Letters from Janice McLain,
Missionary serving in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Newsletter from Janice McLain, April 25, 2008
Greetings to all of you,,
I’m sorry is has taken so long to get this newsletter out. When I returned to Lubumbashi I had four months work to catch up on. It needed to be done as quickly as possible so that the conferences and projects would know how much money they had in their accounts. I worked 11 hour days and then came home and did email for a couple of hours. But Rachel and I got it caught up in about a month or so. We also got all the back monthly reports for the General Board done. Also during this time I made a trip to Zambia to pay the payroll taxes for the Zambia missionaries.
When all this paperwork was finished, I thought good now we can relax for a bit, just keep up on the daily work. Hmmm. Someone must have heard me because within a week activity related to our delegates going to General Conference began. The South Congo and related conferences had most of their arrangements taken care of by the Conference Treasurer, Mama Mbombo. However North Katanga and Tanzania needed help. It just so happened that people from the American Embassy in Kinshasa came down for a meeting with all the Americans, which I attended. I especially wanted information regarding our delegates getting US visas. At the time of the meeting our intention was to send them all to Luska, Zambia, because it would be cheaper. They could go by road rather than fly. The people in charge of arrangements for North Katanga wanted their people to go to Kinshasa and so I began making arrangements with the embassy who were so helpful. Next South Congo decided they would send all of theirs up there too. The embassy set aside two weeks for our delegates. One week for South Congo and one for North Katanga. The process for paying for the interview changed during this time. All interview fees had to be paid to Citibank so I got our Area Financial Executive in Kinshasa involved. She made all the payments, kept a list of who was to go on which date. The conferences made arrangements for lodging and meals for their delegates as well as the plane tickets. Farayi paid for the lodging and meals. I, then, reimbursed her for the interview fees, lodging and meals. I don’t know what we would have done without her help.
Also during this time the conferences were making arrangements for the tickets to the US. We are talking about 72 total delegates. They all needed to go at the same time. The airlines they were making arrangements with were not able to put all the delegates on the same flight. They just didn’t have enough seats. It also meant flying them to Johannesburg, South Africa where they would catch another flight to the US and then another to Fort Worth, TX. Coming back they would have to stay overnight in Johannesburg before catching a flight to L’shi. It seemed that just as we would get one group settled the airline cancelled the flight for another. Finally my assistant, Nkonde, went to Kenya Airways to see about some other routing. He was told that Congolese no longer needed transit visas for Kenya or for LONDON. They ended up providing the tickets for almost all delegates to fly on one plane to Nairobi, Kenya and on to London where they transferred to British Airways directly to Fort Worth, TX. The return flight is the same in reverse with no overnight. And at a great price! We had lots of things go wrong during this whole process but they, for the most part, turned out okay. Some people had applied for new passports and didn’t get them until just at the very end with just enough time to try for their visa at the embassy in Lusaka. Three got them, the others didn’t. The most extraordinary one was Kimba. He had been the person working with arrangements for North Katanga delegates and was a reserve. At the very end one NK delegate got denied a visa and Bishop told him to apply. Kimba had been to the US before so getting a visa shouldn’t be any problem. We got his letter of invitation in time for him to travel to Lusaka, was able to get him a ticket on the flight from Lusaka on Wednesday. The rest of the delegates left Monday and at 1:00 p.m. we all heaved a big sigh of relief. That was until I read my email. Kimba’s visa had been put on hold. He had traveled to the US last year with a man from NK and the embassy wanted a copy of the man’s passport and re-entry stamp to prove that he had come back. Kimba wasn’t getting his visa until they had this information. We finally got Fabrice’s phone number, called, no answer, no answer. All the key people we could have called to help us were on that plane to Nairobi. Finally got in touch with a former employee who went to look for him but did not find him. At 5 p.m. I got a call from one of the delegates telling me they had made it safely to Nairobi. Nkonde came back to the office and we talked some more about how to find Fabrice. He was able to get the phone number in Nairobi from my phone and we called back to see if anyone had any information about how to reach Fabrice. Someone gave us the phone number of a neighbor. Called the neighbor who said he’d go right over and have Fabrice call us. He called Nkonde, heard what was needed, went do to the cyber cafe and by 10 p.m. the information was on its way to Kimba. He received it the next morning in time to make his appointment at the embassy. His visa was approved and altho they don’t usually give visas the same day they made a special effort and at 4 p.m. he picked up his passport with the visa. He made his flight on Wednesday, arriving in Ft. Worth on Thursday, yesterday.
