Observations from Kinshasa with my newest “kin”

Earlier I said Kinshasa was a lot like Manila, Philippines, where I spent many years. There are some differences, though.



It seems hotter than I remember Manila (the Greene’s said it was good I didn’t come in the super-hot season, which isn’t set to start for a few more weeks)



They have more brown-outs than Manila here and longer times without power. The electricity in various parts of the city is actually off more than it is on, in the few days I’ve been here. Rather than describing it as frequent extended power outages, it would be more accurate to say there is occasional occurrences of the power coming back on. While we had power last night I slept with shorts and no shirt and a fan blowing straight on me the entire night on medium-high, and I never needed a sheet. When the power went out, I awoke in a pool of sweat right away. Thankfully the Greene’s turned on their generator in the middle of the night and I was able to fall back asleep with the fan blasting me. I am so thankful that the guest house I’m staying in down-town the rest of the time has a generator, too, to help us stay cool.



The traffic actually seems worse than Manila, which is saying a lot. The police don’t have guns or cars but I do see them literally beating cars with clubs and leaving dents on them when a car does something it shouldn’t. So rather than paying money for tickets, you end up paying for repairing your car, I guess. At one chaotic intersection with what seemed like 8 roads diverging, I counted 12 cops on foot, whistling, barking, and occasionally denting cars. It’s quite the scene.

The river around town reminds me of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory (only there’s nothing sweet about this river, another similarity to Manila’s river through town)

I am borrowing below observations from my friend Stuart’s blog of his time in Kinshasa when adopting Jamie and Jordan (his wife Jennifer has been the one posting our blogs while my wife was out of country with me)

Some common sights on Kinshasa roads:



- three people on a motorcycle (no helmets, Didier says sometimes there are four)

many people pushing a broken down taxi van (today I told Didier to make sure he didn’t take the kind of taxi van that you have to get out and push)

- cars without mufflers

- cars going the “wrong way”

- cars making a new lane in a very tight space [and up to 5 lanes in what we would consider 2 lanes]

- people standing on the back of taxi vans and holding on

- people hanging out of vehicles in various ways.



The traffic here is insane. Most roads are worn away, so there no lane markings. You may think you’re in the right lane, but then someone squeezes by you on the right. Or you just may decide to drive a bit toward the left, between two cars coming toward you if it is very crowded and you see an opening. Our driver has been good, and I’m not too worried, but I have been praying for our safety while we drive.



A couple of days ago, I described to Didier and Diyoyo the game of “chicken” with two cars driving toward each other, and told them that Kinshasa is a giant game of chicken. They were very amused and even laughing about it later when we were in heavy traffic.



I began to feel weary of Kinshasa. The smog is the only thing that has bothered me a lot here before today. I think the excitement and novelty has mostly worn off. I really wanted to see Kinshasa, but I think I’ve seen enough! Didier and are ready to go back.



Didier has told me some horrible stories. The level of perversion and corruption here is very bad. Satan is very much at work here because people have given themselves over to every kind of evil, but God is with us in the midst of it and there are still many of his people here. If it were not for his grace, given similar conditions, all of us could reach this level of depravity. We need to thank Christ for saving us from it.



[Below is Stuart’s recap of his time with the Greenes]



We talked about a lot of things. Mike told us about his ministry. He started in the late ‘90s when he first came. A group of boys were begging at a gas station, and he decided to offer them bread if they would first let him read them a bible story. This has grown and I think he said he gets ~100 boys now from all around, and they also play soccer now at his house. It’s a great way to serve here and opens up a way to teach them the gospel.



Bethany told me about her family and the other missionary families that live by them. I also learned about their church (a Congolese church), how they eat and get around …



They rent a home with a large yard. Out in the yard by the house they have a 2 story scaffold set up and tied to a tree. A rope swing on a nearby tree can be used from there. I climbed the scaffold to enjoy the view, but did not take up the offer to swing. It looked fun, but I’m a responsible, sensible father.

The youngest Green, Joey, showed me his lego collection. He’s quite a Star Wars fan and had made a very clever version of Jar Jar Binks. He also likes to draw, and I really enjoyed his artwork of a cartoon character superhero, Ben-10 (I think that’s his name).



The Greenes were very gracious and helpful with the girls—I needed it. [I would add the same for “the boy” – what a blessing to be with them and the other missionaries]



(Back to Phil)

Praise the Lord! I now have my duffel bag, and it appears everything is still in it! Praise the Lord also that a wonderful Christian man named Paul who speaks English very well has agreed to be my escort and translator as much as I need him tomorrow. This is a huge answer to prayer, as all the missionaries (especially the moms) were very concerned for me being without an English-speaking Congolese escort downtown. Please pray for me tomorrow, a very big day:

#1 Priority: passport for Matteus done

#2: hospital medical exam done same day required for exit visa

#3 (if we have time): purchase return ticket to Lubumbashi for next week, if possible, on a different airline than CAA (I learned there were many missing their luggage, not just me, and Didier said last time he flew on CAA, he didn’t have his luggage for 4 days either)