I have been is Bukavu for three weeks now. Settling in has been easy, probably because I have done it once before. I have the room and bathroom on the main floor and have quickly made it my own. It’s funny. Here I was looking forward to having a housemate, to not living on my own. But in the three weeks that I have been here, Joel has only been in Bukavu for the equivalent of a week. First he had to go to Kinshasa to work on getting the necessary papers to get 4 new vehicles out of the government impound. Now, he is away for a month. Three weeks of vacation and a week bringing another vehicle to Bukavu from Nairobi. So, again I am living all on my own.
But, it’s not so bad. The best thing is that we have Jeff. He is the most amazing cook and launderer. It is so nice to be able to come home after a long day of working (most of the time from 8am to 5:30-6:00pm) to have dinner already prepared. He works during the day, ensuring there is always fresh fruit salad for breakfast and dinner for when we get home. My favorite, though, is Saturday. Jeff makes breakfast (pancakes and French toast so far) and then prepares meals for Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s dinner is always pizza. I love this man. I joked with my dad that it was going to be hard to come home after this pampering. Since I hate to cook, I was either going to have to come home and take cooking lessons, marry a chef or stay in Africa the rest of my life. Dad said,” Bring Jeff home!” It is hard, sometimes, the feeling that you get when you have someone who cooks and cleans for you. But, I try to remember, that my purpose here is to work as effectively as I can in the short amount of time I am here. It is often a full time job just living in Africa. Jeff makes it possible to focus on our jobs and gives him a good paying job, something that is hard to come by in Bukavu.
So what does life look like for me in Bukavu? I get up just after 6am to get ready for work. By 7:15 I am getting my fruit salad and toast. Some mornings I have the a car and driver and some mornings I get picked up by Kostas, the County Director or by Michael, the Program Manager. This is while Joel is away. Joel usually drives us to and from work. Side not, I got my drivers license and will be taking some lessons driving the FH trucks. They are big, heavy suckers and getting in and out of the driveways at my house and Kostas’ are tricky. I can’t officially drive the FH vehicles until Joel gets back and approves me, but I will get some practicing done in the meantime.
Devotions start at 8am. Because FH/DRC is primarily funded by USAID, the Christian part of devotions is only a very small part. First we sing a song or two, either in French of Swahili, then a small bible reading, then announcements. After devotions, I head to my office to check my emails. Then the day starts. First, let me tell you about the office and my office in particular. The FH office used to be a five story apartment building. So the office is divided into suites. Finance is in suite #1, and my office used to be the kitchen. Yep. It has yellow tiles all around the room and pipes sticking out of the wall. Plus it has a little balcony. But since it faces a brick wall and on the other side of the brick wall are very noisy school classrooms, I don’t go out there very often.
My job keeps me busy most days; it is evolving every day. So far I have re-allocated funds for three grants, a process that involves digging through a dinosaur DOS based financial systems and binder upon binder of receipts trying to figure out where funds expenses have been misallocated. It has been frustrating and rewarding all at the same time. Nothing like getting your feet wet all at once as you figure out the names of regions, sub regions and individual fields. It’s not as straight forward and separate as things were in Kampala. But I love it. There hasn’t been a dull moment yet, and it is exciting to be a part of such a large organization undertaking large scale relief work. The biggest challenge of the day is the French. I have a tutor from 9:30-10:30 Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. But I am frustrated at how slow my progress is. I don’t understand much of what is being said in devotions and often feel isolated because I can’t socialize with the staff. That is not to say that most don’t speak at least a little English. I have been able to get by with a mixture of French, English and sign language (not formal sign language – more the kind of gesturing you do when people don’t know what you are talking about). I am a little worried that the staff might take my lack of socializing with them the wrong way. So if you are reading this, maybe you could say a quick prayer asking God to help me speak in tongue – French specifically!
Lunch is at 1pm. I bring leftovers from home and Vincent, the office cook, re-heats it for me. I eat in my office and take this time to browse the internet, catch up on world news. Then it is back to the grind until 5:00. By then it is 8am in Vancouver and I usually spend a bit of time Skyping with Elaine at CFHI and my parents, then it is off for home. I love my time with the drivers. This is where I practice my awful French and learn about their lives outside of work. Bahati, my favorite, is a pastor and has 10 or 11 kids. His church was just built with assistance from an American church. And I learned last night that is 18 year old daughter is very sick, is in hospital and may need an operation. Let’s just say he doesn’t make enough money to pay for that. The other driver is Nuru (which means light). He was a moto (motorcycle taxi) driver but was hit by an FH driver and had a serious leg/foot injury. He hadn’t worked for a long time, and has a family of 4 to feed. Joel felt very bad for him, so he hired him as a driver. He has a very funny accent when he speaks English. Both Nuru and Bahati are so incredibly patient with me. I adore them both, although Bahati is my favorite (in the whole office!!!!)
When I get home, I turn on the oven to re-heat the dinner that Jeff has prepared. I am trying to exercise on the elliptical before dinner, but my desire and my actions are not lining up right now. Dinner is always fantastic and always includes a salad. Yeah salad! Then I spend some time reading or watching TV. Then bed and up at 6am to start it all again.
To break the routine, I have women’s bible study every other Tuesday and Friday’s are games night with the whole FH ex-pat crew plus Kim who works with International Rescue Committee (IRC). The weekends are pretty lazy affairs; it is hard to get motivated to do anything but read and watch TV. Luckily everyone else is motivated, so most weekends I have a visitor or two. Katie and Kostas’ son Daniel likes to come visit Hommie as does Michael and Holly’s daughter Natalie. But I am gradually building a good circle of friends. Renee is fantastic and has lived here her whole life. Through her I am making Congolese friends. My biggest prayer is that my French will improve drastically and I will be able to make more friends.
You might be asking yourself, what about Church? Well, that’s a fun story. The only English service in the entire city is at the Anglican Church down the road. It is within walking distance of the house. Problem is, the English service is at 7:30am. Ouch! There are about 10-15 Congolese who attend and the pastor is Congolese. The non-Congolese congregation consists of the FH ex-pat staff and Kim from IRC. That’s it. As it is an Anglican church, the service is more formal and structured than I am used to. But, the choir is fantastic and the church is large and bright. The best part is that Church is done by 9 am and I have the whole day ahead…to do absolutely nothing!
The down side of living in Bukavu right now is definitely the French and Swahili. Because I don’t understand a lot of what is being said at any given time, I don’t feel comfortable being out on my own. The area that all the ex-pats live in is called Muhumba and it is also the location of MONUC, the UN Peacekeeping force. There headquarters is just down the street from my house. The area is very safe, although there are a lot of street kids and they have been getting a bit more active in Muhumba. It’s not that I don’t feel safe. I do. But because my French is not so great, if anything did happen I wouldn’t understand what was going on, nor could I talk my way out of a difficult situation. So, for now, I don’t really go anywhere but to work or to Michael or Kostas’ house. But I am trying to get up the nerve to get out and walk around on my own one of these weekends. There’s something else you can add to you prayer list.
So…so far so good. It is always exciting and challenging, and there is so much to learn everyday about life in Bukavu. It isn’t an easy place to live, for ex-pats or locals. War ravaged the area four years ago and it has taken its toll both on the city and the people. But there is hope. And with hope and God, miracles can happen.
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