Forty of our 67 delegates are staying for two extra weeks to itinerate in six different conferences. Many of these people have never been in the US before. Many have never been out of the Congo. I was just reading the newsletter from the OR/ID Conference and it says that there are 187 voting delegates from Africa. We have 67, out of a possible 72, of those 187 delegates!
In the middle of all this Nkonde and I made a trip to Zambia. I paid the payroll taxes in Kitwe and then we went down to Zambezi for the Zambia Executive Committee meeting. It was held over Easter weekend so that Bishop Katembo could preach. It took us one day from Kitwe to Solwezi, one day from Solwezi to Zambezi. We arrived on Friday, late afternoon. As I got out of the car all the children rushed up to take my hands and walk with me over to Bernard’s house. It was such a warm welcome. After greeting him and some of the other adults he took us to the guesthouse where we would be staying for the weekend. We returned to his house a little later as his wife had prepared a meal for us. The next morning we went back to the orphanage, had breakfast, took some pictures, went out to see the maize farm that was for the orphanage, came back for lunch, took a tour of the orphanage and the new buildings and then met with the children. I had brought some strawberry milk drink for them. We met in one of the rooms of the kitchen building. The children sang several songs and Bernard did a funny little dance step to one of them. I told him I could do that too so we both danced while the children sang. It was a fun time. Afterwards we took a tour of the girls’ dorm that should be completed by the end of this month. The girls are eager to move in but they will need beds, bedding, towels, soap, all the things that are needed to move into a room. The PNW Conference had almost $1,500.00 leftover after paying my itineration bills and that money was sent to the project of my choice which was the orphanage. That plus the money that was either given to me or sent when I got back for the orphans will help to purchase some of what is needed. Also during the afternoon I took a picture of each individual child. I am hoping Bernard will send me a short paragraph about each child. I don’t have any of those yet but hopefully he will bring some with him when he goes to Annual Conference in Zambia.
Easter Sunday the small church was packed. Lots and lots of singing and Bishop preached. Of course, I couldn’t understand what he said but he was well received. Afterwards there was a meal and we started our Executive Committee meeting. As usual there was a roll call. If someone wasn’t there another person was chosen to take his or her place. Then secretaries were chosen. This all takes a long time. When the business starts I am the first one to give their report. Since last year there was a request for a different type of report this one wasn’t very long. There were some questions but mostly from people who had no idea about the finances of the Zambia Conference and how things are done. I answered a few questions and then was allowed to leave. If I had understood the language I would have stayed. Nkonde went back and he reported back to me the few things of interest. They had committee meetings that evening. Nkonde and I left after breakfast the next day, Monday. As I stood by the car door one small child came up and hugged me around my legs. Two more little ones followed. As we drove off, I looked back to see several of them waving goodbye. We drove back to Solwezi, spent the night and then returned to L'’hi on Tuesday. Got back about 5 p.m.
With all the delegates in the US things are quiet here and I have taken 3 days off. Just as well because we didn’t have electricity from sometime Tuesday night until 6:30 p.m. last night. Monday Nkonde and I will go to Zambia to pay the payroll taxes and do a few errands including picking up mail. We’ll come back on Tuesday.
May will be busy with the delegates returning and the report that I must do regarding all the expenses paid out by my office. On May 28 I leave for my month’s vacation. I will be going to Austin, TX to attend my nephew’s high school graduation, then to Boston to visit my brother, Larry and his wife, Jeanette. I haven’t seen them for several years. While I am there I will go down to New York for a few days to visit my friend, Barbara, and go to see people at the General Board. As soon as I get back at the end of June I must go to Zambia to pay those payroll taxes again! The conferences will be working on getting all our delegates and reserves to our Central Conference meeting in August so maybe by September things will settle down and I can say “Good, now we can relax a bit” and we can.
If you have any questions please feel free to email me at afejlm05@swbell.net.
