Skipton Baptist Church Blog

Dear All

I can hardly believe there’s only a week before I’ll be boarding a Kenya Airways flight bound for Nairobi, Amsterdam and Manchester! If you could glimpse the chaos here you probably wouldn’t believe it either.

Even though this is officially the college holiday, I seem to have been extremely busy. On my ‘to do’ list, there are an extraordinary number of things but I’ll get there somehow.

Since last writing, we have been in Zambia for the biannual CAM conference. Although it’s quite a palaver to organise, with visas to get in and out of this country, Zambian visas, and all manner of payments to get the cars through the border, it was well worth it. We left around 8.30 and were through the border by 1pm. A glance at a map will show you it’s not far from Lubumbashi to Kasumbalesa, the border post but there are major road works all the way and it’s virtually single file traffic for considerable stretches of the road. We arrived at the first barrier to be informed we’d have a 15 minute wait, didn’t believe him and waited 15 minutes! At least we were always at the front at each barrier so got to travel at a good speed, without being in anyone’s dust.

The conference was held at Life Springs, a small Christian conference centre near Ndola. I loved having wide open spaces to walk in and had taken my binoculars so was able to do some bird watching, seeing a new (to me) kind of kingfisher (brown headed), marsh tchagras and drongos as well as some more familiar ones. Don’t you love the names? Our afternoons were free, with mornings taken up with business meetings and evenings for fellowship. We go to Zambia because CAM also has 2 couples working there. I had known one of the couples when I worked in Lubumbashi before and it was a delight to meet up with them again.

One super surprise on arrival at Life Springs was to catch up with all our post going back about 3 months and in with the post were all the cards you had sent from the Sunday morning service, encouraged by Lisa. I know our postal service or lack of it is a pain but somehow there’s an extra pleasure in receiving letters never entirely matched by e-mails (although I was touched by Jennifer’s email which she sent that way because she didn’t think I’d be able to read red crayon (!) and which arrived just after we learned of the death of the college director).

This is truly the dusty season. No rain for over 5 months. A pall of dust hangs over the city and the other day walking back across the centre, I could barely see the group of young boys playing volleyball near my house. The wind throws up twisters and woe betide you if you’re in the path of one as they gather everything up off the ground and throw it at you. The rains won’t come probably until after I get back at the end of October. We’ve had some water crises as the electric pump which sends water to the main tank at the centre broke down. For 3 weeks all the water had to be carried. They would have to be the 3 weeks when I had a young friend staying, who loved taking showers and not having to compete with family members for water. Esther has since hit the harsh realities of the world of work for the first time, having found a job at an English speaking school in town. She’s working with the younger children as a classroom assistant. On day 2 she turned up at my house early in the morning, to say she wasn’t going back, the work was too hard! In the end, she did go back, apologised to the head for her late arrival and is now in her second week, bubbling over with stories of her new experiences. Since her father’s death a couple of years ago, the family have gone through some difficult times and it is good to see one member of the family in regular employment. Sammy, Esther’s younger brother, has learning difficulties and last year was able to get a place at a school which caters for young people with special needs. He loves it there and can’t wait to go back at the end of the holidays. His mum and Esther visit each month but from the very beginning, he’s never wanted to come home with them – in fact he’s usually pushing them out of the door because it’s time for him to go and have tea or to watch some favourite television programme. He clearly enjoys the routine of his day and his teachers are pleased with the progress he’s making.

My travel plans are to leave here on Thursday 11 September, fly to Manchester via Nairobi arriving mid morning on the Friday. My return flight is on 22 October. I’m looking forward to a break and to seeing everyone, catching up on news and in no particular order enjoying rain (well, you’re bound to have some given this year’s UK weather!), eating yogurt and parsnips (not at the same time) and hearing Andy play the drums! And of course some walks in the Dales … and…!

