Gender roles, flying ants and new roads

We now have just a few days left in Aru before we set off back home to the UK. It has been good to be back and to deepen our friendships here.

As ever, being here is a mixture of good and bad. The relaxed lifestyle is very enjoyable. People have been even more friendly and welcoming this time round. There is something about coming back which they think “OK, they are really interested in us”. We have had more people dropping round to see us, and felt more comfortable about dropping in on others ourselves. If you know someone, and they are outside (as they often are), you never walk past their home without stopping for at least a few minutes. So, we have had many more conversations about life here compared to life in the UK. We wanted to get a better understanding of the respective gender roles and so have asked a few of the people we trust.

It appears that, not surprisingly, the women do the work. In practice this means:

·       they get the hot drink in the morning (people here do not have breakfast, just a hot, sweet, drink of tea).

·       get the children ready for school,

·       work the land (nearly everyone has some land they are growing their crops on, even if they have full-time employment. If they do not have employment this may be all they have),

·       prepare the lunch time meal (sometimes yesterday’s evening meal re-heated)

·       prepare the evening meal

·       fetch the water (using large, 20litres plastic jerry cans which are carried on the head)

·       do the washing.

However, it is usual that the women will be helped in these tasks by their children and/or by other young people they have living in their household. This latter group may be people who are in some slight way related, but they might not be. In return for helping in the household they will have food and housing and possibly their school fees paid for. Children of both genders help, each having a set of allotted tasks. We have also been told that women want to have large families so as to make sure that there are people to look after them when they get old.

In the towns, there is some paid work so both men and women might have jobs. In this situation, it seems that it’s still usual for the women to do all the jobs at home (helped by others as described before).

Apparently the men in rural areas have a leisurely life. During the day they go out and meet with other men, stand around and then come home to eat and be looked after by the women. In rural areas they do not help at all in the home, though they probably do work on the land. To do work in the home would be seen as disrespecting the women, implying they are useless. However, we have seen a slightly different model in the diocese. For example, men have helped clear plates and helped out when there is a ‘feast’. We have also been told that these men help the women when the women are too busy, but this seems to be done behind closed doors as some would think it wrong.

Much of this comes from the idea that, once married, the man ‘owns’ the wife. This is why they have the bride-price (one area pays 3 cows and 7 goats). This is to pay the family for the loss of the woman, and shows that the woman is respected. Women we have spoken to about this think it is incredible that we do not have this in the UK; that not having the bride-price means women cannot be respected. It is also clear that both men and women want to be married. Neither wants to be single.

Obviously we observed a lot that was different for us when we came last year. This time things have been much more familiar. However, the evening of the ‘flying ants’ was not fun. When it rains the termites fly. They are regarded as a great delicacy by the Congolese who simply take off the wings and eat them – apparently most of the world eats insects and they are a great source of protein. A couple of weeks ago there was a storm after dark. We had just settled to our usual evening occupation of playing a game we have brought with us (there is nothing to do here after dark) when we started being hit by a couple of flying ants. These are quite large, pretty hopeless fliers with little directional control. They are easy to swat but as soon as we had got rid of these two another few seemed to arrive. Despite the windows being shut we had at least 15 – 20 of the things flying around (and into) us at any one time – after a while they fall to the ground, their wings come off and the resulting grub mooches about for a while until Pete stamps on it! Loose fitting clothes were a risk as they might fall into them and down your back (or your cleavage if you are Gill!). After about 45 mins we retreated and went to bed early, and the security of the mosquito net. In the morning we found that they seemed to have been hatching from inside a window as there was quite a graveyard.

Another thing we have seen this time is how you make a road. For various reasons an existing ‘road’ in the diocesan area is being moved. This was done by simply ploughing up a new area, blocking the old road and making it clear this was now the way to go. The actual road was indicated by bits of branch etc. Within days the new road had been compacted into a clear road (by feet, motos, bikes and the very occasional car). It is already, after two weeks, almost looking as if it has been there for ever.

Back to the UK soon. Yes, once again we will miss being here but it will also be good to be home!

Back to Congo

Back, by popular demand!

When we told people we were coming back to Aru several people asked if we would start our blog again. Given that we are only here one month we weren’t sure we would, but getting here has been something of a story in itself!

All went well with getting to Heathrow – we avoided the M1 being closed after an accident – and the flight to Entebbe (Uganda) was very punctual. However, once in Entebbe we needed Ugandan shillings (there is no way of getting cash in DRC and it is not possible to get Ugandan currency in UK) so we went to the Barclays cash machine in Entebbe – it was “Unavailable at this time”. So we went, a little apprehensively, to the Stanbick cash machine that had not given us money on our last visit. All was well and we got the cash.

