My trip to Congo, day 6

On day six, we had breakfast at BTEDE, then piled into the back of the truck to visit the other experimental seed farm they run-- this one was in a rainforest. I think there were nine of us in the back of the truck on the way there. Most of the way was paved.



This is what the trucks in the Congo look like-- totally overloaded with stuff. I guess the idea is if you have a truck, then you haul as much as you can with it!

I took some pictures of people along the way there....





When we turned off the highway, we had about two kilometres of road going through the rainforest. From the back of the truck, it felt quite bumpy and winding. Ken rode standing on the back bumper and later said it was better that we couldn't see the road as we went. I guess there was one part where it was a sheer drop on either side. Thank You, God, for keeping us safe!




Lunch in the rainforest.

Konrad had requested fish.



Then we got a tour of the farm.

Here I'm trying a plant they call macaroni-- it was quite tasty!



These girls were pounding the cassava into flour. They had such a great rhythm going!



A group photo in part of the rainforest they're clearing.



An eggplant.



A termite mound.



As we were driving into the rainforest, I'd asked Brigitte if we'd see any monkeys or leopards, etc. She replied that the animals had all left when the machines came in to build the road. I then asked if there were snakes. She said yes, but she'd never seen any.

Well, when we came to the end of our tour, we saw this...



It was a red mambo snake, which is actually poisonous! Quite the sighting, I'd say!

On our way out of the rainforest, they stopped to let us out before trying to get up this hill (the one with the sheer drops on both sides!) Castro (in red) ran along with the truck. He was the hand brake. If the truck started rolling backwards for any reason, his job was to put a large rock behind the tire to keep it from rolling back down! Good thing that didn't happen!



Following the truck up the hill.



Coming back to Kikwit, we stopped for some reason, I'm not sure why. But when we did, the vendors approached the vehicle to sell us their wares. Ken and I bought some little woven purses (I gave one to Sage.)



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I really appreciate your kind comments!

Look what I did tonight....

I broke a board at tae kwon do tonight, using a back spin kick. :)
Thanks to Austin for taking the pictures.

A break in the Congo trip....

to show you these photos I took this afternoon.


(Is she not beautiful? I can't get over how grown up she is looking lately! I think it's the no-bangs look...)

And, posing with the new Spring jacket I bought her at Superstore this morning.





Yes, it's actually warm enough for a spring jacket today, but I'm not holding my breath that it will last very long...

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My trip to Congo, day 5

Day five was a full day. We were picked up early and taken to the BTEDE office for breakfast (long buns, peanuts, bananas, etc. Both Ken and Dennis had brought along peanut butter, which was a very good thing!)

Then, Edgard took us to the local school where we handed out some soccer balls that R.O.X., the Sunday school program at our church, had raised money to buy. The kids were so serious as we presented the ball to them, but once it was tossed out to them, ho, did they smile! They played catch with the ball and cheered each time someone caught it!









When we walked around to the secondary school, the kids all followed us, cheering, jumping and dancing! It was very humbling.



As we were walking back to BTEDE, we met a young boy who had a monkey on a leash.



Ken asked if he could hold him...





...and then insisted that I needed to hold him, too, because my kids would love it. Definitely a first for me!



After our visit to the schools, we drove to one of the experimental farms that BTEDE runs, with a stop at an association farm on the way. You get overwhelmed by the fact that everyone has to work so hard in the Congo and most of the work is by hand. It's tiring just thinking about it, especially in that heat!



At the farm, there was a nice shelter where it was cooler. We had some drinks, with peanuts and fried plantains. Then we took a tour of the farm, where we saw palm trees, beans, corn, peanuts and lots of cassava plants.


Before we left, we presented a soccer ball to the family that lives at the farm. (The extra kids in the photo are ones that came from the village to see what we were doing there.)

This is Brigitte, who works for BTEDE. I loved her. She was always smiling and ready to talk to me-- definitely nice, being surrounded otherwise by only men! In the picture with her is Fabrice, the chauffeur.




When we left the farm, the children ran behind the truck for over a mile if not further.

In the evenings, we'd go back to the Catholic House where we'd have supper (I think this night we had chicken in the same thin tomato sauce with spaghetti noodles and greens. It tasted good until Len found a moth in his serving-- after that I pretty much lost my appetite.)

In the evenings, we'd have electricity from 7 to 9pm, so that's often when we'd shower. The light in my room didn't work for the first couple of days, so I had to shower by flashlight, when there was running water. Otherwise, we'd use the buckets.

We'd spend the evenings sitting outside and talking. Some nights Edgard would come back and join us. We'd discuss projects, etc. Otherwise, we'd just spend time sharing stories and getting to know eachother better. It was a nice relaxing way to unwind from the day and process what we were seeing.

Thanks for looking!

*By the way, if you're interested in seeing how I'm going to put together my scrapbook album for the trip, you can check out my blog post at MSS here.

My trip to Congo, day 4

We got up early to go to the airport to fly to Kikwit, a city of 600 000, south west of Kinshasa, where the BTEDE office is located. We couldn't take pictures at the airport, but could discreetly from the airplane, so here's a picture of a plane just like the one we flew in, taken from my plane. They had two seats side by side, with maybe eight rows, an aisle and then one seat. Definitely the smallest aircraft I've ever flown in.


A self-portrait on the plane.



Some shots from the air of Kinshasa, the Congo river and then of a smaller Congolese village.

We arrived safely in Kikwit. Our mode of travel-- riding in the back of a half-ton. They put some boards across and fit a few lawn chairs in there. We'd hold on to the re-bar and away we'd go!

Meeting Edgard's wife.


Some photos taken in Kikwit:

The BTEDE office.

Some sewing machines at BTEDE. You might remember that I had a fundraiser several years ago to raise money for these. They have a micro-loan program at BTEDE where women can come and learn how to sew, take the machines home with them and then pay for them as they earn money sewing. I love this program-- it definitely makes the machines more accessible for the women. They're down to five machines and need more, so I'm thinking of organizing another fundraiser for these in Spring.


Maman Brigitte and Dadoo, making lunch in the kitchen of BTEDE.



Our first meal in Kikwit: rice & chicken (we always ate meat, but this is a luxury for the Congolese who usually eat meat maybe three times a month), beans, cooked greens (these were called "macaroni"), and "fou fou"-- a staple of the Congolese diet which is basically a play-dough like dough made from cassava roots, ground into flour, mixed with corn flour. The Congolese roll it into little balls and dip it in hot sauce and swallow it down, without chewing. It doesn't have very much nutritional value, but it's filling. (By the way, it's not tasty, either.)

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