With love

Bridget

Dear friends

I had a lovely time on the morning of my birthday opening all the cards you had sent.  It was a real struggle not to open them sooner as they’d been sitting on my shelf for a while (I only gave in to temptation 3 times!).  What a good thing you posted early – we’ve had no mail for ages now so anything posted later has yet to arrive!  Visits from friends, a chocolate cake baked by Carol and decorated by Ginny as a piano complete with pianist, then a meal in the relaxed atmosphere of an Indian restaurant in town, made the day a happy and enjoyable one.
The next day it was back to reality with a bump, with ISTELU students sitting their English exams.    Now with the exams over, and a staff meeting called for tomorrow morning to assess students’ results and progress, it’s all systems go for the graduation ceremony on Saturday morning.  My house is bedecked with navy blue and scarlet academic gowns (30 of them hand washed and ironed), and 30 mortar boards, scrubbed and ironed.  A friend has come by to help do some emergency repairs on some of the mortar boards and then we can turn our attention to refreshments which will be served after the ceremony, for around 100 guests.  Anni went to the market this morning, coming back with a huge bag of peanuts for roasting and has now gone off in search of a tray of eggs.  The wife of one of my colleagues is going to make 10kg of savoury crackers and Pastor John has been collecting up all the empty soft drink bottles so as to buy 6 crates of drinks.  The wife of another colleague will make a mountain of doughnuts and that just leaves Ann who’s heading to town this afternoon to buy sandwich fillings – we’ll leave buying bread until early Saturday morning, then the assembly line will kick into action, making sandwiches at top speed.
The graduation ceremony itself will take place in the church this year, which will allow for students to invite many more of their friends and family than was possible last year when the church was booked for a wedding.  Each new graduate can then invite 3 folk to the bash afterwards.  We don’t lay on a meal as such because usually either their family or church will have organised something for them but it’s good just to relax for an hour after the main ceremony, before everyone scatters.
Thank you for all the messages of support following the sudden death of the college director, Pastor Aaron Kalenga.  There will be many challenges ahead as the administrative council looks for a replacement.  His years of experience and his expertise in Biblical languages will not be easy to find in another man.   In the meantime it has been decided that there will not be a new intake for the degree programme this year.  Those in their second year will of course continue.  So the long vacation is about to start, with college reopening on 1 November.  Entrance exams will be held during the holiday and those students who need to re-take exams will do that in October – they include several retaking English!  I will need to leave a new exam prepared as I’ll not be here in October.  My flights are booked to come to UK from 12 September to 22 October and I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone and having a break at the same time!

Every blessing

Bridget

Dear all
It’s 3 something in the morning - all times before 5 in my book are indeterminate – and I’m aware that my mobile phone is ringing somewhere in the house. I crawl under the mosquito net and make it to the living room before it stops. It’s Simon, one of the Centre staff. My brain just about does ‘medical emergency’ but then what Simon is saying doesn’t fit my ‘box’. He and the pastor want me to go and see something they’ve found. Then I realise he’s used the word ‘baby’. Someone has abandoned a baby. I just about have the presence of mind to ask if ‘it’s’ alive. Simon is at my gate. 2 minutes later I’ve thrown some clothes on and joined him.
It seems that near a side entrance to the centre, a young man who’d come in to pray (the church is often open for prayer through the night), had discovered a tiny baby lying in the grass. These are nights of heavy dew and someone had hurried to find warmer clothing to wrap the baby in. He was still alive. We prayed quickly together for the baby and for his mother who had abandoned him, then the pastor and Simon left to seek medical help and advice. Eventually after being turned away by a local clinic who felt unable to cope, they were welcomed by the University clinic in the city. The appropriate authorities were informed but so far all attempts to find the mother have failed. Instead a local TV station picked up on the story and appealed for people of ‘good will’ to come forward who could offer the baby a home. The hospital was inundated! Initially they short-listed a couple of another faith. The pastor, who had gone back to the hospital with baby milk and other necessities and to see how he was, felt strongly the baby should be raised in a Christian home. After speaking to the hospital director and the bourgemeister, the process was started to make the pastor the baby’s legal guardian. Meanwhile, a couple have come forward from one of the city churches with a letter of recommendation from their pastor. They have been unable to have children themselves and it now looks as though they may well become little ‘Moise’s’ parents. He has been given a clean bill of health by the hospital and should soon be ready to go to his new home.
Needless to say, I didn’t get a lot more sleep last Thursday morning and the day turned out to be extremely busy. There was money to order for end of month salaries, electricity bills, national insurance and taxes (the routine stuff!). Debbie came round so we could work on an article she had to shrink to size and then together we spent a not inconsiderable time trying to send them via a recalcitrant server. I got home as the technician came to repair the photocopier and by 1 o’clock, Isaac – former ISTELU student - had turned up to continue his marathon trying to restore the piano at ISTELU. It was 6pm before we finished but Isaac’s determination to see the job through to completion was commendable. (I was flagging!) Unlike the piano currently at my house, this one had seen some rough treatment. On opening it up we found all sorts, including popcorn, sweet corn, bits of paper wedged between keys and to be honest, it sounded past saving! After taking out all the keys and meticulously cleaning them, then repairing a couple of keys (I love the way people here can ‘make do and mend’), we got down to the serious business of re-tuning the piano. I’m delighted with the result and had the opportunity to try it out on Monday morning, when John taught the ISTELU students ‘Venez et Célébrez’ (Come on and celebrate) during their morning prayers.
Snippets from 3 conversations to finish up with:
“The pastor has accused four women in the church of witchcraft and of plotting to kill his wife. The case may go to court. Many people are leaving the church. Maybe the best thing to do is put a big padlock on the door and close the church down. So many are hiding ‘fetishes’ and the enemy is doing anything he likes in the church.”
“Please may I have time to go home? My child has come to say I’m needed there urgently as all my son’s clothes have caught fire.”
So went two conversations early Tuesday morning. On the return of the second person, I asked how the incident had occurred, knowing that their house had recently been connected to mains electricity. “It was ‘spirits of the night’ who caused it. There was no fire nearby and the electricity is fine but my son’s clothes have all been destroyed.” Pray for the many people we meet who, like us, need to grow in their understanding of what it really means to be a Christian and know how to live out their faith here in 21st century central Africa.
And the third conversation? Kazadi and Claude, a colleague and one of the Kisongye Bible translators, deep in conversation on my verandah. I’m focused on something else but eventually some words drift through. ‘Arsenal’, ‘Chelsea’, ‘Liverpool’… Yes, they’re sharing highlights of yesterday evening’s matches and the different teams’ prospects for the Cup! “If an English team makes it to the final, I’m going to be sure to video it”, says Kazadi!
Have a good week!
Love

