Monday 18th February
2013
Up
very early to finish packing. Breakfast
at 8am. The Hostel staff were so sad
that we were leaving; and many people came to say “goodbye”. It was humbling that everywhere in DR Congo;
the people are so welcoming, so grateful for the encouragements and so cheerful
and hardworking despite living in such hard conditions. Their Christian Faith is sincere and so very
real to them.
At
9am we piled into our two “Land Rover” vehicles surrounded by our luggage! It was a 30 minute drive to Isiro Airport
where we had the usual airport interrogations!
Dr. Nancy left us on the first MAF plane to fly to Bunia.
The rest of us (8) had to wait outside until 12.15
for our larger MAF “caravan” plane. We
were pleased to find that Dave Jacobson was our pilot again. The flight to Aru, on the border with Uganda
and our planned overnight stopping place, was an hour and a quarter. There were big problems at Aru with the Immigration
Office (a thatched roofed hut with no door!).
The dispute over visa expiry dates was quite bizarre as no one had out
of date visas! It was eventually settled
with a $20 bribe!
A large
lorry transported us to “Diguna” (Good News), a German Christian community with
a “Guest House”, where we would stay overnight before crossing into
Uganda. We had travelled since 9am
without food or toilet stops and arrived at 3.15pm! The Guest House was a large brick built “Hut”
with a grass roof large enough to have a mezzanine floor!!
But, oh the joy to find a bath/shower with
running water and a flush toilet with the luxury of a SEAT!! The German staff gave us a late lunch and an
evening meal where we were able to share, talk and pray with the other
volunteer members of the community. We
had a good night’s sleep in a very pleasant bedroom.
Tuesday 19th February 2013
Breakfast
at 7am was followed by a group photo before squeezing into the lorry at 7.30am
to go to Arua, Uganda where we were booked on a coach to Kampala.
After about 20 minutes we reached the DR
Congo DG Migration Office at the border and all went in to present our
passports to exit Congo. Amid much
smiling and “play acting” by the Congolese Official we realised we had huge
problems to overcome! We were used to
various difficulties with the Congolese Officials at airports and borders but
this was a new “twist” which our Congolese driver and guide had not come across
before. They insisted they needed
photocopies of our passports and the visa page!
Of course the office doesn’t have a photocopier; and we were in quite a
remote area. We suspect they were hoping for a substantial
bribe to release our passports and let us cross the border. Then our driver quickly had a solution. He took Stephen McGoldrick with our passports
and drove back into town and “knocked up” a friend who had a shop with a
photocopier! Meanwhile the rest of us
were ushered outside by the smiling officials to sit under the trees and wait
and pray for what seemed to be an eternity.
Our prayers were answered when Stephen eventually returned with the
necessary photocopies and we headed off across the border into Uganda where the
process of obtaining transit visas was a very civilised procedure!! Whilst this delay had little financial cost
it meant that we would miss our coach connection for Kampala. Amazingly the “Diguna” Mission in Arua
managed to rebook us onto a later coach without incurring any transfer
charges!! What a blessing it is when
mobile phones actually work!! Once we
had obtained out Ugandan visas we squeezed into our truck again for the drive
to Arua where we arrived in plenty of time for us to have lunch of chicken or
beans or goat and rice in a “road side” cafe just opposite the coach “terminus”
– and our last group photo was taken during lunch!
The
coach journey was quite an experience too!
It took nearly 9 hours to reach Kampala.
There were stops to let folk off and on, and these meant local folk
running up to the coach to sell us food and drink and even offering us live
chickens!!
There was also one “basic”
toilet stop. John had elephants and
giraffe which were roaming free pointed out to him as we drove through a game
reserve.
We arrived in the dark, at 9pm
into the centre of a busy and noisy town area.
There was such chaos around the coach as our cases were unloaded that we
feared they would disappear off into the dark never to be seen again! Oh ye of
little faith!!!! Our faith was again
tested as we now needed a minibus / taxi to take us for the hour’s journey to
Entebbe airport. Thankfully, a young man
came to our aid and helped us find one and accompanied us on the journey! Evan Davies is sure that he was an angel sent
to guide us! We eventually arrived at the airport at 10.45pm and immediately
checked in for our BA flight home. Had
we been on schedule we would have had 3 to 4 hours in the departure lounge to
relax, shower, change our very dirty clothes and have some food before
check-in. We looked and felt like tramps
with our very dirty and battered luggage!
Our
departure was delayed for an hour otherwise it was a good flight with much
needed food and drink and sleep and we finally arrived at Heathrow at 6.30 am
where our son Tim and grandson Ben were waiting to take us home!
The
end of an amazing 4 ½ weeks in DR Congo – and back to England where the cold
wintery weather was vastly different to the heat, sun and tropical storms of
Africa!
We
thank God for safety in travel throughout the 4 ½ weeks and for good health
apart from Janice’s brief bout of Malaria!!
We
trust that you have enjoyed journeying with us and ask you to continue to pray
for the CECCA16 Churches in DRC as they face both Spiritual and Financial
problems.
Here
is an update on the “Deaf School” mentioned in the January posting entitled “At
ISTM Nursing College and PRORRESO School for the Deaf.” (Click on “January” and then that heading if
you need to refresh your memory!!).
Before we left Congo we heard that the solar panels and associated
wiring had been installed. The computer classroom had the ceiling installed,
the floor concreted and the walls plastered.
The desks with lockable drawers for the laptop computers had also been
made to measure and installed so the Teaching Lab was up and running!! We only wish we could have made a return
visit to see the finished project!! We
are patiently waiting for some pictures!
We praise the Lord that sometimes thing DO happen at speed in the
DRC. Our thanks go to those who have
contributed this project. We are still committed to raising finance for the
project which you can read about and contribute to at http://my.give.net/solarpower.
On a personal note, both Janice
and John have hospital appointments this week for which we would value
prayer. At the end of February John had
an annual check-up following his heart surgery in Dec 2011 and was told that
the repaired heart valve is leaking more that it was in Feb 2012. This is being investigated and he has to
admit that he has slowed down a bit during the year though not to the level
before his surgery. Janice is suffering
pain around both ankles, particularly when standing, and will be seeing her
surgeon who carried out repairs to both ankles about ten years ago. So watch this space!!!!!
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