Tuesday, December 2, 2008

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

...well it is in London and California...not so much in Kinshasa. BUT that's ok because I'M HOME! YAYAY! I left Kinshasa on Saturday, November 22 and flew to Kenya. I spent about 7 hours on layover in the Nairobi airport and then flew to London. I have some very close friends in London and so I spent 2 days with them. The first day we spent trapsing around London! And it was snowing!! While I admit it was a drastic change from the hot and humid weather of Kinshasa, I had a great time and even enjoyed the chill!

Here is real British fish & chips....HUGE PORTION but really good!


Here is me in a fun red British phone booth...notice the snow!



And here is me in front of Buckingham Palace :-)

So after my two day London excursion I flew to San Francisco. San Fran was slightly warmer...for which I was grateful. The drastic temperature change was a little rough on my poor body. My parents picked me up in San Fran and we drove home to Fresno where my brother, sister and niece were already home for the Thanksgiving holiday family extravaganza! My mom's sisters' and families came up also and we had our typically large and fun family Thanksgiving!
Moral of the blog...I'm home! My 5 months in Kinshasa was great! And being home for a week has been great too! I look forward to getting to see and talk with all of you!
Happy Holidays!


Saturday, November 8, 2008

"Reign Over Me"

Everyone ought to be happy to know that I finally figured out how to get the pictures all in and in the correct order! It only took 4 and a half months...lol! Anyway. Lots has happened recently!

Awhile ago, I don't feel like this happened all that recently but my concept of time comes and goes so who knows, I was able to buy mosquito nets for the family I first lived with in Limete. That would be 13 mosquito nets! And then I went back later and made sure to take pictures so here is the boys' room equipped with brand new mosquito nets!


Since sometime in September I have been teaching at UCKIN - the Christian University of Kinshasa. I began by helping teach an Excel class that someone else was really teaching I just sort of watched and filled in when necessary. And about the same time I began teaching an English class. Now I teach a PowerPoint class and the English class. This picture is of this past week...we were studying the parts of the body because...

Most of my students are teachers of the Scolaire Bolingo that shares the UCKIN campus. Above is me teaching the human body (and if you zoom in you can see that the left is French and the right is English!). And below are the three women (probly my favorite ones) who come to my class diligently and teach in the Preschool-Kindergarten. They are the ones who asked to study the "corps humaine". So we did :-)
I had decided that I would do my best to save some of the money I get every month to donate to some cause or somehow do something big. So I saved. And the last few days Suzanne has been helping me coordinate a large shopping ordeal in which we would spend around $300 on food for an orphanage that has around 50 children! So we did...Here is me with the goods we bought at the store...then there were sacks of rice, beans, and the kinds of flour used to make another main grain dish in Congo - fufu! (on top is a REALLY large bag of sugar.....mmmm!)
Then today we went to the kids! This is their house. The left side is the boys' rooms and sitting rooms and bathrooms. Then on the right side is the preschool they have and the girls' rooms and sitting rooms and bathrooms. Its bigger in person! It seems to go on forever! The large green tanks are water tanks and there is an area out back where they are working on building a rain water catch system - with funds from partners in Canada and Germany.
This is the line of children that came up beside the car to wave "byo" when we were leaving...how cute!
So I've been busy teaching classes and continue the other work I (think) mentioned earlier. This week Pakisa comes! He and I will hopefully be taking care of some things together too.
I can't think of anything else...that seems strange!
Oo I know! This week, I had to take a taxi after teaching at UCKIN. So the guy who taxis with me and I left UCKIN and walked down to the taxi station. While we were standing there waiting...we watched a car run over a military policeman!!! NO JOKE! Right in front of us! It was crazy! The car wasn't going too fast (and it WAS ON PURPOSE) but I think the MP was ok. He was helped up by the crowd and the other police standing there went after the driver at fault and then Andre got us our taxi...Ask me about it sometime for details! Craziest thing I think I've ever seen in real life and not on a movie!
Life continues to be fun, exciting, challenging, and totally worth it here in Kinshasa, RD Congo! And anyone worried about the unrest being reported about Congo right now - don't worry about me it is all on the other side of the country, which is probly more than 5,000KM away with no through roads. But do keep everyone in prayer: leaders of Congo, Rwanda, EU, UN, rebel groups, people fleeing, civilians, everyone!
That's all for now! Hope life is going well where ever you are! Drop me an email and let me know.
Love and God bless,
Andrea the African (sort of...)




