BRAZZAVILLE, REPUBLIC OF CONGO, 17-19 MAY 2013

Waiting for the "canot" boat to cross the Congo River to Brazzaville from Kinshasa, the two closest national capitals in the world.

Friends and members, who work at the Beach, joined us in the waiting room, embarkation point for crossing the river. 

Load of foam on a pousse pousse, hand drawn, wheeled cart, that move goods about the cities.

Ninety percent of the cars on the road are taxis, all painted green and white, and almost all of them are Toyotas.

We arrive at the Platinum Hotel, owned and operated by a Lebanese Muslim Family.

Check-in desk. Nitch, on the left, our guide and chauffeur, gathers us at the Beach, handles the Protocol blizzard of paperwork and fees, is second counselor in the Stake Presidency, and is the mechanic for Church Temporal Affairs. He is also a consummate chauffeur, and can wend his way through the worst traffic.

The bed in the room. No we did not mess up the cover; that is the way it is arranged upon entering the room.

Sue, in a view across the room toward the bathroom, from the entrance.

Bathroom.

The armoire.

Under-the-bed structure.

Breakfast, served until 13h00, raisin roll, stuffed avocado with macedoine, omelets - your choice of filling- drinks. Fruit salad is also available. We had fruit salad the second day, papaya, passion fruit, pineapple. We also had croissants and chausson de pommes (apple turnover).

We came to Brazzaville to visit graduates of Interweave, the employment program directed by Olivier, that teaches students to form and manage small businesses. This is a woman who bakes cookies and distributes them widely. She began with one oven, made from fifty gallon steel drums, and now employs three people, and runs three ovens.

Inside the cookie maker's home.

Kitchen area, where an employee works with the tools of the bakery.

An employee, a returned missionary, kneads dough.

Another employee, returned missionary, preparing baking trays.

Work space between two structures, Nitch in the background, and our photographer who was documenting our visits.

Garden in a tray, fire wood below, gravel, and something in a bag in the aisle leading back to the front of the house.

Oven area.

Olivier taking notes and giving advice to the Interweave graduate entrepreneur.

Inside of an oven.

Demonstration of trays placed in the oven. Heat is controlled by removing burning wood if it gets too hot.

Sample product, Madeleine, and small round cake cookies, commonly eaten with coffee, tea, or some other drink. 

Worker, business owner, photographer.

We tried a sample.

The owner's daughter in purple, helps with the production. The two women also are seamstresses.

The business owner also rents a small building in her courtyard to other seamstresses.

We passed a Mosque on our way to another enterprise.

We walked through the local open air market place.

Vendors sell their wares from small booths.

Smoked Congo River fish.

Market place.

Many street vendors use these colorful umbrellas.

Boy in a shirt with some important person image on the back.

Merchandise varies widely.

Colorful buckets and tubs are used everywhere. We have two in our apartment.

Peanut butter, and jars of spices.

Member Interweave graduate talking with Olivier.

Perspective through the market place.

We stopped by the roadside for a moment where two men were rebuilding electric motors.

Closeup of the work in progress.

We visited an ice cream cone manufacturing business.

Molds for cones. Machine in the background quickly cooks the cones, which then are ejected into the pile below, later gathered and stacked in rows, then frozen for later distribution. They can stay six months in the freezer before they change flavor and are unsalable.

Filling molds.

Oven for baking little muffins.

Muffin making.

Worker manipulating the cone making equipment.

Filling the molds with batter.

Freezer loaded with cones.

Kitchen view.

The area outside the cone making kitchen was occupied by a circle of game playing children. Our guide pointed out that the large buildings in the compound were a Fine Arts University before the 2002 Congo War, and damaged and abandoned. Families made homeless by the war occupied the buildings, and still live there. The open areas between the classroom buildings, are filled with cars being repaired, and the rooms used for living or for small businesses.

Entrance to the cone making business.

One of the cars in which we traveled. The driver uses it occasionally for a taxi.

Stairway inside the chapel where the graduation ceremony was held in the afternoon. The building was purchased from a former government official who live here. It will eventually be demolished and rebuilt as a chapel. There is a wonderful garden behind.

Planning meeting on Friday before the Saturday graduation event.

Some of the Interweave facilitators.

President Russell Mbaya filled a mission in Cote d'Ivoire where he learned to love Senegalese food. We were happy to accompany him to have the experience. There were two choices, fish or lamb, with rice and onion sauce, with plantains -- delicious.

Menu. There were other items, but only two truly Senegalese dishes.

View across the restaurant.

The whole fish dish.

The lamb dish. I wish I had a plate now. The lamb is cubed, bones in. There was an internal organ, that I think was a kidney, and which I removed from my plate, which Nitch deftly scooped up and ate with relish, pronouncing it to be liver, but I have my doubts.

