Some thoughts on our Congo experience:

We really take easy passage around our own country for granted.  Even traveling between cities in DR Congo was a security challenge.  Passport numbers were taken down even when traveling between cities and every place we stayed. Landing at an airport where anti-aircraft guns are aimed at the runways and there are numerous people carrying assault weapons gives one pause.  You just don’t travel to places like this without people on the ground who are waiting for you and who help you through the hoops. The containers of medical supplies and equipment meant for the hospital at Kolwezi could not go there by truck because the river changed channels during the rainy season so that the bridge no longer got you across.  A derailment removed the train option, so they had to go by a circuitous truck route for security reasons.  The private plane used by the Methodist church was grounded because the pilot is in the US with a sick child.  Plans change all the time.  Even short-term missionaries have to be “flexperts.”

We were grateful to catch up with the rest of our mission team at O’Hare Airport in Chicago in order to leave the USA with the group.  We had only met one of them prior to that assembly. Our flight from San Francisco had a landing delay resulting in the London flight starting to board as we got to the gate.  Fourteen team members had each checked in two 28-gallon Rubbermaid tubs filled with medical supplies in lieu of luggage at their point of origin.  Our personal gear for 3 weeks was carry-on.  21 of those tubs actually made it to Nairobi with the team after 2 days and 4 flights (SF to Chicago, Chicago to London, London to Nairobi, Nairobi to Lubumbashi and for the 5 members of the surgical team, an additional flight to Kolwezi) so apparently some of the “luggage” did not get on the same flights as the owners. Eventually, all of the tubs made it to their destinations but we sure were disappointed not to have the electrocautery equipment to install in Dr. Kasongo’s surgery. It would have shortened surgery time and allowed more cases to be performed.  Still, with two physicians screening patients (sometimes with 2 translators, French and Swahili) and one performing surgery there were 59 operations performed in the two weeks of work in Kolwezi .  Since there was no charge to the patients during the American surgeon’s stay, probably some people who otherwise would not have been treated got needed operations.  Dr. Kasongo and his chief nurse, Mama Janine, do wonders with a staff of about 26 people and a monthly operating budget of  $5000 to $6000.

Surgery is a far different experience than we would expect.  Due to non-availability of  inhalation agents , all the surgeries were performed under spinal or local with intravenous sedation.  The nurse anesthetists were highly skilled in these techniques.  Patients generally walked to the operating table.  An operation ordinarily costs about $150.  The family provides most of the general nursing care including supplying bed linens and food for the patient.  Obstetrical patients get to deliver and stay in the hospital for 3 days for a grand total of $7.  Prenatal care was available at both of the medical sites where we worked.  The incidence of twins seems high.  There were 3 sets born during the 2 weeks at Kolwezi and at least 2 sets at Mulungwishi during the week I was there.

Since our departure Dr. Kasongo has also been going through the paperwork hoops to claim ocean shipped containers of supplies including another ultrasound machine, an x-ray machine, and a missionary’s truck.

Most of the team left Lubumbashi on Sunday afternoon on a dusty 4 hour plus drive at an average of 20 miles per hour to arrive at Mulungwishi, a missionary outpost with an accredited university offering degrees in teaching, theology, and information technology.  Next year they will offer a master’s degree in theology.  Preschool through secondary education is available on campus to student families and children from the surrounding villages.  People travel mostly on foot.  Affluent families have a bicycle.  We assisted the “supernurses” and midwives who staff the clinic on the grounds and also helped with traveling clinics to two villages.  Electrical power is obtained from the railroad so we were surprised to have ice water.  We also enjoyed fresh salads daily from vegetables grown at the site.  A new agricultural building was being roofed.  It will be part of the secondary school.  We were honored to be houseguests of the resident missionaries and faculty members.  There are five resident African faculty members with doctoral degrees.  My host had been separated from his family for 5 years while he went to Montreal to get his.  He now teaches Old Testament and is administrator of the theology school.  His wife teaches sewing at the Women’s School.  Last year she and her students made graduation gowns.  The family had a TV set that they used to watch videos and DVDs.  They had a freezer and an electric stove, but bath water was heated with a portable heater in a plastic tub and you flushed with a bucket.  Their son was preparing to take his qualifying exams to go to university.

