The Hills with HOPE for the Congo: January 2012

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Random Stories

Sooo I thought it was about time we just share some of our random and sometime humorous moments we have had since here in the Congo.

Congolese trying to speak English: One day while I (Nate) was at the office, I had to go up to the Secretary's office to ask her a question. When I got to her door I could hear someone else in there, so I decided to patiently wait outside until she was finished. I couldn't help but hear the conversation that continued inside, in English mind you. Xavier, our Director of Operations, was asking Sophie (Secretary) to buy him a diary. This is the word he used for basically what we would equate to a daily planner. Anyways, she was confused when he asked for this. She was wondering why he was asking for a cow product (dairy). Xavier is from Uganda and speak pretty good English, so he decided to explain to her that diary can be two things. It can be used to describe a planner as well as products from a cow/farm such as milk or cheese. Of course, I started I couldn't help but laugh to myself since I knew that these were actually two different words that just sounded the same. He continued to make a note of how he thought it was strange that this word could also be used to describe someone who has to poop alot. I about lost it at this point. He sincerely believed that diary, dairy, and diarrhea were all the same word. He concluded that this is the reason English is so difficult, "the same word can mean so many different things."

Party last night:

Last night we had the Finance Department over for dinner. Most of them speak very little English, so it was good practice for a French. It also brought along some humorous moments. The first one happened when Precy was looking at our pictures. He took a look at one of them and said,"Nate, you used to be very big." We couldn't help but laugh. He definitely did not intend to be so blunt, but it definitely caught us off guard. The second moment occurred while Juvet was getting his food. Allie had prepared a salad, some bread, and vegetable soup. Well Juvet decided to not only put some salad on his plate, but also put the soup on his plate at the same time. We had a bowl for him, but he either did not understand why it was there or decided he didn't need it. The results was a plate with a salad soup mix that he proceeded to eat with a smile. Even the other Congolese had to laugh at this one. Finally, Teddy tried to speak some English with me and asked, "Is it ok if I pass the water." I looked at him with utter confusion. He proceeded to repeat the phrase, but this time in French. I still had no idea what he was talking about. Finally, he cleared it all up in one work, "uriner?" He was asking to use the bathroom. I had no idea, but luckily he was not embarrassed and just laughed.

New Congolese Law:

When we arrived in Brazzaville, one of the first things we noticed was the lack of public trash cans. In actuality there is zero. There is no trash collection services. As a result, most people just throw their trash on the ground. What makes this worse is that there are people all over the city selling small plastic bags of purified water. For about the equivalent of a dime, you can buy 8oz of purified water in a bag. As a result, these little bags were littered all over the streets. The President decided this had gone too far. He could have implemented a new trash collection service. He could have added trash cans throughout the city. He could have implemented a new law that punished those for littering. But no, that is not what happened. Instead, he implemented a law that forbids all plastic bags! This is not a joke. You can be fined now if found using a plastic bag. This resulted in a pretty humorous adventure to the grocery store last week. Because of the new law, the grocery store no longer put your stuff in bags. We had to carry all our groceries by hand into the taxi and to our apartment. We looked like a couple of homeless people carrying cans of vegetables and paper bags full of meat. It was ridiculous.

Bombs Away:

This past Wednesday I (Nate) had a unique experience at work. I was sitting in my office, and it took me awhile to notice it but I eventually realized there were people shouting outside our office, just down the road. I could hear all these men shouting, very angrily. I thought this was strange and began to wonder what had gotten all these people so mad when I head a small explosion go off nearby. I have never actually seen or heard a grenade go off, but what I heard/felt was exactly how I would imagine a grenade to sound like. I could feel the ground shake a little bit. This of course was followed by a lot of screaming and more shouting. I decided it would be best if I just stayed in my office, rather than run into the street to check it out. Well this whole confrontation lasted only maybe 5 minutes. A few minutes later, Manny (Managing Director) came down to explain to me that everything was fine. The confrontation involved a small number of people and it was now over. He continued to mention that I should be comforted in knowing that is was just a confrontation between the military and the police, no big deal. As an American I thought that this was actually a very odd thing for the military and police to be fighting. We don't exactly see that happen very often in the States. Apparently, this is a good thing here though. At least it wasn't military vs. military, indicating a faction. How different things are here. Police fighting military is a good thing. Who knew?!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Getting into a Routine

It has been a while since we have written. Sorry! Things have been going great. We are now getting into a routine and feeling more at home each week. We had some visitors from HOPE this past weekend. Peter Greer, the HOPE President, and Dave Wasik, the VP of Operations, were here Saturday until Tuesday. It was Peter's first visit to Brazzaville and the HOPE Congo office. We were happy to have both of them here. We got to eat several dinners with them. It was nice to share about our time in Brazzaville so far and to receive great insight and encouragement from Peter and Dave.

