Ken was tired of poetry. So, I will share the other one later! ;))
In comes the cook after knocking on the open door’s
door frame (they all do that here!), “Mama Lenore, can you write on your
computer some recipes we can’t read anymore?” So I told him sure- to bring the
old ones to me. Holy Smoke! They look like they went through”The Battle of the
Alamo!” Crumbling brown parchment paper in brown ink. All water damaged,
missing visible ingredient amounts and of course in French. They have the recipes
memorized so could tell me the missing amounts! So I have been working on that
part of the morning.
I was also asked since I can read, would I get all the books
left all over the tables in the library back on the shelves. I agreed to find
places for them on the shelves but that I was NOT going to try to categorize them all since it’s a “by Category”
wreck in there anyway. Hotter than- well, it was hot in there! With “folks who
can’t read” removing the books and dusting and then putting them all back on any
shelf- it is a topsy, tervy, willy, nilly library world. My Librarian
friend, Nancy Holihan, would either have a ball getting it all correct- until
the next dusting ;)))- or she would take a look and run! (I advise the
latter!!) Some of the books - were sent from US in the 1930-50’s and from CS to
Kinshasa in the 1960’s- and some are so old that I think the Apostle Paul used
them in class or as a Concordance resource to write his Letters to everyone! Only
the Paperbacks seem to be borrowed. I saw Baldacci, Patterson and Clancy and
three Dr. Seuss. Oh- there was War Dogs of Space or some such thing!
Eclectic tastes missionaries have! ;)
It is amazing what guests in the middle of a third world
country and staying at a hostel allow me to experience! If the public restroom
is out of toilet paper-please, oh please tell me! The other solutions chosen have not been
pleasant. (Kinshasa trivia- Little Kleenex packets are sold all over the city
and at every red light and corner and only cost 20 cents. Almost all 11 million
people in this city have a package or two in their possession. Amazing!)
Out back by the Sthreshley’s house -it is septic holding
tank digging time. It is a huge hole and at least 15 feet deep. (This deep so
Inge can plant on top of it.) All done by hand by two gardeners with a shovel
each. Don’t know how the two of them got out!! Nice sandy soil. The field- also
dug by hand – oops- they did 90 degree turns so they had to re-dig and fill in
some. No roof yet – on the house not the septic tank- but it is in the near
future. (I know you English teachers have gone nuts with my run on “everythings”
in my blogs! But the end is near!). The roof must be on before major rainy
season really hits! Have one window in because after roof is on it can’t be gotten
in. OH! The roof began today. A pretty green. It really is a nice floor plan!
I have been overseeing the cleaning of the Kitchen cupboards
and more of the walls today. Hummmmm. There are some kitchen tools in there-
way in the back of drawers- that I have never seen before- even in Bonka’s
kitchens or antique stores! Showed them the trick of rubbing a bar of soap on
the drawer slides to make these old thing work a little better until they re-do
the kitchen. They found that amazing! And it worked. The new house/kitchen guy
is working out great. He is a Type A so far!! Clean Freak- for living here!
Also the new cook in charge of all food etc. is also working out very well!!
Tuesday is verifying the items in and used the last week and it went great! Had
been taking 2 + hours and we got it down to 1:15 today by getting Nzila
organized yesterday before he left for the day. Yea!
Guest just asked that if I’d let her use the microwave in
the kitchen to cook some popcorn she’d share! OHHHHH it was so good and smelled
so good! Oh, the little things!! I am
still waiting for real Texas Mexican food and a good brisket and the fixings.
Wonder how long I’ll have to eat it before I am tired of it? Never!! Also a Pappadeaux fix in Ft Worth!
