A Visit to Zaire,
July 1983
7. Sunday July 17th
Morning Service
Things are a bit slower and quieter
this morning. Some people are leaving,
but there are several outside the house still.
We (Pat, Berta, Bernard and I) had three visitors to breakfast, two
friends of Kimbangi and the wife of one of them, it seems self-invited[1],
which is the custom here. Rosalie and
Kimbangi appeared in time to chat before the friend and his wife left.
Then to church for the 10.30
service. Not as many present as yesterday, but the
congregation increased as the service went on.
In the course of it, visitors were duly welcomed, though less
exuberantly than last Sunday! The hymns,
or at least the tunes, included, “Lord, I hear of showers of blessing”, “Rescue
the perishing”, and “Nearer my God to Thee” ~ the fourth tune I didn’t
recognise. The offering was taken up English fashion, and one of the stewards
offered the prayer. The sermon was by a former student here[2],
who is now pastor to a congregation in France, at Le Havre, which is twinned
with Southampton, where he has been on exchange visits. The group “Soleil” [picture 33] contributed
to the service, and afterwards came home with us, where Bernard tried to
record, but was reduced to writing down, one of their songs, based on Psalm
121. Three of them are members of
Lydia’s family; they sing with two guitars and a recorder.
Berta then left to join the Ligue, whose camp started today ~ the Ligue
sang in this mornings
service; but the camp is using the “bastille” dormitory, so she was not far
away! Then the rest of us, with the best
man and another friend, went off to Pat’s home for lunch (duck a 1’orange ~ she
must have heard Bernard’s humorous suggestion! ~ cherry
pie and custard). Then Bernard drove the
best man and his friend to Kimpese (taking care not
to drive near the flag!), while Rosalie and Kimbangi washed up ~ to much
hilarity as Kimbangi learnt the techniques, and was told that this was now his
daily job! Kimbangi first said “Rosalie
can do that”, and offered to sweep Pat’s house instead … or do anything.
So we returned home, where Rosalie and
Kimbangi opened the presents in their bowl.
There were gifts for the house, and gifts of
money ~ a large one from the maternal side of Kimbangi’s
family, and a smaller one plus a goat from the paternal side.
During the day, we were told that the
headmaster at CECO may have to leave them soon, because his eldest daughter is
due to go to Kinshasa University, and they dare not let her live there away
from the family (partly due to the moral climate, partly due to the
costs). It was another case where we
wished we could do something to help.
Pat told us another tale ~ of a young man she had taught, who became a
Christian a few years ago; his mother had died, and the aunts had accused him
of witchcraft and murder. Later, his
father had been imprisoned, and again the family blamed this boy. Next his sister became a Christian, and the
aunts killed her as a result, and then accused the boy of her death. Finally, his father died, and the aunts would
not allow the boy near the grave, lest he disturb his father’s spirits, unless
they were all there. All
this because of his Christian faith.
Now he is in effect, cast out by his family.
.. and an English one
We went off to IME for the English
service at 5 o’clock, and got there only just in time (this was “in time” by
European standards!). It is held in a
lounge, and those that attend were a cosmopolitan crowd ~ English, American,
Swedish, Zairian and some more. Bernard led the service, and I gave the
address. They use an American Methodist Hymnal and a chorus-book called “Praise
in Joy”, and there were two guitars for accompaniment. Several children were present, mostly quite
young. The person in charge of IME was
there, and he remembered Averil Couper. Also Luke and
Kathleen Alexander were also there; they have come to await the birth of their
second child.
When the service was over, mention was
made of those who are about to depart on furlough, or for other places, and we
were then invited to another home for a sort of farewell party. Quite lavish refreshments, Swedish style,
were provided. We had expected to be
home for our “tea” (or whatever the next meal might be called). Being later than expected, we found several
ladies from the Bangu hills (the camp outside was now
down to 6 ladies and 2 babies) encamped outside, and invited them in to see
some of the presents. They have worked very hard preparing food, and we shall
quite miss them when they return home tomorrow.
