Congo: Day 2 - TIA!

I was going to post this last night but the power went out in our whole commune… right before I was going to shower too! But, as our translator reminded me “This is Africa”! It was not the best timing but after everything we’ve been doing and seeing I haven’t really been in a complaining mood or even remotely deserved the right to self pity. Mom and I leave for America in the morning, and I'll hopefully add more updates when we return.

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I love people watching. I’m sorry if that sounds creepy, but I do. I love trying to figure out what a person’s thinking by watching their body language. I like trying to figure out who they are and what their personality is like. I’m probably usually wrong but I let myself believe it b/c I would have no way of knowing otherwise :P. Here in Congo though, this game is a little bit less fun for me b/c almost everyone seems so serious! I knew that they weren’t “friendly people” but I didn’t expect them to be showing such little emotion! And I can’t help but feel a little intimidated driving around and receiving only serious stares from everyone. I can’t tell if they’re plotting my demise or if I’ve just got something stuck in my teeth. It could be anything! Our translator assured me that they’re mostly curious when they stare because they’re not used to seeing white people. He told us that the best thing for us to do is just smile and say “bonjour” and they’ll usually stop. But there’s another cultural difference for you… it’s not rude to stare!

I love seeing the color in everyone’s clothes! Both men and women wear lots of color but women oftentimes add large jewelry. And add to that the fact that every other woman on the street is carrying something on her head, this place really makes me feel like I’m in Africa! (You know that’s true when an Ethiopian says that himself!) I read that the Congolese like to dress in style and judge you strongly on your appearance. That was a huge bummer for me because I always like to dress as comfortably as possible when I travel.

But one woman in the airport completely caught me off guard! Get this... and I'm not exaggerating when I say that she had on a leopard print jacket and matching tight legging pants, zebra earrings, a LARGE giraffe bag, she was blinged out in gold necklaces and bracelets, aaaand to tie it all off… bright pink pumps. This is not a joke. Now… I’m all for adapting to a culture when you travel but everyone's gotta draw the line somewhere… mine is at wearing mismatched animal print.

We had a meeting with our lawyer in the morning, and I think it went well. Dereje was very helpful as we talked about the process in Ethiopia. It was really great to compare programs and what needed to be done to keep the Congo program successful. Then we were off to Mama Ester’s orphanage, Eden. This was my first orphanage since I’ve been to here in Congo and if it is any representation of the rest of the orphanages here… lets just ay there’s a lot of work to be done. I spent most of the day on the verge of tears as we saw the conditions these kids were in.

We got a tour of the house and Dereje, who’s seen almost every orphanage in Ethiopia, was even shocked at the “lack of standards”. We got to the kids room and it was dark, but I saw a little girl on one of the beds that looked sickly. I sat by her for a while until she was comfortable with me, and then she climbed on my lap. As I held her, I heard the story Mama Esther was telling about a baby who had died in this very place, just weeks before. The little girl on my lap continued to cough and I just thought that it could be her next! How could we prevent this from happening again?? Whatever it takes we need to improve the conditions these kids are in, whether it’s getting a house ourselves to care for these kids or some other way, we need to help these sweet kids.

We’re staying at a new hotel this trip and got a feel for another place that we may suggest to family’s coming to pick up their children. It’s in a nicer area of Kinshasa, but that doesn’t stop the bugs from biting or the electricity from going out. Internet is still slow and the hot water runs out fast. But what was I expecting… TIA!

Taking pictures are “illegal” here, so for all intensive purposes I don’t know where I got all of these photos that suddenly appeared on my memory card. But, I’ll hopefully post some of that as soon as I get back to the land of the free and the home of the fast internet.

Thanks!

Julie