If you would like to contribute to the items needed for the girls dormitory or the kitchen please use Advance special #14420T Front Porch Orphans. It helps to have you email me if you are sending funds so that I can watch for them.
If your church would like to support my work here in Africa use #12086Z, Janice McLain.
Greetings to all of you,
The last few months have been busy ones starting with my vacation trip back to the United States to spend Christmas with my family. I was able to stay with my sister, Debbie, and her husband, Billy, in Moody, AL for 10 days before Deb and I drove back to the Kansas City area. Billy flew later. The first night we stayed with my niece and her husband and I got to meet my great niece, Emma. The next day I got to meet my great nephew, Carter, in Overland Park, KS. They are only 3 ½ weeks apart in age. Then I spent the rest of the time with my son and his family. It was nice to be with the grandchildren over the holidays. I returned to Lubumbashi on Jan. 6 and my office reopened on Jan. 8.
January was pretty much just a catch up month. Rachel did a good job handling the funds while I was away. I scheduled some time in February with the Director of all the conference women’s programs and the conference treasurer to visit the various projects.
Our first trip was to visit the site where the Samaria District is building their district superintendent a house. There are twelve churches in the district and they do fund raising projects. They have been raising funds since 2004. They are in the process of raising the walls. This project will take several years as the funds they can raise are not large but they will keep at it until the house is finished.
Next we visited the United Methodist church, Barnabus Parish. This church was started in 2001 and is still under construction. The congregation meets there on Sundays unless it rains. The church has no roof. Approximately 200 persons attend each Sunday. They want to build a house for the pastor on the same lot as soon as they finish the church.
Then we visited the church where Bishop Katembo attends. This is the Tiberie Parish and is on Katembo Avenue. This church is an open-air church in that it has a roof supported by pillars but no walls. There are benches for the people to sit on and the benches were there when we visited. I asked about theft and was told by the pastor that no one would steal from the church. They had yet to lose a bench. This church is on one of four lots the conference bought years ago all right there together. They hope to build the church and then a house for their pastor. They have the foundation of the house laid.
Then last Tuesday I went to visit the Women’s Education and Adult Education Center. This project was started in 2004. The school year is usually opens in Nov with graduation in July. The women learn English the first 3 months and then agriculture, community development, leadership, counseling, adult education classes in psychology, reproduction, health of women, peace and justice projects, computer course (when they have computers), sewing, making tomato sauce and soap, knitting and management. Women come Monday thru Friday either for a morning class from 8-12:30 or afternoon class 2-4:30. They need English books and teaching materials including dictionaries. Cost is $150.00 USD per year. They do have space for boarding students but no money to feed them. I asked some of the women why they wanted to learn English. Many said they are coming into contact with missionaries and development people who only speak English and they want to be able to communicate with them. There were 8 students.
Next door is the Maison Diaconal in Lubumbashi, the conference training program for young girls who have not completed their education and young mothers who were not able to finish school because of having a baby. This program also started in 2004 with 8 girls. Today they have over 300. They teach sewing, knitting, literacy, arithmetic, nutrition, economics, and hygiene. The day I was there they were taking exams. They take an exam every 6 months to see if they have learned enough to move up to another class. Cost is approximately $36.00 per year. No boarding students. They have seven teachers and the classrooms are way too small for the number of students. One class had students standing around the wall and I had to stand in the doorway. There was no room for me to enter. They also have two groups. One comes from 7:30 till 12:00 and the other from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. The age range is 14-22.
Next door is the Mama Safi Home for Girls, which was started in 1996. It is a place for girls attending secondary school and the university to stay. Again the home does not have enough funds to feed the girls who stay there but they do have a kitchen area which the girls can use. They have rooms for 60 and right now have 42 girls. The rooms are small. Each room has two single beds with a table between on one side and the door on the other. Each girl pays 3,000 CF or $6.00 per month to live there. Pastor’s children do not pay nor do orphans. The home has a staff of 3. An American woman built the home and she was given the Congolese name for her name and so Mama Safi Home for Girls was named. The biggest concern of the girls is their safety. Recently someone broke a window and tried to steal from a suitcase that was sitting close to it. These girls leave early and return after dark. The university and secondary schools are far away and transportation difficult. They want a brick wall built to surround the home with a gate for safety. There were half a dozen girls there when we visited. At least two of them were studying medicine to become doctors.