Bridget

Fortunately most of my life I’ve had fairly elastic job descriptions. Shortly before they left for a 3 month break in the UK, Carol and Ginny announced that they thought their dog, Nzamu, might be having puppies. She doesn’t have a good track record, as in the past her puppies have either died or she’s eaten them, so it was with considerable apprehension that I waited for the 11 October to arrive. During the night Nzamu gave birth to her pups. A first count made it 4. The last count made it 8‼ So woven into my days at the moment is the job of playing nursemaid to one ravenously hungry, but so far, caring mother of 8 black/brown Labrador pups! In case anyone can’t work it out from the photo and wonders why they’re not in a cosy basket, they’re living under a container as Nzamu refuses to have them anywhere else!

The first big storm of the rainy season caused a nearby transformer to blow, so we were a week without electricity. It’s still a bit hit and miss. Yesterday we discovered a major cable on the ground after someone had tried to steal it overnight. SNEL (the electricity board) sent out a big team, accompanied by one of the local TV station’s cameramen and reporters. To repair the damage, they turned off our power as a precaution, then forgot to turn it on again when they finished work mid-afternoon. Saturday being one of the evenings when I work with translators, we had to make do with the one solar light in the living room. It’s an ok light if you’re just relaxing but it’s not so good for detailed reading, with Bible print particularly hard to decipher. We’re making reasonable progress, although I’m told there will be one more reading before we can print out the series of 10 studies. Of the two translators, Pastor Jean (John) is quite pre-occupied with trying to get the roofing completed on the church building before the rains really set in and Guy is struggling with a job he enjoys but for which he’s not been paid for the last 4 months. It’s a common situation in both the state and private sectors and causes unending hardship to families, many of whom live below the bread line.
The new academic year at the theological college gets under way on 30 October. I’m still waiting for a timetable! The students who have re-sits will begin their exams tomorrow, Monday, so I imagine most of the students are arriving today. There will also be a new intake and various candidates have already been to sit the entrance exam. It’s too complicated to set a date for the exam, as those coming from churches over 1000 km away, can only afford to make the journey once. Candidates are therefore offered the chance to take the exam the day they come to register their application. Last year our numbers were down and we really need a bigger intake this time if the college is to continue to be viable. We have some excellent lecturers but could do with upgrading the student accommodation and improving the library. This year, we plan to put computers into the college for the first time and so encourage the students to become computer literate.

