A
Visit to Zaire, July 1983
2a. Thursday July 7th
Heathrow to Brussels Airport
The car ride to Heathrow, the farewells, and the
brief flight to Brussels, were all uneventful.
At Brussels, we were stuck in the airport lounge, having put our watches
on one hour. Our plane to Kinshasa was
delayed ~ it should have left at 9 pm., but the indicators showed that it was
due to leave at midnight, and no other departure scheduled. We had a sandwich and a coffee each, at a
cost of between £3 and £4. The lounge
was full of people, all of whom were waiting for our plane, which was due to go
on to Lubumbashi after Kinshasa. Plenty of children around, in high spirits, no
doubt at being allowed up after bed-time!
There was an Air Zaire plane here, when we started our wait, but it was
towed off about 8.30; perhaps it had needed repairs, and was being tested.
2b. Friday July 8th
The second largest city in Africa
After this, Bernard heard a rumour that the plane
had gone off to Paris to pick up passengers; the departure screens originally
showed Paris as being the first stop, but no longer do so. Be that as it may, we eventually left
Brussels at about 12.45 this 
morning (1.45 BST), and
arrived here as I thought at 8.20, but it turned out that we shouldn’t have
altered our watches at Brussels, as the time here is the same as BST. We dozed in the night, and I think both of us
fell asleep for a short while; I know I awoke feeling refreshed. We saw sunrise from the plane. When we landed, seemingly in the middle of
nowhere [Picture 1], Rosalie was looking out for us, and spotted us walking
across the tarmac, and we spotted her!
She was very helpful getting us through the customs, knowing all the
wrinkles.
Andrew North was waiting for us in his car, with his
dog (he had been on the balcony with Rosalie when we arrived, but decided that
we would be ages in the formalities, which we weren’t!), and 
we sped along the 25km to
Kinshasa. All along the roadside were people in their masses (walking, selling
things, and chatting in groups), and buildings, stalls, huts and whatever ~
lots of bustle, and car-horns honking at us, but a lot of greenery too. In the
city, we were deposited in Ruth Montacute’s flat [Picture
2] for 24 hours ~ luxury, hot and cold, easy chairs, etc. We had had breakfast on the plane (croissant
and a bun ~ Rosalie said later that we had been “diddled” out of a proper
meal), but the others here
(Vivienne Greene, Jackie Purdoe who
comes from Dennistoun Glasgow, and Rosalie)
hadn’t. Jackie has worked at Ngombe Lutete, but is now about
to start teaching English at CECO; she is on a 2-year stint with the BMS. It was good to have coffee and Kimpese grapefruit (larger than the ones we buy in England,
and juicier, but full of pips) ~ so refreshing in the heat. We were surprised
to find so much cloud about; perhaps a good thing, for the atmosphere is
sultry.
Then Rosalie trailed us round the streets of the
Capital, and we took in the sights and sounds.
Car horns honking everywhere, no parking restrictions, the sandy sides
of the roads, the broken pavements with various levels and unexpected
pot-holes, the street traders anxious to sell anything. I asked about unemployment ~ very few are
employed, most work for themselves as best they can, taking on anything that is
going. We visited the Embassy, where
Rosalie had some business, and Barclays bank (in the Embassy building) where
Bernard cashed his travellers cheques ~ he was taken
behind the counter, and down to the “vault”, to collect the cash. Zairian money is almost exclusively paper;
the smallest denomination “note” is worth under 1p[1];
it is also very dirty, and we were advised to wash our hands after having
touched it!
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River Zaire (nearly a mile
wide)
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_________
________ _______________________ ___________
|Bulkeleys| | | | Sue &
C. | Norths | | Pastor
|
|_________| |________| |
Clarks | Drysdales| __________ | Koli |
:
| CBFZ |
These were the two : | offices | __________
“houses on stilts”. : |Childrens |
:...……….. | Hostel |
:
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Roadway
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________
____________
| CEDI | | Flats
|
| bookshop
| |____________|
Church and
British school
Map of the CBFZ
site in Kinshasa
The Kinshasa branch of the BMS
We returned to the CBFZ complex, and were glad to
meet André Ntemo again[2],
with his sister Julienne who had been nursing him, especially as he would be
away for the wedding. He was still
walking with the aid of crutches, just as he was when we met in England several
years earlier; we joked that he had never stopped using them since then! We also met Ungina,
an uncle of Kimbangi’s by marriage ~ his wife and Kimbangi’s mother are sisters. We went into Helen and Douglas Drysdales’ house (Douglas is a builder, working on some new
buildings on the campus) to chat to them.
Next we briefly met David and Helen Butler and Simon Houghton, all from Bolobo, who were just about to leave for England. Then
Rosalie made us a nice lunch (lenge
casserole, beans and potatoes, and tinned peaches), and we washed up while
Rosalie went to the Air Zaire office to confirm our return flights, and put our
feet up for a while ~ the loss of a full night’s sleep was catching up with
us. There was a little sunshine outside,
but in the room (comparatively cool) the temperature was about 76.
This afternoon we called on
Tim and Barbara Bulkeley, who live
by the river in one of the original BMS houses, built on “stilts”. We discovered that the campus [Picture 3] was
the site where in the pioneer mission days the boat “Peace” landed ~ it has
remained in church hands ever since, despite now being one of the most valuable
sites in the city. The house has been
renovated and altered, but its outside appearance, with the traditional 
veranda, has been retained.
Tim lectures at the CBFZ Bible School, training pastors; he shared some of the
problems he meets. Then nearby, in a
modern block of 4 flats, we called on Andrew and Anne North, and Bernard took a
photo of them with their children, to bring home to his sisters in Reading
[Picture 4]. Andrew works jointly for
the BMS and Oxfam, and exhibits the spiritual gift of administration ~ to say
that mission work would collapse without them is an over-statement, but not by
much! He even acts as a bank, taking a
sterling cheque to the bank and handing over some Zairian currency. Bernard noted flocks of white egrets flying
overhead, and some swallows; Andrew said that hoopoe and kingfishers were often
about.
Then in the evening we “opened our treasures”, to
show Rosalie what we had brought, as gifts for her and for others; it all
seemed to amount to quite a lot, and she was feeling rich in tokens of
friendship. She did not yet open the
cards, hoping that there may be an opportunity of doing so with Kimbangi. We
looked forward to a good night’s rest ~ and then off in the morning to Kimpese.
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