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Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Back at Gamboula

Happy New Year!
      I celebrated Christmas with my family in Congo just a few days ago, and somehow managed to make it back to Gamboula to welcome in the new year. A few of the missionaries and I stayed up until midnight, where there was very little noise, but the church bell did ring a few times to let people know they had made it to 2014.
      The flight to Cameron and the drive to the CAR were uneventful, which was nice as time was limited, and surprisingly no government people stopped to hassled me for new years money the whole trip. Those who have been around in Central Africa know what I am talking about. 
      It is good to be back, and everything seems normal here despite the happenings in the rest of the country. I have seen many of my friends and coworkers, and even made it out to see the farm since I got back. Things are looking good out there.
      This morning I can hear people shouting new years greetings and children singing, and in just a little while there is going to be a New Year's church service.


Happy 2014

Thursday, December 26, 2013

On my way back

     The last three weeks leading up to Christmas, I have spent at Kikongo (in The DR Congo). It has been great being with family and friends, taking a much needed break. This time of year is peanut, corn, safu (a fruit native to the Congo,) and mangosteen season, and… I have eaten my fair share of each.
      We had a typical Kikongo Christmas, with a baptism down at the river on the 24th, followed by Christmas play that evening. Yesterday, we woke up to a bright and sunny Christmas morning, and headed off to church for the Christmas service. It was only about 2 ½ hours this year.  My Dad preached a message on the of Christmas.  We had our traditional rabbit for dinner, and spent the rest of the afternoon indoors enjoying a large rain that blew up.
      Tomorrow, I begin my long journey back to CAR. If all goes according to plan, I will be back in Gamboula by the end of next Monday.
      Gamboula’s Garden of Eden supplied me with many seeds and starts that I brought to Kikongo when I came. There are a few things that Eden lacks though.  Kikongo has a few plant varieties that are higher yielding, and better quality, so I will be taking them back with me. One of these plants is Chiya, or spinach tree. Since being introduced here back in 2007, it has taken this entire region by storm, and now grows in everyone’s yards and gardens. I can’t wait to introduce it to Gamboula.  

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Photos from the week 12/22/2013

My dad rolled out the powered parachute this week, and gave me a tour of the surrounding countryside. What a fun way to get up and see everything.

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My mom planted a peanut garden next to the airstrip this year. The peanuts were ready this week, so we began pulling the plants up and laying them in rows. Once the peanuts were up, we had to pull each individual peanut off the plant. Everyone is pulling peanuts these days.



Little monkey likes to stay close to people for fear of chickens, although he is getting a bit braver. 

The Wamba River is a fairly large river, but it is not used all that much. There are a few people who work in and along it, though. 

One of the places we frequent here is the falls. We don’t have much rock in our area, and so there are not many falls. This is one of two I know of in our entire area. 
The airstrip is in my childhood home’s front yard. This week we had a Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) plane land. It is always fun to walk right outside your house to an airplane. 

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Photos from the week 12/15/2013

The jackal just before she disappeared into the grassland for the day.  

One of my favorite views of a hill on the other side of our river.

My mother and the monkey. 

Pa Delphin with his hoodi up. He still has to put his bee suit veil up on top of that.

Squeezing honey out of the honey comb is a messy job, but afterwards you get to lick your fingers. 

Change is Good.

      It has been great being back at Kikongo. After so many years it seems like nothing much has changed, and yet at the same time so much has. The sights, sounds, hills, and many buildings are the same. What people do and how they do them is the same as well. The people have changed though. Many older people are showing their age, and some have passed away. A lot of the young men and woman I only recognize when I catch a smile, or a glint in their eyes, and I then remember the same thing in a much younger version of them. There are new buildings, some old ones are gone, and more of the surrounding forest has been turned into gardens.
       Coming back, I have been able to jump right back into life like before, but the people are just older.  I am also older, and with that comes a different level of respect in the community; being given the honor of praying after morning chapel, having to participate in village activities, like wakes, or work mornings to clean the station up, and being addressed as an adult instead of a student.
       This does not mean that I can’t have fun or am bound to doing or not doing certain things. The last week has been full of all kinds of fun things. On Monday, I helped harvest honey from one of the hives. The bees here are at least 10 times more aggressive than anything I have run in to in CAR. Pa Delphin, the bee guy, who I use to work with, goes to war these days with snow pants, and a hoodi with the hood up and tightened around his face, under his bee suit. We harvested 19 Kilos of the best tasting honey I have ever had. I don’t think I have had that much fun and had an adrenalin rush like that since the last time I harvested with him.
      Tuesday, I ran around the forest with my trusty machete, exploring all my old trails. Wednesday, I led a discussion on agriculture at the pastoral school. Thursday, it rained the whole day, which is very much out of the ordinary for here. And finally, on Friday I used the skills I learned in Gamboula to fix the internet system that is here.

