Church in Badiadingi

Every Sunday that we're in town we try to go to  a different ward or branch in Kinshasa. There are around 50 units in Kinshasa, so it would take us a whole year to go to them all if we were in town. Because of the travel we do, we'll probably never get to all of them. But it's fun to see the different buildings, missionaries and the members in the units.  We're always warmly welcomed and it's a great experience.

The second week in Aug. we went to the Badiadingi Branch.   It's quite a nice, big , rented building located at the intersection of the main road to Matadi and this little dirt road.

 The chapel, like in many  other buildings, is made from 2 rooms  (the living room and a bedroom of a large home that were opened up to make an L-shaped chapel.
Sometimes meetings in these smaller rented chapels where members meet in less than ideal circumstances and with considerable sacrifice to get to the building, have the best spirit in them.

It has just enough parking for one car but that's fine since we were the only car there.

 

The reason that we chose this meeting was because a family was being confirmed that day.  Having a family baptized is always an extra happy day. Brent had also worked with the father in the family and had come to know him quite well. So, it was special for him to be at the confirmation. 

The new member family, Lumbu, and Elders Nday and Liandja.

As usual, I heard was a choir of little angels singing "take our picture." Happens every time. 

We really enjoy our Sunday visits with the wards and missionaries of our mission. 

The Pousse-pousse Transport Bus

During our years in the Congo we've seen people move amazing amounts of things in handcarts, sometimes called chariots, sometimes called pousse-pousses. We see many of them every day. There are no animals here to pull and push these carts, just men struggling with the heavy loads they carry. 

The term "pousse-pouse" comes from the French word to push, pousser.

But this is the most amazing one we've seen. 

 This little pousse-pousse was carrying a transport bus. 

The most pathetic part of this story is that in the horrible, congested traffic of  Blvd. Lumumba, this little pousse-pousse hauling a transport passed us and the functioning transports full of people around us. 

Sister Philomon's Orphanage in Kimbanseke

Down the dusty, under-construction, traffic-and-people clogged Lumumba Blvd. (which we just discovered actually has a name, but we have previously called "the road to the airport") you come to a section of Kinshasa called Kimbanseke.

 Just beyond the Kimbanseke Stake Center... 

at the end of a little residential street 

where we parked our cars, which were by then surrounded by lots of happy, curious children,

And walked along the bank of a small stream filled with sewage and green moss,

Is Sister Philomon's Orphanage. 

Sister Philomon is a remarkable woman.  She's a member of the church and serves as the Stake Primary President in Kimbanseke Stake. She's a widow who is giving most remarkable service to her community. She began 13 years ago taking in children who had no place to live and nobody to take care of them.  She's not paid for this work and get's by on very little, but has made a home for these children and fills it with love, education  and encouragement. Between 15 and 25 children live here. 

This home has no sewage or garbage facilities. A large hole is used until it's filled.

Then it's covered and another hole is dug. 

She teaches women in the area to sew on a hand crack sewing machine. 

This gives them a way to make a living  as they sew clothes,
 which are made without patterns and with just a few measurements. 

 This is were the cooking is done and this is a neighborhood woman who helps at the orphanage. 

 The water comes from this tap at the back of the property. 

This is the little three room house where the children sleep. 

One of our projects was to make beds. Some of the beds made under the direction of Elder B, the construction program teacher were delivered and assembled last week. The rest were done by the crew
 on Sat. There were no beds when our couples first went  to the orphanage.

Brent, Johnathan (an orphan who is the teacher's quorum president is his ward)  and Elder Stagg

It was fun for us that two of our returned missionaries from Lubumbashi, who have been in the construction training, volunteered to come and help and do the heavy lifting for the old guys.  They're still giving service and always have a big smile to share. President Kabengele and Cedric Mambuku.  Love these boys.

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Sisters Stagg and Billings had worked for several months to make an outfit for each of the children. They were passed out to eager children who were thrilled with their bright colored clothing and  looked adorable.

After they got their clothes, these little girls couldn't resist watching as the others received new outfits.

 Having a bed to sleep in will make a great difference in the lives of these children.

The Staggs also brought a peanut butter sandwich for each child. The children  first licked off the peanut butter and then ate the bread. Nobody was in a hurry to finish this little lunch as they savored every bite. Sister Philomon made sure that each child said thank you for their lunch. 

 We brought along a few packages of cookies.  The children were very happy to get treats.  By the time we started handing out cookies a crowd of neighbor children and adults had gathered. They watched on with some longing and honestly they looked about as needy as the children at the orphanage.

 

We just couldn't stand to see them looking so left out, so we handed out cookies to everybody around. Grown up and children alike were pleased to receive a treat.  It's amazing how happy somebody can be from having a cookie or two. Kids are alike all over the world.

While we were there, Julia, who works for an adoption group came to bring a little gift and a picture to two little sisters who are going to get a new "Mom and Dad" in the US.  These children will be leaving the orphanage in just a few weeks.  They have no idea how changed their lives will be and were delighted with their T-shirts and pictures of the new parents.  It was a a tender thing to share.  The only sad part was that three of their other siblings will not  be going with them. Even good news has its sorrowful moments here. 

