Our return to Luputa this week was another wonderful experience -- and this time we were on our own, although we brought our very good interpreter, Dede, with us. We couldn't have done it without him!! The Luputa Water Project is up and running, with just a few glitches, but it is progressing quite well. The construction is completed and now it's time for the water committee to learn how to become a water company. The picture on the right shows Elder B, with Dede interpreting, being recorded for a local radio station while explaining to some villagers at this particular water station how to keep the water coming for years and years to come. Namely, to commit to paying the small water fee (about 5 cents US for 2 large bidons of water each day) in order to maintain and repair any breaks as they happen. He is reminding the villagers how important the health of their children is by having clean uncontaminated water to drink. Dede was right there translating into French or Tschluba (?) or Swahili(?) or Lingala. He is amazing! Later in the week we attended a meeting called by the water committee with the local pastors. The purpose of this meeting was to give correct information and ask the pastors to talk to their congregations about the importance of maintaining the system. Elder B was asked to speak. He did a great job praising the people for all the hard work they had done to dig the 19 miles of trenches and lay the huge pipe -- all by hand -- and he pled with them not to let this "miracle" fail. Once again the radio stations were present to record the event.
Sorry about this unposed picture, but we wanted to show you again how beautiful the surroundings are. And by the way, no one told these people that the Moondelees/Moontokas/Moozooloos were coming. (Whiteys to you). The people, especially the children, just appear. I watched at one water station when we arrived. No one there. Five minutes later there were 65.
Someone told us before coming to the Congo that we would be treated like rock stars. Now we understand. We are truly the big news of the day! Every day!
This picture of our scorpion friend is for our grandsons. We also found one in the bathrub, but since there is no running water and the bathtub is not used, we didn't care that the little guy was living there. We are told that these scorpions are not poisonous. Be sure to double-click on him so you see his lovely tail!
These little piggies are on their way to market. They are very hot and uncomfortable, and they would feel even worse (if possible) if they knew what their future held. I call this picture "The Poor Piggies and the Broken Bike". The man is fixing his flat tire, so he put the green palm branches over the piggies to keep them cooler. I'm afraid the pigs were beyond caring at this point. Bicycles are the main mode of transporting EVERYTHING to and from Luputa. The bikes are pushed much more than ridden. The loads they carry are enormous. And they push them for miles and miles
On our way to Luputa from Mbuji Maya we had the good fortune to be able to cross the bridge with only a small bribe to the engineer who laid down some planks over the gaping hole for us while the huge overloaded trucks had to wait. We were just a little over-confident about our return to Mbuji Maya/airport/Kinshasa. When we approached the bridge after driving an hour from Luputa, we could see that there was NO way we would be able to cross, unless we were riding bikes. So we had to turn around and drive back one hour to Luputa and take the back road. Total driving time that day -- 10 hours on roads you can't believe. It should have been 5 hours. Dad's back was pretty banged up from the rough riding.
Here are some examples of the surprises we would find around the corner!!
Yes, we got through, but only by taking detours out in the bush. And sometimes we got to take detours of the detours.
We were asked to return in 3 months to access the water project again, and by then another couple may be assigned to the closer mission, so we would just be "training" them. We will miss our lovely Luputa and the friends we have made there.
We will end our blog by sharing some African wisdom. Africa is never in a hurry. One saying is "Going slowly does not prevent arriving." Example from the book Into Africa: A South African relates how he once gave a lift to an old farmer who said he was going to visit his daughter. "How far away does she live?" the driver asked. "Three days' travel," answered the farmer. "When did you leave home?" "When I left," answered the old man. "And when will you get there?" "When I get there." "Does your daughter know you are coming?" "No." "And what will she say when she sees you?" "Oh, you are here."
We experience this every day when traveling to our project sites. Elder B will ask, "How far is it?" "Not far." "How long will it take?" "Not long."
Another favorite saying: Delay does not spoil things. It makes them better.
We love this place!
And we love you!
Happy Mothers' Day!!
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