to replace the work shoes that Desi lost in his bag as well as some of the tools they were bringing to use to build the school in Congo and some soccer balls. So we'll see what happens.

The men have had a lot of work to do on the farm while they were there. There were a lot of general fix-ups and clean-ups and preparatory work. The farm is being prepared for a UK team that is coming to build Pastor Jacob a house on the property. Also, Bob was the only one to go out and do a day of Home-Based Care. He entered an area that has had the support of Home-Based Care for a while now and many of them have been on ARVs for the last year. Bob said it was the most hopeful Home-Based Care day he's ever had in Africa. This is his 3rd time here. He had been warned before going that he would see a lot of people that look healthy and fine but that they are very sick none the less and could still use the support. And then with every house he entered he heard the same theme to each story, which was "You should have seen him/her last year... They were dying and now they are back!" This is a testament to what good can come. This is a story of hope for Africa. Children with parents.

Margaret is the Hands at Work missionary, along with her husband Dominic, serving in Congo for Hands at Work. She stayed behind in South Africa because she was sick and there was some questions about if she had malaria. She's been tested. No malaria. But she did succeed in getting positive results on a pregnancy test. Margaret is pregnant. She was very sorry to the team- her first time getting a team to help her in Congo and here she is pregnant and getting sick all the time. Desi patiently explained to her that each of the 5 men on the team is a father and that each of them will do anything for her that she wants. That she should not worry about disappointing any of them! What is important is that she stays healthy and rested and they are going to make sure that happens.

Also, they have been picking Margaret's brain about what things will look like in Congo. They discussed a lot of the practicalities, the housing and food. A typical house in DRC has several units around a courtyard. This is practical for security reasons. If you are away for even a short time you will come back to nothing- everything will be taken. So clustering houses like this helps offer some protection. They will be staying in a house connected to the house of a German missionary named Ruth who has been in the DRC for 20 years. She is practically Congolese now herself. She has been very helpful to Margaret over these last years. There were two German missionaries but the older one died last year. In Congo, the electricity goes out every 3rd day. So this lady had her house wired again so that when her power goes out she can just switch over to her other line! There is security stationed in their courtyard. (2 men who alternate) They will have use of a washing machine on the property. Another aspect of Congo is that young women are "adopted" by a local "Mama." Margaret's old Mama died last year and now she has a new Mama. Mama will be doing all the cooking for the men.

Now to the border crossing. Margaret has a contact at the border to facilitate the process. The public relations lady will only be there between 8 to 8:30 in the morning. That is midnight our time. Desi has asked for prayer that they are able to cross with minimal fuss. Even with the VISAs in their passports there are still concerns. Desi has warned that I may not here from him for a couple of days. So I suppose no news will be good news at this point. I would appreciate anyone reading this to offer up a little prayer for their smooth crossing and their time in Congo- That they are able to accomplish the work they went to do and that they will be safe from harm and hassle. Thanks.