Home at Last!

Sunday 14th November 2010


Greetings from Uxbridge!......Yes,we are safely home again. Our flights from Bunia DR Congo on Friday afternoon, and from Entebbe with B.A for a night flight arriving at Heathrow 6.30am Saturday were good.

The change in temperature was noticeable...!!....30 degrees when we left Bunia, and 8 degrees when we arrived in Uxbridge! Even lower temperatures followed!

Our last morning in Bunia was very busy...from 6.30am breakfast, and on to the Students' Church Service for 7.30am[where we were also thanked and cheered for our work and encouragements]; followed by a Student nurses exam held in the Church, which needed help with invigilating, before returning to the house at 11am....where we would finish off the packing, have a light lunch and then off to the Airport at midday.

Well, that was the plan!! But the Congolese often have different plans! We knew there would be one or two call in to say a final goodbye; and we knew the secretary, Lunze, from the Bunia deaf school was coming to see us at 11am.

A couple of weeks earlier, John had decided he would like to buy a new camera when we returned to UK; so when I received a letter giving me an up date on requests for prayer and possible practical help which included the need for a camera and laptop to further their work, John then decided to give them his camera before we left.

Lunze arrived on time, and I was just photographing John showing him how to use it etc.out on the veranda,when I caught sight of Guershom, the school's Director coming to the door.....no, not carrying another chicken!!! BUT, there were 5 other Deaf Shool teachers with him! Another male, and 4 young ladies.The girls were in matching patterned outfits and head scarves [the usual thing for special occasions]. They had come to say goodbye! The next hour was a frenzy of excitement, hugs and kisses, photos, getting our luggage together, saying goodbye to another caller, and a quick lunch...while the cook dished out cups of tea to everyone!

A few jokes about the chicken still caused great amusement and laughter!

Finally, soon after 12, Nancy was ready to take us to the Airport....everyone loaded our luggage [ you're rarely allowed to do it yourself!].....more goodbyes and hugs, then we all waved off...and left the teachers at the gate.

We relaxed, and prepared ourselves for the interviews and requests/arguements over the inevitable payments of money at the Airport! Thankfully,Nancy would be negotiating on our behalf!

We had just parked the car and were unloading our cases and bags,when there was a roar ( actually a Put-Put more than a roar John) of 4 taxi/motorbikes coming to a stop beside us!Yes, it was the 7 teachers coming to see us off...!!! They took our luggage, and all trundled into the small booking-in room! Congolese tradion at it's highest, to be with you until you actually leave! Imagine the scenes there, and in the Departure room[ difficult to call it a lounge!!]. The MAF plane was delayed and we didn't fly until 3pm instead of 1.30/2pm. The Airport staff were absolutely bemused as these hours were whiled away with much animated Deaf hand signing; and wondering quite who we were to have such a send off! An honour in the DR Congo; and there was no way the teachers were leaving until they saw us take off; and some of them had never been to an Airport before! What an amazing end to our month of Congolese friendship and fun!



We were able to spend the evening in the VIP lounge at Entebbe...a comfortable place to relax before the night flight with BA.

We attended our Waterloo Road Church Remembrance Service this morning, and I found it particularly moving to see our DR Congo flag still displayed, and to also poignantly remember the many who have lost their lives in that Country which has beome so close to our hearts.



Love to you all, and thank you for you prayers and support,..........Janice.

Nothing that I can add to that really except to say that there is a pile of letters to get off in the post - the only way to get mail out is to give it to someone who is flying out to post outside Congo.

 John

Thursday 11th November.......

Greetings from Bunia on our last evening in DR Congo!

Tomorrow afternoon we will leave here on an MAF flight for Entebbe. We hope to book into the special lounge there, and have a comfortable wait, plus food included, and showers if we should feel inclined! And stable electric light and water!! We are at Entebbe from 4pm. Then we will be flying with British Airways from Entebbe soon after midnight Uganda time, and arriving at Heathrow around 6.30 am Saturday UK time. Our wonderful month of work, fellowship and fun is coming to an end! And by all accounts we may get a shock to the system re the current UK temperature, while we’ve been experiencing temperatures in the mid/late 20s and 30+...!!



