Conversations in the shade

I hadn’t planned to be at Vanga a second time this week. I had already spent half a day trying to track down batteries and a barrel of gasoline. There were things to do at Lusekele. But the Minister of Social Affairs and an entourage of government dignitaries announced that they would descend on Vanga and Timothee thought ACDI Lusekele should be represented. The government wanted a public memorial service for the people who perished in a riverboat accident. Many of the victims were people in villages where we have worked for years; some were undoubtedly people from our CBCO churches.

You may have heard about the accident. The overloaded boat ferrying goods and traders from the Kwilu River to Kinshasa encountered rough water on the Congo River. Riding low in the water, it was swamped and capsized, dumping more than 200 passengers into the river. Many couldn’t swim; at least 138 perished.

The waiting crowd is in a festival mood. Political banners fly next to the Congo flag. As time passes, the sun rises higher in the sky and conversations blossom in the shade.

Death is never easy to deal with. Death due to poorly regulated and over taxed transport systems (both road and river) is tragic. The Minister of Social Affairs communicated the concern of the Prime Minister himself. Good instincts brought the government to Vanga. To be sure, political instincts. But also the instincts that God put in us to care for innocent lives lost, people with limited options just trying to make a living, for justice, for commitment to justice and to righting wrongs. The expression of condolences is certainly a worthy reaction of the country’s leaders. It was a recognition that so much more might be done to prevent reckless practices and pointless loss of life.

The subtext of the day, however, is what happened while local dignitaries, traditional chiefs, pastors, school directors, sports clubs, political party adherents, anxious police, and curious kids all waited for the delegation. The plane was scheduled to arrive at 9am. It didn’t land until 3pm. What do 350 waiting people do to fill the dead time? Find some shade and talk. Conversations blossomed with immigration agents, village chiefs, teachers, pastors, storekeepers, government officials.

Miriam talks with the two chefs de groupement as we all wait for the Minister of Social Affairs and government delegation.

Many people still have little idea of what the church is doing, and what God has done already to provide stable food supplies and better income for rural people in our region. Miriam told people about chaya, a perennial leafy vegetable that can be grown in a living fence. I talked with a political party member about coherent plans for shaping the country and choosing disciplined parliamentary representatives. We both talked with traditional chiefs about caring for the land and the improved production that new manioc varieties could give their people. I shared ACDI’s experience with soil-sustaining legumes and continuous corn production with the chief of Songo, a village that has run out of land. Conversations ranged to the importance of reading and education for family well being and the role of Christians in the government. More seeds planted in the shade while waiting for delayed government leaders to make their gesture.

I’m glad we were able to be there. It was important to recognize the terrible loss of victims, their families, and the country. Christians understand that God mourns the pointless waste and wants people in power to bring life-giving change to Congo. But waiting in the shade turned out to be the unexpected work of that day -- with people we would never have encountered at the office at Lusekele.

-- Ed

A cause for celebrating

Sunday around 5:30 in the afternoon whooping and hollering broke out on the road in front of the house. I wondered, “Are the kids playing a soccer match and we hadn’t heard about it?” Then I met up with Aimee, our neighbor’s daughter, her hair disheveled and powdered white, and I knew. They had just heard the news about who had passed the state exam for high school diplomas. Aimee was one of the finalists and had passed!
As dusk settles over Lusekele, whoops and hollers break the afternoon stillness. Aimee Kikobo carries the marks of wild flour splashing in celebration of her passing the state high school exams.

In Congo, when there is a major occasion for celebration in the lives of kids and young adults, anyone and everyone gets to throw or rub flour into the hair of the graduate. Mothers, anyone in the lucky family is fair game too. We were in Kin for the wild city-wide celebration of graduation.
Everyone gets into the celebration, a joyous abandonment. Kids certainly. But as you can see, even the Lusekele moms join in the fun. (When was the last time your mom did something like this?)

Graduation from high school is certainly an occasion to celebrate. You can hardly blame people. The exams are taken in June. Then the wait begins. Sometimes it takes as long as January or February for all the results to come out. In the meantime the students are in limbo. Do they need to retake their senior year? Can they make arrangements to go on to university? Can they go anywhere, do anything? And some families wonder, did we do everything we could to ensure success?