As well as teaching in the college, I’ve been asked to do some teaching in a sewing school (not sewing, I hasten to add!) The school caters for young girls and married women who’ve largely missed out on educational opportunities but want to learn skills which will help their family income and their quality of life. I’d like to take up the offer, providing it works in with my other teaching commitments. As well as teaching English, I would probably be teaching some basic baking as a way of encouraging the women to set up their own small businesses.

Dear All

Yes, a new term is just round the corner and I’m still trying to work out what happened to the last 2 weeks!  Some good things, at least, we have been able to enjoy. 

The Sunday before Christmas I was thrilled to hear that my friend Ephrasie had given birth to a son.  After a complicated and at times life threatening pregnancy, it was a joy to visit her at the clinic the next day and to hear that apart from a minor infection for which the baby was being treated, all was well!  I was honoured to be asked to name the baby and 2 year old Elisa is happily telling everyone that Nicolas is her new brother.  She was also caught trying to pull bed clothes, baby and all off the bed and when asked why, once the baby was rescued, said it was because he was crying and she needed to hold him so she could ‘pat’ him - obviously an observant young lady who watches what her mother does!

The weekend before Christmas saw me baking 11 cakes to give to the centre staff along with other Christmas gifts.  Why do I decide to do these crazy things, especially with our erratic power supply?  Mercifully the day I baked we had power all day and the cakes were a great success with the staff and their families.  We’re now back to power for part of a day and none the next, something to do with a cable laid by the Belgians (i.e. over 40 years ago) having finally given out and it being difficult to locate a replacement. 

On Christmas Day, a group of us set off early for one of the big prisons just out of the city, for a service for any prisoners who wanted to come.  The church was packed and decorated with streamers and balloons.  The reason for some of the balloons became evident later in the service.  First there were several singing groups, well rehearsed, then a re-enactment of the Christmas story.  ‘Jesus’ was played by a live baby, born in the prison.  His anxious mother hovered in the wings as he had slept patiently up to the moment he was handed over to ‘Mary’ and then naturally started to gripe.  The balloons were burst as the soldiers fired on the children of Bethlehem (slight anachronism but very dramatic).  I had the pleasure of rounding off the service some 4 hours later with a short message!  On our way home we stopped off at the home of Pastor Mukaya, who was part of the team, and enjoyed a meal which his wife and children had prepared for us.  Over lunch, Mama Mangasa who is a regular prison visitor, shared her story with us.  It had some harrowing parts, she herself having spent 2 years in the prison we had just been at, for complicity in embezzlement.  Knowing the prison from the inside gives her an understanding of what the prisoners have to go through and makes her a welcome visitor, especially for the women.

On the Sunday following Christmas, we were out again, this time at a ‘displaced people’s camp’ here in the city.  Although it’s over 10 years since people fled fighting to the north and north east of here, many are so deeply traumatised that they are unable to face the return to their home areas.  Some have moved to villages near Lubumbashi and are establishing themselves with land to cultivate but others have remained.  The disused abbatoir we visited, intended for women and children, now overflows with children and we had gone specially to give out toys to them which friends in Zambia had passed on.  While Ginny played her guitar and sang a few songs with the children, I did a rough count and estimated there to be over a hundred children.  I would like to have spent longer talking with some of the mothers but the excitement generated by the distribution of toys made it virtually impossible to hear!  Maybe I’ll have an opportunity to go back some other time.

We’re in the hot and damp season now!  In fact it’s very hot today and we were all up early as we’re in the middle of a crisis!  2 major storms yesterday threated to wash away our bridge and with only a bunch of teachers to solve the problem, you can imagine there’s lots of discussion and not a lot of activity.  Anyway, we’ve managed to move a railway line with the help of 10 burly-ish men, down to the bridge (on a hospital trolley!) and they’re in the process of soldering it to the weak side of the bridge in the hope we can defer distaster.  We’ve sent someone to procure 3 more railway lines (they’re 12 metres long and incredibly heavy) and at the same time other men are searching the river bed for rocks to shore up the bank.  If money can be raised and a bridge builder found, we will try to rebuild the old bridge in the dry season but at the moment it’s impossible, neither safe nor practical because of flash floods and the force of the current.

We’re looking forward to getting our Christmas post later this week.  An American missionary couple travelled to Zambia on Wednesday and should be back soon, maybe even today.  We’ll be able to celebrate Christmas all over again.

