Gemena to Karawa and Tropical Fruit

Moved to Karawa, DRC.  Pics from the transition to my new home (for now) and my visit to the farm at Kanana where team member Paul Noren is drying mangosteen fruit as an income generation project to support CEUM development, and a pic of me and my Karawa housemate, Marta Klein, who is a nurse at the hospital here.

Saying good-bye to the Goma family in Gemena.  I had a wonderful time living with them! Merveille, 13, did my hair as a parting gift.  Loved it!

Mama Kikwiti, my tutor, colleague and friend with her daughter Fedora (right) and niece Deborah (left).  These are my first friends in Congo, and I will miss not seeing them everyday.

My new home in Karawa, a 2 hour drive from Gemena.  

My street.

My running path.  I have to go at about 5:30am to beat the heat.

The end of my running route, the air strip in Karawa.  The beauty of this area is stunning, pictures don't do it justice!

I went to Kanana Farm with Paul Noren, my co-worker who has decades of experience with agricultural development here in Congo.  This fruit is a variety of durian, one that Paul introduced.  The taste is good, but texture is a bit slimy for me.

Cactus fruit.  That's right, cactus in the rainforest!  The fruit is fresh and crisp with little black edible seeds.  Yum!

Mangosteens are one of my new favorites.  They have about five sections per fruit and is sweet with  the perfect amount of tangy.

Paul built a fruit dryer and we will be selling dried fruit in Yaounde and for the 75th anniversary celebration coming up in August.

I will bring some of this home with me when I come back.  It would be great in trail mix or as a snack by itself!

Thought I should add a picture of me with my new housemate Marta (left) as we say goodbye to Free church missionary Sarah and her baby Hannah.  Making friends in every new town!  And if you're curious, my hair only lasted 2 days like that.  It gets too itchy.