HOPE Congo hosted a dinner for Peter and Dave to meet the pastors that HOPE Congo partners with. HOPE partners with local churches in order to use their facilities for reimbursement meetings. There we around 20 pastors present and they all got to network, hear more about HOPE's mission, and express their thoughts. It was a delicious dinner at a nice hotel in town. We have a few pictures from the dinner, but sadly none with Peter or Dave. :( Funny story....Sophie, the HOPE Secretary, asked Nate if he owned a tie! haha She has noticed he never really dresses up and was worried that he would show up to the dinner in a polo. So she asked him to please wear a tie. Allie laughed really hard at this. We had to look really hard to find them! We were a little worried they were lost, but thankfully got him all dressed up for the dinner.

Last night at dinner, Peter brought up the topic of a HOPE Congo basketball team and we all started laughing. A few weeks ago, Nate asked one of the loan officers (Chancy) if some guys in the office might be interested in playing basketball sometime. He mistakenly took this as Nate wanting to form a team. Well Nate couldn't say no so apparently there will be a HOPE Congo basketball team coming soon. Peter loved the idea and even said he would personally pay for all of us to have uniforms with one condition...we had to be name the HOPEfuls. He said that HOPE Int'l had a team one year called that. The team went on to finish 0-10 that year. HOPE is still looking for their first victory. Nate is not sure if it will come with this team, but it will still be fun.

The management team! Xavier (Dir. of Operations), Manny (Managing Director), and Nate

All dressed up!

Peter, Orlane, Manny, and Xavier. Orlane was awarded as the "Loan Officer of the Year"

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in Congo!!!

We enjoyed the holidays here in Congo. We definitely missed our family, but we were blessed with great friends here who made us feel at home. Christmas Eve day we spent all day with the youth group from our church. Around 15 kids ending up going! We went out to a village about 30 km outside of Brazzaville. We stopped at a hospital/clinic and gave toys and clothes to some of the kids and mothers who were in the hospital. The kids enjoyed handing out the goodies and talking with people in the hospital. We then walked for about an hour and a half on a desolate dirt road to get to the village. We were SO hot and tired after this trek and the kids weren't even phased! haha Made us feel old! When we got to the village Nate and the boys played soccer with some of the village boys, and Allie played games with the girls. The youth pastor wanted the youth group to spend time with the kids from the village. They were supposed to be showing the love of Christ and sharing about God. Ww then ate lunch and sat under a tree as the youth pastor gave a devotion. We also got to walk around the village to different homes and give out more clothes and toys. The families we met were very appreciative. We found out that this was the first time most of the youth group had been to a village outside of Brazzaville. It was a first for all of us! The village was primitive with no electricity or running water. We enjoyed the time getting to know the youth group better. We were very tired and sun burned after this long day in the heat and sun!
Christmas Eve night we were invited to our friend Ann's. She cooked a great dinner and we played cards after with 2 couples. Christmas Day we were invited over to eat dinner with a group of missionaries. We went over to Ron and Ruth's apartment which was only about a 15 minute walk from our place. We had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, and other great food! We then played games and did a white elephant gift exchange. Nate got chocolate truffles and I got a hand held electric mosquito killer! All the missionaries highly recommended it.
For New Year's Eve we decided to host a party of our own. We invited everyone from the office as well as a few other friends we have met so far while here in Brazza. The idea was to host a party for those at the office whose family lives elsewhere and have no other plans for the holidays. It turns out that nearly the whole office wanted to come. We had a full house to say the least. About 20 people showed up for food, fellowship, and games. We had to pull out the extra bed from our bedroom to use as a sofa. It was a little crowded but a lot of fun. Allie made macaroni and cheese as well as a chocolate cake. Some of the ladies from the office brought some food as well. After eating, we played a big game of mafia. Nate facilitated the game with one of the loan officers as his interpreter. The group really enjoyed the game and everyone had a great time. Most of the group left around 10pm, but some of our friends stuck around to play cards and welcome the new year! The holidays were very different without family around, but we had a great time getting to know everyone here better. To all our family and friends, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We miss you all very much!