My very best wishes to you all for 2008.  Although our communication lines aren’t always brilliant, we do eventually get both letters and e-mails and I look forward to hearing from many of you again in the coming months.

 With love and thanks for all your support.

Bridget

Fortunately most of my life I’ve had fairly elastic job descriptions.  Shortly before they left for a 3 month break in the UK, Carol and Ginny announced that they thought their dog, Nzamu, might be having puppies.   She doesn’t have a good track record, as in the past her puppies have either died or she’s eaten them, so it was with considerable apprehension that I waited for the 11 October to arrive.  During the night Nzamu gave birth to her pups.  A first count made it 4.  The last count made it 8‼  So woven into my days at the moment is the job of playing nursemaid to one ravenously hungry, but so far, caring mother of 8 black/brown Labrador pups! 

The first big storm of the rainy season caused a nearby transformer to blow, so we were a week without electricity.  It’s still a bit hit and miss.  Yesterday we discovered a major cable on the ground after someone had tried to steal it overnight.  SNEL (the electricity board) sent out a big team, accompanied by one of the local TV station’s cameramen and reporters.  To repair the damage, they turned off our power as a precaution, then forgot to turn it on again when they finished work mid-afternoon.  Saturday being one of the evenings when I work with translators, we had to make do with the one solar light in the living room.  It’s an ok light if you’re just relaxing but it’s not so good for detailed reading, with Bible print particularly hard to decipher.  We’re making reasonable progress, although I’m told there will be one more reading before we can print out the series of 10 studies.  Of the two translators, Pastor Jean (John) is quite pre-occupied with trying to get the roofing completed on the church building before the rains really set in and Guy is struggling with a job he enjoys but for which he’s not been paid for the last 4 months.  It’s a common situation in both the state and private sectors and causes unending hardship to families, many of whom live below the bread line.The new academic year at the theological college gets under way on 30 October.  I’m still waiting for a timetable!  The students who have re-sits will begin their exams tomorrow, Monday, so I imagine most of the students are arriving today.  There will also be a new intake and various candidates have already been to sit the entrance exam.  It’s too complicated to set a date for the exam, as those coming from churches over 1000 km away, can only afford to make the journey once.   Candidates are therefore offered the chance to take the exam the day they come to register their application.  Last year our numbers were down and we really need a bigger intake this time if the college is to continue to be viable.  We have some excellent lecturers but could do with upgrading the student accommodation and improving the library.  This year, we plan to put computers into the college for the first time and so encourage the students to become computer literate.  As well as teaching in the college, I’ve been asked to do some teaching in a sewing school (not sewing, I hasten to add!)  The school caters for young girls and married women who’ve largely missed out on educational opportunities but want to learn skills which will help their family income and their quality of life.  I’d like to take up the offer, providing it works in with my other commitments. 

This week we’re going to be working on some urgent repairs around the Centre to make the place a little more ‘waterproof’.  The first big downpour revealed that one of the staff houses has an upturned sieve for a living room ceiling and a support beam which crumbles when touched (woodworm?)  Also the trenches where cables were laid during the electricification work earlier in the year lost most of the soil covering the cables, especially on the far side of the stream where there is quite a steep gradient.  We will try to divert the main channel used by water away from the line of the cables, build a small retaining wall around the distribution box which is very exposed and repair Banza’s roof!  Not too sure any of that came in my job description either!

With love to all and thanks for emails and prayers.

Bridget

Dear All

I daren’t look at the date on my last blog! 

The more mathematically inclined will have worked out that I was a ‘man’ short in ‘my’ taxi.  There were of course, 3 squeezed in the front as well.  Funnily enough, that same week, the Provincial governor decreed that the maximum number of passengers in a taxi should be 4, and although at first the taxi drivers were unhappy about it, just about everyone now seems to have complied with the order.  There has also been some improvement in the number of passengers carried by minibuses and on the route out to Ruashi where we live, 2 big yellow buses have recently put in an appearance.  So even in these few short months there have been some welcome changes to the public transport system.

