Visitors and Life in Congo

The urinators are back. I don’t know why but after months of not having to deal with people peeing on my house it has become an issue again. I heard it a few days ago and thought just as I had before surely it is just someone emptying a water bottle. But then the smell of fresh urine fills my nostrils and I realize the urinators have returned. I don’t know why they pick my house when there are so many other houses around. Even as I sit here now the smell of urine lingers… disgusting. The battle continues

My parents came with 2 men from the US who started Global Orphan Relief. It was a wonderful time being able to speak English for days. For the most part we had no problems and everything went smoothly. Congo is not as nice as Zambia. The guest house they stayed in which is one of the best in Likasi didn’t have running water. The men washed out of buckets didn’t have a sink or a toilet seat. When they complained about needing a toilet seat the owner said “no one in Congo has a toilet seat.” I do but I brought it from Zambia. We arrived to no electricity but thankfully at 10pm it came on which helped because we could use fans since it is so hot here. Sunday morning the electricity went out again so I got a fire going and we cooked breakfast and made coffee just a little behind schedule.

Everyone endured the difficulties with joy. Probably the biggest difficulty was the language barrier. Even the Congolese with the best English here are about half as good as the average educated Zambian. We sat in the mayor’s office and he explained to us his socialistic ideals but even though someone translated it into English no one but me had any idea what the interpreter was trying to say. He talked about how the cell phone companies in Congo make millions of dollars off of the poor Congolese so he wants the phone companies to give their profits to him so he can set up a health care system. Just one of his brilliant ideas.

We went to a church with true Congolese style traditional music and dancing. It was great. Sunday evening we went to Shituru where I am planting a church. It was incredible. More than 50 people packed into the little room. We prayed for people and saw God do some incredible things. I will include some testimonies soon. There are so many people in need there both spiritually and physically. We are trying to figure out what more we can do to help. Please pray that we have wisdom and are able to get the necessary information.

On Monday I went to Chingola, right across the border in Zambia. It was incredible to “be back in civilization”. I took a shower, washed my hands in a sink, brushed my teeth in a sink, watched CNN, ate ice cream, and spoke in English. It is hard to explain but Zambia just makes me happy. I spent so many formative years in that country so I truly get it. I loved talking to my taxi driver about life, love, politics, religion, agriculture, economics, and everything else. I loved being able to use kwacha (their currency) and being able to fit money in my pocket instead of needing stacks of money.

On Tuesday I came back to Congo. I caught public transportation just right and actually got decent seats and didn’t have to wait too long. There was no water for the last 2 days my parents were here so I was out of water. I saw the water was on at our communal tap and started to fill my containers but then saw the water was coffee brown. Thankfully the next day we had clear water though. I started washing my clothes and just as I finished the clothes line broke and so I had to rewash everything. The normal trials of life in Congo.