Last day in Beni. Already?

The air was cool this morning, washed with a light rain. The morning song was a chorus of voices talking, singing or "oo-loo-laying," accompanied by a raucous band of chugging motos, neighborhood goats bleating, a late-awakening rooster, and the occasional beeping of a horn. Off in the distance a brass band played a familiar hymn. Sounds of households getting underway provided the harmony.

Tomorrow we leave Beni. I hate to resort to a cliche, but the time has flown. It has also been rich with conversation, music, prayer, celebration, work, fellowship, singing, and dancing.

Last evening was a meeting with the management committee of UCBC. Three of us rep internet resenting the USA-CI board, Danny, an assistant in our strategic planning process, and the four members of the CI-UCBC Management Committee met. In the busyness of graduation, followed by two workshops at UCBC last week, we've had to carve out corners of time to meet. Our attention last night was on looking ahead and moving forward.

CI-UCBC has just come to the end of its first 5-year strategic plan and is in a "bridge year,"readying to develop a strategic plan for 2012-2015. The US board will be developing a strategic plan, as well. Given the nature of the boards' relationships, ours (CI-USA) must support the priorities of CI-UCBC, not our own interests.

There is much to do here, as we look at the next 3-5 years. There is a community center to complete. There is a radio station to get online (with thanks to a generous grant from Eastern Congo Initiative). There are faculty to hire and train. There is a new curriculum and credit system to develop and implement. The needs remain great: need for faculty and staff, materials, buildings, books, faster internet, money, and time.

But there is much that has been accomplished in these few short years. There is a 1st graduating class. There are faculty who are becoming increasingly invested in UCBC, its mission, and its students. There are the beginnings of cross-institutional collaborations (Shalom University in Bunia and Uganda Christian University, for example). And there are many, many assets. In fact, during the faculty workshop this past Thursday and Friday, Paul Robinson reminded us that while we are keenly aware of our needs, we must remember that we have many gifts. We must look at those gifts, those assets, and discover how to use them to meet our needs.

In Entebbe

Restful day here in Bugongo district of Entebbe at the Sunset Motel Entebbe. There are views out both sides of the motel to Lake Victoria, and an accompanying gentle breeze. It was a gift to take a shower and sleep on a bed, prone, after 12+ hours on airplanes yesterday.

This morning after breakfast and a delightful conversation with Monique, a young Dutch woman heading to Bunia, I spent some time writing, thinking, going for a walk, and enjoying the gifts of this region:

Keeping watch on the water

Surprise

Birds and vegetation. Perhaps because they are unfamiliar, the bird species and their songs capture my imagination. I recognize pelicans and kingfishers (or their cousins). But there are other small songbirds that dart among the flowers and larger birds that swoop and call from rooftops and light poles. One bird, with the voice of a wooden-flute, sang a Gloria of repeating double measures in 2/4 time from somewhere down the road this morning. A tree shaded the table where I wrote. It's physique, spidery, yet thick, belies the beauty and fragrance of the blossoms. Only three or four clusters decorate its mass.

Yum

Tea. Is there anything to compare to spiced African tea? It's the color of almonds, made with hot milk and sweet spices. What a delight to sip my way through an entire thermos.

Gracious kindness of strangers. During my walk, a moto-driver asked if I wanted a ride. I thanked him and explained that I was out for a walk. When I asked him for the best way to get down to the water, he offered to drive me over a shortcut to the road. I explained that I didn't have any money on me, as I was just out for a walk. "No problem, Madame. Get on. I will show you." It was a short drive; but I wouldn't have recognized the shortcut on my own.

Contrasts. My American memory and perspective delights in what are, to me, surprising contrasts. For example, a large LG, flat screen television entertains in the dining area of the motel, and there is free internet here and at other guest houses and motels in the area. At the same time, laundry is done by hand and hung over the wall, and trash is collected and burned in open fires in each compound. Then there are the day and night. Literally. The sun shines bright and high during the day. Darkness lands suddenly and completely by 6pm, unabashed, requiring no defense against city lights.

Last night, landing first in Kigali, then in Entebbe, was an example of the contrast between light and dark here in this place. As we approached each airport, only scattered dots of light indicated the city below. Parallel orange lights, lonely in black night, appeared suddenly--the only visible marker of each airport. At Kigali, a car with lights blinking guided our jumbo jet to the terminal. Three portable passenger-stair trucks stood, sentinel-like, their headlights on, and illuminated our final approach to the terminal at Entebbe.

New ways of looking and seeing. Before my first trip to Congo in October, 2009, Paul Robinson gave  good advice that I continue to follow: Observe and jot down those observations. Refrain from judgment and analysis. Ask questions.

Ready to go?