Saturday, October 11, 2008

Can mosquito bites scar?

Sorry this is a little out of order in terms of a time line but you're all smart people I trust that you'll follow! Here's what's been happening in the continued adventures of "Andrea in Africa"...

And about a week or more ago I got to visit Chez Bonobo! Bonobos are monkeys that are native to Congo. They are about the size of Chimps and are super cute!! Suzanne's boss and assistant were here from Akron, PA and I got to be part of their week of activities and the Bonobos was one of them! Monkies are my favorite animal so that was great! And I really enjoyed getting to know some of the people I've met before but haven't had lots of opportunity to spend much time with before. Good bonding time!


This past weekend I went with John and Charity Schellenberg to an orphanage they help support through their NGO. It's a beautiful location out of the busier areas of the city and closer to the river and mountains! There are about 20 boys there and we had a great time with them! In this picture we had jut handed out their gifts. Someone had made them all school uniforms which meant that they would be able to finally start school that Monday (and only a week or two late!)!! We gave them ring pops (Charity's sister in Canada sent them) which I just found SOO amusing and cute! And this fruit I'm eating which is called a Mangostan. It's quite yummy! (Don't you love my pants?? They are SOO comfortable and I just had them made and they've been a lifesaver in this heat. I have a top too but that pattern top and bottom...??)

October is now in full swing and so is my weekly schedule! I'm still living with Tim, Suzanne, and Rose Lind and will be for the duration of my time in Kinshasa. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I go to the Christian University of Kinshasa (UCKIN) which many of you are familiar with. Currently I'm helping teach a Microsoft Excel class (basically I teach it the days the professor isn't there - those days are random and uscheduled making lesson planning difficult). That is in the morning for 2 hours. Then I have a break and teach an English class for another 2 hours. While I have never felt that teaching is my strong suit, it seems to be going well! Here is a picture of some of our students (they are doubled up at the computers because there are not enough computers and a few of the ones that are there are currently not functioning properly) and the real instructor - Maurice.



I still help Suzanna and Tim with their various work with MCC and MWC at the office on Tuesdays. Which I have really enjoyed! And on Thursdays I am still going to the Artisinat et Development store I wrote about before. That's going ok too. Right now I'm just helping the workers get a better handle on how to communicate in English with customers. So I try to walk around the shop and think of questions customers (such as myself) would want to ask. They know more English than they admit! Which has made my job there fairly easy! And Tuesday and Thursday evenings I'm still taking my Lingala lessons. But for me it's really Lingala and a little French lesson too so it's challenging that's for sure!

I have been getting text messages from the Embassy for the past few weeks warning of potential marches and just to be cautious but I hadn't seen or heard anything more. Well Thursday I did! As I was driving with Debo (manager of Artisinat et Development) to the A&D store, we passed a group of protestors. I asked Debo who they were and what was going on. He explained that it was a group of women whose husbands had been killed in military actions in the interior and in the East. They were marching and protesting demanding the money promised by the government not only for their husbands' pay but for their deaths. It was quite interesting and tragic all at the same time. But I was glad I got the opportunity to see it. It was peaceful and the cops present were just trying to keep the women off of the street and safe from (the horribly crazy) vehicles. I wish I could have taken a picture, but there were too many cops around and that's a no-no!

So I am fairly busy with planning classes, studying for my own class, and just trying to be useful in general. As always, there are challenges in life. I find that nearly everyday my mind is drawn to thinking about some challenge in life here and wondering how I will think about it all when I return home. That event will of course bring it's own challenges. Currently my struggle is with not having a negative attitude towards certain things. My time is winding down and I'm in a phase where the idea of going home is becoming more appealing. Therefore it's hard to not get frustrated with things like lots and lots of mosquito bites all over my legs and feet or sleeping under a stuffy mosquito net every night. Really just quite silly things but it is my current struggle so I do ask for prayers in that. And also that I can continue to focus on living here and not starting a countdown for coming home...


I think that's it for now. There's been a lot going on lately but that's what seemed most interesting to me! Stay tuned for the next version of "Andrea in Africa"


Love to all, and God bless!

Friday, September 19, 2008

Artisanat et Development Photos!

I find this wood just beautiful! I forgot the name but the younger wood stays a lighter strawberry blonde or just blonde color and the older wood becomes more red!



This is Wenge wood (I believe) and it is typically stained to be fairly dark like this. It is pretty dark wood to start with. These guys work so gently and patiently and their products show it!
Well that's all I could get uploaded today but that's a start! I love getting to go and visit these workshops. They make beautiful things!!
Enjoy the crafts of Congo


Monday, September 15, 2008

Ten Thousand Villages and Lingala!

