Seeking God's Peace in Africa

Well here I am in Congo. I got a lift to the train station, a train to Charles De Gaulle Airport, a flight to London, and then a flight to Nairobi. That was the easy part. The next morning I flew to Kigali, Rwanda. Unfortunately (but not unusually) the flight was delayed and I missed my connection in Kigali. So, I was stranded for the day, since I could not a get a bus that would get me to Congo before the border closed. Luckily, I had met a priest on the flight who lent me the use of his vehicle, which I used to go to the Bureau de Change to get money, to the bus stop to buy a ticket for 6:30 the following day and to leave 2 of my 3 bags, and than to drop me off at the Wellspring Academy in Kigali where they graciously fed me and put me up for the night.

The following day I caught a scooter taxi at 5:30 to the bus stop. The scooter was quite underpowered, and we used it to transport the bag up the hill with both me and the driver walking. When we reached a hill the scooter could not climb, I switched to a motorcycle taxi. The bus ride from Kigali is a horrific 5+ hour journey through the Nyungwe forest and on a road so steep and curvy and riddled with potholes that a lot of people threw up. (Refer to our newsletter in Sept 2007 to find out how many people in our family threw up the last time we took this trip.)

When I arrived at the border I went through all the difficulties of Congo bureaucracy (bribery demands) and got a taxi to the ELI office. Unfortunately, I had missed all the tours of the land ELI is considering buying, but I did get time to talk with ELI leadership Don, Ron, Dan, and Mudekereza (can you guess which man is the director of ELI Congo?) We talked about budgets, and mission, and realized that we had much more to talk about before their trip to Kigali at dawn the following morning. I was not keen to get on a bus again, and after talk of what the bus trip was like, it was decided we would fly instead.

The next morning we got to the airport at the time we had been told, and then were told to wait almost three hours because the flight was delayed. We did finally get to Rwanda and satisfactorily wrapped up our meeting by 1:00am that night. The ELI leadership was going back to the States the following day, and I was going back to Congo on the bus. The following morning, I took the scooter and the bus again to Congo. Almost everyone on the bus threw up…. I’m pleased to say I did not.

Back in Bukavu (Sunday afternoon) I found friends from Food for the Hungry who had graciously hosted us for a couple days during our previous trip to Bukavu. I have learned a lot about basics in Bukavu—about car-buying, shipping household goods, banking, residency, shopping, etc. It looks like the biggest challenge remains to be housing. Bukavu’s housing market is extremely expensive. The presence of thousands of UN peacekeepers plus administration, and dozens of other NGO’s and aid groups, means that housing is at a premium and there are customers with deep (really deep) pockets. The scarcity of houses has been further intensified by the recent earthquake that damaged many buildings in Bukavu. A house in Bukavu rents for between $1000-$3000 per month.

What I mean by a house is basically a huge gaudy mansion in a compound from Belgian colonial times, or from a rich Congolese. This is not really our style, but we are also strongly advised not to take cheaper housing in the heart of the city, in a country where war is still current, and where crime is currently on the rise due to the hardship suffered from the skyrocketing food prices (150% inflation for beans). With two little girls…well, that’s what we are weighing, and something to pray about.

Unfortunately, we haven’t found any middle ground. Today (Monday) I called around after some leads and was shown 2 houses. The first one is a furnished 12 bedroom, 6 bathroom mansion on lakefront property (quite far from the office/school/expat community) done in the Congo style--$2000 per month. The second is a brand new mansion, considerably closer, with 4 or 5 bedrooms, lots of terraces, and no garden from $1800 a month. I have another lead to check out tomorrow, which is supposed to be $700 per month. We will see. Again, prayer is the key.

It’s amazing to be back in Bukavu and to be reminded what a truly different place this is. I have been given an office to sleep in while I am here. I have a mattress lying on 8 chairs, and a balcony that overlooks the street, and a bathroom down the hall (sans toilet paper.)

This morning I woke up at 5:00am. There was a tremendous racket and I could feel the building shaking. I jumped out of bed and went to look at the street where I saw a UN patrol convoy with 2 armored tanks personnel carriers on tank tracks. Just about every 5 minutes they would roll by rattling the dust off the walls and ceiling. The Congolese call them “gari ya vita”—the cars of war.

By 5:30 the city was pretty much awake. Convoys of UN land rovers mounted with machine gun turrets and filled with Pakistani soldiers rolled by, and pickup trucks full of armed guards who have finished the night guarding the dozens of compounds around. From the bathroom window I could hear a church already drumming and singing. I can look down across the valley where our school is and see shacks built next to the giant mansions built with wealth from Congo’s minerals, or colonial past, or corruption—perhaps the biggest business here. And interspersed everywhere are banana trees.

By 6:00am the street was pretty much free of the convoys of weapons, and instead Red Cross ambulances and medical convoys made from transformed Mercedes Unimog trucks roll by with their lights flashing. In a strange juxtaposition, there are also joggers in the street, and the neighbors to the ELI office, a couple from China, take their morning stroll. This morning I also watch as a Catholic priest, out for his walk, stops to shred posters off the wall of Alfajiri College—the Catholic university directly across from our office.

Alfajiri College is probably the best illustration of Bukavu I can think of. Its sprawling campus is filled with grand buildings, some four stories tall with columns and architectural details that mirror universities in Europe. But the buildings are derelict; windows are broken, plaster is marred by bullets and shells, and the 6.8 earthquake that rocked Bukavu in February has caused damage. Education continues in some of the buildings, while people (tenants/squatters) have moved into others. The gardens in front of reception contain vestiges of careful landscaping including ornamental cacti. Now there is also a vegetable garden there, and a small crop of maize someone has planted to combat their rising food bill.

It’s easy to see what Alfajiri college was, and it’s very plain what it is now. Please pray as this country struggles for peace. We are trusting that God can use us in our limited capacity to bring some help and hope to the people we come in contact with in Bukavu.

Thank you for your prayers for me, for Jen and the girls and for your support of us on this journey.

God Bless,

Davis