Last night we attended a concert at TASOK, Emily's school. The concert was a benefit to collect funds and food for the orphanage in Kimbondo. It was a double blessing for me, getting a chance to help the orphanage and getting to see Emily perform. This year she sang in the high school choir AND played in the band.
We recently visited another orphanage with a new friend, Jennifer McCullough. The man in this photo was introduced to us as the doctor at the orphanage but I heard him tell someone else he is a nurse. Jennifer is on the left, and on the far right is my friend and fellow MAFer, Sandy Francis. 
We passed out treats and had a belated Easter celebration with the kids.
Jennifer also had donations of toothpaste and brushes for the orphanage. A good follow-up to all those sweets we gave them!
Daniel with his new friend. Kids with red or blonde hair are conspicuous in Africa and get stared at. A lot.
Unlike all of the other orphanages we have been to, this one had no fences or walls. This photo gives you a good idea of what housing is like in DRC. The "door" is a curtain. The building is often concrete, with a tin roof and no windows. and no electricity. It's like living in an oven. A dark one.
When we arrived, kids and parents from the neighborhood showed up in droves. After we began passing out the treats, we quickly realized there were way more kids in line (I use the term line very loosely here) for goodies than there are in the orphanage. Moms from the neighborhood were overheard telling kids to go through the line and get something for them. I saw big teens stealing treats from the little kids and tried to help but couldn't stop them all. I caught at least one kid going through the line twice. They were crowding around and pressing in on us. It was mayhem. We ended up having to have the staff go through a list of names of their kids so that we could make sure the orphans got treats. Many times here in Congo I have had mixed feelings about all the walls, but that day my slightly OC mind was telling me "This place needs walls!" Sort of a Congo version of the old saying "good fences make good neighbors." I am glad I went and got to be part of it but my American self felt conflicted, trying to just relax and go with the crazy haphazard flow instead of being overwhelmed by the lack of structure and order.
We got stuck in the sand on our way out. You never have to worry about getting stuck in the sand in Congo as long as you have a little cash on you. Before we even had time to ask for help, people ran to push the van in exchange for a few francs.
Wow, the scene at the orphanage that you describe would have been so hard for me to handle...Grace to you as you learn a new meaning to "relax and let go." I don't know how you do it!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Olive! It really helped that I was there with friends. We kept looking at each other and knew we were all thinking the same thoughts and feeling the same feelings and sometimes that made us grin. And we knew not to take it personally.
Delete"...my American self felt conflicted, trying to just relax and go with the crazy haphazard flow instead of being overwhelmed by the lack of structure and order."
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in Bangkok, I just knew their traffic norms, with motorcycles riding on sidewalks and between cars in traffic, would have Americans calling for draconian laws against such activity. In your world travels, have you known any people as statist as Americans?