Malaria is just a fact of life.  One of the missionaries noted, “when I get run down, that’s when I come down with malaria.”  While it’s certainly more serious than the common cold, it is also treatable.

Comparisons:
Guatemala :  poverty and beauty

            The Mayan people we served were ostracized from the affluent society.

Congo : poverty and stagnation.  If there were affluent people, we didn’t see them.

The country has extensive natural resources and potential hydroelectric power.  They need a huge infusion of investment capital, but without political stability they are not likely to get it.  They are saddled with a deteriorating infrastructure and little hope of improvement.

Still, there were bright spots of hope.  In Lubumbshi a hotel was being refurbished and the excellent bakery had added a creamery.  We dined at one of the two Katanga Fried Chicken restaurants.  A sparkling orphanage houses about 60 girls who are getting a good education, proper nutrition and lots of loving care.  There are plans to build a one for the boys who are now in the old girls’ building near the large Jerusalem United Methodist Church .

Missionaries of all denominations seem to work together to help each other in their efforts. On our arrival in Lubumbashi on Saturday ten of us stayed at the Methodist guesthouse (think frat house). The remainder stayed at a guesthouse operated by Church of the Brethren. We attended a choir rehearsal at the Bretheren church adjoining and worships services in Swahili at Jerusalem United Methodist Church and in French at the Kolwezi church.  Although very liturgical, worship services were lively and engaging. The music was wonderful!  There were choirs similar to our US chancel choirs and also more modern ensembles with amplification, electronic keyboards, electric guitars, and drum sets.  In contrast, we saw village people living in thatch huts the way they’ve lived for thousands of years.

The cultural norm is for large families.  Polygamy is not uncommon.  There is widespread infertility, probably due to undiagnosed sexually transmitted diseases. There are no programs in place for screening, reporting, and treatment.  Either a husband or a wife may seek a divorce because the spouse is perceived as unable to give them children. On the other hand, I think one of the saddest things I witnessed was a young woman at the Takepi Village who was about 21 years old.  She had with her a little girl of about 6 or 7, an infant a little over a year old, a two-month-old baby of about the same weight as its older sibling…and she was pregnant.  As in Guatemala , when children are born too close together, the older baby who is no longer breast-fed may weigh less at one year then it did at birth.

At the University our team conducted informational meetings on HIV/AIDS and family planning.  Apparently these were more readily accepted and better attended than past efforts.

Warning: this work is potentially habit-forming.  Kurt Kaiser, electrical contractor and mission coordinator with his wife, Jan, confesses that he never gets around to restoring that vintage Harley Davidson bike in his garage because he keeps spending all his money on mission trips. Although close contact with harsh reality is not for everyone, we would encourage people to consider volunteer service.  There are many non-profit organizations like Habitat For Humanity and Heifer Project International that offer opportunities for travel and service.  Most denominations have agencies that coordinate short-term mission projects both in and outside the United States .  A number of the people on our team belonged to other churches…or no church.  Everyone had something to contribute.  Not all members of a medical team have to have medical training.  Some teams are educational, some construction, some mixed. We saw things we never imagined we’d see.  We met wonderful people who do so much with so little.  We met people who hope to send their children to India or Europe or America to be educated, and then bring them home to Africa to use their education to make life better for their communities.  The hospitality was wonderful and people were generally appreciative that most team members bore their own costs and considerable hardship and sacrifice to donate their service.  In spite of this, I think all of us felt that we got lots more than we gave.

Additional recollections and thoughts:

There is no “land line” phone service.  There is international cellular telephone service. 

In Kolwezi , a city of about 260,000 people, the pump went out and it took 3 days to restore city water.  The hospital had stored water to get through that time in order to run its laundry.  Water was brought to the missionary house where we stayed in 5 and 10 gallon cans and kept in a large barrel in the bathroom at the end of the tub for use in bathing and flushing.  During this period if you wanted hot water to bathe or shave you had to heat it on the stove.  While we did not experience general power outage while in Kolwezi , the antiquated wiring in the house kept burning out fuses.