      It has been a full, fun week - full of people, and rest, and crazy animals. The kitten is doing quite well, and the monkey is, well a monkey. (For anyone who has ever raised a monkey, you understand.) And the jackal has been enjoying moonlit walks with us on the airstrip. 

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Friends, family, and other things

On Monday of last week I left Gamboula for Congo. Since Roy and Aleta already had a trip planned to go be with family, I decided to take a break as well. I managed to make it all the way to Kikongo, DR Congo by the end of the week! Even though the distances between stops are not that far, this trip can sometimes take a long time, so I was happy that flights and road trips worked out just right without a lot waiting between them.
Kikongo is the village I grew up in. I still have a lot of friends and even part of my family here. After being away from Kikongo almost 4 years, it is great to be back and see all the familiar hills, houses, roads, plants, and buildings. Since I got here I have had people of all ages yelling my name, and running up to shake my hand. The older men and woman especially seem grateful to see me, “a child of the village come back home.” Many of the boys I use to play with are no longer around, but their moms are all happy to see me and shake my hand. I have already received gifts of fresh peanuts, Corn, caterpillars, and other kinds of fresh fruits welcoming me back. This is the time of year peanuts are being harvested, so I have been out to the fields with friends to collect and eat fresh peanuts.
There are many small kids who do not remember me when I was here last, but who know me from my videos. I have been sending weekly 2 minute video clips on agriculture tips to my dad to project here. These younger kids know me from the moves, and while walking through the pastoral school the other day, I had about 20 kids all around the age of 5 hanging on to my fingers as I walked.   
All my young plants and seeds also made it here safely. Among  tons of flower seeds for my mom, I have 6 new kinds of fruit trees to introduce. Many we planted in sacks the first afternoon I got here, while others are waiting to be put in the ground.
My mom and dad take care of all kinds of crazy animals here at the house, so I am getting my animal fix. Gamboula does not have a single cat that I know of, so I was very happy to see that Pursue, our mother cat, was still here. We have had her for years, and she is the sweetest cat and can’t ever seem to get enough attention. She is not as active as she used to be, and no longer has kittens, but she is an extremely friendly cat.
             The day I got here my mom asked if I wanted to go pick up a package with her at the pastor’s house. The package turned out to be a long haired calico kitten to keep Pursue company and add a little more energy to the house. So far this little ball of fuzz enjoys warm laps, playing, and following feet. I think it will be a good addition.
The two twitchy blue diker antelope are still here, along with a whole herd of hairless bunnies and a guinea pig. The bunnies were supposed to have little ones by the time I got here, but they started losing all their hair a few weeks back, and it looks like they will not have any babies this time around.
Bill the kamakazi horn bill who used to dive bomb and peck my parents is no longer around, and Kamiya, the Congo Clawless otter has also returned to the wild. The cowardly jackal, however, is still here though. This fox like animal is quite beautiful and even mysterious. She materializes out of the shadows after dusk to eat, and hangs around until just after dawn before disappearing back in to the grassland. She is extremely shy, constantly moving, and when spooked disappears, only to re appear as quietly and quickly as she vanished. After seeing her a few times, she has finally approached close enough for me to touch her shoulders.
And then there is the miniature monkey, a comedian. This little guy was raised by a Congolese, but became extremely malnourished, sick and lost all its hair. It was brought to my mom for rehabilitation, and has now been nursed back to health. He is now as big as he may ever get, which is about 1/3 the normal size, but makes up for his size with his personality. I just had to run out the door to rescue him from a mother hen whose chicks he was harassing. The hens are not his only chicken problem. He is afraid of the big red rooster because of a previous encounter. Because of this, anything red is a threat now. If someone walks up with a red shirt, or flip flops, he will screech, and climb up high. Like the jackal he is also quite insecure. He often shakes his head in circles, or grabs his right leg or tail for security, if he is nervous about something. He is quite cute, and the most well behaved monkey I have ever come in contact with. He provides endless entertainment and laughs for anyone sitting on our porch.

The internet system here is down, but there is one computer at the hospital that has internet threw another system.  I managed to get a time slot where it was not in use when I could get this out. Our internet should be up and running soon though, and I will try to get some photos up. 