I experienced all of my new places and duties last week and embarked on new journies along the way!

One of my new places is called Artisanat et Development. It is a program that MCC helped foster that allows artisans in Congo to produce pieces that are then shipped and sold at Ten Thousand Village stores all across the U.S. That's right...the things you see in the TTV near you - I am in their workshops here! It's just been a fantastic experience to meet some of the artisans and see the workshops and the store here. I feel like I'm in a dream really! I have many photos and video from the two wood working shops I went to last week and hope to have more experiences this week. I would love to be able to visit every workshop in Congo (they are all located in Kinshasa)! What a surreal experience for me really!

Another great endeavor I embarked upon is taking Lingala lessons! Ya for language learning! I do find that it's quite a challenge for me because the class is instructed in French and my brain has to be thinking in three languages really - Lingala into French into English! Luckily the teacher is also fluent in English and at least 3 out of the other 4 in the class speak English so when I get that confused look on my face...they translate in English! I am thankful that they are all kind, understanding people!

My next step is to be bold and speak Lingala with some of the artisans I go visit...eek not there yet even though I know the whole introductory coversation (hi, how are you? I'm fine...yada yada). Not sure how long it will take me but I think I'll try it out on some other people first...

I hope you all have had a great first have of September (seriously yes, the month is half over!!!)!

Love the ones your with (but I love all of you too:-))!

Thursday, August 28, 2008

More Pictures!

YAYA for pictures!

Here is a truck loaded to the BRIM...after they load them like this, they then put people on top of the load...



Here are a few of my kids being creative with legos!



This is a view of the Congo River with beautiful mountains in the background!


Before Gail and Pakisa left they came and presented Nancy's beautiful quilt to the family with me!



That's it for now, if there are certain things you'd like to see and haven't...let me know!
Enjoy!

Month 2 complete!

Didn’t China do a great job with the Olympics? The opening ceremony was beautiful! And the games were great! I thoroughly enjoyed getting to watch them in English via satellite at Chez Canadian – more on that change in a bit.

So I have successfully made it another month here in the lovely city of Kinshasa! This month has just flown by and has carried with it many changes. First of all the temperature has begun to increase. Today felt like the warmest day I have experienced here (still nothing like the heat of Fresno, CA). I also moved once and will be moving again on Thursday, September 4th. The first move was in answer to a situation I was in that was decidedly unfortunate. While I appreciate everything I learned from my original placement and total immersion in Congolese culture and French for a month and a half or so, I also appreciate the change. I currently live with a Canadian couple and get to work for them in their office as well as continuing my program with the kids. The kids go back to school on September 1st so that means that I move again to be closer to my next batch of assignments. Beginning on the first I will be living with an American family from Kalamazoo, Michigan!

I will be working with the wife, Suzanne, in the MCC office in Kinshasa a few days a week and the other days I will be working with UCKIN and their English Center as well as computer support and visiting the school they have K-12, Mama Makeka’s office in Kinshasa for computer support, and anywhere else I am deemed useful. I may also get to go visit some artisans as they produce and sell their goods! Look at me using all my schooling!!!! Needless to say this change will keep me busy going from office to office working with different people and taking in many different experiences. I’m very much looking forward to seeing different offices, meeting new people, increasing my French, and living in a different area of Kinshasa.

This month I have also successfully SKYPEd with my parents and my sister so my parents got to see my great hair that I could only stand for a week! And I got to see my niece walk for pretty much the first time! She is super cute and has super cute sparkly pink shoes that my sister showed off to me! I will again use SKYPE on Monday, September 1st because it is my brother’s birthday! Which will make the 4th family birthday I have missed in being gone, but also the second of 12 of my kid’s birthdays I have been here for! Trade off I guess.

I also had amoebas this month. Another great experience! But I got meds for them and they seem to be gone…who knows really. All part of living in Africa and getting the full experience! I also found a doctor who speaks enough English that I can go on my own (with a driver of course) and that’s really nice!

Below are some pictures!! Belated but there they are! The first is me and all but one kid...she was behind the camera. The second is me and my three girls! I didnt get all the pictures I wanted loaded so Ill do a second post for that...

That’s all I can think of for now. I hope you all have had a great month. I have enjoyed all the emailing back and forth with people and hearing about life in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and everywhere in between. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers!

Love and God bless, Andrea