Yesterday evening we were taken out for a meal at a Hotel Restaurant in Bunia.....it was a mystery tour getting there, because neither Nancy nor Philip knew where Mele was taking us for this ‘farewell and thank you’ meal by the College staff. In fact Nancy and Philip didn’t know of its existence in the ‘back of beyond’!! We enjoyed an excellent meal in very nice surroundings, and John and I wore our new Congolese garments!



All the Swahili Bibles [210] have now been delivered personally or labelled ready to be dispatched. The remaining 5 boxes are destined for IBAMBI for the Bible School students [ the school founded by C.T.Studd, and the town where he is buried]; and to NEBOBONGO Hospital where Dr. Sammi will be returning after his few months here at the Bunia Hospital CME. It has been great getting to know this delightful and VERY clever 29 year old Congolese Doctor as he has been staying with us at the house here.

Other money gifts that were given to us have been used in various ways as reported in our Blog news, and the final $200 is going to The School for the Deaf Children in Oicha to purchase vital primary school teaching material/books.

We will be attending the usual Friday morning Students Service before coming back for final packing, lunch, and the almost certain flood of folk calling in to say final goodbyes in true Congolese style!

See some of you soon,

Janice.

Today has been a good day at the college. The stable power supply for the internet is set up and working despite earlier problems. I hope that they just leave it alone end let it do its job! It should be left switched on 24/7 supplying power and being recharged continually.



The lending library database is being loaded with book data. I believe that, as the staff members are inputting the data, they will eventually be more inclined to use it than had it been given to them completely set up. I will follow this with interest.

Last year’s student records database does not appear to have been used! I am not really surprised as the member of staff who would have used it had to go to his home town as his daughter in law died in childbirth. He uses a spread sheet at present and has done for years so change would come hard and I was not there to guide him through it!

I said it had been a good day today. That is not because I have achieved much today but that the little I have done has been done with great difficulty with the staff busy on other things or just not there at all and the offices I needed to access being locked. I am now ready to leave and hope that what has been done will “prime the pump” so to speak. There is plenty that could be done and may be done in the future. The other day I was asked by a visitor to the office if I had any plans to return to which I said “No”. That doesn’t mean we will not return but that at the moment there are no plans. There is some work to be done in the UK, particularly in relation to the proposed new campus for the college.

Looking forward to meeting up with the Uxbridge folk on Sunday and others as opportunity arises. Once again thanks for your support both in giving and in prayer. It is difficult to convey to you the gratitude of the recipient of the proceeds of your gifts.

God’s blessing and His peace to you all.

John



Latest News from Bunia

Monday 8th November


Hello again, to all our family and friends Blog readers! In 4 days time on Friday 12th Nov. we will be starting our journey home from Bunia, and it seems hard to believe our wonderful 4 weeks visit is coming to an end!

My white cockerel is still alive and enjoying the garden and company of the Wood’s resident chicken! Remember I joked about nearly getting a live goat? Well, a package was delivered yesterday from a grateful Bible recipient....not a live goat, but a LEG of goat ready to be cooked as a thank you dinner! We gave Swahili Bibles to the 3 domestic staff here. They were overwhelmed, and immediately searched for texts to further illustrate their thanks, which we then read out in English.



Having memorised the route to the Tailor, I took John to be measured for a shirt and myself for a Kaftan on Saturday. This afternoon I was prepared to go alone to collect the garments, but Moses the gardener insisted he escorted me; he said it would be an honour! The fact that I turned up at the Tailor’s with a white husband, and next time with a young black man caused great hilarity!

We taught the Saturday evening “English Club” Doctors another hymn. This Male Voice Choir piece went down really well, as it has a great African feel to the tempo: “We are on the Lord’s Road”. We gave them copies of the words to keep.

Sunday morning, as planned, we all left home at 8.50am with John and Philip going to the WEC founded Swahili Church, which John will tell you about; while Nancy and I went to the French Church. We first had a tour of the Sunday School classes which are held from 8 to 10am.Would you believe there are 400-500 children, with some classes of 50 or more crammed into all kinds of basic rooms, mostly sitting on the floors....our health and safety would not allow it!! And babies are also looked after by their bigger brothers or sisters in the older classes! We were welcomed and sung to.