Over the years corruption (or the suspicion of corruption) has plagued the school exams and the granting of high school diplomas in Congo. At times the results may have little to do with a student’s knowledge or skill. Parents complain widely that demands from examiners have significantly raised the cost of senior years. Students who insist on being judged on their own merits can find that their tests are tossed aside unread. Just this year the rumors circulated that many schools in Kinshasa had paid the examining board to pass all Kinshasa students regardless of their test results. Whether this is true or not, the shadow of corruption taints the entire process. It throws into doubt the accomplishments of hundreds of thousands of intelligent and motivated young people who have worked hard in high school.

Some glimmer of good news has emerged. They say that test results are being reexamined more rigorously in Kinshasa. Every effort to re-establish the integrity of the process is welcome.

I didn’t rub manioc flour into Aimee’s hair Sunday, but we certainly celebrate with her and the other high school seniors who have passed this important hurdle. They will continue to face formidable hurdles. But for the moment celebration is a sweet, sweet thing.

-- Miriam --

How would YOU teach Sunday School if . . .?

How would you teach Sunday school if there were no Bible bookstore in town, no printing house preparing Sunday school lessons, no pre-packaged teaching materials, no pictures to show, no paper and no crayons, scissors, craft supplies or paints to offer? No juice and cookies or crackers, no toys or playground equipment, maybe not even a Bible of your own to use, and no money to even dream about those things? Well, now I can tell you.

Last week I attended a Sunday school teacher training seminar led by some local folk – “Leaguers”. The Bible Study League (Scripture Union in English-speaking countries) has been the most active organization for the promotion of Bible reading, serious discipleship and developing Christian leadership among young Congolese Christians since it first started in Congo in the mid-70s. Not surprising that it is a natural source for volunteer Sunday school teachers.

All the trainers and participants were avid Leaguers -- some high-school girls from Vanga and Lusekele, and some teenage boys from Bilili and Lusekele, with a sprinkling of older folk from other places. All in all we were about 20 taking a training that had been developed in France for Africa.

With at least 7 schools, Vanga, the historic mission station and burgeoning town just down the road is a magnet for students from all around the region. Naturally, more than a few want to settle there when they get done with their studies. So if any place needs special programs for kids of all ages, it is Vanga.

The training was a formula-approach to teaching Bible truths. You might think this too rigid to allow the Holy Spirit to direct the process. But when you’re quite young or a villager far from any advice, the formulas help to keep the essentials in mind as you design your Sunday school program. That is a good thing. The trainers were enthusiastic and the program good.

The Lusekele volunteer teachers who participated are raring to go. This week they will work on honing their skills together with our more experienced teacher before starting teaching.

So, how do you teach Sunday school without all the aids that we Americans think necessary? Well, you sing some choruses together. of course. The songs tell of God’s searching love, our sin, forgiveness and renewal. They tell of new life inspired by the Spirit. (I swear, Congolese kids know all the choruses by heart.) You pray with the children. There’s always Bible verse memorization.

Sauve and Paul teach the kids a hide and seek game, while Veronique, the pastor's daughter watches how it is done.

There are many games that don’t require much equipment: Simon Says, for example. Or Net the Fish. They taught us a number of these.

Then you have the Bible story. Everyone loves a story, especially kids, particularly when they’re told with lots of dramatics. Acting stories out is an option that doesn’t necessarily require many props, if any. We were taught never to read the Bible stories to the children. Rather you boil them down to the essentials, identifying the opportunities they offer to tell the kids more about God, sin, Jesus and following him. You weave the stories around these themes and teach from there. (This program is big on bringing kids to a personal commitment to Jesus.) And, of course, a big dose of love and individual attention is essential, no matter what side of the world you’re on.

My participation caused some strain in our household, as we’re just back and have had quite a lot of house-cleaning, maintenance and repair work to do, besides the usual unpacking and ordering one’s stuff, not to mention garden-clearing and rebuilding of outbuildings, to prepare for this next four years of service here. Every couple of days we were moving everything to a different room as we painted, and I had to be home to help as much as possible, so wasn’t with the seminar fulltime. Frankly, I was glad not to be a full participant. I have never been a fan of being woken at 4:30 for simultaneous group prayers at the top of one’s voice, even when it is alternated with singing.