This time we were getting from Entebbe to Arua (NW Uganda, near the border and crossing point for Aru) by internal flight. This was our first flight in a small, 15 seater, plane. We have had tales of people without actual tickets not getting on if the flight is full, we had an email reservation only. We have also had tales of bags not getting on if the small space for baggage is full – the emails were very clear that, if there was not space for all the bags they would follow on a later flight (the flights are every other day…).. So, as the day progressed thoughts begin and grow of:

·       “Is our hand baggage too big?”,

·       “What happens if our bags are delayed?” (we cannot go back to Arua to collect them once in Aru as we don’t have multi-entry visas).

It wasn’t encouraging when we got to check in that there were 8 people ahead of us and it looked as if the flight would be full, would we get on at all? Suffice it to say that, of course, we (and our bags) got on and there were no problems. The flight was full but enjoyable.

We were met at Arua, as arranged, by Abubaker, our driver. He took us to the border and our passports were stamped as exiting Uganda. The car to pick us up arrived, with people we knew well from our last visit, all that remained to do was to get our DRC visa….

On our last visit we had got our visas in the UK. This had required a “Letter of invitation”, duly stamped by DRC immigration. Despite strenous efforts this had not been possible this time. However, we know many people have got visas at the border so we did not anticipate difficulties.

DRC visas are expensive. Visas are paid for in dollars and we had sufficient dollars for 2 x 1mth visas. However, the immigration officer refused to give us visas for one month and said we had to buy 6 month visas. This was, he said, because we had previously had visas for 6 months so it was not possible to get one for just one month. This was more dollars than we had – the total cost would be $800 instead of $366.

So, what do we do? Turn back, having come a mighty long way? There were various phone calls to others in the diocese but to no avail. He insisted this was the way it was and he was not going to give us a visa for one month.

We knew we had some dollars for the journey back, and some spare, so checked how much we had. Because some costs in Entebbe had been less than expected it turned out that we had exactly the required total of $800. The question then was did we want to pay it?

Suffice it say we paid and got our six month visa.

So, we got to the house we stayed in last time, and had a wonderful welcome from various friends we had made. Priscille (our cook from last time) was there and was busy preparing a meal. All our things we had stored at Francesca’s were brought over and we could relax and enjoy ourselves.

The house and environs have changed though. A new building is rapidly in the garden – extra bedrooms; there are now additional beds in the rooms we used as a sort of study and the room we used as a kitchen – so the hall became our ‘kitchen’ (the Bishop didn’t like this so arranged for the bed to be removed, the kitchen has returned to being a kitchen and the hall to being a hall); the bathroom has been tiled, the loo repaired so it fills up consistently well, the sink now drains outside and not onto the floor and the tap and shower have been connected to use water from the large rainwater tank that fills the loo. However, given that there was a dead bat in the tank last year we are not using this water for washing…

Thanks for your interest in our escapades – but we’re actually hoping that the rest of the month will be less eventful!

 

 

And finally...

We are getting to the end of our time in DR Congo, our six months sojourn here is almost finished. We have been reflecting on things and have realised that there are many things we will miss, and many things we will not miss. We thought we’d share them with you….

Things we will miss:

·         Fun thunderstorms

We enjoy thunderstorms, as long as we are inside, and we have had many thunderstorms whilst we have been here. The rain is torrential and no-one goes out but the noise of frequent overhead claps of thunder is scary but exciting.

·         Wearing sandals, not shoes

The freedom accorded to feet is wonderful!

·         Fruit

The fruit here is simply delicious. There are the small, and very sweet, bananas, which are very plentiful. But, there are also mango, pineapples and avocados. The flavour is something else compared to what we get in Britain, so much more flavour, so much fresher. We’ve not been too bothered about mangos in Britain, in comparison to here they are tasteless, as are pineapples and avocados. The latter are so much nicer, so much creamier….you get the idea!

·         Being outdoors a lot of the time

Because it is so much warmer here we have spent an awful lot of time outdoors. We are not looking forward to being cooped up in houses again.

·         Sitting on the veranda

Our home has a small veranda, with enough space for four chairs. Most of the day time we use the veranda as a sitting room. We have particularly enjoyed breakfast outdoors every day we have been here.

·         The climate

It was incredibly hot when we arrived, now it is 10 degrees cooler. Sometimes we even feel a little chilly but it’s nice to never feel cold – it is never really cold, there is frequent sunshine and it is really very pleasant altogether! – and let’s not forget the fun thunderstorms already mentioned above (though maybe just a few too many lately)!

·         French

It has been good to improve our French, and for Pete especially, to be able to converse more than a couple of words in a language that is not English

·         Not having to make many decisions

There is not a lot of choice here, so not many decisions! Breakfast is porridge or Weetabix, lunch is cooked for us, evening meal is from a restricted list, there are no leisure activities to choose from. It means there are few choices, which means less pressure.