Then from 10 to 11am we demonstrated the flannelgraph Bible Story method to 23 teachers. They all loved it, and can’t wait to each have their turn to use it with their class. It is going to be a huge success, as we anticipated when I had previously taught one of the teachers and Director in readiness for the demonstration morning.



Sunday afternoon Nancy, John and I walked uphill and down dale on the usual rutted paths cross country to visit a needy little family who Nancy supports. We visited them in March, so the recognised us and were so happy to see us all. The most hazardous bit of the journey was walking over a ‘one plank foothold’ bridge which crosses a deep gully and rubbish filled river!!!



This morning [Monday] John and I went to the College for 7.30am...!!...John continued with his Library programme and teaching 2 staff [ David and Visika] how to use it! I continued to label in the library, and finished by lunchtime.....37 various open shelves or shelves in big cupboards, with numerous Medical book catagories. I have now given David, the librarian, the remainder of my adhesive labels and permanent marker pens.....received as if they are precious jewels!

When we returned to the house for lunch we were all relieved to find that WATER supply had been restored! Things were getting very worrying as we hadn’t had water since Thursday evening!!! With 5 in the house, the store of 15x5 gallon containers of water was nearly used up. The water has to be filtered for drinking etc. While the rest is used for everything else!

This is all from me for tonight and thank you for Emails etc......over to John for his contributions...

Janice.

Hi everyone!!

We weren’t able to get this finished and posted last night as the solar charged batteries ran out early! The day had not been particularly bright for the solar panels nor had we had full mains power (which we do sometimes during the night!) to help recharge the batteries. So I am writing 8.30 on Tuesday morning at the college where we have power which is a little more consistent!

As Janice said we wend different ways Sunday morning. I went with Philip to the Swahili church to take them 2 boxes of bibles for church use. These were presented to the pastor before the service. But that was not the end of the matter. During the service the pastor lifted one of the boxes above his head to cheers from the congregation then he put it down and lifted the other above his head to more cheers whilst explaining were they had come from. Then two stewards distributed the bibles amongst the congregation for them to use during the service. They were so grateful for them as they had no church bibles or hymn books. It is a privilege for us to be able to dispense your love and generosity. I only wish that I could more adequately share with you, their gratitude.



Monday’s work of training in the use of the library programme was very tiring mainly because of the difficulty communicating because of my lack of French. My aim is for the librarian, David to actually be using it to record book movements by Thursday.

I must sort out the pictures for you now and get the Blog posted.

God’s richest blessing and His peace rest on you all.

John

PS The power failed at about 9.30 and was off for the rest of the morning so literally nothing got done!!

Friday 5th November......No Fireworks here!!!!

Friday 5th November......Hello from the Congo!



This beats it all for Congo surprises: - I have been given the gift of a LIVE CHICKEN as thanks for my work with the Deaf School in Bunia!!! The Director of the school brought it to the door this afternoon. It was in his shoulder bag [unknown to me!] and I was totally taken aback when he produced a live white chicken from it! It is an honour to be given such a gift, and had to be placed in my arms! I later learned that the teachers had first wanted to give me a GOAT! It is supposed to be killed and eaten, but there’s no way that’s going to happen, please! I’ve hopefully talked Nancy into keeping it in the garden with their other chicken! Tonight it is at present in the chicken shed making friends.....and as we now think it is a young cockerel, this should be OK!!! And you can imagine the hilarity here on the veranda with me, Nancy, 2 students and the Director, as the chicken was given to me! And how do you sign language for “I’ve never held a chicken before” while clutching said bird to ones chest...!!!!



Nancy and I visited the” L’ecole pour les enfants sourd” (Deaf School) on Wednesday morning. 49 children age 5 to 18 were so excited to see us. I was introduced as ‘the lady who cut out all the beautiful Bible Story pictures for us’. It is an amazing experience to see a group of profoundly deaf children smiling and silent laughter with expressive faces and hand signs to go with it all. And all crammed together as 5 school grade classes in the smallest mud building imaginable! Small half walls separate some of the classes. But of course, it IS possible to teach like that when all is done in silence! But, oh how they need a bigger and better building, and better still to have a Residential School again.