Ok. I’ll finally answer the Question from several “inquiring
minds that want to know,” Why did you
feel the “call” to this mission this summer? Let me see… Excuse my French but- Hell, the phone rang and
I answered the call… No? OK!... Well…my
bet is that if you asked Ken and me the question in two different rooms you’d
get two sort of different answers and yet not. So since I am writing the blog,
I get to tell it my way. For years Ken has said he wanted to come back. I wasn’t
that determined. I really wanted to remember Congo the way I remember it. I
also refused my Mother’s –almost-order to see my brother, Manford, in his casket!
(So, I remember him happy at our son Clint’s wedding six monthe earlier with his daughter, Brianna. She is soon to be a mother and make me a Great Aunt!!) Many of you
have described some of the almost deserted and destroyed stations and I really
don’t want or need to see Lubondai like that. I just love my memories- in case
you have not figured that out! BUT, I love my Ken more! I know it will be different- especially up
country- what isn’t after 50+ years. (I surely am!!) But I still see it 1960.
What I was determined
about on a Congo trip was that with some of his health issues, Ken was not
going to come without me. He says he honestly didn’t think I could handle the
heat and really roughing it here (though MPH is far from roughing it! AC and Wifii) or up in the bush. As
the mother of two boys it was always join in or get left behind. Do I prefer
the Hyatt (or the North's home in Paradise) over Motel 6 or the Red Roof Inn? Well, Duh!! But, can I do WHATEVER I put my mind to? You
are darn tootin’! Just need Patient Panties!
Ken’s sister, Marcia
wrote him last spring and said that Cindy and Clay Dunn, the managers here at
MPH, needed a break and would we be interested in coming out and covering for
them for “a month or so.” Knowing- he thought- that I would say no -he
forwarded the email to me. I figured this would get us out here for a month or
so, we could go see Marcia and her new home here, he could check his Bucket
list and we could be home by fall football. As things progressed we were asked
if we could “stay a little longer.” The definition of that word ended up being
4 months or so and then still go see Marcia. So here we are. Folks are treating
it as if we are missionaries – no, just we are volunteer substitutes - so I
guess “We is it!” I told you God has a sense of HUMOR!! Lenore
a missionary! That’s an Oxymoron!
We are just running MPH for a few months and having fun and
sort of doing a service in the process. We have been meeting folks and getting
to speak Tshiluba all over this city and to poor unsuspecting folks who happen
to walk into my office and get asked, “Do you speak Tshiluba?” Are we doing a mission- welI, guess so. I just
see a very happy Ken and that is
my Bucket list checked off. FYI- one of
you wrote and shared your Congo story with Ken and me personally. Ken wrote you
back personally – a most unusual thing-and sent me a copy. As I read his
note to you, we could have stayed in
the same room and answered the question and it would have been the same! ;))
Don’t you agree?? WOW!! Guess 45+ years of marriage does that to folks! Love ya, Ken! Hope that answered your questions on why we
did this.
It looks like we will
go to Lubondai while we are up country visiting Marcia- Ken says he won’t go
without me. So I will go. I will let you know through my eyes, words and
memories what I see. But now that I know
I am going to go, I am again thinking of the people – not the things that have
changed. So I will be fine- I’ll go to Ntolo’s village and see the people -of
the people- of my past. So Brother, Les, I guess I will get you those pictures
of the station where you were born.
Marcia even mentioned our going to Lake Munkamba. That will be fine. I
don’t have strong memories of it like I do my home at Lubondai. All of this
depends on the roads in rainy season!
My email is murray.lenore@yahoo.com .Sorry, I guess I haven’t put it out there.
I also do Facebook- especially while I am out here. When I get home I will
probably take a break or just turn it off. I haven’t done Congo Connection because Ken does that and shares. I have
been working on a Honey Do List for when we get home and like my friend Coco says,
“I’d better get to it!”