But this seminar is one of the signs that God gives us of the Spirit’s movement in the church, the signs of life. These young people have a heart for sharing life in Jesus with children and other young people. I wanted to encourage their commitment and budding vision. Maybe you will want to remember them too as you pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send more workers and to give them the tools they need to be effective.

All systems up and running (almost)

Living with a foot in two worlds makes its own special demands, especially when one of the worlds is a fully wired, 24/7 rush hour and the other is an off-the-grid, DIY (do-it-yourself), self-reliant world where the nearest hardware store is 300 miles away. Miriam and I returned to the Baptist Agricultural Center at Lusekele three weeks ago. Imagine what nomads have to go through, packing up the household every few days and moving to a new place. That's what we have been doing as we move from room to room cleaning, repairing, painting and unpacking.

The termites have been separated from the game cabinet and other less important things. The grime is washed away. Four rooms sport a new coat of paint, and only four more to go. The office has power.

Day after tomorrow the solar panels should be back on the roof producing clean and quiet energy for the Lusekele internet connection and our house – no more generator banging away out in the garage. Next week we should be able to say, "All systems up and running."

One of the real joys of having a foot in two worlds is experiencing firsthand the fruits of Congolese hospitality. Realizing that we would have a hard time right at the beginning unpacking the household, our Congolese co-workers gave us another sign of God’s caring presence. Timothee Kabila fed me for the first three days, allowing me to get the kitchen basics set up for Miriam’s arrival on day 4. Lusekele kids have pitched in to carry household water, earning a bit for school expenses or spending money. And Brother Kurt arranged for our yard to be cleaned up a little before our arrival.

Remember that in Bandundu people are right in the middle of dry season. It’s a time for preparing new fields for peanuts, corn, cassava and mantete (seed squash). In fact, as I write this afternoon, the Lusekele people have just set fire to the collective fields to burn the debris and release the nutrient-rich ash for the new crops. One big challenge people face is finding good peanut seed. Erratic rains last year caused a near-failure of the peanut crop, leaving seed supplies for this year seriously depleted.

Dry season is also time for church retreats – a time for spiritual renewal and learning. The Milundu retreat begins on Friday and runs through the weekend. We’re praying that God will touch people in a special way as they take out a few days before the intense time of planting begins toward the end of the month.

One big opportunity for agricultural development should open up late this year. The US government has committed over $30 million to improve agricultural productivity, strengthen local producers’ groups and increase the efficiencies of agricultural processing and marketing over the next five years. The project focuses on Bandundu and Bas-Congo provinces, the regions where the Baptist church has the strongest presence. We are praying that the investments will establish an effective agricultural extension program similar to what we have done at Lusekele over the last nine years and then work with common farmers to make further efficiency gains by working together. You can pray along with us that local church agriculture programs, like our own and the Mennonite program in Kikwit, will play a key role in making sure that investments are made where they will do the greatest good for common people.

While setting up house has consumed most of our time, opportunities for ministry have come our way. Miriam has met with the area literacy supervisors to brainstorm how the program might continue and expand. Mama Mbaba, one of the supervisors, turned up again today for a Sunday school seminar which Miriam attended as well. They spent another hour thinking about how to improve monitoring of local literacy classes. I have participated in two oil palm growers’ meetings organized by ACDI Lusekele. Many of the cooperating growers have no real living relationship with Christ – a significant drag on building healthy, more productive and sustainable rural communities.


Next week focus shifts from preparing a working base to deciding just how Miriam and I are to be involved in the Baptist church’s witness over the next few months. Pray for us and the staff at Lusekele as we begin to review what has been done in the past year and think about what priorities God seems to be setting for the work this coming year. Pray too for the Baptist Convention of Congo (CBCo) as more than a dozen candidates are campaigning for the post of General Secretary. The association of Baptist churches badly needs a person of deep personal faith, a clear vision rooted in God’s leading, demonstrated administrative ability, and unshakable integrity. We can’t dictate to the Spirit of God, but we certainly can pray that the Spirit will sweep through the elective assembly to bring a renewing change to the Church.