As I visit the various women’s projects I see that they are all trying to do the same thing, help educate young girls and young women and teach them skills to make a living. Most of these projects have very little. They charge a minimal amount so that the students will be able to attend and that little bit goes to pay the salaries of the teachers. It doesn’t leave much for supplies but they do what they can. The leaders of these programs are committed to their students, to teach them the best they can.
I visited one other project later in Ruashi. It was a women’s training center, which started the year with 100 students but was down to 50 because the girls could not pay the 1,500 CF per month ($3.00). They have had a lot of their tables and benches stolen as they have no way to lock the doors of the 3 rooms they use. They have one sewing machine which is kept at the nearby parsonage. They girls were on break but some, maybe a dozen or so, came to greet me. They set up a small display of some of the things they had learned to make. There were some embroidered cloths and I bought 3. I want to use them on my display table during my itineration. One cloth I bought especially for a women’s circle, the ETC Circle, in Paola, Kansas who sent me $150.00 to use wherever I saw a need. The need I am using that money for is to buy this project 2 more sewing machines. My thanks to the women of ETC Circle, Paola, Ks.
Janice McLain
Missionary serving in Lubumbashi, DRC
Support # 12086Z
Greetings,
I realized that I had better sit down and put some of what I have been doing these past weeks on paper. I wrote you about the trip with Bishop Katembo. After returning to Lubumbashi I spent a couple of weeks getting caught up at the office then took off for Zambia. It was time to pay the payroll taxes, send mail, pick up mail, buy some groceries and then head back.
On Wed., 2nd of August, I took some of my vacation for this year and flew to Nairobi to meet up with a work team that came from my home church, Woodburn, and a covenant church, Salem 1st, both in Oregon. Altogether we would be 15. On Thursday, Aug 3, I went to the AFE office in Nairobi and worked tracing some payments that had been made. On Friday morning I was picked up by one of the vans from the travel agent and we went to the airport to meet the team. It was so good to see them! We went to the Methodist Guest House where we would spend that night but during the day the agent took us first to exchange money, then lunch and then places where the team could shop for local crafts.
Each day of the trip one person was assigned a day to do devotions. They had a booklet made before the trip which included everyone’s favorite Bible scriptures as a guide.
The following day 3 vans of team members made their way to Maua. Because of bad roads we had to take the long way around and so, with lunch, it took us most of the day to get there. Half of us were to work building a two room house for a grandmother and her two grandchildren whose parents had died from AIDS. This is a program that has been going on in the community for several years. It made such an impact on the group when they saw where the family had been living and to know that they had a part in providing a much nicer house. That part of the team also got to see and experience and meet some of the local people in the area where they were working. We traded off and on so that anyone who wanted to work at the house could do so. The rest of the team worked at Maua Hospital. We all had a tour of the hospital that opened people’s eyes about conditions in Africa. The team at the hospital painted, painted, painted and painted. Each morning they had a tea break for us. The first day we told them we really didn’t need the break and were told that if we didn’t take a break then the men working with us couldn’t take a break and that was their “breakfast” time. Needless to say we took our break and shared with each other things that had happened so far that day.
One day the hospital lead staff had a lunch for us so that we could meet key people and have some discussion. It was a very nice meal and they also gave us an opportunity to buy T shirts from the hospital.
During the week some of the team had the opportunity to go with staff as they visited in the surrounding community. One team member got to go to a school to deliver a “football” (soccer ball).
During the week one morning it was our team’s turn to lead the opening worship in the chapel. They have two half-hour services Monday-Friday. We did lots of singing.
After our week at Maua we left and stopped by Machungulu where the hospital has started a clinic. I was working in Kenya years ago when this was just a dream and then it was started in one room in the local UMC. Now they are building the building they had dreamed of. I was so happy that, altho it took time, they were able to move ahead on their dream. This is an ecumenical program and has lots of support from other local denominations. They are hopeful that they can start more clinics in other areas, as there has been requests and support from the churches.
