congo and beyond

So I didn't quite get a second post up before I left the country. My memory of those last few weeks before I left is all a bit of a blur. And sitting here now I can't quite believe that I've been here for almost two weeks. At the moment everything still seems like I'm here with a HOPE team because Bill is still here. The purpose of his trip is to go to Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo to meet with our partner there and also meet with all our other partners who will travel to Kampala, Uganda to meet us.

The Congo leg of our trip has now been and gone and I think if I don't write about it now it will remain unwritten. Pastor Willy  Tumwine from Mbarara, Uganda, met up with Bill and I in Kampala on Tuesday 22nd Febuary, 2011. Bill (CEO of Australia HOPE International) and I had left Aus on the Sunday morning at 7:35 am to an embarrassingly loud chorus of friends singing us down the ramp at Adelaide airport. The first leg to Perth airport was relatively short, the second leg to Johannesburg, relatively long. We stayed overnight in J'burg for which I am so thankful and after a relaxing morning continued our journey to Entebbe which, although not the capital city, has the main airport. Taxi ride to Lugala where our partner's base is located and we have pretty much got to the point where Pastor Willy meets us.

So, on Wednesday morning we get ourselves back to Entebbe (an hour away) to catch our MAF flight to Bunia. When we get there, there is some confusion as the airport officials are under the impression that the flight has already left. With something of a sinking feeling we ring the MAF office to find out that our flight has indeed gone at 7:30 that morning not the 12 o'clock we rocked up for. Through a series of unfortunate events we had not been informed of the change of flight time.

Luckily MAF were able to get us on a flight early the next morning that had been chartered by a group of dog enthusiasts who were heading into DRC to, in their words, 'observe' the breed of dog in it's place of origin. I'm not sure how much research had been done by some of these people about the area they were heading into. I hope they enjoyed their time, I have a feeling it would have been very eye opening.

For those of you who don't know much about DRC (like the dog enthusiasts) I'm not going to fill this page up with information you can find out for yourself but please, have a look, do a google search, it wont take much of your time and you'll be better informed than you would be with any information I could give you.

What I will say is that Bunia is a town of over 300 000 people and nowhere is there a bituminised road. Unless you count the air strip (mostly used by MAF and the UN) which is not the smoothest of 'roads' anyway. Bunia also lacks a post office, half the town has no running water or power and it is jammed with people who fled to the town from villages during the war in recent years.

Our partner Mozart, his wife Sephora and their kids have an amazing story, escaping from DRC to seek asylum in Nairobi, Kenya in 2003 where they remained until 2008. While there Mozart studied for his Masters in Missiology, writing his thesis on the rehabilitation of war orphans. In 2008 they returned and now through the support of Australia HOPE International and generous donors here in Australia, Mozart has over 200 war orphans in Bunia HOPE Complex School and foundations have been dug for the construction of a Senior School.

I loved our time in DRC, it was lovely to meet these people I had heard so much about and I got to use a little of much high school french. Although language was somewhat of a barrier, there are certain things that don't need language to communicate. Like giving a child a balloon - even if they've never seen one before they can understand that it is for them to play with. Or a smile, or a hug, these are things to be treasured more than words.

I took lots of photos. They capture moments in time, different events, different stories. I think though that Africa can't be experienced through a photo because as much as it is visually overwhelming, it is the sounds and smells that give it life. Like when I get off the plane in Entebbe, I can feel, taste, smell and hear that I am in Africa and a photo, even a brilliant one, can't, I think, capture that.  But enjoy them anyway. I love that the small portion of knowledge I have about Africa is blown away every time I go somewhere new or meet someone I haven't met before. Bunia is not far over the border from Uganda yet there were so many fascinating new aspects of African culture for me to store in my 'Africa' folder.

I think that is enough - even I am getting bored. So until next time, be blessed

Bron