We finally made it to graduation day at the Theological College, on 21 July, though fewer students graduated than expected.  Re-sits will be in October, while for some students the hold-up has been caused by their failure to turn in a major written assignment on time.  Some of the delays almost certainly stem from students leaving things to the last minute, (nothing new there!) while others will have been caused by the illness and hospitalisation of the director, Pastor Kalenga, who eventually had to undergo the amputation of one of his big toes and part of his foot.  He is slowly recuperating but is still far from well.  In  addition, one of the other lecturers (and therefore, director of studies for some of the 3rd year students), was forced to spend a considerable amount of time in Kinshasa awaiting a visa to allow him to attend church meetings in Europe and was again delayed on the return trip.  He arrived just in time to host the graduation ceremony!  A third lecturer, Pastor Mwamba, has been immobilised for over 6 months after an accident last November but finally at the end of June got the go-ahead to start moving with the help of crutches provided he didn’t put his full weight on the damaged leg.  As one of our third year students, Pierre Lubwika, has just had surgery to remove a bone growing out from the bone above his knee and is currently hobbling round with the aid of a crutch, we’re starting to look more like a hospital  than a Theological College!!  Not to mention having exhausted the local supply of crutches.

Graduation over, some of the students headed off for the holidays, while others who live too far away to be able to afford the fares and time, have stayed on in the college accommodation.  A number of them have found jobs with a view to raising their next year’s academic fees and associated costs.  We’ve yet to hear whether fees will be increased in September.  Elsewhere in academic institutions, fees look set to rise by up to 400%.  It’s true that fees are very low, when compared to fees in other countries but already families and individuals struggle to find the necessary tuition fees plus all the course materials and their living costs.  Some of our students are here with their families, or at least their wife and 3 youngest children, and in some cases are delaying sending their children to school as it’s one more cost they can’t afford.

There’s a small lull in the hospitality business here at Eau Vive, while the 2 latest visitors are away in the north of the province.  They’re due back at the end of the month.  In the meantime, there have been some complaints from my house guest, Judith, that I’ve switched off the menu planning part of my brain.  This is probably true.  We’re starting to prepare one of the other houses for the arrival of Pastor John Leese and his wife, Ann, who will be joining us some time in September.  John will be involved in the theological college.  They come to us after many years first planting then pastoring a church in Luxembourg and we’re very much looking forward to having them here, though I’m sure it won’t be long before John longs for male companionship with so many females of the species around!  Carol and Ginny, though, are currently in the UK on a 3 months’ break and aren’t due back till November, so I guess there’s only me for the time being.  Just before they left, Ginny and Carol gave me the joyous news that Zamu, one of their 2 dogs, may be having puppies, due around 11 October, so well before they come back.  As her puppies died last time, they’re keen to try and save the next litter.  Sure it can be fitted into my programme somewhere.

We finally managed to get all the paperwork completed for my residents’ visa application - or at least we hope we did.  You can never quite tell here.  Incredibly a friend of mine who is travelling to Kinshasa tomorrow, has agreed to take it with her and get someone there to follow it up on my behalf.  I really need it back as soon as possible, so trust it will have a speedy and safe passage through the appropriate offices.  I do have an ID card now, so can produce that if necessary.  We’re also waiting on new driving licences coming back from Kinshasa as all drivers have had to turn in their old ones (which still carried the name ‘Zaire’) and exchange them for new ones.  Unfortunately, they’re not being issued in the provincial capitals - in our case Lubumbashi - so again all the paperwork has gone to Kinshasa. 

The sudden change in temperature here, from cold to hot, marks the next phase of the dry season and I’m gradually discarding blankets.  It will continue to get hotter and more humid as we move towards the rains, with October and November generally the most uncomfortable months.  The rains should start either late November or in December.  By the sound of it, you probably aren’t looking for more rain yourselves at present! So, hoping that the weather has finally turned around and that you’re able to enjoy some warm, dry days before the summer ends…

With love

 Bridget 

Dear All

Much of the time when going in and out of town I use ‘public transport’ to save on fuel costs and because it’s fun.  There are no buses but minibuses and cars do duty, ferrying huge numbers of people from Ruashi on the outskirts of the city down the Chaussee de Kasenga (the only easily passable route) and dropping them in a cloud of dust within walking distance of the main city streets.  The capacity of most vehicles remains a mystery as there’s always room for one or two more and the normal capacity is double the number you first thought of.  Returning from town last week, laden with shopping, I collapsed into a taxi (luxury, it costs 5p more than the taxibus), where there were already 2 passengers and the driver.  As soon as I got in 2 more bulky men climbed in on either side, threatening to eject me and my bundles from the central position.  The gentleman on my right kindly volunteered to relive me of one bag which he sat on his knee, leaving me with the remainder.  As we left town and the temperature rose, I could feel frozen fish and meat begin to melt on my knee…  Happily we weren’t travelling in the rush hour so the drive lasted only about 20 minutes and I hastened to put everything in the freezer!

