Christmas Cheer

It's, of course, hard to be so far away from family at Christmas. We have between us seven nephews and nieces who are so fun! We miss our families, but I decided that I needed to do something positive to build community here, and not just with the expat crowd. 

So Vanessa, my MCC colleague, and I hosted a ladies tea. We invited five Congolese women we feel connected to. Only two could come, but we had a really sweet time on Christmas Eve sitting together, drinking cider, and decorating Christmas  cookies! V and I made some sugar cookies and used the only cookie cutters we had - lots of African animals. We were stoked to find a few varieties of sprinkles in the store and food coloring, too!

The ladies who came were Gisele (on the right in the picture), who is the sister of my classmate from EMU, and Rachel, the wife of the pastor of the church we've been going to. The didn't know each other but were both so happy to be with us as we exchanged cultural Christmas traditions. We also shared what we're thankful for this year. I mentioned the incredible weather here and the sense of God's presence here with us and throughout the transition. God is our Good Father and we are his sons and daughters! Joyeux Noel!

Mid-December thoughts

I finally got back home to Bukavu on Friday morning (My first December day here!). By 1pm, Serge and I had mostly decided on our eight Seed participants. By the end of the day, the invitations were officially sent! Wow. I feel amazed that we finished that part! So Relieved. And a little stressed about everything that was put on the back burner while we made those decisions.

The unexpected week in Kinshasa was surprisingly peaceful for me. Each day, I thought "Maybe I'll be able to leave tomorrow" and I finally left on Thursday. I got to be part of the ECC (Congolese Council of Churches) chapel and share a bit about the Seed Program. One of the staff said I did a great job on my French. How nice!

I know Mark will be ready to share a lot of his excitement about what he's going to be doing. Lord-willing, he'll be back in Bukavu tonight (Sunday). I hope he won't have the drama I had at the airport upon return to Goma regarding my yellow fever vaccine card. It was the biggest dilemma I’ve faced thus far: whether to get another yellow fever immunization in the airport or to pay the health department official (what Mark insists is extortion because it was to protect myself).

And here it is, almost Christmas! As one of my favorite bloggers, Janelle in Uganda, pointed out, Christmas is a whole different ballgame near the equator. Not only is the weather the same as it is most of the year, but only the fancy stores have any Christmas decorations. Maybe part of our struggle is the variety we’re accustomed to – in terms of cereal options, food generally and even seasons that change.

The big things on my agenda for Christmas are going to a church service on Christmas day and giving $20 extra to the staff (guards and gardeners) who keep up our “compound” (walled plot of land with four residences). I have our stockings hung, but haven’t yet figured out if we’ll fill them with anything. I’m sure there are a bunch of single expats who will get together and drink and tell stories about the crazy things they’ve done, and that may be the easy place to be, but I’m not into that.

Our little Christmas decorations

Job Qualifications

One of the items listed on my job description is:
"Adaptable, flexible and patient in situations that change frequently and/or move slowly".

I wondered if I was exhibiting that as I waited in the immigration office at the Kinshasa airport this morning as the flight I was supposed to be on departed. There were some complications with my visa that will be set right tomorrow or Tuesday with our long-term missionary visas. But this morning was frustrating, having gone through the stress of the taxi being an hour late, not knowing who would escort me through all the hoops at the airport (an official job here called "protocol"), trying to keep my backpack and carry-on with me and not let them make me check one of them, etc. I won't go into detail. There were some tears, at which point I wondered if I was living up to the qualifications I knew this job would require.

Eventually, I was reminded of God's sovereignty and decided to let go of the frustration and look for what he wanted me to be doing here. Because I'm here in Kinshasa indefinitely but no longer than a week (with Mark, thankfully! He was going to stay a week longer than me for work.) But this week is important as we are making our final decisions about who will be our Seed participants!

BUT I had a really good laugh with Mark over one of the things that happened during the adventure at the airport. I was sitting on some stairs, waiting for the taxi to return to pick me up after having missed my flight. Not in the best mood. A Strange Man (SM) approached me.

SM: Hello, What is your name?
Karen: I don't tell strangers my name.
SM: I work here at the airport.
K: ...silence.
SM: I love you.
K: I'm married.
SM: How many children do you have?
K: Lots.
SM:?
K: A LOT
SM: Like three?
K: Yes, three.
SM: Okay, thank you. (walks away)
K: (watched him walk away)

I hope this brings some laughter to you, too! Thanks for reading!

Kinshasa!

We arrived safely and without incident in Kinshasa on Tuesday night. Things here have required more flexibility, as we're staying at a hotel far from the office and don't have regular transportation, plus we don't have reliable French interpretation all of the time and haven't had anyone really helping us learn how to do life here.

The weather is like Mumbai - hot and humid. My stomach was bothering me a bit the first few days, too. All in all, I'm ready to get back to our house in Bukavu!