Our next few days were spent in Meru at the Bio Intensive Training Center. This project director, John Mwalimu, teaches farmers how to grow better crops using local materials and how to raise various farm animals without needing lots of grazing space. There is an old house on the property where John and his family used to live. They have now moved into a house they have built and have been renovating the old house to be used as a guesthouse. Some of the men put fixtures in the bathroom, helped replace part of the foundation supports and most of the rest of us painted, painted, painted and painted. We’re almost experts now!
While we were in Meru we got to attend one of the United Methodist Churches on Sunday morning. It was within walking distance of the project. We also got to go to Kenya Methodist University and have a tour given by Lahi and Yema Luhahi, Methodist missionaries who are serving there. I have known them for several years. They actually are from the DRC.
As a last thing our team planted a tree in the front lawn. This is something that was started by a previous team with a sign that this tree was planted by…….. We left Meru early on a Wed and traveled back to Nairobi where we caught a flight to the Masai Mara National Park. We had our first game drive from the airport to the lodge. We had some problems with reservations and although we didn’t stay where we had planned we have a bed each night. It actually gave the team an opportunity to experience some things they wouldn’t have otherwise. However the game drives each day were wonderful and the team saw so many different animals. As we were there during the wildebeest migration we had a chance to experience that, which was something I had never seen.
Our flight back was late Friday afternoon. We picked up our luggage and then drove to the Carnivore Restaurant for a final meal before the team departed. This restaurant serves many different meats like chicken, lamb, beef but also several meats like zebra, crocodile, antelope, etc. It was a great ending of the time in Kenya.
I flew back to Lubumbashi the next day and was back at work on Monday. It was time to get ready for the follow up audit by GBGM personnel in Sept. You can imagine how busy I was as I wanted to be as completely caught up as possible. I released funds to both conferences as I was closing the office during the audit. I made a down one day back the next trip to Zambia. Nash Vickers, the auditor, came in September and spent two weeks working with me to bring the books completely up to date. When he left I felt that the books were in really good shape and I could go forward with payments to projects knowing that the funds were actually there.
Now here it is October. We have lots of people in the conferences traveling to the US and other places in Africa for meetings. I’m trying to get all the odds and ends done in the office that always seem to fall to the bottom of any pile. Making good progress. In November I will be traveling to Tanzania for a week to visit our two missionaries serving there and to talk with government officials about the payroll taxes we should be paying. At the end of November I will spend a week in Zambia paying payroll taxes, dealing with mail, groceries but the extra time is to visit Paul Webster’s agriculture project. It will take one day driving to get there, two days there, and one day driving back to Kitwe. This should be an interesting trip.
For personal news, I was going to visit a friend in Sierra Leone during the Christmas holidays but found out she was not going to be there. So I decided to take the balance of my vacation with the 2 ½ weeks my office will be closed for the holidays and go back home for Christmas. I leave here on Dec. 9 returning Jan. 6. I am so glad I was able to get a seat on a flight returning when I needed to come back. It’s not a problem leaving here that time of year but is difficult to get back with so many people traveling.
I will be spending most of that time with my sister and her husband in Moody, AL. Then just before Christmas she and I will drive back to Kansas where our kids and their families are. Her husband will fly. Because of space (they have two dogs that go too!) one of us had to fly and I gave him his choice of driving with Deb or flying. He chose flying. Great!!!! Once in Kansas I will spend most of the time with my son and his family getting re-acquainted with my grandchildren and meeting my new grand niece and grand nephew. Then Deb and I will drive back to AL on the 30th and I will spend those next few days there before coming back to L’shi.
I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. If you have any questions please feel free to email me.
Janice McLain
Missionary serving in the DRC
Email afejlm05@swbell.net
Greetings to you all, July 17, 2006
I want to share with you about the trip I took with Bishop Katembo to three annual conferences held in June. One each at Kapanga, Tshimbalanga and Kolwezi. These conferences were moved back to June because of the elections coming up in the DRC on July 30. The conferences are in southwestern DRC.
We left Lubumbashi (L’shi) on Tuesday at 12:45 p.m. and drove to Kolwezi. Took us about 6 ½ hrs. to go about 195 miles. The last four hours were over a bad road. I stayed at the former home of Delbert and Sandy Groves, missionaries who relocated to Zambia because of the war years ago. Bishop had his driver take me out to see the Methodist secondary school being built and Bethel UMC, a large church which will have living space in the back for the pastor and assistant pastor when it is finished.
