Our Sunday

Hello, again!


I believe our last diary entries were written on Friday, and finally got sent on Saturday morning when electric power etc. was restored for a while! It is now Sunday 21st.

John mentioned that I had received my African dress, delivered to the house the day after I was measured for it! Wow, what an outfit....not quite according to my order, but beautifully made! I think the tailor felt that the top I chose was too plain in design, and wanted me to be dressed in a more ‘distinguished’ and fully Congolese style!!! I have worn it this morning when we went to the French speaking Church morning Service again. We may add a photo of John and I, taken on the house veranda!

We had more rain this morning, but the sun is now as hot as ever, and the sky is blue.

Saturday morning was the usual visit to the big Bunia Market. It is such fun....How am I going to adapt to boring old Sainsbury and High Street shopping when we return to Uxbridge?! Another thing I will have to adapt to is doing the cooking, washing and ironing!! You can get used to having Domestic Staff for all that!!

Friday evening Nancy and I left Philip and John at home while we went off for a ‘ladies night’ at the home of one of the MAF wives. We thought the two men would be glued to their computers all evening, but we returned to find the house in darkness and the men in bed!! No electricity meant no computing/internet, and no lights! Next morning we also had Breakfast by hurricane lamp lighting! Saturday evening we had the usual ‘English Speaking Evening’ for Doctors. This time 3 of them managed to have the meal, but missed the medical presentations. One Doctor, one anaesthetist and one assistant Doctor had to leave when a call came through for an emergency Caesarean operation!! [Quite common for a normal dinner party evening!]. An MAF pilot also called in, as they do!! The rest of us studied African Snake Bites and treatment; Hepatitis B; and Skin diseases and treatments!! [You know, just the usual after dinner discussions with photos!!!].

John mentioned that I’d found another niche for my label making artistic talents!!After making labels for Nancy’s kitchen tins and jars, I was immediately called upon to offer my services making labels for the Hospital Pharmacy! [Even more important to

Read clear Drugs and injection labels!]. There are no sticky labels. All are written on white A4 paper which i first measure and rule etc! Then cut out and stuck with cellotape over the labels. I’ll be at the Hospital tomorrow to put them in place, and collect more details for labelling cabinets in one of the wards! I love going to the Hospital with Wendy the Physiotherapist. And doing the ward rounds to see her patients [including the burns man who is slowly progressing] and giving a hand where I can.

That’s probably enough from me for now! We are also soon going out on a sightseeing trip in the car.............More ‘tumble drier’ experiences over the Cong roads!!........Janice.

Hello to you all!

We had our outing this afternoon. It was a visit to the Hydro Electric Plant which produces what power we do get from time to time!! That in itself might sound uninteresting but it took us alongside the airstrip with the main UN base on the other side of the road then past a refugee camp set up by those who fled the centre of the town during the 2003 fighting. Many of the folk there have still not returned to town despite the settled conditions that now exist. Most of the way the road was lined with small settlements of mud houses, some round and some rectangular; some thatched and some roofed with corrugated iron. Often outside the houses would be small piles of beans or corn on cloths or small heaps of charcoal for sale. There seemed to be an endless stream of people mostly on foot but some on motor bikes passing along the road.

 The photo shows two push bikes loaded with charcoal heading towards town. The charcoal burning is done in the forest. Most of the people we saw would live on what they can grow; selling any surplus to buy sundry items they need which would be minimal. I suspect that few cars (or 4X4’s to be more precise as no car would have made the journey!) have passed that way as the children came running from all directions, waving and shouting, as we passed. One little lad who came to the car was particularly pleased to see Dr Philip who had operated on him for Typhoid Fever. He showed us his scar too!!

The scenery was stunning! It had been raining in the morning and now the sun was shining and everywhere looked clean and fresh. Bunia itself ids on a plateau about 3500 feet high and is surrounded by forest covered mountains which are about 5500 feet high.

To get to the Hydro Plant we had to pass an army “check point” and from then on we had one of the soldiers in the car with us. The plant is in a sorry state. As a result of a fire in 1990 there is no proper roof. A small part of the plant has been restored to working order and is covered by a temporary roof. No wonder Bunia is short of power!

There must be a sermon there somewhere!!

Oh! We were thinking of our Male Voice friends yesterday both during practice and performance!!

Blessings to you all

John