WELL!!! Wednesday Inge went with us to grocery shop. We were
on the search for a rumored wholesale food place. When mentioned to the
Chauffeur, Emanuel, he told us it was not a good area of town for us to be. But
we decided to go anyway. Figuring it could not be much worse than another place
we had tried. Boy, were we wrong! We wound our way into an area at least one
street over from Commerce. It was like the tiny, skinny alley ways of the movie
pictures of areas in India or the Casaba in Morocco. Only we were in the MPH
van. It should have been a one way street but no one told the cars and big
delivery truck drivers, the push-push guys or the people. Plus, we were all
only going one way, right?? Size is might on who is the lead dog! It made
Spaghetti Junction look deserted by comparison. The roads did not have pot
holes. They had craters in them, garbage all over the place, filth!!!, food
vendors, people selling everything from used wedding dresses and sets of
bridesmaid’s dresses- that looked so “tired” hanging on sticks, enough plastic
furniture to outfit a small island, smoked fish, people urinating and others
sleeping on the streets, women in Congolese dress and others that looked like “ladies
of the night”- only it was daytime, kitchen ware, baby clothes, fresh produce
and beggars knocking on the windows. With all the drivers trying to go all over
the place as usual it was nerve wracking!! People were pressed up against our
car to keep from getting hit by cars whose drivers got frustrated and tried the
smallest of areas to jump ahead in this snarled mess! We were told to go a
wrong way and had to back up. Then we had to turn around in this mess and go
the other way, only to find out we had missed it! Prices were good- especially
if you buy for three months at a time. But I have decided the better part of
valor for me is to “let Cindy do it” when she gets back. ;)) We’d never do it without Inge!!!! While
Inge and I were in the store writing down prices, Emanuel went to check the
traffic for getting out of the area. He locked Ken in the car and told him not
to get out no matter what!! So, technically we were not scared but we were
delighted to get back into the “usual bad” Kinshasa traffic. My highlight was
to go to my regular stores and see “my Peeps!” When we got to Hassan Frere’s,
Allene was so glad we were there. “We close at 15:30 until Sunday for the high
Jewish Holidays. “But Mama, you have my number and call me if you have an
emergency and I will let you in the back door and take care of you!” Sweet!!
The OLD policeman was back out front and we fussed at him for not being there
last week. “You noticed, Papa?” These are the things we will miss- the
delightful people and “friendships” we have made all over this town. When we
arrived at the restaurant for lunch the Tshiluba speakers we had met two weeks
ago came to greet us! One told Inge that Ken spoke the “Tshiluba of his
parents” and he was honored by our meeting the last time we were there!
Today, as we did this excursion, I noticed something
different from growing up here. The handicapped are now visible. Bicycles have
been modified to be hand turners or otherwise modified. (As I understand it –
“ordered” by a former President’s wife) People help the handicapped. Handicapped
folks get free ferry rides back and forth across the Congo River for trade
purposes and don’t pay taxes. They are allowed to have two “Helpers” to also go
free. So now folks are willing to help! The almighty dollar!
Tonight I have been asked to help cook. Request for Spoon bread
and squash patties again. I was tired after grocery shopping yesterday, inventorying
it all in and then packaging all of the raw meat. But today they brought out
the Food Saver and began to use that!! YEA!! Don’t know where they will get
more rolls of Food Saver stuff.
My new guy cleaned on
the whole kitchen all day and did it with pride and of course I bragged on
him!! He cleaned a fan that must have had grease on it from when MPH opened!!!
Now it is good as new! He washed all walls, cupboards, AND all pots and pans
before he put them back in and the top of the refrigerator without having to be
told!! Miracles do happen in Congo!! He also thanked Ken and me for
recommending him. I don’t know how he knew that- don’t tell me these workers
don’t at least understand English! I told him thanks and that Ken and I had
watched his work ethic when the French were here and his pleasant attitude and
smile. So we had no problem recommending him! “Thank you , Mama!!”So I will sign off for today. Hope y’all slept well. Have a great weekend! Did have a miracle at Possum Kingdom Lake! Clint went to check on our cars that have been parked in the RV bay and both started!! Yea!!
Love Ya! Me
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