To educate her orphans Philomon has started a school. It's in what's left of a building whose roof caved in a few months  back. Our construction missionary came and evaluated what walls were good enough to save and the rest have been torn down.  By September, with financial help for people who know Julia, there should be an improvement in the school.   Philomon has opened her school to the neighborhood. She now has 300 children, who would otherwise not go to school at all because of their extreme poverty, enrolled in  school.  We took a big bag of school supplies to help with the needs of the school. 

In each area achalk board is painted on the brick wall. There are no chairs or benches on the floor is dirt but it's better than no school and is a hopeful beginning.  

This is the area for the Kindergarten age children. They only have a cement square for a blackboard.  No chairs, tables or work or play stations are in this classroom

It doubles as the soccer field and the children enjoyed a game using a new ball brought by the Smiths. 

Among the children in the orphange there is one special young man named Arnold. He is almost completely blind.  He rides the transports each day to a school for the blind.

He was thrilled as Brent explained to him  that we had brought him DVD's of the Book of Mormo, a DVD player and some card stock, which he uses to write on a braille device. He will have to go with Sister Philomon to the church to listen to his DVD's since there is no electricity at the orphanage.  Arnold has lived at the orphanage since birth and moves around the area in such as way as that you would hardly know that he has almost no vision. 

 Sadly, the day before our visit the son-in-law of Philomina, who was visiting from France, died suddenly of a heart attack.  While we were there President Lono, president of the Kimbanseke stake, came to visit the family.  Philomon invited us to go with them to her home to meet her daughter and grandchildren  and pay our respects. 

When we arrived at Phiomon's home we found that all the furniture was removed from the house and had been placed in the yard where family was gathered. Inside the house, as is the custom in the Congo, the widow was sitting on the cement floor with just a blanket.  Her children where there and several family members or friends where with her. Plastic chairs were brought in for President Lono and us. We visited with  her for a few minutes and then returned to the orphanage, taking the children with us to give them a break from the somber mood in the home with their mother.   

  One of them was named Lorraine, so we had a very special bond. We had to take pictures of the two Lorraines. 

This week the couples have worked on some tables for the orphanage.  

 

With a bed to sleep in and tables to eat at, life has taken a big step forward at Philomon's Orphanage. 

Which Road Goes to Ngaba Ward?

We try each week that we're in town to go to a different ward/branch so that we can support our missionaries and get better acquainted with members. We have no official responsibility relating to them since all of Kinshasa is organized into stakes, but it's good to get to know them and to see our missionaries in action. Last week we went to Ngaba Ward.
Finding things in Kinshasa is a challenge. GPS doesn't work. Not many streets have names and if they do, they aren't marked with signs. The layout of streets isn't orderly or geometric. Church-built chapels are often on main streets, but rented buildings, of which there are many, are often deep into neighborhoods. It's quite a challenge.
When Brent goes to meet with members or missionaries he often uses a driver because learning all the locations of the 30 or so buildings in Kinshasa would take too much time and some places aren't very good to go into without an African with us.
Last Sunday Brent decided that he could find the Ngaba building.  I'm lost at all times and wouldn't get behind the wheel of a car in this city unless my life depended on it. But he felt quite confident that he could find it. So, off we went.We did well on the major street, which we travel all the time, like past the giant, tower and park whose purpose we don't know and on which they're spending a fortune.

Past the reviewing stands in front of one of the government buildings,

and then past the place where you can buy cemetery monuments.

At this point we left the one really nice road and  came to a round-about that we hadn't remembered was there. That was  when it got a little complicated. There were four different roads you could take from the round-about.  We weren't sure which one went to Ngaba.  There were, of course, no street signs or signage of any kind to give us a hint of where to go,  so we just turned right.

We headed into the neighborhood and it didn't take long to recognize that this wasn't the right direction.

So we made a U-turn, went back to the roundabout and tried again.  This wasn't the right way either. It soon turned into a very narrow street and didn't go up toward the hills as we knew we had to do.

So, we went to the next road. It was under construction and had an open trench on the side of the road big enough to swallow a car. In fact, as we drove along we saw a Corolla-size car laying on its side in this trench.  There was a crowd of people around it and we decided to just take a picture of it on the way back. After the 3 hour-block of meetings and a few interviews somehow the car had been removed.

This road did ascend as we know the road to the Ngaba chapel did, so we keep going.

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Third time was the charm.  As the street began to ascend  into the hills we knew that we were in the right place.  Then suddenly in the midst of the busy, people filled-streets and chaos that is Kinshasa we saw the beautiful church-built chapel for which we were looking. 

After church we headed straight home.  The fourth road at the roundabout, was left as "the road not taken."  In Kinshasa you don't drive a road just to see where it goes. And since "way leads on to way, we took the third and that made all the difference." We had a great day at church last Sunday in Ngaba, drove straight home, closed the gates behind us and breathed a sigh of relief that we had finished another "Sunday drive" in Kinshasa or as Elder Stagg says every day upon their arrival home. "We made it home and cheated death again."