·         Singing

Virtually anyone in a group can start singing, and they do. Often, when you walk around you hear groups of people singing, simply because they love music and singing (there has been less of this over the last few weeks).

·         The ‘dancing’ as people sing

People rarely sing standing still, they nearly always move in rhythm with the music. It is fascinating and impressive. They also do wonderful dances as they process anywhere.

·         Greeting, always having time for people

You always greet people when you meet them. Sometimes this is just a two-handed wave but, more usually, it involves handshakes and a brief discussion at least. People stop as they trundle past on their motos, just to say hello. People always have time for each other here.

·         Feeling in touch with people

People, basically, live their lives outdoors. This means you regularly see the same people as you walk past. Because you always greet them, even if there is no common language, you feel you are getting to know them in some way. It has been good to see one of the local pastors family steadily lose their shyness and now always say ‘Hello’ (or rather “Mbote”, which is Lingala for hello) as we pass. The children always give us a warm smile, and they do not feel the need to say “mundele” (see below) any more.

·         Flexibility

A blessing and a curse! People are very flexible and will make arrangements very readily to meet etc. It makes making arrangements easy. However, needless to say, there is a downside, another easily arranged meeting may take precedence over yours…

·         Pace of life

The generally relaxed atmosphere, a lack of urgency and there is never seems to be a sense of hurry, or panic or need to get somewhere ahead of everyone else here. It is really quite pleasant. OK, it brings a different set of problems(!) but it is relaxing

 
·         The slapping handshake

It has been good to get to know people better, and to have that increasing friendship acknowledged by the ‘slapping handshake’. Instead of just shaking hands the hands are brought together quickly, so they slap together, then you shake. During the peace in church you hear a lot of these slapping handshakes

·         Not much washing up or cooking

Because we do not have running water or electricity (except from a solar charged battery to give us lights and recharge our laptop) we employ people to do things for us. This means food magically appears and the washing up just gets done!

·         No traffic

There is no background sound of, traffic – something that is hard to achieve in the UK. Sometimes a lorry rumbles by (and they do rumble) but the constant noise is simply not there.

·         Walking places

It is good to use one’s legs, there isn’t an alternative really. So, as long as it is not chucking it down, you walk, and often meet people as you do so.

 
·         The hand washing ‘ritual’

If you are ever out and have something to eat people always wash hands. There is a jug of water and a bowl with a bar of soap, a girl (usually a girl, if no girl available a woman, never a man) brings the bowl round and water is poured over your hands as you wash them and the water drains into the bowl, then they move to the next person. When everyone’s hands have been washed the person who took the bowl says some form of grace (usually so quietly you cannot hear it) and then you get your tea and biscuit, or meal or whatever. The need for this ‘ritual’ is obvious but we cannot recall any time when it has not happened, even for just a biscuit.

·         Observing the behaviour of animals in our garden

Our garden is visited by various semi-domesticated animals, goats, chickens + baby chicks, a piglet and guinea fowl. It is interesting to observe their behaviour – particularly the behaviour of an increasingly muscle bound cock and a much younger male teenage cock. As the young cock matures his presence is increasingly not permitted by “beefy”.

Things we won’t miss

·         The sound of goats farting

Goats do not ‘pass wind’!

·         The cry of “Mundele” whenever you walk around

Small children seem to feel the need to call out “Mundele” (“white man”) when they see white people. They also love to run up and shake your hand. When this is a school it can involve 20 or 30 children. After several weeks it gets tiresome – particularly when some (not many) also ask for sweets.

·         Cockroaches

Self-explanatory! Frequent evening visitors

·         Insect bites

Even innocent looking little flies bite you here!

Not that flies often look that innocent…

·         Not flushing the toilet very often for fear of lack of rainwater to fill up the tank

This has not been a problem recently with thunderstorms practically daily. However, when you go a week without rain it gets a little worrying. The fact that the cistern takes 30 mins. to refill doesn’t help either. On the other hand, we should be grateful we have a flushing toilet at all…

·         Long drop toilets

We are fortunate to have a sit down toilet (see above) but we sometimes have to avail ourselves of the alternative, a hole with a very long drop – we won’t go into more detail

·         Excessive heat

At present the temperature is pleasant but when we arrived it was very, very hot. It turns out that the hottest time of year here is February / March and July / August is the coldest. We are just in the northern hemisphere so this is a little puzzling but we are getting thunderstorms most days at the moment, and it is not horribly hot leading up to them. When we arrived it was 37^o most days, and no cooler than 27^o at night.

