Four Days in Beautiful Bangui- June, 2012 Day One and Two

 At the end of our week long mission tour we flew on to Bangui, Central African Republic to make our first visit.  We had the new experience of flying on Air Angola.  I was a bit nervous about it, but it turned out to be a very nice, modern plane. They had a decent meal and even showed an in-flight movie. Sadly, although I've made all this effort to learn French and can now understand enough in two languages to enjoy a movie, Angola is Portuguese speaking, as was the movie. It was pretty irritating. 

Upon arrival at the small Bangui airport we loaded onto a bus crammed with passengers to make the two minute drive to the arrival door. As we waited for the bus doors to close, somebody at the front of the bus called out "Monsieur et Madame Jameson."  We weren't quite sure of what we heard until they repeated the call. Now we were nervous! 

This couldn't be a good thing.  We pictured all kinds of legal issues, being arrested or put back on a plane to Cameroon.  In reality, it was a good thing. The Branch President is a member of the President's cabinet and had arranged for a special van to pick us up and take us to the "Diplomatic VIP area," which was about two minutes drive in the opposite direction from the general arrival area. We waited in a small lounge while they recovered our luggage and did all of our formalities for us. 

 

When all of that was finished we were taken by a chauffeur in  a nice, new, shiny black SUV to our hotel.  
It was VIP treatment indeed, thanks to the Branch President.

 

Branch President Langue, his counselor Faustin and Brent 

 We have one small branch in Bangui. They have been asking us to come since our arrival in Kinshasa. President and Sister Livingston made one visit there. President Headlee also visited one time. They are pretty much out of the way, on their own, doing the best they can to be true to what they believe and live their covenants. We spent the day on Sunday with them and it was a wonderful day.  They are humble people trying their hardest to keep things going and to be faithful.  When speaking in sacrament meeting Brent told them that this was our first trip to Bangui, but promised them that it wouldn't be our last. We were very happy to be with them and we would return. He promised them, so we'll be back to Bangui. 

The branch has a good rented facility in which to meet. We were happy to see that this was such a good building. It would be good for them for a long time. We felt a good spirit there and believe that the time has come to consider moving to the next step for the church in Bangui. The definitely need our support. 

We were greeted upon our arrival at the church by a group of adorable little Primary children. 

 

 I attended the primary and had a great time. The teacher was well prepared and lovingly taught the children, who were just plain adorable all dressed up in their nicest clothes. 

We have a great sister missionary, the first sister to serve from CAR, who is now in our mission, Sister Zaorobone.  She patiently waited more than 8 months to get a visa so that she could go on her mission. She's one of the best. We took pictures with her bother and his family. This is who she lives with in Bangui. 

 

This cute little man was at church on Sunday looking good in his white shirt and tie, but this is how we found him the next day when we went back. He acts as a guard for the building.   He was just a sweet, wonderful man and was pleased to have his picture taken. 

 We have one wonderful native Central African Republic RM from our mission there, Elder Ferdinand Laguerre. We were happy to see him making a great contribution as the branch clerk and giving excellent leadership. These returned missionaries are giving great strength to their units when they go home. Elder Laguerre was the first missionary to ever serve from CAR and was a great elder.  He's a giant of a man, standing about 6'4" and just BIG, but I always think of the story of Ferdinand the Bull when I'm with him. There's never been a kinder, more tender soul than Frère Ferdinand. There's also one Congolese RM named Faustin who lives in Bangui . These two are a great asset to the branch. The Branch President is a good man, but he had a stroke not long after we arrived on our mission. He had treatment in Europe for some time and then returned home.  He's doing quite well but he has had to rely on Faustin to handle some things and he has done a great job.  

 

Frere Ferdinand Laguerre and Frere Faustan 

It was Faustain who transported us and helped us during out stay there. He took us to get the lay of the city, look at places that could serve to house missionaries, and check out appliance and grocery stores.  He was at our disposal all during the four days that we were there. (We had to stay for four days since planes only fly in and out of Bangui every four days unless you go a day out of your way and travel through Kenya.)

We asked Faustin to take us to the most beautiful place in Bangui and so he took us to the Ubangi River. He was right. It was one of the most beautiful places I've seen in Africa.  

The river seemed clean and beautiful. It was filled with dug out canoes manned by fisherman.

People on the shore worked with nets and rested under tarps to protect them from the warm sun. 

 

A peninsula jutted out into the river at this spot.  It has small, open cabanas on it where you could have lunch and enjoy the view. On the far side of the river you can see the DRC with fisherman in their dugouts doing their daily tasks. It was a tranquil, lovely place.  We enjoyed just spending a few minutes in this beautiful environment. There's not too much naturally beautiful scenery in our mission,  so this river bank was a delight. 

 

Bangui had been described to us as primitive, but we were delighted with what we found. It is, indeed, somewhat primitive, but it also has a sweet, friendly atmosphere that we quite enjoyed. It reminded us of Bujumbura and Lubumbashi. Many of the streets are dirt, but it was quite clean and orderly .  There was little traffic and it just had the feel of a nice little country town, although it's the capital of the Central African Republic. 

Its grand marché is busy and seems to have many things available. We were actually very impressed with all that could be found in Bangui. 

