C'est compliqué!!

October 1-7, 2012

We have had a very good week.  We feel that we are little by little able to identify some of the issues in the PEF files and records and get resolution.  There is a phrase we keep hearing here in the Congo.  That phrase is “c’est compliqué.”  It means “it is complicated” It seems we can ask a question or ask why and how, and they always start their response by “c’est compliqué” followed by a long explanation.  It has the connotation that nothing here is easy.  We have come to that same conclusion. Nothing in the Congo is easy.  We find ourselves documenting all our research by dates, reference numbers, and verification by more than one source.  It still has to go through the various people and departments, but we hope it speeds things up by our work.  We are getting some things resolved, and we continue to work with finance, South Africa, and the bank to get our PEF records corrected and up to date.  We have meetings with two banks this coming week to see what can be done.  At the same time, we have many new students that we help get funding on their approved loans so they can start their education, and we only see this growing.  We are becoming more convinced that the busyness of our days is not just because we are learning but will continue our whole mission. 

               Our Saturday was another full day.  We went to City Market to do some needed shopping, dropped off our groceries and immediately headed to attend “Planning for Success” workshop for those getting started after attending the PEF fireside last Saturday.  Brother Mbiya, S&I coordinator, conducted this workshop.  As we said last week, this workshop continues for four weeks.  We really enjoyed being there.  We can definitely see why it is important for the coordinators to conduct the workshops because they know and understand the local culture, economy, schools, and jobs to individualize the workshop to the needs of the young people here.  There is no way we will ever know enough to teach the material making it relevant to the Congolese in the way Brother Mbiya did.  There were probably 10 people at the workshop.

 

               Immediately following the workshop, we returned home to prepare a meal to start our fast, do our laundry, and be ready at 5:00 pm to listen to general conference.  Because of the time difference and the time needed to get conferences on DVDs in French, we have our regular church (fast Sunday) meetings this weekend.  Our general conference weekend with be October 20-21.  However, we are grateful for technology and the internet which allowed us to listen to conference.  We were able to use our iPad and the KSL.com app to listen rather well.  The 10:00 am session started at 5:00 pm and the 2:00 pm session started at 9:00 pm. 

 

                 The Priesthood session is not broadcast, and I don’t think I would have stayed up till 1:00 am anyway.  I stayed up through the whole afternoon session.  Laraine fell to sleep so we have been re-listening today.  As I mention the KSL app for iPad, I must say that I woke up yesterday morning about 4:00 am and was curious about the BYU/USU football game.  I turned on KSL.com just as BYU scored before halftime to go ahead 6-3.  By then I was awake so I stayed awake and listened to the rest of the game.  I should have been too tired to stay awake for the second conference session till 11:00 but I did, so it was a long day.  Then our church block starts at 8:00 am this morning, but we enjoy the meetings and especially to hear the strength of the members as they bear their testimonies.  It has been a great day.

               Last week, Kalonji, one of our volunteers at the PEF Center, asked me if I would talk to the English club about finance.  I eagerly accepted because I enjoy things like this and thought it would be fun talking from a perspective of finance back home but asking and learning about circumstances here in the Congo.  Therefore, on Thursday I had the opportunity to talk banking and finance to the English club.  Kalonji said they like to play a game before going into their planned activity and wondered if I had a game.  I thought I could come up with something so again I volunteered.  As I was preparing, I started to worry that maybe I needed a game more appropriate to young adults so I quickly fired an email to Kara who didn’t have much time to get me something but tried.  She emailed a Jeopardy template that used math questions.  I appreciated her effort but immediately could see that it was too much math for our English club and that I didn’t have time to change it.  Thank you anyway Kara, but I used something that I had used with boy scouts, and it seemed to go over okay.  After the game, I used a power point to help me talk about money, banking, budgeting, and responsibility.  It was very eye opening as I would explain something very common back home but totally foreign to them.  It really gave me some insight into how difficult it is for families just to have enough in order to subsist.  Young people here don’t get money from parents and even at very young ages (I got the impression at barely school age) have to find some means to meet their own needs even food and clothing.  Families of those in our group don’t take vacations.  Buying a home or a car is out of the normal.  I told them that $100,000 would probably hardly buy a very modest home in the US.  $100,000 was something they could not imagine.  And savings is almost a foreign concept to them.  Some had a vague idea what plastic money is.  None knew what a debit card is.  I enjoyed my time with them and took longer than I should have.  Laraine stayed in the PEF office and worked.  She said she got a lot done but was tired and very ready to get home.

                We got home just in time to join the other senior couples to go to a Town Meeting sponsored by the US Embassy.  It was held at the home of the US Ambassador to DR Congo.  

 

Laraine was tired enough that she would have loved to stay home.  However, we thought this would be a good experience especially since they were going to address how to vote absentee in the elections back home.  We had registered with the County Clerk before we left and had received our ballots via email, but in Wyoming we have to return the physical ballots with our signed statement.  They said that if we already had our ballots in an envelope with the proper US postage, they would take the envelopes and put them in the embassy pouch which goes back to Washington DC.  There they would put them in the mail for us.  We must say that US postage was not something we thought about bringing with us.  We called other senior couples and found that Elder and Sister Smith brought stamps thinking they would try to use the mission pouch system for a single page Christmas letter.  Anyway, they were good enough to give us a couple of stamps so we were able to turn our ballots in.

               We are proud to be Americans and have the right to exercise our vote even if we are out of the country.  We feel proud just to see the flag, even if we are not the most popular in some areas of the world.

 

               It was a fun experience to go and see the home of the ambassador.  He also talked a little about the security and safety issues right now.  This is not a good photo.  It is of the Ambassador taken with my iPod.

 

We signed up on-line to receive any travel/safety bulletins while we are here.  The mission president also forwards those he receives from the embassy or from the Church.  It seems that we have been receiving two or three bulletins a week right now because of the Francophonie Summit Conference being held here this weekend.  The opposition party has given notice of protests and we have been told not to be out after dark and to avoid any places with large crowds.  We have remarked the increased presence of military with bigger guns, and more local police throughout the city.  We are not sure if it makes us feel safer or more nervous.  We would love to take some pictures, but we were told from the beginning that we don’t take pictures of police, military, or public buildings.  We have alluded to the fact that the DR Congo is trying to make a good impression on all the Summit leaders coming for this conference.  They have been cleaning up the streets and fixing things up to look nice.  We just hope it continues after the Summit.

 

              This photo shows across the street and how they put up some tin fencing that they painted blue and the next photo is taken today when it is raining (yes the rainy season is starting and we are told will get worse) and no people but shows they painted the Congo flag on it just to make things look better.

 

 

             Laraine wanted to get this photo showing all the people as they leave the gare (central railway station) early in the morning to come to town.

 

               We haven't carried our camera this week and used my iPod to take most of these photos.  The quality isn't very good and we apologize, but we wanted to document some of our activities.  We are doing well and are happy.  We hope everyone there is also.  We appreciate your love, support, and prayers.