AH! WATER!

Today was an incredible day. I was awakened this morning at 4:30 to the sound of dripping water. Why is this incredible? Because we have not had water since we’ve been here. I cannot believe how much I take water for granted. I’m quickly learning how lucky I am to have a sink in my house that works whenever I need it. I was reminded of this many times today. After spending an hour or so collecting water from our bathtub as it trickled slowly from the spout, we decided it was not worth it to go back to sleep. We wanted to fill our large water barrel completely just in case the water did turn off again for a few days! We made some coffee and had some breakfast.
Funny story, I went to buy water this morning alone. This was my first solo trip into the streets by myself. (We live in a compound and shouldn’t go anywhere alone). I bought two jugs of drinking water and as I was carrying them back, a police man with a big AK47 walks up to me and starts speaking loudly in French. I respond, “mon francais es (thumbs down)”. Je non comprande? He just stars at me and starts asking for money. My response was no, and wanted to just turn and keep walking. I started to and then thought, “wow, you have a huge gun that you keep subtly stroking... I’m giving you money”. I gave him some cash and smiled a fake smile. Welcome to the Congo...
My blogs up until this point have been mostly about our team, travels, and living conditions. Today, I blog about what really matters. We just had the most incredible two days at mama Georgettes Orphanage. Mama Georgette runs an orphanage with 53 children in the city of Kinshasa. The living conditions are extremely poor. I have never seen anything like this before in my life. However, the joy that these children have is incredible. The youngest child is 4 years old, and the oldest 19. We hung out here for two days playing soccer, making crafts, playing games, face painting, and helping with some chores. Now, when I say chores, I mean trekking 6 kilometres to get water down in the valley. We learned that the children carry these containers down the valley to fill the water and bring them back up. It is their only source of water and these jugs are HEAVY! We went with them today and I don’t really know how to describe this experience from here. I cannot believe what these kids have to do to get water each day. We all struggled with this as a team. I haven’t really processed this yet, so I don’t have much else to say.
We spent all afternoon with them and provided them with lunch. We were told there are some days they do not even eat. We fed everyone including ourselves for $16 American. Again, I don’t really know what else to write about this. I’ve never been more angered and saddened at the same time in my entire life.
This ministry is such a blessing. Mama Georgette is an incredible woman of God, and we are all honoured to even have met her and been able to join her these past few days. There is such a joy in this place, it has motivated me (and our team, I can safely say) in a way I never have been before. She is living out what it means to be a Christian. She has given up everything for these children. Her faith is real and it’s beautiful. She is the hands and feet of Christ.
I wish I could write more. The congo is a beautiful place with beautiful people. The living conditions are like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The thing is though, I don’t think that it’s our job to change them. Not at all. The longer I’m here the more convinced I am that this is how life was designed for us by God. We’ve screwed it up with selfishness and greed. These people have nothing, but they are happy. Simple.
On a lighter note, let’s take a few minutes to laugh at some random facts about life in the Congo. For example, we’ve killed about 150 cockroaches in our house since we’ve been here, electricity comes and goes as it pleases, we have running water for the first time since we got here this morning, today was my first shower, roosters keep you awake all night, and we get starred at everywhere we go like we are from another planet. Haha. These sound negative, but it’s been incredible for our team. We are so close. It’s awesome to share this with my team. I LOVE IT HERE! One of these days, I’m just not going to come home.
Kidding mom... well actually, probably not. Ha
We love and miss you all! Don’t worry about us!
Team Congo