Goma to Kinshasa

Future learning center


As you have already read, Patrick and I left the rest of the team to head to Kinshasa. In Kinshasa we will be meeting up with Camille, Aimee, and Kasareka to begin the initiative Sons of Congo. (more on that later). Esther stayed with us in the airport and handled getting as checked in. Last year we flew AireBora which had crashed a plane on take of the week before we flew. This time we flew CAA, which was a none event flight. Seating was first come first service so we positioned ourselves at the door and where the first ones on the plane. We enjoy the room of the exit row and did some reading and napping. Where met at the airport by Jean-Pierre who has been very faithful over the years getting us through the bureaucratic maze of the airport in Kinshasa.

We were taken to the Salvation Army headquarter(THQ) and met up with Rachel who is an American from LA doing development work at THQ. We went to dinner at an Indian restaurant building on the top floor (8th) of a building down town. The elevator was not working and looked very sketchy any way, so we walk. Weather in Kinshasa was about 15 degrees warmer than Goma with very high humidity. By the time we got to the restaurant, I was dripping went, ah Kinshasa. Dinner was excellent, I had never had Indian food and honestly I was kind of afraid. We had a good discussion on how to better do shirt term trips to Kinshasa doing sustainable projects. If e come and do work and it cant be maintained, then what's the point. Trips to Kinshasa in the future will take a lot more planning and probably an little less frequent. It is very important that we invest our time and money wisely into projects that are sustainable by the local church.

After dinner, Camille came and picked us up from THQ. We are staying with Wayne and Sylvia Turner who have been missionaries here for 36 years. The Assemblies of God (AOG) have a nice compound with a small apartment that we are sharing with Camille and Kasareka. The place is fully air conditioned and they installed a router for wireless Internet which is a bonus.

The link below will give you an idea of what we are doing now.

More later,

Michael.
http://sons-of-congo.blogspot.com