·         Very long church services

Services take a minimum of two and a half hours. They are mostly conducted in Swahili, but with some Lingala (a language use as a ‘trade language’ in a large area of Congo, spoken by millions along, and around the huge Congo river basin). The record was a service that took four and a half hours. If there is a special event, nothing is removed, things are just added. So, the other Sunday there were 47 baptisms in one service – the baptisms alone took an hour but nothing else was taken out of the normal two hour service

·         Some of the old French hymns

At morning prayers we use a song book that has been put together locally, most of the songs are old French ones and are not our choice. It is a pity, because all the Lingala and Swahili songs we have heard are great.

·         Not being in control

We are used to managing by ourselves, and having control of our own travel etc. Here, we are dependent on others to get us to places, most particularly to Arua in Uganda, where we have to go to get money from the bank. This means arranging a lift to the frontier, a lift from the frontier and the reverse. If it is arranged too far in advance people forget (see ‘flexibility’ above), if too late then you cannot find the people you need.

·         Not really understanding what is going on

At first we didn’t know how things worked and we couldn’t fathom anything really. Now things have improved but we still find that we think we understand what is happening, understand the French etc., then you suddenly realise you have been asked a question….

·         French

Whilst it has been good to massively improve our French it will never be good enough, and it is tiring…The fact that some people don’t speak French also doesn’t help. Some of the people Pete has been working with speak better English than French, so French is not much use to them, it has to be translated into Lingala or Swahili. This sort of thing is normal here, with so many languages being used.

·         Boring food

All the food is tasty (though we don’t like ‘fu-fu’, the grey millet stodge the Congolese love with everything). But, the choice is beans and rice, beans and plantain, beans and potato. Variety comes from the different sorts of beans and ‘exciting’ possible combinations. The feasts are also the same each time, fu-fu, rice, perhaps potato and/or plaintain, beef, chicken, muchicha (a sort of spinach and peanut sauce mix, very good) and palm oil (which we have avoided as it does not suit western stomachs). A particularly exciting highlight at the last feast we attended was termites….

At least we don’t have think and plan too much

·         Tins of sardines

Evening meals have been a collection of what we can get together. A highlight we will not miss is tinned sardines and sweet crackers.

·         The risk of ‘eggs that are off

We have made quite a few omelettes whilst we’ve been here, but we were warned that the eggs are sometimes off when you open them. It is obvious an egg is off when you crack the shell open, because of the smell, but there is a distinct sense of anxiety before cracking open each shell.

·         Flying termites

After rain there are often a lot of flying termites, which come into the house in the evening. They are large and, if you don’t like catching them to eat (we don’t, locals do) not nice to have around

·         The noise of guinea fowl

We’re not sure we’d heard guinea fowl before, and we don’t wish to again There is a group of about 12 that wander round, often in our garden. They can make what can only be described as a “fearful racket”

·         Working

Gill gave up work a year before we came here so working has been a shock. However, it has also given a structure for the day.

·         Indirectness

It is rare to discuss something openly and directly. You are expected to be sophisticated in your communication and understand what is being said “in-between the lines”. So, you do not get to the bottom of something, the core issue, but are expected to work it out from what has been said. We have read that talking directly is seen as simply something children do, speaking directly is, therefore, seen as childish. This means that if you do talk directly you are treating the other person as a child. Tricky!

·         Bumpy roads

In Congo we have not found any tarmac roads, some roads are OK but usually they are pitted and are very rough. After a short while you have had enough of being bounced around

·         Dust

No tarmac, lots of dirt paths (which also turn very muddy in the rain) mean loads of dust that gets everywhere

·         Uncomfortable chairs

They start off comfortable enough but the foam (if it is there at all) is insufficient and/or old. After a while you become very uncomfortable, and cannot get comfortable whatever you do.

That's it - thanks for sticking with us!

 

Different culture, rats and bikes

Culture

Although we have been here over four months some things still bring us up short. A couple of things have come to light recently that confirm (as if such confirmation were needed) that our cultural expectations and starting points remain very different.

The first concerns an eight year old girl who, we were told, had been physically abused after she had lost some money. The girl fled but, after suitable discussion with and, admonishment of the mother, was returned home the next day. Shortly afterwards she ran away again and was not found for two months. However, it appears she may have been abused again where she had run too and so came back to Aru. She was taken in by a family who live fairly near to her family home. Then, we were told, she was found to be behaving strangely and, it was believed, this was as a result of her being possessed. Belief in the power of evil spirits, or curses and of demons is very strong here. Much mental ill health is seen as being a result of possession rather than as a health problem. From the description of the girl’s behaviour it seems that she was acting in a way that is consistent with her having being seriously assaulted and having all her stability taken away from her. The idea that she might be possessed seems to us to be unhelpful, and potentially damaging. Do we say anything? Do we intervene? Where is the point of common agreement? Is it anything to do with us?? We have let it be known that Pete has many years of professional experience in child protection work and have left it at that. The family the girl is with is a large, loving family and, we are told, she has been improving.

