Back in Kinshasa

     It’s always amazing to me how you can get on an airplane and a few hours later (okay, more like 24-30hrs later) be in a totally different world.  That’s how it felt when we left Seattle after 7 months there……and then arrived here in Kinshasa.  We left the cold, cloudy, rainy weather  of the Pacific Northwest to arrive in sunny, balmy, warm (i.e. HOT) Kinshasa.  There is so much to love about the Pacific Northwest, and we did enjoy our time there, but since the name of this blog is “Hursts In Africa” I would rather write about life here.

     It has been great to see friends.  I’m always touched at who actually remembers us…a city of over 10 million, yet the car guard at a certain grocery store remembers me and asks where I’ve been for so long, the lab tech at the hospital welcomes me back (Emmy wasn’t feeling well this week and needed a malaria test – negative, thank God), and even the banana lady welcomed me back with some extra bananas.

     Pat went downtown to arrange for our internet hook up.  When he wrote on the form “Assemblies of God” for his employer the entire office suddenly recognized him (HOT tropical sun + bald head = the need to wear a hat)….Ends up everyone in the office is a member of one of our Assemblies of God churches here.  They greeted him and laughed as they told some of their favorite stories that he has preached on over the years.

     Sweet fellowship, pleasant “hello’s”.

     I’m also reminded how people struggle here – daily tasks can be so difficult and time consuming.  People fight to make their way through the day, to earn enough to feed their children at night, and to keep a bit of their dignity. 

     As we live here, observe, and interact with life, here’s a glimpse of what we see…..

     Today I was grocery shopping and was walking up a street when a huge fight broke out.  Three policemen (in uniform!) were yelling and shoving one another…..of course this drew the attention of everyone, soon there was yelling and a crowd.  I quickly got out of there, ducking into a store.  When things calmed down I was able to return to my truck.  Someone told me that the 3 policemen were fighting over 500 congolese francs…...approximately .54 cents. 

     We’ve also had a mentally ill man outside of our gate the last few nights.  There are basically no quality services here for those with mental illness and it can be quite sad.  They often wander around, eventually choosing a corner or street block as their territory.  This particular man was violently angry.  He began YELLING around 10pm, he was very agitated and talking nonsense.  He would walk up and down our little block, banging on doors and ringing bells.  This went on until well after midnight. Emily was unnerved and none of us got much sleep until he settled down.  It was eerie, lying in bed and listening to his angry ranting, it also was sad, thinking of his confusion and anger, knowing that there were no services to help him.  It made me very thankful for our security guards – something that can seem exaggerated or extravagant when you’re not here, but can be very necessary when facing the realities on the ground.  But more than anything, I know that Jesus is our security guard, and that is our ULTIMATAE peace.