VISITS TO OLD WELL SITES FOR ASSESSMENT -- MERKLEYS AND ELDER MOON

Sister Jameson organized a sister missionary conference at the mission home. Sue and the other mature sisters were invited to participate. Sue was assigned to tell an experience that made her know that Heavenly Father loved her. When we arrived at the parking lot at the Mission Home the sister missionaries were just arriving in the mission van. They joined others who had already arrived in a joyous greeting, hugging, laughing, joyfully greeting one another in loud exclamations. All were beautifully dressed and coiffed, a delightful sight.

More greeting and hugging.

These three posed for a picture. The short one in the middle, Sister Flagbo, has a leg crippled from a childhood incident, that has grown shorter than the other. The Mission President has had doctors assess a solution and a prosthetic shoe will be tried in the very near future. She walks by placing one hand on her short leg and bending to push on the leg. She is a wonderful missionary with a never ending smile.

A woman passed us on the path to a well with a basin full of these on her head. She declined to be photographed, but our translator held a bundle of them for the photo. I don't know what they are and he could not remember the Lingala name.

A path-side barber shop on the way to the well.

This well has a tower. The electricity runs at night and the well fills when the pump runs. There are several faucets. The tank overflow runs to another tank elsewhere in the village, and between them they supply six supply points. The wells we saw today were funded by the Church, but they are build by local NGO well drilling entities. Some are better than others. The community charges for the water, each user paying a few cents, and the money pays for maintenance, and hopefully for expansion of the system.

The person in the chair collects the money from the users.

Women with their water basins and bidons in which they carry water, usually without spilling. An amazing display of balance. A five gallon bidon weighs over 40 pounds.

This little boy followed us around. He often toyed with his protruding navel.

We always gather a crowd of children who are fascinated by the "mundeles" which they of call out to us as we pass. Some of the very young are fearful of the whiteys, and some take to crying at the sight.

This little boy asked me to take his picture, so I did.

Assorted dried and smoked fish, and caterpillars, and I am not sure what else for sale.. Myriads of these stands line the paths into the village interior. In some places the vendors have to move them for us to pass with the truck. But larger vehicles than ours sometimes come through.

Children learn to do the chores very young, without complaint.

Outdoor cooking is the norm. These will be wrapped in banana leaves, tied with a vine, placed in a large plastic  container and carried about the village by young women to sell for lunch, along with appropriate condiments.

Our guide and translator helps a bread vendor move her display table so we can make the turn. The large umbrellas are patched with various pieces of old fabric, or tarp as they wear.

We are deep in the village interior where the vendors line the route, in unbroken proximity, one against the next.

In this village, the most densely populated of all in Kinshasa, here is a view of the "pavement", inches deep with mostly plastic refuse of all sorts. Gabon has outlawed all plastic bags, and another small country in Africa, I have heard has outlawed  all plastic. 

At a certain point we must park the vehicle and continue on foot.

The paths criss-cross the village.

One of the springs we inspected for a future development is in a ravine surrounded by eroding sand cliffs. Recent rains washed sand and mud down around the outlets and made access more difficult.

People gather in large numbers to draw water, wash, and play in the water. In this case there is a stream running around the captured spring where the sealed pipes keep the water from contamination. Too many people make it impossible to get good pictures of the clear water flowing from the pipes.

I muddied my water-proof hiking shoes coming walking through the shallow stream to this area. A young man insisted on washing them off for me, as I assisted, but finally left the task to him, then paid him 500cf, about 50 cents, which is about twice the going price for a shoe shine. He seemed grateful and followed us until we returned to the truck.

Young girls carrying water from the spring.

Villagers drawing water.

We passed this tiny courtyard, swept and  flowering Cannas beautifying the space.

A young girl delivering cooked fish and other victuals to be sold throughout the village for lunch.

These women were happy to permit a photo of their sewing shop under a tarp for shade. They operated 3 treadle and electric Singer Sewing Machines for their enterprise.

We passed pig raising stalls, and all were immaculate. Pigs of various colors were in most of the concrete stalls, protected by two chained dogs.

This is a palm oil press.

Palm oil press

Two young water porters. Sister Merkley in the backgroung.

These are palm oil fruit clusters.

This "papa" was whittling palm frond staves into long thin strips to be woven into sleeping mats.

One of the local young men lifting one of the palm oil clusters, which appeared to weigh about 50 pounds. The fruit is boiled and pressed. The pulp is very fibrous, and can be chewed raw, which our interpreter says is good for eyesight. It must contain high amounts of vitamin A. The large seed inside can be cracked with difficulty and the nut inside eaten.

This young mother was nursing her one month old child, and later seemed happy to have their picture taken.

These three women permitted us to photograph them carrying fire wood.

We visited the local preacher where a well is located on his property. The tom toms were  in the yard. The one on the right is old, the larger one is new. They use cow hide where goat skin has been traditional. But he explained that people now like to eat the goat skin, so they us cow hide which is in abundance. The galvanized pipe in the well on his property  has rusted coloring the water in the morning until it cleans out, and small dark flecks from the pipe come up in the water, so people won't pay for it or drink, or use it for cooling anymore so they go to the spring which is free, but not a sanitary source. Elder Merkley explained that they could repair it with plastic pipe, or remove the top and the pump and use buckets and ropes, but he seemed without interest in the options, so we left. When people are not interested in doing their part they are left to their own solutions.

Residual mud holes left from recent rains.

A large dump truck approaching the puddle. These were going back and forth carrying gravel and sand.

Typical bottleneck at an intersection hear a marche on the road.

Wrecked vehicles, or vehicles under repair litter the roadsides, or often left in the median, or wherever they died, until they are fixed or just disappear piece by piece. After awhile it becomes second nature and we begin to only occasionally be surprised by something extremely unusual for westerners.