The second thing that brought us up short relates to a cultural expectation. Apparently, in one tribe fairly near here, if a respected man stays the night (such as a pastor or a white man etc.) he will be offered a young woman for the night. We have discussed this with a group who, like us think it is awful. However, the discussion remained academic until Pete was in discussion with a guy at the office and some coke was brought in by Susan (not her name). Susan is working temporarily at Pete’s office and, when she had left, the man Pete was with said that Susan was from the tribe which offered young women to respected men. Susan is in her early twenties so is one of the women who could be offered. May be she has been put in this position in the past. Suddenly the idea stops being academic and becomes real!

Rats

They say that in Britain you are never far away from a rat. Well, for some time now Pete has had the delightful sound of rats scrabbling above his head in the office. This wasn’t a problem until the other week when he plugged his laptop in to charge it, but there was no power, despite the generator working hard. It turned out that the rats simply could not resist the nice, shiny, exposed length of copper wire and had eaten through it. They had done the same elsewhere so it took several days for things to be sorted out (this is Africa).

When they were, the fix would not meet British safety standards. Why buy connectors when you can just twist the mains wires together?

We have seen similar safety standards here before. At a large conference, shortly after we arrived, power came from a generator and the bare wires were simply wrapped around the prongs of an an upside down British style plug. This plug then fed a four socket extension which had two or three four socket extensions (for projector, computer, sound amplifier etc) running off it. We were sitting 10ft away….

Gill is increasingly certain she hears rats in our home, in the ceiling. As long as they stay there, and don’t eat the wires, then it is OK!

Bikes

We have previously described our bike as ‘industrial’ and ridiculously heavy. You’d expect such a beast to be robust. You’d be wrong.

Since buying this brand new bike when we arrived, the saddle has started to fall apart and now needs a cover, the dynamo (which never worked) has fallen off, the red rear dynamo light has lost its cover and bulb. The rear brakes don’t work properly (Pete managed to fix the front ones), the steering is fine but the assembly moves backwards and forward in a way it shouldn’t. It's not even as if it's had heavy use! Let's hope it lasts another seven weeks!

Observations

I was sitting here (on our veranda) the other day thinking – we’re living the life of Riley really (whoever he/she was/is!).

Apart from Sundays

• all our washing up is done for us
• our main meal is cooked for us
• our washing is done for us (apart from my undies – oops, you didn’t want to know that did you?)
• the weekly shop is done for us
• some cleaning is done for us
• all our water is fetched for us
• drinking water is prepared for us
• the grass is cut for us
• electricity is generated by the sun for us

So it’s going to be a huge shock when we get home and have to do all these things for ourselves - well not the water bit, and we do have a washing machine, and a car (or two) and an electric lawn mower, and electricity comes very conveniently down a wire!

We do do some work, I hasten to add – we don’t just sit around all the time. In fact we were both in Pete’s office this morning – he was testing my database and I was translating his PowerPoint presentation – when a cat came to the door miaouing pitifully, followed by the sound of a hen clucking happily just outside – all quite normal.

We have got used to a new ‘normal’, so we don’t notice differences so much any more. For example, women have their young children with them all the time. They carry them on their backs, in slings, until they are quite old (two / three?). This includes bringing babies, in their slings, into work. Children do not seem to need to be entertained here, are quite content and seem to cry only rarely. They seem to be able to sit for hours without becoming bored. Care for children is shared between a group of women and girls (never men). It is difficult for us to establish which baby belongs to which parent or family as they are constantly handed round.

 

 

Another thing that is now ‘normal’ is the excitement children get just seeing white people. If we walk around we can often hear the chant of “Mundele” (white man). This is chanted as “Moon-de-leh” and, at first, is quite endearing. However, it often involves children (twenty or thirty at a time, if it is break time at school) running up to us to shake our hands, just so they can touch a white person (which seems to give them immense pleasure and excitement). This can certainly impede progress and one is not quite sure how clean the hands that are keen to shake ours are! Pete has taken to avoiding walking out of his office at certain times to try to avoid the onslaught.

Couples here do not, seemingly, do things together. A few weeks ago a couple we have got to know told us that we were unusual because we went to places, and did things, together. They had noticed this in white people before – it is not the practice here. Even if couples are going to the same place they seem to go independently, couples do not sit together in church or at other meetings. They talk about each other as if they were not related – “You will have to ask X about that”, never you should ask my husband. From a course for couples we have attended (with about 10 other couples) it is clear that couples lead very independent lives, only coming together at the very end of the day.

As in other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, friends hold hands as they walk, or sit together. We believe that men and women who are couples must not do this but it is OK for friends of the same gender. We remember years ago, when we came to Uganda, the sight of two soldiers on guard at Entebbe airport and fully equipped with all the kit soldiers have, including rifles, walking around hand in hand.