We were to continue on to Kasaji the next day but the truck carrying our fuel did not arrive. Finally Bishop had fuel put in his vehicle from some that he had left there for emergencies. There is little fuel in town because there are not many vehicles. There were two other extended cab trucks traveling with us but they were going to wait for the fuel truck. We left about 5 a.m. Thursday morning and arrived in Kasaji about 6 p.m. about 198 miles. Now I thought the road was bad before but it was a super highway compared to this road. It was constantly like being on one of the mechanical bulls you see on TV sometimes. During the rainy season big trucks travel this road and they dig big gouges in it. At one point Bishop said the last time he had come across this road in the rainy season 3 big trucks had been stuck and he had to wait 3 days before he could pass. It took us about 13-14 hours to get to Kasaji.
Kasaji is just a large African village. We stayed in the Methodist guest house. No electricity, no running water and the women cooked for us over charcoal fires. The line for electricity passes just outside of the town but there is no transformer and no lines for the village to get electricity. Been this way for years. Bishop had hoped that the other vehicles would arrive soon but by morning none had come so we had to wait. There is no fuel in town as there are no vehicles. Finally about 11:30 the two dble cab trucks arrived and they brought fuel for our vehicle. The fuel truck was having some difficulty so they came on ahead. We filled the tank and left about 1 p.m. The others wanted to rest and then would come on in a couple of hours.
We traveled north and east to Tshimbalanga which took us about 5 hours. Then we headed north, in the dark, to Kapanga. We arrived just at midnight. We covered a total of 207 miles in 11 hrs. This was an interesting road. Sometimes it was like being on a back country road in the US, sometimes we only had two tracks with grass in between, sometimes we were just driving over rocks, and sometimes there was only one track we were following thru the grass. When we came to villages I was thankful that the driver had made this trip several times because you couldn’t see any road across the village. You sort of had to “feel” your way but he knew where to look so we never got off the road. I was surprised to find lots of sand. We had several long stretches of deep sand to drive thru. Again it was a very bad road. When we arrived in Kapanga we stayed at the house that, years ago, single missionaries serving Kapanga lived in. They had a generator so we had electricity, very dim, at night for about 4 hours. No running water and again the ladies cooked over charcoal fires. They had a meal waiting for us.
Saturday we just rested but I was able to have a tour of Samuteb Hopsital. Lots and lots of new babies including two sets of twins. I saw one set close up and they were soooo tiny. The mother of the others was feeding them. The hospital has received some money recently and has completed needed repairs outside and now working on painting the inside, putting up mosquito nets for the babies and children, screens, etc. The hospital does not have electricity but they do have a generator that they use for several hours at night or during the day when surgery must be done.
I also was taken on a walking tour of the nursing school, secondary school (they have 750 students and really need some more desks), market, and a driving tour around the village. There are no stores, no vehicles except the ones we brought and the 3 hospital ambulances so no fuel. This mission station and village are in a very rural area. They tell me years ago before the war there was a good road to L’shi (600 miles away) and you could drive there in one day. It took us 3 days. Bishop was concerned because the other vehicles did not show up. Saturday evening he finally sent his driver back along the road to find them. One truck had run out of oil so was waiting for the fuel truck. The other had lost its brakes on an incline. They had rolled backwards until someone pulled the steering wheel and they were just sitting waiting crosswise on the road. They knew Bishop would eventually send someone to find them but there was nothing they could do but wait. Cell phones don’t work out there, no towers, however in a few months that will change. We saw them putting in 3 towers. Anyway the vehicle was repaired and they came on to Kapanga.
Conference began on Sunday with morning worship outside. Lots of people and choirs with great music. Everything was either in French or Swahili and altho some tried to translate for me it was very difficult to follow. The worship service was fairly obvious but my real frustration came during the conference when all the reports were given and I couldn’t understand what they were discussing. As there was no electricity conference closed when it got dark around 5:30-6 p.m.
Monday they started with worship at 8:30 then broke for committee meetings, to resume the following day.