Monday July 18th
Malaria
Reaction! Bernard awoke feeling limp, after two rather
sleepless nights. He had some breakfast,
took 2 aspirins and went back to bed. Rosalie
spent the morning despatching some gifts for the family. I went for a stroll round the campus, taking
more photos.
By lunchtime, Bernard was definitely
shivery. So Rosalie went to the
dispensary, and come back with some malaria tablets, a “crash course” (6 now, 4
this evening, 2 tomorrow morning and evening, designed to get him on his feet
in two days to travel home). What a
disappointment that this should happen, just at the end of an un-marred
visit! We all hope he will be fit for
the journey on Wednesday.
Getting back to normal
This afternoon, the rest of us set out
and went together as far as the area of the Sunday market, where Rosalie and I
called on Berta’s family. This was the
visit postponed from last week. They are
Angolans who were forced out of their country, and for some long time lived in
the bush, before finding security here.
They were very pleased to see us, and presented me with a cock. I thanked them, saying how generous they
were, but that I could not take it to England; so Rosalie will have to deal
with that.
While we were there, Kimbangi and Mama Wavila went on into Kimpese. Over the weekend, her eldest son had his
identity card confiscated (arbitrarily, by all accounts) by the militaire.
They went to try and get it back, but without success. Rosalie says the militaire
can do this, on any pretext or none, asking money for it to be returned; if a
card is lost, another one can be obtained, but again at a price ~ without it
one cannot obtain work, and one is liable to be arrested (and conscripted into
the militaire) ~ again it appears by
whim. I hope there will be a
satisfactory outcome.
After we arrived home there was a
palaver as to what to do with the remaining animals (3 goats and a sheep). Those taking part were the pastor, Tata and
Mama Ndongola, and Rosalie and Kimbangi. The sheep and one of the goats are in lamb
and kid respectively, so they are to go to Kwilu-Ngongo. The second goat is
to be killed and given to the people at CECO in recognition of all the help they
have given, and the third is to be taken to Kwilu-Ngongo
to be used likewise (Rosalie and Kimbangi have revised this last decision!).
Tuesday July 19th
The farewells begin
Winifred and Mary’s
birthdays[3]. Bernard felt
slightly better this morning, and managed to wash and shave by mid-day, but
spent all his time resting or dozing. He
needed lots to drink. This morning two
of the Mamas packed up, and left for their homes in the Bangu
Hills, their luggage on their heads in the approved fashion. It’s a long and arduous journey[4]. Mama Wavila is to
leave tomorrow at 5 am, when she expects to get some transport part of the
way. She has been living and working
with a little one strapped to her back, or feeding at her breast.
We had two other callers, two of the
staff at CECO, a geography master and a biology master. All who knew a little English loved to try it
out on us! With the pace slackening, I
had a chance to talk to Rosalie about her affairs (financial, legal and
otherwise) and discussed how we are to communicate in the future.
Kivuvu
This afternoon, Rosalie, Mama Wavila and I went to Kivuvu
(literally, place of hope), the leprosarium.
We were shown round by the husband of a former house-girl of
Rosalie’s. I signed the visitors book, and (acting on a tip from Rosalie) looked
back to 1974 and saw Marguerite’s signature with hers. We then went to the next village, where there
is another of Rosalie’s namesakes, but the parents were out, probably in their
fields. On the return journey we called
in at IME, to see the man that Rosalie has told us about before, who has to
walk on his hands. He is due for an
operation (hernia?) tomorrow. Another stop was in Kimpese,
to buy some bread, and the last stop was at Pat’s, who is off colour
today. (We subsequently learned of
several people at CECC who had gone down with various maladies, generally
called malaria, at the same time as Bernard ~ Pat and Alan Stuart included; it
seems that the water supply was changed over at the weekend, to another source
that had not been used for some time, but without, testing the water ~ Alan
Stuart is to see that in the future, tests are done before each change).
We have had a wonderful time. But, as with all holidays, we shall be very
glad to get back home again, especially as Bernard is still a bit weak. He has become very distrustful of the water,
and is drinking a lot of coke, which we are told is good for him at this stage.
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