I see the Vatican is issuing ‘commandments’ for car drivers.  I think I’ll have them posted all over town.  No highway code pertains here and driving alone is a somewhat reckless venture as you need at least 3 other passengers with their eyes permanently peeled for traffic arriving from all sides, irrespective of pavements, traffic lights or often traffic police. 

Last time I wrote about the work due to start on the electrification of the other side of the Living Water Centre.  Hard to believe that so much work has been accomplished in such a short time.  Trenches which were prepared in advance have been deepened to 75cm and where necessary stretches of laterite have been broken up, then 1000m of cable have been laid.  All the work has been done without any machinery, just hand tools and a lot of brawn.  Yesterday the distribution cabin arrived from Zambia.  It had been en route for some weeks from UK (via Tanzania where it was delayed for 2 weeks outside the port) and was brought by Carol and Ginny, my  2 colleagues here at Eau Vive.  They crossed the border in record time (1/2 hour), the cabin comfortably horizontal and looking, as someone commented, rather like a coffin!  It still looks like a coffin standing up and I’ve suggested some trees be planted around it once the rains come at the end of the year.  Installation work has already begun inside the staff houses and project buildings and people are getting excited at the prospect of being able to use electricity for cookers and fridges as well as having lights.  Meanwhile the neighbours who were recently connected to one phase, following discussions with the local electricity board, have already exceeded the permitted load (causing the system to trip at least 3 times), so urgent meetings are under way to try to resolve a looming problem. 

There are lighter moments in my busy schedule.  Yesterday I managed a trip to Lubumbashi zoo with a friend and we enjoyed a pleasant walk in the spacious grounds, imagining ourselves far from the hurbly burly of the city centre even though it was just the other side of the wall!  The zoo recently acquired a lion cub, a gift from President Kabila, and work is underway to improve the facilities for the animals, starting with a big enclosure for rescued chimps and good, conservation friendly signboards with children in mind.  Tomorrow evening we are hosting a buffet for various invited guests, including managers of Ruashi Mining who have expressed an interest in helping with the construction of a school and a small hospital.  Today will be non-stop baking and cooking.  Happily, my house guest (Judith Muleka) has offered to cook the evening meal for our two electrical engineers, leaving me free to get on with some of the other work.

Hope the Harrisons visit was enjoyed by all at SBC and I look forward to hearing how plans are developing for the next Kosovo team!

Time for a coffee - it’s really cold at night here.  N Zambia recorded 4 degrees recently and it’s much the same here.  Good thing Amanda gave me a hot water bottle to bring with me!

Love

Bridget

Dear All

 The mountain of Chinese cabbage has thankfully subsided and we’re grateful for the tasty recipes we received.  The new glut is grapefruit - it’s probably entirely apocryphal but I understand the name to come from the way the fruit clusters on the trees.  Certainly all the ones in our orchard are heavily laden with fruit and we’re enjoying litres of juice, plus now having a shelf full of marmalade in the store room!  I’ve even managed to freeze some of the juice for use later.  Now all we need is an adequate power supply to keep the freezer running.  That’s a saga in itself.

Earlier this week we were without power but gave it no particular thought to it as powercuts are a feature of life here and some parts of the city which are even more densely populated than Ruashi are worse off than we are.  A year ago, a team from UK came and installed a transformer here at Eau Vive which has greatly assisted the electricity supply.  That was phase 1 of a project, the second phase of which was anticipated for either this year or next.  Since the homes of many of the staff who helped with the heavy manual work are situated the other side of the small river and it wasn’t possible to connect them up last year, the team decided to make sure they returned this year to complete the job.  There is an agreement with the local electricity board that one phase would be made available to some of our immediate neighbours.  To our surprise, some of their operatives arrived out of the blue, claiming they had come to connect up the neighbours.  This despite having said a year ago that our system was unfamiliar to them and that they would be unable to complete their work until the engineer returned to give them additional training on the system.  Naturally we were apprehensive that mistakes might lead to serious damage to the transformer.  In addition, it seemed that far from being our immediate neighbours who were to be linked up to our transformer, it was likely to be a considerable area of Ruashi - which the transformer would almost certainly not support.   We requested they at least wait for the return from a trip to the interior of our mechanic who had worked with the engineer & electricians last year.  He’s due back today!  As of yesterday we were told 56 houses would be connected up to our transformer plus the next door neighbour who’s so determined not to be left out, he’s digging his own ditch all the way along the side of the main road!!  He’s not paid his subscription yet but we assume he will, making the 57th connection.  It’s been quite an uneasy week.  Please pray that things will go smoothly on Monday and that the transformer will survive the experience - also that others won’t try to make ‘illegal’ connections afterwards, a common practice here.

