photo from my last blog,

I am still having trouble with the internet connection, it takes forever to upload and then suddenly cuts out for no apparent reason, however having said that, I still find it amazing that we now have internet out in the african bush, so I shouldn't be complaining really. The offer on the Zain phones too this weekend has been great. If you buy 500 or more units on 2 given days then you receive a bonus of 100%. I put 50$ on my phone and got another 50$ for free, that can't be bad ! Well as you see the photo has finally appeared and this is our little solar oven. So far the temp seems to be sitting at 130C on a bright sunny day so we will continue to experiment and have fun, tomorow we are going to cook rice in it so that will be good.

cooking with solar oven

When I was down in Lubumbashi recently I was invited to join a seminar on solar ovens the why's and the wherefore's and the pros and cons.....well it proved to be a very interesting experience and included meeting an elderly lady working with the Methodist Church in Lubumbashi who was very experienced in this form of cooking and highly recommended it to us all.
I decided to invest in the smaller of the two versions available one was $60 US and the larger version $120 US. Now that our rainy season is almost over I can see we shall be using it on a daily basis but to date we have cooked banana buns, bran muffins, a chocolate birthday cake which was delicious, chicken pieces also scrumptious and this week we have started drying peanuts and sliced banana pieces. We did do bread rolls one day but after the dough having risen beautifully the clouds suddenly came over so we had to finish them in the wood buning stove instead!
The nutrition centre ladies have also started using it for their large soya cake which they make each week and are very enthusiastic now that they have seen and tasted some of the things which we have cooked.
It is such a simple design and one of its big attractions to our local people is that you need neither wood nor charcoal and yet can produce a very nice meal.

army ants

It was about 1 am that I heard Sandy speaking to the night guard in a semi frantic voice !!! Then she knocked at my door..have you got any army ants in there she asked ? No I said but leapt out of bed to see what was going on. Sandy had had an invasion in her room and what was worse was that they had found their way under the mosquito net around her bed and she woke up to find them all through her hair and biting with determined unity ! We went to look in our visitors room and that was also invaded so Sandy decided to go over to the other mission house....I went for a torch and discovered in that few minutes they had also reached my room and the bed was a moving mass.....we decamped together to the other house much to the amusement of the night guards....what was amazing was that by 7am when I returned to investigate there was no sign of them at all they had done their spring cleaning for us of all the cockroaches and any other moving insects and then they had moved out no doubt looking for more lucrative areas to invade ! Something to be glad about as in the Pollyanna game for those who know that from their childhood.....I am glad Sandy woke me in time to avoid having them through my hair.

exam time.

I have been busy marking exam papers for the Ladies Bible School group. They are a very keen and very competetive group of about 30 ladies and we meet once a week on each Monday afternoon

for our study group. Out of 28 who were present on the exam day 21 got more than 50% and the top 3 got 75% and then 2= at 72% so I was very pleased with those results. I just pray that the things which we study will be of practical value to them in their day to day lives. At the end of each term we have a fun and fellowship night at our house and this usual ends with a time of singing and praise as you see in this picture.

Nocternal animal .

I was returning from the Maternity at about 3am and as I turned the corner onto the mill road I saw a largish animal on the road. At fist I thought it was just one of our dogs coming to great me but then realised it had white markings on its head and tail.

The africans in our area call it a "chikayi" and the dictionary definition is "of the badger or skunk family. It stood for a few minutes looking at the car and then decided discretion was the better part of valor and ran off the road into the bush. Still it was interesting and proves that there is still some wild life around. I would prefer not to have a difficult maternity case in the wee smaa hoors in order to see them !!

Photos from Easter weekend

The internet connection cut out last night and I couldn't upload any photos so here is hoping that it will work today.

Easter weekend at Kisenge

We have just got back from having a very nice and peaceful weekend at Kisenge a mining town to the South east of Katoka. The journey used to take 1hr 15mins but this time because of the very heavy rains destroying the roads, it took us 3 hours. Never mind it was still worth it and we were able to catch up with the Berry family from Zimbabwe which was great. Rob senior is a mechanical engineer working at Kisenge and Pauline his wife had taken advantage of the school holidays to come up to D R Congo for a holiday. It was great to see Rob juniour again and to find he is as fun loving and energetic as ever.....he loves playing in the mud ! In fact a typical 4yr old.
He had great fun too with some yellow balloons ! He didnt approve of anyone wanting a long lie in and was heard banging on the door saying hello ? hello ? Its morning !!

Retires after 46 years

Last month we had the pleasure of celebrating with one of our long term members of staff Sangoie. He was working here at Katoka before I arrived and I have been here for over 44years!

He has been such a valued member of the nursing staff and we will miss him lots.

We had a party for him with over 70 people present and he was given a motor bike as a retirement gift so that was nice. What is nice though is that he will still be liveing along the road and has agreed to be a counsellor and helper even though he will not be at work each day so that is good. We give thanks to the Lord for all His faithful service and pray that he will enjoy his retirement.

Home call of a dear friend and fellow worker.

It was sad to get a phone call on the 19th March to tell us that our friend and colleaque William Rew had passed away just 4 months after Cathie his wife had gone to be with the Lord. They had served the Lord here in Congo for many years and will be a great miss to us all. William was the son of missionaries and had been born in Congo not far from where he served the Lord at Katoka. The memorial service was memorable not least for the fact that it took over 5 and half hours but didnt seem that long at all!

Their 5 children were able to be together for the burial which took place at Kempsey England.