There is a lot of singing here. When this is done in church, or in church groups, someone always sings the first few lines as an introduction, and then lead the singing. Often someone, or more than one, taps out the rhythm. When the singing is in church there is always a conductor who leads the singing. He, or she, announces the song, sings the first few lines and then enthusiastically conducts the congregation. People we have spoken to think it strange that we do not do the same in the UK

A less happy thing, but one we have also got used to, is the high number of accidents that there are here. As mentioned in a previous blog, many people travel by moto but there also a lot of people who are limping and / or recovering from a moto accident. Many of these injuries are minor but others can be more serious. The bishop’s driver has been in hospital since before we came as result of being hit by a car whilst on his moto, another diocesan staff member has been on crutches since we got here as a result of an injury to his leg (he is now using the crutches less). It isn’t that people drive recklessly but the roads can be awful. You are meant to drive on the right but you drive where the road is smoothest, avoiding dips and holes. When it is wet the mud roads become very slippery. When people pray for a safe journey it really does mean there is risk of it not being safe!

Finally, community means many different things here. As in UK there are different communities but here ‘community’ can mean

• your tribal group (there is a real mixture in Aru),
• your clan (a subset of tribe which appears to be related to the small area/village your family originate from)
• the community of houses where you live. There are often no formal boundaries to these family groups of homes and some paths go through the group of houses. The community is those who live in a small local area. They know each other and, because so much of life is outside, spend a lot of time together.

Life for the Congolese

We have two main means of communicating with the world at large, this blog and through our prayer letters, which we email to those who have asked for them. Naturally enough there is an overlap between the two and we end up apologising to those who get the prayer letter as they may have read much of the material on the blog. This time the apology is if they have already read what is below in the prayer letter!

In the last blog we said we’d try to describe something of the realities of life for the people who live in the DRC. We are here for just six months and are well aware that we can leave before then if need be. That is not the case for the people who live here. What we might find interesting, or hard, or different, is what the people in Aru have to live with day by day, they have no choice. We’re not going to attempt to describe a typical day for the people who live here, that would be wrong and naïve of us as we do not know. However, we have seen, and read, something of the context.

For example, if you live in Aru, it is not possible to get to the capital, Kinshasa, by road (or, indeed, to a lot of the country). The route is by air. So, when the bishop here recently travelled to Kinshasa he had to get to Arua in Uganda (about an hour). From there he got the bus to Kampala (eight hours) and then flew to Nairobi (Kenya) from where he flew to Kinshasa. Apparently, it is possible to fly internally but the planes are not scheduled and there are many stopovers of indeterminate length. The journey can take weeks. 

In essence, getting around is a problem. Very few people have cars here and the roads are awful. Fuel is much the same price as in the UK but wages (when they are paid) are significantly lower. A school teacher gets about £45/month, so a full tank of fuel is more than a month’s wages. Those who can afford it travel by ‘moto’, 100cc/125cc motorbikes. If you haven’t got your own moto people will ferry you, for a fee. Alternatively, people have bikes – the design of these bikes does not appear to have changed for many, many, years. They are of Chinese origin and make no effort to be lightweight, have no gears and, we have discovered, are far from robust! Some people also ferry people (or animals) on the back of these bikes (passengers sit on a cushion on the pannier).

Getting help from the police can also be problematic. A few months ago the son of one of the diocesan staff had gone to bed with his family. Someone, or some people, came to the house and, somehow, blocked the door so no-one could get out and then set fire to the house (which had a thatched roof). It amounted to attempted murder - fortunately the family were able to smash their way out and no-one was hurt, but the home was destroyed. No-one has seen anything like this in Aru before and no-one has any idea who did it or why. Consequently, it is not possible to resolve things with whoever carried out the attack. However, the matter has not been reported to the police, “What is the point, the police will always tend to blame the victim (‘What have you done to warrant this attack? You must have done something’ etc.) and, also, would require payment – state officials often don’t get paid their salary….

Gill and I have both involved in translating funding bids from French into English (I know, makes sense for Gill, but Pete??). One related to health education and the other to peace and reconciliation work.

It was clear, from health education bid, bids that many people, particularly in rural areas (where a lot of other organisations do not work) have little concept of good hygiene. The consequence is that all the usual water borne illnesses, and their severe consequences, are prevalent. This lack of hygiene with, often coupled with unclean water supply means that there are many avoidable deaths and serious illnesses. The aim of the project is, therefore, to develop improved water provision and, also, model good hygiene practice in school toilets (which will mean, in many cases, building toilets [long drop, not like western toilets] with somewhere to wash), teaching children how to use these facilities so they pass the message through to their families at home. The project is not imposing any of this but it has been developed by, and has the full support of, local communities.

