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.

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.