Covenant Women, At Home

Life has been up down and sideways these past two weeks, but I have to share that yesterday I started to feel like this place could be my HOME.  In the morning, I attended a women’s meeting in a nearby neighborhood.  There were over 300 women there, and it was a time that the women of the Covenant church get together to worship and pray once a month.  These are the women that I will be working with, and they are so beautiful and full of life and hope!! It was great to sing and dance with them, and they laughed and laughed when I tried to dance like them.  They have a practice of giving money to people who dance well, and I got a few Congolese francs! Of course, I immediately gave the money to the women’s department of the church, feeling kind of weird about the whole thing, but it felt good to connect with women through music and dance, even when I’m not yet able to communicate in Lingala. 

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  French is coming in handy for sure, but I am struck by how many people don’t speak French at all.  I am more motivated than ever to get a handle on Lingala so I can fully participate in relationships with people around me. 

Then, last night, I moved into my home for the next month.  I am living with a Congolese family, and there are 10 of us living in a five bedroom house.  I have my own room and the kids have bunk beds.  For dinner last night I ate delicious makembe (fried plantains)  mpondu (manioc leaves) loso (rice) and madesu (beans) and had fresh avocadoes, pineapples and papaya for dessert! This is my true initiation into Congolese life, and exactly how I wanted life to be! So grateful for this opportunity to focus on language and culture study, and for the Ngoma family who has welcomed me with open arms.

There is some exciting progression in my role working in women’s development here which I will share in my next post.  Please keep in prayer the women of the CEUM as they plan and discern programs to ameliorate the lives of women and children in this region.

First Two Weeks in Congo

With all my travels to Africa, I have never experienced a place like Congo yet. It isn’t a surprise really. Kenya was so different from Burundi and from South Africa.  I arrived at my new home two weeks ago, and already I am feeling accustomed to the inconsistency of running water, electricity for three hours in the evening (sometimes not even that) and fuku – a playdough textured carbohydrate made with a blend of manioc and maize flour that is a staple of the Congolese diet.

Things that I love:

The warm welcome I have received! People here are excited to see a young face and fresh energy for work with the church.  The other missionaries have many years of experience working here, but the church leadership has said a new voice is welcome and refreshing.

My welcome party right when I stepped off the plane! I thanked everyone in French.  Yipes, hope they understood.

A central part of Congolese culture is song and dance.  This is definitely one of my favorite parts of being here.  I hear the drums as I’m falling asleep, and in church there are regularly four part acapella harmonies lifting up praises.  When nothing makes sense and I’m feeling discouraged, I will find refuge in these songs and dances.  I am hoping to start practicing with the Bokonzo choir this or next week!   I brought my guitar too, so we’ll see if I can work that into our practice too.

This part of the country is stunningly beautiful.  Rolling green hills of palm, banana, and hundreds of other kinds of trees as far as the eye can see.  The red dirt roads contrasted with the green hillsides is striking, and it gives me a fresh perspective to be so far away from concrete and industry.

I attended a church service on Sunday that was a gathering of all the Covenant churches in the district here.  The newly elected church leader, President Mboka gave a sermon on 1 Corinthians 13 and called his church to love beyond tribal tensions and beyond social barriers.  I was so encouraged by this message, and am proud to be working with a church that teaches and celebrates the root message of the Gospel. 

Things that I question:

As foreign missionaries, we were all asked to sit in front of the 1,000 person church on Sunday, facing the congregation and on display.  I just kept thinking about how young people in the church were perceiving us.  People in places of honor in the church had nice clothes or white faces.  What kind of message does this give about the kingdom of God?  I know it would have been rude and dishonoring for me to not sit where the church asked me to be, but I hope we can have a conversation about this in the future and explore traditions and customs of the church so I can understand them better.

It will always be a challenge for me to live differently from the people I work with.  We have access to vehicles, electricity and running water when most of the community does not have access to these luxuries.  It would be difficult for me to be connected with everyone at home if I did not have electricity.  It would be difficult to travel for trainings if I didn’t have access to a vehicle sometimes.  I need to find a balance, and always be questioning what I think I need, and what I actually need.

I already have many people asking me for money for everything from soap to wheelchairs.  I am holding off on giving at this point – I am so wary of starting off my time here with a financial dependency relationship with people, and I don’t want to be seen as a dollar sign.  I’ve been there before.  Please pray that I grow in fruitful relationship with people WITHOUT the expectation of money, because I am not here to throw money at problems.  

Yet, the material poverty here is striking.  At church, they announced how much each church had given as contribution for a celebration lunch that was had.  Entire church communities, including over 100 people, were able to give collectively 5 dollars, sometimes not even that.  5 dollars!! I imagine a pancake breakfast fundraiser at my church, raising 5 dollars to contribute to high school students going to CHIC this summer…but I can’t even picture it.

Many challenges and many blessings.  Please continue to pray with me as I navigate my new life here!