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.

progress

The coming of mobile phones has made a big difference to communications in our area of DRCongo, and this week we saw what was really the end of an era. It was seen in the removal of the aerial for the inter mission radio. ( see photos )Radio contact between stations has always been part of mission life but now that is a thing of the past and instead we call up our fellow missionaries on the mobile whenever necessary.

rain rain and more rain...................

Because we have had so much rain the roads are bad and the likelihood of becoming bogged down on a trip is definitely increasing as the rainy season continues. Our last journey to Kisenge took 4 hours instead of about 2hrs and these photos shows the reason why ! Sorry lost internet connection...will add another photo next time DV.Connection has returned a few hours later but this was the trip we were making to Kisenge to get a flight to Lubumbashi so that Beth and Peter ( seen with me in the photo ) could fly out to UK. We had fortunately left in plenty of time so we did not miss our flight but we were grateful for Pita the chauffeur who got us out of the mud eventually !

We had a good time in Lubumbashi trying out a couple of new eating places...the chill and grill do very nice steaks and the Royal India does a great selection of chicken dishes. More anon.

2nd attempt to upload some photos !

Getting ready for the party ! This malnourished child seemed a bit overawed at the nutrition centre Christmas feast !

Our internet connection these days is very sporadic. However tonight it seems more stable so here goes for another session.....hope it works. It has taken forever just to uplaod these two photos so that will have to do for now.

Back to DRCongo and Christmas at Katoka

My 2 weeks in UK went past very quickly but it was lovely to catch up with family and some of my friends. I was also able to have a quick trip to Worcerster to visit William in hospital and although seriously ill he was in good spirits and resting in the Lord. Thank you Peter for the lift in the car that was great and I have to say the return trip by rail the next day was excellent and arrived on time in Newcastle!

Rachel and Ian met me at the airport when I arrived in on the 17th Dec and then the 3 of us flew out to Kisenge on Sunday the 20th which was brilliant a lovely smooth flight in the 6 seater plane and we were grateful to Gaston our pilot.

Since arriving at Katoka there have been the usual pre Chritmas activities feast for the old people and special feast for all at the nutrition centre etc. A pre- Christmas trip to Uk is in some ways to be recommended because I came back with lots of presents in my suitcase so we all did very well and we have had a lovely time together.

Travel

Since writing my October blog when incidently I lost the ability to add photos for some reason, we have had a sad time at Katoka. Cathie Rew my friend and colleague for many years gradually deteriorated in health and passed away on the 11th Nov. The funeral which was held the next day in keeping with the custom out in Congo was impressive and a testimony to the high esteem in which she was held by the people with whom she had worked for 59years. Then her husband William who had been having breathing problems and pain for some time also deteriorated in health and we had to have him flown out to Lubumbashi for investigations. The doctor in Lubumbashi advised him to return to Uk for full investigations and so a flight was arranged for him ( with some difficulty ) to travel via Nairobi Kenya and I was asked to accompany him. We arrived at Heathrow yesterday morning 29th Nov and Elspeth William's daughter met him. They travelled to Worcester where Elspeth lives and he was admitted in the afternoon to hospital into the medical assesment unit and we are so thankful for the care and attention which is been given and we pray for the medical staff to have wisdom for his on going treatment.

October update time !

This is the planting season in our part of the world and so all able body people are out and about preparing their fields for their maize and peanut crops. Sandy my colleaque has been very busy organising teams to go out to an area which she is cultivating in order to help provide food for our nutrition centre.
We always have patients who cannot pay their hospital bills with cash so their relatives ask for work while they are away from home so they are happy to go out for the day to work in fields. It is also a source of income for the people looking after orphans here at Katoka so there is never a shortage of people to go and make up the teams.
End of Sept is also the time for the new school year to start so I have been busy with our sponsorship programme for orphans. We always help first of all the children being looked after by members of staff and it is surprising how many of them have 3-4 other children integrated into their families for various reasons...children motherless because of death in childbirth and aids orphans are high on the list.