Church service

Since the last post, we’ve traveled to Likasi and Kolwezi areas. Likasi is about 120km from Lubumbashi and Kolwezi is about 300 miles from Lubumbashi. Both towns were started by the mining industry. Unfortunately, many of the mines in DRC either reduced operations or closed completely in the last 10 to 20 years, leaving the people with no jobs. You can see how things have deteriorated in the last several years. I think Kolwezi is doing better now than Likasi, but both clearly have seen better days.

We’ve not had time to visit in the communities much, as to drive here has taken quite a while. It took about 2 ½ hours to drive the first 120km (75miles), and about 4 ½ hours to drive the next 180km (about 112 miles). The first part of the drive wasn’t too bad – mostly pavement, but the 180km drive was nearly all dirt roads. It hasn’t rained since May here, so after 4 – 5 months, you can imagine how dusty the dirt roads are. In some areas, the dust had blown and drifted a bit, resulting in about 6 or so inches of powdery dust on top of the harder packed surface. Driving in 6 inches of dust creates the same kind of slipping / sliding that you get when you drive in that much mud. A few times, I thought we were going to have to get out and push, but it all worked out fine.
The homes here are mostly made from clay bricks or cement, with metal roofs. I think I’ve seen only one or two mud huts with thatch roofs. We’re told that when the mines were operating, people were well paid, and could afford to buy land and build the homes. The larger mining towns are well-laid out, with wide streets and street lights. In Kolwezi, the lights work! Saw another variation on a round-a-bout today. This time, three roads came together, and in the middle of the intersection sat a large truck tire. This was the round-a-bout. You simply had to go around the tire, just as you would a circular grassy area in a traditional round-a-bout at home. I actually think this may be a great money saving opportunity. Perhaps we should consider this at home. Think about it, one tire instead of a few hundred thousand to build an island. And if we went to all truck-tire round-a-bouts, think of all the money we could save on stop lights, fights about red-light cameras, etc. OK, maybe not every idea is a good one….

The restaurants here are interesting too. Last night we went to one just outside of town. I was beginning to think we were lost, as our host headed outside of town, and then turned onto a dirt “road” off the side. No street lights, no house lights, nothing. We drove for a little bit, and then off to the right was the brightly lit restaurant. Literally in the middle of nowhere! We had a great meal, but you wonder why they would choose to build it so far away from everything with no signs. Can’t even see it from the road.

Then today after church, we went to another one, this one further out from the one above. This one included a hotel. Again, it was way off the road, but the owners told us that they are frequently completely full, mostly with people from the mines. During our lunch, we saw people from China, India, Pakistan, and England (guessing by language and accents). Again, just seems out of place, but fascinating to find people from so many different places in such a remote place.

Last thing for today – church service. Let’s see…. Where to start. First of all, there is nothing like an African church service. Very long, with lots of singing and dancing. Second, there was nothing like this one. The music was so loud, I think some of my internal organs actually vibrated to new places. When I got back to the hotel, I’ve sat in complete silence for about 3 hours, as I don’t think I could have heard anything anyway. They had guest groups singing and dancing, people dancing in the aisles, shouting prayers throughout the service. At one point, I think we had about 3 different songs happening all with different beats. Quite confusing, and more so because it was all in either French or Swahili (depending on who was shouting). The service actually started at 7:30 in the morning. From 7:30 to 9:00 is a prayer time. We joined at 9:00 for the formal service, and that ended at 12:30. Nothing like being shouted at in French and Swahili for 3 ½ hours! It was fascinating, but I think I’ll be glad to go home and go to a slightly quieter service.

That’s it for today. Tomorrow we’ll visit some communities, and then begin the long drive back to Lubumbashi. I’m guessing it will take 7 to 8 hours to drive the 300km (about 190 miles) back. Hopefully there won’t be too many trucks, so we can keep the windows down. There is no A/C or fan in the truck, so manual a/c it is! But when there are other trucks or cars on the road, or when the wind picks up, it turns the area into a huge dust cloud and the windows have to be closed. The dust cloud is so thick, you can hardly see. This is dangerous as there are many pedestrians and bicyclists along the road, and they don’t always watch for the cars.

More to follow tomorrow!