The 6 teachers were once pupils at the Residential Deaf School in Nyankunde which was sadly closed in 2001 due to Tribal tensions, which resulted in the wars of 2002. These caring young people went on to train as teachers. The atmosphere was such a happy one, as you will see from photos.



4 children were pointed out as having sight problems, so Nancy examined them, and we’ve now set in motion for them to have a Hospital examination and pay for prescription glasses. To think that any of these lovely bright children could also go blind without help was something I couldn’t contemplate.

Teachers and pupils were highly amused with my British Signing on 2 hands for spelling, compared with their American one handed version. They all burst into trying to copy me when I spelled my name for them! I also used my hand puppet, Charlie the Chimpanzee, to show them pictures which I asked them to sign for Charlie. As usual with Charlie, I end with him ‘telling me’ he wants to show the last 2 pictures on his own! So I sit him down and wait!!....Then he ‘tells me’ he can’t do it alone, he needs me! Then the cross and the heart pictures tell them that Jesus died for them, and loves them, and wants to live in their hearts. Charlie needs ME to love and help him, and we need Jesus who loves and helps US.



Mary Cripps and the profoundly deaf friends at Church would have felt as emotional as I did to see these previously deprived children ‘released’ from their world of silence and taught by loving, dedicated teachers to live happy and useful lives. We have also given the teachers some of the Swahili Bibles [We exchanged 7 Bibles for one chicken this afternoon!!].

Today I have been at the Nurses College with John, after attending their weekly Church Service, where there was fantastic singing.....congregation, and 4 superb student choir groups. John is well into the Library programme, so I set to in beginning the relabeling of all the shelves! The existing labelling was the scrappiest you’ve ever seen! Pieces of rocks serve as book section dividers in places, which doesn’t help the dust factor! Excitement in the library now!!

Sunday morning John will be going to the Swahili Church with Philip plus one or two boxes of Swahili Bibles; and Nancy and I will go to the French Church, where I have a meeting with the Sunday School teachers before the Service, to show them how to use the Bible Story flannelgraph material, and they all want to thank me......but please pray that there aren’t any chicken or goats for thank yous!! We have also received photos from the Nyankunde Bible School showing the distribution of the Bibles there.

Janice.....still often on cloud nine!!



As Janice said, we had a good early morning service with the students, 7.30 to 9.00. We are not sure what the college Chaplain said about us but we had to stand up to waves and cheers from the students! We were driven there by Dr Nancy and left there as she had other commitments. None of the Directors were there so we had no transport on to the college so had to find someone to escort us on foot as I was unsure of the exact route never having walked it before.

The infected desktop is still resisting cleaning up and power failures don’t help. So I have decided to use stable power here tomorrow morning rather than go to the market. I think we have a visit to the tailor’s in the afternoon to get a shirt made out of material we have bought!

I managed to add (import) the students’ names (all 380 of them!) to the library programme and handed the laptop over to the librarian this afternoon. I then spent the afternoon showing him how to use it and keep it up to date. We will have further session next week and try to get it into use before we leave on Friday.

The battery power supply problem was only a blown fuse in the charger as I suspected. Unfortunately the inverter was taken for checking instead of the charger so that has delayed its use. They have been advised to get an electrician to set it up. I might have a go on Monday to see if I can set it up without blowing fuses!!

Have a blessed weekend and thanks for your support and prayers

John

News from Bunia 2/11/2010

Tuesday 2nd November,


Hello again from the Congo!

After sending the last Blog news on Saturday morning, we set off for the weekly shopping at the Market at 9.15am. Remember the ‘Fish Lady’ who said she wouldn’t have anything to put in the collection last week? Well, we bought fish at her stall this week, so all’s well!



We visited an Electrical shop to purchase the items John mentioned in the last blog for the Nurses College to up-grade the facilities for computer work there. Gifted money donations from our friends in the UK have enabled us to help in this way.



The evening ‘Doctors English Club’ saw 10 of us studying Ultrasound and Scans re diagnosing diseases of the liver, bladder and kidneys! Not that there is much in the way of such equipment here, but the training is continuous! Then we were asked to teach them a hymn in English! The evening ended at 8.30 when electricity power and lights shut down.....and so to bed!