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Photos from the week 12/1/2013

Due to some technical troubles, I have not been able to update photos for a while. I have now posted photos from the last few weeks, and am now all caught up tho. 

This house is going to be for the family that will be taking care of the new cattle at Somongue. We are starting a cattle project to try to find the best forage crops. It is also a way to reach out to the Fulani people. 


This tiny jackfruit tree is loaded down with hundreds of pounds of fruit! I don't think I have seen one so loaded before. 

All the construction we have been doing at Somongue is with local bricks. These bricks here, where made on the farm.  This kiln is made from of baked bricks. 

The guys worked hard to get firewood, and kept a fire going day and night. After the fire the bricks are baked, and the kiln is taken down and the finished bricks ready to go.

The nursery in Gamboula moved out to Somongue this week. It is looking better and better every day.

Roy also moved all his orchids out to Somongue. He has many local and foreign varieties.

After 6 attempts, and disappointment working with poor clay, I have finally had my first successful firing. I found this clay down by the river here. It is not perfect, but for once the fire got hot enough, and there are no cracks in the finished product! 



Photos from the week 11/24/2013

The beginning and the ending of the rainy season often comes with big electrical storms.

A few months ago a swam moved in to one of the hives. This week Alex had his firs chance at opening up a hive all by him self to examine the work they have been doing. No honey yet, but they are close.

The fulani from up north some times come south, and bring donkeys and horses. They chriate quite the site for people who are not use to seeing people riding or using animals for caring stuff.

The masons pored two porches this week out side some of the new residences. Next week roofs go up!

Our turkey chicks are not chicks any more. We now have 7 breeding pears.

Maxim showing off the first fruits of the cola nut orcherd.

Photos from the week 11/17/2013

Alexander, my friend and co worker at CEFA had a baby last week! This, his third, was born at the Gamboula hospital. Mom and baby are doing well.
The Kiln went up this week and a fire lit inside.
Taking down and staking the fired bricks. 

The Fulani, unlike the Baya people that make up most of the population around here, respect and love their animals. Here a young herder is walking along with his hand on one of his animals.

 After a rain, mushrooms pop up from the forest floor. These are a great  find, and are snatched up and taken back home.
This week CEFA had its first hopefully annual massive chicken vaccination. 16 teems went north, South, and stayed in Gamboula to vaccinate almost 3000 chickens for the deadly new castles deseas. It often comes, and wipes out whole village's flocks in a matter of days.




I saw this bird while walking around the farm. Right now I don't have a good enough reference for African birds to identify it.


Fore our seminar this week we invited the 12 bible students, and their wives to attend a talk about why agriculture, or having a knowledge of it, is important to a pastors family.
The three youngest to attend this weeks seminar. 


Photos from the week 11/10/2013

Sitting in a hut with three children, waiting for the rain to stop. All of these children only spoke Gombe, so I had no way of communicating with them. The older sister took off into the bush when she saw me, but came back a short time later with her dad. Then she even built up enough courage to shake my hand.

This week a few of us took a trip down river to see the last herd of wild hippos left in our river system. After a boat ride, we finally found the small family of hippos next to the forest.

The bridge that washed away is back again! The boards had washed way down stream. The rains should not be strong anymore. We have secured the new wood with re-rod, and attached it to the bank.

A group of young men have been making bricks on the road to CEFA. This week they have begun building them in to a kiln to fire them.

A hen at the farm somehow managed to lay a clutch of eggs in the garage without anyone noticing. She is now sitting on them, observing all the work that goes on.

Another pretty butterfly in the forest.

I don't have a good bird book here, so I cant identify it, but I have been seeing this male bird in full breading plumage every day on my way to work.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Photos from the week 11/2/2013

This is why we plant flowers around the farm!


Most of our corn plants only have one or two ears, but this one had 5!

Our cement is stored in one of the three shipping containers at the new shop.

Almost all the materials we use are local. Here Roy is talking to the brick makers. They have been working hard to fill the demand. Next month, they will build a kiln around these bricks and fire them.

Roy looking over the plans for the meeting hall with the masons.
Gamboula has a hydro electric turban that gives the mission and hospital electricity 24/7! We are so lucky, and blessed to have it, as well as people who know how to maintain it.
Over 25 years ago the Sweedish missionaries made a small canal that goes to the turban house.

Four stories down is the actual turban. Here Luke, one of the missionaries, was doing some repairs.

I lost another hive this week to driver ants. This hive was making lots of queens.  
I found this huge ruinous beetle out side my door last night. It was a magnificent specimen.