At one point Faustin stopped at the Chinois (Chinese) store. He said that he needed to pick up something. We waited in the taxi while he went into the store. He returned with three small CAR flags. One was for the Renlunds, and one was for each of us. Considering how little means these people have, it was a generous gesture for him to buy us a gift. We were pleased to add it to our flag collection. We now have flags from all our countries and will display them in the office. 

We also looked at some apartments to see if there were places available that were suitable for our elders. Below was one of them. It looked really good from outside and would be adequate, but the kitchen, like in most African homes, left something to be desired. Since cooking is largely done outside and in one or two pots, there's not much need for a nice kitchen.  No fridge, stove, dishwasher, etc in these homes. 

The downtown area was small but clean and well maintained.  People were friendly and helpful and we were quite impressed. Bicycles, scooters and small motorcycles seemed to be a popular mode of transportation. But mostly, like in all of Africa, people walk, and walk and walk. 

One of only a few multi-story buildings in Bangui. 

The soccer stadium. There's always a huge soccer stadium, no matter how poor the country. 

The small bus station. We were impressed that there was a bus station. 

Bangui was full of statues and monuments.  I got pictures of only a few of them. The one below is in a park called, "Public square of the Thinker."  Look familiar at all?

 

 

 

         

              

  This park contained the busts of all six of the Presidents who have served in CAR. Parks are nearly non-existent in any cities we've visited. Bangui had several fairly nice parks.

 We went to some appliance stores and a grocery store. The grocery store was well stocked with a good supply of food that would appeal to American couples.

Of interest was a huge, lavish hotel on the way into town. Our driver told us that it was built and owned by Moammar Gadhadafi. He didn't know if they actually rented rooms or if his family just lives there now.

Because there are only flights into Bangui twice a week. We had a four-day stay there.  Fortunately, they had made arrangements for us to stay in a very nice (African style) hotel. It was very pricey and next time we think we'll look for something less expensive, but it was very good accommodations. It was a suite with a large bedroom/office area and a great room and kitchen.  It was helpful to have a place where Brent could hold interviews and meetings and I had a place to go while he did them.  We can't say much for the food that was available at the restaurant in the hotel. We finally went to the grocery store and bought peanut butter, bread, juice and fruit and ate better for the last three days.

  

 A man who worked at the hotel showed us some paintings that he had done and we bought one of them. I have no idea where we'll put it when we get home, but it's so typically African and knowing the man who did it, we just couldn't resist.

Each country in Africa seems to have its own art forms. We found something in Bangui that we've never seen before. They were pictures made completely out of butterfly wings. We saw small ones and huge ones. They were in the hotels and offices.  I found them very beautiful and not a bit creepy as I would have imagined had somebody just told me about them. But I really liked them. What creative and delicate work!

 

Faustin took us to a little craft market. I wasn't there long enough to see much in the little shops , but we did find many pictures made with butterfly wings. It liked this one with it's geometric design. We'll have it framed with glass made to protect it, but it's very interesting. It represents an amazing amount of work and cost only $3. If you look carefully you can see the wings, especially in the center.  

Because of his position in the cabinet, Pres. Langue had offered to arrange a meeting with the President of Central African Republic. When he made this suggestion we thought that we should not take it upon ourselves to do something so official as that. So, Brent wrote to the Area Presidency to get their opinion on the idea. Elder Renlund told us that it's typically only general authorities who meet with heads of state, but he would send the request on to Elder Holland. Elder Holland was in favor of the visit and he sent the request to the First Presidency. The request was granted and the arrangements were made for us to meet with the President on the last day of our visit. However, Pres. Langue told us that he had not had confirmation from the President that it would be possible. So we waited throughout the day. It was starting to feel like it would be a bit embarrassing to have asked for permission to do this visit and to have gone through all the approval process, only to have the President decide not to meet with us.  Late afternoon we had about decided not to worry about the whole thing, when we got a call saying that a car was on its way to get us and we would be meeting with President Bozizé immediately.  Within minutes the same shiny, new, black SUV that had collected us at the airport, arrived and we went for our visit with the President. We met with him in the official offices of CAR.  He greeted us among flashing cameras. We visited with him for a few minutes, gave him a Book of Mormon, a CD of the Tabernacle Choir, a Proclamation on the Family, For the Strength of Youth pamphlet and the articles of faith. Brent explained  our purpose for being in CAR and our goal to bring people to Christ and our emphasis on the family.  He read the 12th article of faith which talks about being good citizens of our country. It was a simple, brief visit.  At the end Brent asked if we could take a picture. I had left my camera in the car at the suggestion of President Langue, but having the press take so many pictures gave Brent the courage to ask to take some ourselves. So, with his phone we took a picture of the four of us.  After the meeting he walked us out of his office and we were immediately greeted by the press. We had pictures of long handshakes with the President and then the press held a short interview with Brent.  The next day members and our taxi driver said that they had seen the interview and pictures on TV that night. It was good to share our reason for being there and to help build relations with this country. We hope that we have left a good feeling with this head of state . 

                       The article that appeared in the South East Africa Area News about our visit.  

 

It was an interesting and profitable visit to Bangui. It's a nice country with a friendly, good spirit. We hope that we can establish work there before our mission is over. We came home after two weeks of conferences, flying, strange beds and meals and meetings with the saints, tired but happy with what had been accomplished.