Congo: Day 3

I wouldn't say that I'm scared here in Congo. However unsafe I know that it is, being in Kinshasa does not seem to be the same country that I've read about on the internet. Everyone is warned to travel to the DRC at their own risk due to the recent war ending, but I never felt that I was in danger by being there. At first I was uneasy and careful, but I realized that as long as you aren't breaking any rules there is no reason to be concerned. There are officers, soldiers, and UN trucks all over the city to preserve safety, but if they were not there it would be a completely different story. Probably the closest to being scared that I was during the trip was the time we were passed by 7 police cars and motorcycles blaring their sirens! They were followed by 4 huge trucks of soldiers, and every one of them was carrying their big scary guns. I just sat completely still. What was happening?? These were the images I'd seen on the internet that I prayed I'd never have to come across. I had to fight with all my strength to not take a picture. "This would be the worst possible time ever!" I had to tell myself. I finally found it in me to move, so I turned to Dereje sitting in the back to get his input. But to my surprise... he just laughed at me! He said that this happens in Ethiopia too when there's an important president or official coming through. Well then... That settled it. I had no more reasons to be scared. However intimidating they may seem with their giant guns and stone cold looks, they were just there to keep the city safe and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. I felt so comfortable around the soldiers after that, that I almost asked one of them to smile for a picture for me. But I stopped myself... sometimes fear is a good thing. It keeps people from doing stupid things.

When I woke up my mom was already at the doctors office with a group of kids from Eden. Dereje and I had breakfast at our hotel and my mom sent a van for us to join them at the doctor. We picked up the kids and most of them were sadly wearing the same dirty clothes that they were wearing the day before. We crammed them all in and we fit about twice as many people into that van that would ever be allowed here in America. Given... most of them were just little shorty-pants kids. But they weren't used to being in a car and were deathly quiet the whole time, some even went to sleep. But the little 2 year old girl I had on my lap just played with my hair and smiled the whole time. By the end of the ride we had to peel sound asleep kids out of the car and send them back into that orphanage. I hope the place gets renovated fast otherwise we're going to have to work out another living situation...

Afterwards we went to a feeding center a few hours away. They provided kids with meals that needed food whether they had family's or not. Along with that program, they also care for pregnant women and help take care for the baby's after they're born. On our tour of the place we saw a woman in the back room sitting on the cold dirty floor and in labor! There were doctors around to help, but I felt for her. I knew living in Congo meant a hard life, but this just confirmed it. The tour ended and we handed out some of the donations we had brought. We passed out clothes, candy, and toys for the kids. But for some reason, the only toys we had with us this day were 4 toy cars for this group of over 50

kids! So I quickly invented little a game with them of trying to pass the car through a couple of other kids' legs without them catching it. It was just a quick solution to my realization that there wasn't going to be enough to share! But it didn't take long before most of the kids were involved and they barely realized that there weren't very many cars to go around. They weren't used to having a lot of things, so they were all really good about sharing the cars. But now we know where to bring more toys next time! This center was doing so much for the community and needed all of the help they could get! They also cared for a few kids who had been orphaned so we got to spend some time with them and take their pictures before we left :)

We treated ourself to the 5 star Memling Hotel for dinner and ate outside by the pool enjoying the weather after dusk. We asked the waitress if we could get internet from outside and she responded in ENGLISH that she only spoke French... Great. I was more then a little frustrated, being that internet was the same word in French with only the hard, phlegm spewing, "k" sound in the middle that I have attempted and failed at many times! It baffled me that the cleaning ladies that

came to my room this morning tried harder and were able to communicate better with me then the waitress at this classy hotel. My guess is that it's probably for the same reason that the people with money here make sure that they let the world know their status in society through their attire. Its a form of separating themselves from the lower class because the rich don't want to be associated with the poor. By speaking French the were trying to show us their status level... but ironically my interactions with the women that came to our room to clean were FAR more pleasant and enjoyable :) This is only an observations of mine, but it makes sense to me as this air of superiority translates into the way the poor and the orphans are provided for in the country. There are some people with A LOT of money but they ignore the suffering around them and instead build expensive homes in private neighborhoods. We continued to gather our thoughts from the trip and got to hear a lot of input from Dereje.

Since the program in the DRC is new and this is only CCI's 2nd trip to Congo, there are still things to be figured out in order to make these trips go more smoothly. We really appreciate your prayers for the adoption program here, but especially pray for the kids and their caretakers that are trying so hard to provide for them.