And then the forms!  Afte a relatively quiet 3 months, living on my tourist visa acquired in the UK, it’s now time to fill in all the forms for a permanent visa.  We have bought the necessary forms and I’m working on them today.  They will then need to go to Kinshasa together with my passport as visas are no longer being processed in Lubumbashi.  I’m not someone who enjoys being separated from my passport for great lengths of time.  Having already had one mislaid for 5 years in Kinshasa and another stolen in Kenya, I know how complicated it can be to have them replaced here in Africa!  In addition, my passport is only valid until next October so that I will need to go through the whole process again in 18 months’ time.  Oh joy!!

Finally, a couple of ‘events’ to bear in mind.  I’ve been asked to preach at one of the local churches here in Ruashi on Sunday 3 June (I’m meeting with the pastor, Nday Japheth, on Monday afternoon) and on Saturday 9 June I’m taking the assembly for the Eau Vive primary school.  Both promise to be quite challenging in different ways.  The school assembly is conducted in French (that’s a legal requirement) but the first and second years speak very little French, so holding their attention will be quite something. 

With love to all - keep the e-mails rolling!

Bridget

Dear All

If anyone knows a hundred ways to cook Chinese cabbage, all recipes would be most gratefully received!  I seem to have ended up as part owner of a field of Chinese cabbage together with the family of a medical student at Lubumbashi University.  I’m never quite sure how these things happen.  I’m also the regular recipient of quantities of sweet potatoes and have been given dried beans from one of the fields planted by the couple who lived in this house before me.  It’s a challenge thinking up new ways to prepare food.  I imagine our ancestors had a similar problem when they lived on seasonal vegetables and fruit.   Speaking of which, I’ve just managed to boil over the guavas I was cooking down for guava jelly.  The smell of burning is pervading the house.  You’ll be glad you can’t smell e-mails yet!

Staying with the topic of sweet potatoes … Yesterday I had gone to a church plant about 3 miles from here.  We actually did double the distance because we turned into Ruashi only to have our way blocked by traffic police informing us the road had been closed for a marathon.  That meant saying good-bye to the only decent road and bumping our way through a long succession of deep holes.  Now and again we had to stop to ask if the small lane we wanted to take was currently passable but eventually we made it to the church ‘under a mango tree’ (Rob will like that … v. authentic!).  There were 7 adults and 22 children in the congegration.  The little girl, aged about 3, sitting next to me, obviously found the 2 1/2 hour service a bit on the long side, so wandered off at one point.  She returned a little later, eating a sweet potato, like all children having a spare one in the other hand.  As she turned round, a third one fell out of her back pocket!

The theme of the service was perseverance - I’d gone with one of the Lighthouse Project students who was also the preacher.  It was an appropriate theme.  The church building has reached the bottom of the windows’ level but in the meantime the congregation has disappeared off to a church which already has a building!  The pastor is one of two pastors who have moved to this area specifically to work with their own people group which has traditionally been very resistant to the gospel.  ‘Sheep stealing’ by pastors from their own church community is hardly encouraging!

Today has been a public holiday for those of us who teach (and study), while tomorrow is Labour Day and a public holiday for everyone.  This morning one of the Theological College student’s wives, plus baby, came to the house and we did some baking together.  Then I had the usual recorder session with the young men at the Lighthouse Project.  They’re coming on really well and asking lots of questions.  We’ll be performing in public yet!

This is my third attempt to post this blog.  The 2 previous occasions the hub was turned off on the other side of the centre without forewarning.  I’m keeping this short.

With love - and thanks for all the e-mails.  They are our main form of contact with the rest of the world!

 Bridget