The bid Pete has been working on relates to the peace and reconciliation work that is being undertaken. As it is part of the Commission for Peace, Justice and Reconciliation (CDJPR) work to report internationally on local rebel activity they have a good picture of what is going on and the bid gives quite a lot of background.

To the north of Aru, where many people have relatives and friends:

• There are increasing numbers of “armed bandits”. So, over the last few weeks a hospital was attacked at night and a motorbike rider robbed.
• There are hunters and poachers who seem to have a ready supply of weapons (sometimes, seemingly, supplied by the army). These include escaped LRA hostages who have managed to flee with their weapons who, instead of returning to their communities, have stayed in the bush and use their weapons for poaching and extortion

The general feel of this northern area “is one of a sort of permanent insecurity in the population that was previously very affected by the LRA”.

In addition to the problems caused by the rebels, poachers and bandits, in the north, there are significant land disputes. These are the result of;

There being many displaced people in areas in the North East

• An increased birth rate
• Trading disputes
• There being little fertile land

As in much of central Africa, land is very important here. Your land is part of who you and your family are. Consequently, ‘land disputes’ are not civil affairs conducted through solicitors and courts but are often violent. These disputes, between local communities, sometimes across the border with South Sudan and Uganda, are reported as leaving three people dead, a further 1,500 refugees living in Uganda, more than 1,000 being internally displaced and extensive material damage. Many of those affected are people who have already been displaced from their homes.

In summary, further north, there is;

Insecurity caused by the presence of the (LRA) rebels, local bandits, the army (FARDC) and poachers

• An increase in cases of sexual violence (including early marriage, marriage between the military and the minors, sexual exploitation of the kidnapped) by the rebels in the bush,
• Cruel and degrading treatment being carried out by rebels in the bush  on local populations and travellers
• An increase in poaching, with the complicity of some enforcement officers, workers within humanitarian organizations, the political authorities and members of the local population. This poaching is resulting in trafficking of resources from Garamba Game park (including ivory tusks, gold, diamonds and meat).
• Widespread crises and poverty in local communities (food crisis, dilapidated roads, fewer children attending school, poor health care, lack of humanitarian aid to the victims of armed conflicts)
• A lack of support to victims of conflicts, the displaced and the survivors in their reintegration into the community.

The above description does not include the actions undertaken by the rebel group around Kumuru, referred to previously. It is also not the only area affected by rebel activity. Just to emphasise, though, that Aru is perfectly safe and we are not in any danger! We found out recently that the Congolese army has been much more active in fighting the rebels around Kumuru and, it would seem, the rebels have given up and fled into the bush – at least for now.

Life for the Congolese is not easy!

However, you would not know that to meet them. We have not heard people complain about their lot, there seems an acceptance of life as it is and, at the same time, a recognition that if changes are needed it is not for other people to find the solution but communities themselves, and a confidence that they can. So, if the government is not doing what it should (and, it would seem it frequently isn't) the church works with communities and does it instead – or alongside what government work there is. Hence the diocesan work with education, leading on peace, justice and reconciliation, working against poverty, etc.

On a different note, as we may have mentioned, when it rains here it rains! Often the storm is accompanied by strong winds, which always seems to come from the same direction. We have discovered that the door and windows on that side of the house (where our living room is), are not exactly water-tight and we have a significant mopping up job to do afterwards!

Reflections on living

We’ve been here over a third of our time now. Time to reflect a little.

When we first arrived we were incredibly aware of the differences in just about everything. Just looking around everything is different. I glanced out of the window this morning and just noticed what we now count as normal. Two young women were walking away from us with yellow jerry cans full of water on their heads, they were walking alongside what we might call ‘mud huts’ (the majority of people live in these - buildings with grass/thatch roofs and mud brick walls) and a pile of mud bricks drying in the sun. One sight that struck us when we arrived was the sight of these buildings with a wire leading a large satellite dish alongside, slightly incongruous!

 

The other big difference was, obviously, just living (sorry if we’ve said this before!):

• No running water (apart from some from a large rain water tank that fills our loo cistern – having a loo is an incredible bonus! – even if it does take 20 mins to fill),
 
• No electricity – we have a solar panel which charges a battery for lighting and which we can charge computers etc with. The original battery was not up to the job so we had to buy a new, more powerful one (in the picture the black one is the new battery, the red one, now unused, is the old one).
 
• Cooking, our main meal is prepared for us (beans and rice, beans and potatoes, beans and plantain). We cook our evening meal, and heat water for hot drinks etc., using paraffin stoves, which is not something we have done before.
• Having staff (someone has said in the UK we employ electricity, here we employ people). Having people wandering in and out of the house most of the day takes some getting used to. We don’t get to be by ourselves until the evening.