Sunday 31st over breakfast, we discovered that Drs. Philip and Sammy[ the young Congolese Doctor also staying here] had been called out to the Hospital at 9pm, where Philip operated on a man who’d been shot in the mouth and had a shattered jaw and lost teeth.....then, between them they did 4 emergency Caesarean operations!! Never a dull moment!

At 9 am we all set off on the 1 and a quarter hour journey to Nyankunde to the South of Bunia. An incredible journey of 45 km on indescribable roads, with the usual extraordinary sights and hazards along the way! The temperature reached 37 degrees before we got to our destination!! It was One of the hottest days so far. The area of Nyankunde is one of the most breathtaking beautiful scenery we have ever seen. The village and Church and Hospital [all repaired and/or ongoing re- building since 2002] nestle directly under the beautiful mountains.



Nyankunde is where missionaries Dr. Becker and Dr. Helen Roseveare built and started the Hospital and Nurses Training College in the 1960s. The first to have a vision of training Congolese as nurses, and some to further train as Doctors, and then serve their own Congolese people. This is how the Nurses College here in Bunia carries on this important work.

Hospital buildings and staff residential homes and the personal homes, including those of our friends Drs. Nancy and Philip; and Mele [Bunia College Director General] and his family, were badly damaged and all their personal possessions lost in the 2002 wars. The same time as 1500 patients and staff were slaughtered, while others fled for their lives...including the mentioned friends, and other folk we know here. Some were held prisoner, and we’ve met many whose family members were killed.

We arrived in time for the Church service, but before going in we were able to hand over 2 boxes of Swahili Bibles to the Director of the local Bible School. He was thrilled to receive them, and said it will mean so much to the students; and in particular they will be distributed to female students, because it is mostly men who manage to own Bibles.

Inside the enormous Church we were seated on chairs in a raised row adjacent to the backless benches of the main congregation.......it felt like the seating positions of Royalty in Westminster Abbey!! The Service was lively and long [+ 50 minute sermon!] followed by the washing of hands outside, ready for the Communion Service! We lunched with the family of the American builder who is building and overseeing the construction of a new Operating theatre and Intensive care unit. We toured the very basic wards etc.......and also drove right down the nearby MAF runway!! It was an emotional time to see so many derelict buildings and houses either side of the runway......some were the homes of doctors and nurses who we know here. The builder and his wife are living in the house that Nancy and Philip lived in for 6 years up to the 2002 war. It was the most convenient one to renovate for themselves to live in while the extensive building programme is carried out. It was a nostalgic visit for Nancy and Philip.

We got back to Bunia with just 15 minutes for John and I to have a wash and tidy up before going for a meal with one of the College Academic Director’s family!! Robert’s wife is the Head Midwife here. It was a very full and exciting day.

Tomorrow I am visiting the School for the deaf in Bunia.....and taking my hand puppet along to have some fun with the children; and to see how the teachers are getting on with the flannelgraph teaching materials.

We haven’t been able to check our Emails since Sunday, but thank you in advance if you have written to us!

Janice.

Hello everyone!!

Janice gave me permission to edit her contribution today, which I have done, so I won’t add much except to say that I found the visit to Nyankunde very emotional. So many ruined buildings still not rebuilt. I know that some have been further damaged as material has been removed to renovate others. The mission complex and village was totally ransacked. Hardly a building left with a roof or doors. All the contents spirited away and that includes all the hospital equipment. What could not be taken, i.e. sanitary fittings were just smashed. Knowing and working with those who went through this experience and are now seeking to rebuild the work without access to the resources they need is an honour and very humbling and really focuses ones thinking!!

On Monday morning we set up the battery, charger and inverter and ran the computers and the internet very successfully on it all day. This morning we found that the battery had not recharged and had insufficient charge to run the inverter so it was back to square one. The charger is being looked at find out why it failed to operate. In spite of that today proved to be quite profitable as I ran health checks on three laptops, updating or installing antivirus etc. It was a relief not to find any problems.

Tomorrow I am being collected at 07.15 and we will see what the day brings!!

God’s blessing and our love to you all.

John