Mark will stay here for another week, as he is getting into his job responsibilities, but he'll be in a home that is closer to the office, so that's very nice. The ECC (Congolese Council of Churches) are working to get our missionary visas this week which is a lot sooner than expected and will save us money, time and passport pages.

Traffic Robot!
Literally!

This weekend is a big event for Rev. Milenge, Mark's overseer. He is getting an honorary doctorate from a big university here and there are lots of festivities we'll be part of. It's kind of like a wedding. We're staying at the hotel with a lot of other guests. Mark is currently in a ceremony that he didn't know he was going to. There are also events on Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon/evening and Sunday evening. Pray for patience!

Ferrari with popular musician

Personally, I'm wrestling with what we want our lifestyle here in Congo to be like. There are a lot of expats who live quite separately from most Congolese people, other than those who serve them (nanny, cook, cleaner). I feel confused and a bit stuck regarding how to take care of ourselves and survive without separating ourselves. But in Bukavu, there are a number of Congolese I'm really looking forward to getting to know better, so that helps my outlook some.

I'm also very excited that our Seed team is coming together! Lord-willing by the end of next week, we will have made our decisions about the eight participants we will invite. Thank you for reading, praying, caring!

Basics of MCC and our address

MCC's slogan is Relief, Development and Peace in the name of Christ.

We're not raising financial support because MCC is a development and relief agency; they hired me for a specific position for a project that was in the budget already. That said, they're happy to receive financial contributions in our honor for the work of MCC, and if you want a picture of us for your fridge, let me know.

Please do email us, email us pictures of yourself, read our blog and ask questions or comment (if the comments work?), pray for us.

Also, we can receive mail through the Rwanda MCC office!

Mark and Karen Dawson

Mennonite Central Committee

PO Box 804

Kigali, Rwanda

Week 1 in Goma

It's a little difficult to get settled in Bukavu with all the travelling we're doing. But we generally like to travel and have been enjoying seeing new places. We have been in Goma for the past week and will be in Kinshasa next week.

This week in Goma was for conducting interviews for Seed applicants and also meeting with potential partner organizations who we would place our participants with. I have been completely unmotivated to work on French because this week was so full of meetings and interviews almost all in French, and that wears me out! But Mark has been a boss, with two hours of French lessons every day! It's really exciting to see our Seed team coming together and to feel really on the same page with Serge. We will probably spend a lot of time over the Christmas "break" working on the curriculum and educational aspect of the program, as we haven't really touched it yet.

Hotel Bungwe in Goma where we're staying

Today is Sunday, and we didn't go to church in Goma, but we have had a very nice morning singing (lots of Jon Foreman songs) and praying together. I felt God's presence close, reminding us that our true home is in Him, so no matter where we are, He is with us and nothing can keep us from his love. There's not a whole lot Christmas-y here. Advent reflections for me have definitely focused on waiting for the kingdom "where the weak are finally strong, where the righteous right the wrongs, still looking for a home in a world where I belong" (Switchfoot "Where I belong").

This week, we're asking for prayer for:
- safe travel to, in, and from Kinshasa
- our marriage in stressful times of change and living/working in close proximity
- perseverance in learning French
- discernment as we make our final selections for Seed participants (who will begin with MCC in mid-Feb)

Goma

Karen and I are in Goma now. Today we visited some of the IDP (Internally Displaced Persons--like refugees, they have been forced to flee from their home communities for fear of personal safety, but they are still in their country of origin) camps that MCC has work in. It was very encouraging to see this work. MCC has partnered with a Congolese NGO, an arm of the Congolese Council of Churches to help the IDP's have their own personal gardens, as well as a large community garden. Wednesday is the day that the whole community comes to work on the community garden. Several local agronomists have been hired to shepherd the community in their planting. Both of the gardens we saw today were thriving, with between 30-70 people working on them when we arrived. We were greeted with wonderful singing in Swahili and lots of smiles. It was really touching. 

The IDP camps are about 2 hours away by car (probably less than 40 miles total). These rides were beautiful, and took us through the lava fields created by the volcanoes close by. I've included a far away and close-up shot of the most notorious one: Nyiragongo. It is smoking in both of these pictures.

This evening we had a very pleasant dinner with our coworker and then headed back to her place to hang out. Unfortunately, the power was out, so we left shortly after we got there. BUT, since the power was out, we thought to look up at the sky and noticed a red-orange glow coming from about 30 degrees up on the horizon. It was Nyiragongo.

Did I mention that this volcano has a liquid lava lake in the crater at the top? Well, it does, and on clear nights you can see the light emitted from the lava radiating off of the smoke which wafts up from that lake. In you haven't heard, it is VERY COOL to see a mountain glowing in the dark because of a liquid lava lake that is located inside of a crater at the top of the mountain. I highly recommend it if you have the opportunity.

I was quite thankful to see how God used a seeming bummer (no electricity) as an opportunity for a cool experience. Thanks Lord!