NGALIEMA COMMUNE

Olivier Tshimanga invited us to visit the Burgermeister (mayor) of Ngaliema Commune. Kinshasa is divided into communes. Ngaliema is one of the largest. We went to meet but were unable the first day, so rescheduled for the following day, the 16th of May. This mural advertisement exhorting parents to register their new born infants 90 days after birth. Registration is done in the offices on the main ground floor.

Sue was interested in the floor of the upper level waiting area.

Sue and I, the Burgermeister Mme. Inona Sengi Fatuma, Olivier.

All of us with the receptionist.

Civil marriage chapel in the Ngaliema office complex.

View of the back of the Ngaliema Commune offices. These motos are used to gather "immondice" (refuse). Olivier negotiated to use two of them for the upcoming Helping Hands activity.

Closeup of Moto 

Moto driver who will assist with the Helping Hands event.

FAUNA AND CONSTRUCTION PROGRAM GRADUATION

Found this dead on the stairwell. 

Underside of foundling.

One of the frequent visitors to our feeder, through our soiled window.

Encountered this skink upon leaving the Mission office.

Audience at the Construction Course graduation.

Graduate, Elder Cook, Elder Billings (Professor) Eric, head of the construction program in DRC. He is French, and I cannot spell his Flemish last name.

 AWoman graduate receiving diplomas. Several women participate.

Elder Billings loves his students. There were graduates from the Electrical, Plumbing, Masonry, and Construction Principles programs. Elder Billings teaches the Construction Principles course. His first graduating class of 10 students has just formed their own construction company, and they  named it Billings-1. Elder billings predicted that in two years there will be no need for missionary instructors. A few graduates have been trained to be trainers and will go with the Billings when they set up the program in Likasi and Kananga in the next six months. Then the program will be spread throughout the areas of the world missions where it is needed.

There were numerous graduates. Georges Bonnet is at the podium, who is the overall director for Africa East region.

I though you might like a skyline at Sunset from our roof top observation deck on the 10th floor.

BINZA STAKE CONFERENCE & RETURNED MISSIONARY REUNION

Moons and Billings at the Missionary Reunion, Sunday 18h00 GB Seminary and Institute Building.  At this meeting a talk was given about the Construction Education program taught by Elder Billings, for returned missionaries, and the requirements to enter the program.

Returned missionary gathering. After the main instruction everyone has fun meeting the newly weds since the last meeting, the engaged couples, the latest babies, and the election of new officers. There is a lot of joking and happy conversation. Much of the humor goes over my head, mainly because I can't hear it over the din, and laughter.

New officer election results, counting ballots. Sister in the middle 80 year old and is here with her daughter and son-in-law who is in charge of the construction department at LDS Temporal Affairs. Man on the left is our Bishop Aime Ngoy. Man on the right is Tomy who also works at Temporal Affairs, and is a counselor in the Stake Presidency, who has been serving as president of the returned missionary association.

The buffet spread after the two hour meeting. Barbecued chicken,  salted fish, sausage, beef shiskebob, amaranth, cabbage coleslaw, french fries, plantains, manioc, cake, and drinks.

Area 70 Kiungu and wife to the left of the Stake President, Russell Mbaya, choir to the far left, The area 70 is head of CES. He delivers a powerful message and his wife bore a touching testimony.

Congregation. After the meeting we were invited to attend a short question and answer session with invited local officials and new members within the last year. Binza Stake's was recently created and this is their first conference. A recent convert said isn't this an American Church and  asked when an African will be called to be an apostle. Elder Kiungu said the Lord chooses whom he will, The Church is young in Africa. It may be a generation or two. He is a general authority, member of the quorum of the 70 who do the work at the bidding of the twelve apostles who cannot be everywhere. Then he asked if they could name a white Bishop, or Stake President in the Congo. There are none. 

Congregation and choir. You should hear them sing. We are barely visible, the only anglos, front row left.

Our guide and mentor, Olivier. We really love him.

Before the meeting started.

A young boy curious about my Ipad. I took his picture with it and showed it to him. Like many children everywhere, they love to have their picture taken. Often members will ask us to pose with them while they have someone take a picture of them with us. 

HAIRCUT & MISCELLANEOUS

First squash flower on my vine. Hope fruit will form someday.

The quantity of seeds from one grapefruit, count them.

Great loaf of home made bread from the bread making machine.

Les arachides, which are the individual grains. In the shell they are cacahouette. We buy a kilo and roast them for snacks. We keep a container on the sink.

An interesting flower in the TA garden.

Elder Moon leaving the TA building through the security gates.

Elder Smith wearing a mask and holding up a raffia rug that Sister Smith bought from a vendor today.

Coiffeur cutting Sue's hair. He studied in Belgium.

Progress.

Looking good.

Done, side view.

Done, front and back.