It would be easy (especially for the judgment-inclined person that I am) to look at the paint peeling from what appears to be a sleek new hotel and think... Or jump to judgment about three heifers tied in an abandoned lot. Or allow contrasts to become questions. But my Congolese sisters and brothers have taught me to see with other eyes and refrain from judging actions and decisions in another culture from my American lens. (Tim Harford, in his recently-posted TED Talk, Trial and error and the God complex, seems to agree.) So, I take delight in the hot-rod towing a camper and cows amidst refuse overlooking Lake Victoria.

The ease of being present in the present. One of the gifts of Congo, and my brief passages through Uganda, is that it's easier for me to be present in the present. Perhaps it's the contrasts, the new ways of looking and seeing, being a stranger and a sojourner, or the sensual joys of sight, sound, taste, and smell; but it's easier to be present in the present here, in this place. It's easier to sit and to listen--first to the birds, the music, the lilting voices--and then to God.

Practicing patience

Schiphol Airport isn't a bad place to hang out. There is a lounge on the second floor with institutional chaises, shops to explore, a museum. It's clean and bright. The Dutch speak how many languages?

Yes, the start to this trip to DR Congo has not followed the planned schedule.

First leg: Columbus to Detroit. We arrived in Detroit on time, then sat on the Tarmac for 45 minutes waiting to get to the gate.

Second leg: Detroit to Amsterdam. The flight was delayed for hours for equipment repair. Of course passengers Re never told what is wrong with the equipment! Probably best.
Once we boarded, we had another, almost 60 minute delay. First there was need for additional mechanical review. Ten we had to wait for more fuel.my ticket allowed for 2 hours to change planes in Amsterdam, so I was reasonably certain that there would be need for a change once we touched down at Schiphol. I was just one of who-knows-how-many were going to miss connections, though.

Sure enough, landed at 10:40am; flight to Entebbe leaving at 10:45. And, of course, I was in 3rd row from back of plane.

So, my first experience with "self transfer" at Schiphol. When "passenger not found" showed up on the self-help screen, it was clear I couldn't "self-help."

Next was a 30 minute waiting in line for a number to GET help. When your number is "A181-Economy," you know it's going to be a wait. Service was being provided to A141, and then there were the "B" and "E" categories. And I don't think E stood for "Economy," as those numbers seemed to change rapidly. Oh well... Met a woman from Colorado heading to Budapest who leads camps for missionary kids--chance for them to get together, have fun, enjoy and share with each other.

And she helped me get onto the WiFi network.

So a 3-hour wait until my number was served, and I learned I would be spending the night in Amsterdam, and head to Entebbe the next day.

But, there were accommodations--hotel, bed, shower, and food.

All is well.

Pange lingua, gloriosi

Pange lingua, gloriosi  was the procession at last night's Office of Tenebrae, St. Joseph's Cathedral, Columbus, OH (Good Friday, April 22, 2011).

Sing, my tongue, of the battle of that glorious struggle.
And tell the noble triumph over the trophy of the Cross,
how the Redeemer of the world was victorious through his sacrifice.

When he had lived for thirty years, fulfilling his time in earthly body,
by his own free will, he gave himself over to the Passion for which he had been born.

The lamb was lifted up on the wood of the Cross to be sacrificed.

Lo, the vinegar, the gall, the reed, the spitting, the nails and the spear:
His tender body is pierced, blood and water pour forth,
and by this flood the earth, sea, stars and the whole world are washed clean.

Bend your branches, noble tree,
relax your tightened sinews, and let that hardness,
which your birth bestowed on you, grow soft,
so that with tender beams you might uphold the limbs of the King of Heaven.

You alone are worthy to bear the ransom of the world,
and as a sailor to make ready a harbor for a shipwrecked world,
you, whom the sacred blood has anointed, 
flowing from the body of the Lamb.


Poignant images and stunning contrasts--the glorious struggle, the trophy of the Cross, victorious through his sacrifice. Jesus is the example of a new way. He did not gather an army, seize the banks, introduce new economic models, establish a political party. Humility, giving over to something entirely different, showing us the sacrifice of dying to self.

Struck, too, but the concluding address to the tree. God's creation an actor in the story of redemption. A challenge to us in these times, as well?

Wrapping up Faculty Development

English team at work and lunch

During these last weeks I've been blessed with good health and rest, but even more so by the love, compassion, wisdom, and good humor of our Congolese sisters and brothers. Wednesday (12.8.10) was a day of wrapping up and preparing to move on. ...

Trip to Epulu: Part 2 (11.26.10)

Epulu is about 400 km northwest of Beni. The first 60km is paved road. The rest is a corrugated and scarred road of hard-packed dirt.

We flew out of Beni, screaming past people on foot, motos, and bicycles. ...

Sometimes you just need a laugh; OR, Rock-Paper-Scissors goes Congolese

My years in experiential/adventure education were filled with hard work and lots of laughter. However, those experiences pale in comparison to what happens when my Congolese sisters and brothers play speed rabbit, bumpity-bump-bump-bump, or warp speed. ...