Tuesday we began with worship and then reports all day. I sat with the conference treasurer, Mbombo, and her assistant as they distributed the funds to retired pastors and surviving spouses that had come from the Board of Pensions. This was the first emergency distribution and we finally worked out the best way to do it.
Wednesday was more reports but late in the afternoon we had the Ordination service. Two women and one man were ordained, I think, as deacons. Then 40 men were ordained as elders. This took a long, long time. Next was the guest preacher and then the reading of the appointments. As this ran into the night they brought in some lights running off car batteries. This was a very long day. I asked how all these people got to conference and was told they come by bicycle if they had one or they walked. Those are the only options.
We left late the next morning. Bishop wanted to be the last vehicle this time so that if there were any problems we would know about them. As it turned out we had a flat tire. Then later we stopped along the road after an hour and waited for the others to catch up. The fuel truck was first, then the gray truck and then the white one. It was interesting to see this road in the daylight. Hadn’t improved at all! Many places along the road it was just tall grass and then we’d be in trees. Relatively flat. Lots of sand. Small villages now and then. Just before dark the white vehicle had a problem but our driver got it fixed. We went on but it stopped again and this time for good. It was dark at the edge of the grass lands and the beginning of the trees. The only tow rope they had was the twine tying down the tarp on the back of the truck. They used it so our vehicle could tow them to the next village. It continuously broke of course. We could only go very slowly over the road but at least we were driving on a little better part. Where, or where, is a village when you need one! It took us 1 ½ hrs. to get to a village where we left the vehicle and it’s passengers. It was 8:30 p.m. by then. We went on to Tshimbalanga where the driver left us, picked up a tow rope and returned to the stranded vehicle. I was told later that he got there about 5 a.m. The villagers had been very helpful to their unexpected guests. The two vehicles returned around 5 p.m. Bishop told me later that when they hit the sand his vehicle could not pull the other one thru the sand so they had to cut a new road thru the trees and that took a long time. Those sandy stretches are long so this was not easy at all. Anyway our driver was able to fix the vehicle in the next couple of days.
Bishop and I with his cooks stayed at the house of a company who processes cotton. There was someone new coming to take over the management but he was asked to wait an extra week so that we could use the house. It was outside of town. Apparently there is a lot of cotton grown in that area. The house had a generator so we had electricity from 7-10:30 p.m. and did have running water because they had a well with an electric pump. We had a couple of days rest and I read a lot while sitting outside and enjoying the view.
Sunday our worship again was outside and the schedule was the same as the one in Kapanga altho the conference was held outside as well. During the conference I again sat with Mbombo and her assistant as they distributed the retired pastors funds. Again people coming to conference rode bicycles or walked. There was one very old surviving spouse who someone had picked up on his bicycle and brought in so she could get her pension funds. Two people had to help her off the bicycle, help her into the building where we were and then back out and back onto the bicycle. Another man had a scooter and he picked up a man who lived several kilometers outside the village to bring him in to get his money.
Tshimbalanga is in new district and they were so proud to have the conference in their village this year. Bishop arranged for people to take me to see the various Methodist projects which were close by the enclosure where they held conference. They are building a small Methodist church, they have an old elementary school with 500 children, they started building a secondary school in 1996 and have 300 children. They have 12 teachers in the secondary school. It cost $3.00 per child per year to go to elementary school and $22.00 per year per student to go to secondary school. They are trying to get sheet metal for the roofs, need books for the teachers (the teachers are using students notes from another school). These teachers do not get paid by the government so their salaries come from the students fees which are often not paid. There are lots of orphans and sometimes the principal and teachers pay the orphans fees themselves.
On Thursday we left and drove to Kolwezi. We traveled again this long, bad stretch. It was late when we got in but there was a meal waiting for me. We rested the next couple of days then conference started on Sunday with worship. Excellent music. I estimated maybe 1200 people there for the service. I couldn’t stay for this conference so flew home on Monday. Our 6 ½ hrs drive took about 40 mins in the small plane.
I want to thank all the churches that have contributed to my salary support during the past several months. You continue to be faithful to your covenant with me and even some have contributed who are not in covenant. Please share my thanks with your congregations.
Janice McLain, Missionary serving in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Support # 12086Z