Initially, we thought we were missing the ‘luxuries’ of home but we realised that, actually, we have got used to this fairly quickly. What we have found we are missing are the things we enjoy but are not able to do, things such as going away in our motorhome, seeing our friends and relatives, having a nice coffee and cake. It isn’t that we necessarily do these things very often but knowing we can’t do them makes us miss them.

So, what is a typical day like. Monday to Friday follow a similar pattern. We get up with the sun at about 6am (our night watchman brushes the dust from the mud path outside our bedroom window at around 5:30am…) and have a leisurely breakfast (Weetabix or porridge, Gill doesn’t like porridge but it’s cheap and available!). We often do email at this time as it tends to be more reliable and faster early on, though still very slow, it does tend to work! We also pray together at this time.

There is diocesan prayer at 8am, which we are expected to attend (and do). This consists of singing some songs (usually in French, some translated British ones), someone talking for 10 mins on the Bible and then one person praying for whatever has been asked for.

Gill then returns home to meet Priscilla, the cuisiniere (cook) and sort whatever needs sorting. Monday is washing day, on Tuesday Priscilla goes to the market and shops for us, Wednesday Yakani (the ‘gardener’) does the ironing (charcoal iron). Gill usually works at home in the morning – currently she is:

• developing a database for the nursing school library
• translating a document from French to English for a bid for money for developing clean water provision, and water hygiene, in rural areas
• translating and adapting some British Bible Study material

After prayers Pete goes to the BDD office. Pete’s work is, currently:

• Developing improved financial management for the programme – there is reasonable bookkeeping but there is no effective budget monitoring or forward financial planning, particularly tricky when the funding they receive arrives at different times of the year.
• Developing a risk management workshop to help planning generally
• Translating a bid that has already been translated from French into English by someone whose command of English is not good! This bid is for money for the incredibly important work of reconciliation with ex-rebels and where there are disputes over land. These are not polite, legal, arguments between solicitors but can result if people being killed.

Lunch (main meal) happens after midday, Priscilla does not have a watch and timings are not precise! Lunch is, again, leisurely. Priscilla leaves at 14:00 and Yakani is meant to be here before she goes but cannot be relied on. Amongst other things this can cause complications with the key. Peter returns to the office after lunch and Gill continues her work, sometimes using the office as well as there is electricity from a generator there.

Two afternoons a week both of us are doing IT training for people who want to improve their skills in Office applications. This is something of a challenge as different people have different version of Word. We have:

• Word 2003 in English
• Word 2003 in French
• Word 2007 (very different to Word 2003) in French

We are delivering the training in French but finding the right technical term, and sometimes finding the correct menu etc. in French, is hard work, but their excitement when a table of contents magically appears is reward in itself!

We are also using Gill’s translated and adapted Bible study material one evening a week with an existing group and, next week, will be doing the same with a second group. The first group appear to be enjoying it and are keen to reciprocate by introducing us to their approach to Bible Study later on.

Normally, the working day finishes around 16:00. Gill sometimes has a choir practice (one of the choirs that sings in the cathedral, they sing in Swahili so she has no idea what is being sung! Gill has not yet, and probably never will, sung in the cathedral).

We have our evening meal sometime after 18:00. We have exciting things for tea, such as bread and sardines, bread and cheese (if we have got it), pasta and cheese sauce, soup (nearly run out, not available locally). It goes dark around 18:00 and there is nothing to do, no TV etc. we read or play exciting games, such as Rummikub or Boggle.

We go to bed at around 21:00 but no evening is complete without cockroach patrol. These very beautiful creatures are apparently totally harmless but cause great squeals from Gill. About once every other evening we spot a cockroach, somewhere, often in the bathroom (you imagine standing stark naked in a bowl with a cockroach scooting around!). These are dispatched and disposed of outside – once we left a dead one in the bathroom only to discover ants very busy, all over it, later in the night. Lovely.

When we arrived it was incredibly hot but, now that the rainy season is in full swing, it is really quite pleasant, a good 5 or 6 degrees cooler overall and a positively chilly 20 degrees some mornings.

 

 

For both of us, health now appears to be good. Gill has had no more fainting and Pete’s labrynthitis seems to have cleared up (since writing this Gill has developed a cold!). We have realised that the slightest twinge, that you would ignore in the UK, makes you just that bit anxious about whether it will develop into something nasty, because you are aware that health care here is very poor (“inadequate” is another word). If we needed proper treatment we would have to get ourselves to Kampala.

Pete’s birthday weekend (20^th/21^st) was spent on a very relaxing and enjoyable weekend in Arua with the couple we stayed with on our way over. We even had a little time in a swimming pool.

Enough rambling (sorry, let us know if you’re bored!). Next blog will try to describe some of the reality of life for people who live here and who are not going back to the UK in a few months. Very different.