My Day as a Vet's Assistant

Only in Congo would I be participating in the neutering of my kittens. And taking pictures! T

The boys have been peeing on everything lately, and I decided it was time they should be neutered. This was something I was hoping to put off, as I don't particularly trust the vet's domestic cat operating skills and I feel like these two have been through enough. However, the peeing has been getting ridiculous (on every plastic bag available and suitcases/duffel bags) and in order to prevent a full scale housemate revolt, I bit the bullet and had 'er done today.

I set up an "operating table" out on the deck (blanket, towel, hot water) and patiently waited till the vet got here at 9am. I was surprised to see two vets arrive. I think our regular vet was learning the cat neutering process from the other vet. YIKES!!!!! To make a long story short, I sat with the cats the whole time, petting and cooing and taking pictures. It didn't take too long, but the anesthesia has really knocked them out. Not that they were unconscious during their operations. Nope, they were awake but frozen. Seriously...8 hours later and Dr.J is still feeling the effects. Let's hope all this pain (for them and for me) pays off and I can stop cleaning cat pee out of everything.

If you are at all squeamish...don't scroll down.

Just a James Bond Day

Flying from Kalemie back to Bukavu with MONUC (UN Peacekeeping mission in Congo) means one of three things: flying direct from Kalemie to Bukavu, flying to Goma then to Bukavu, or the completely bizzare Bukavu via Entebbe (Uganda). You don't really know what you're gonna get till you check in at the MONUC airport.

I was really hoping to go to Entebbe. I was sure I was going to Entebbe. Going to Entebbe meant a good Cafe Latte, a Smirnoff Ice, a Coffee Crisp, buying a new book and general craft store browsing. This would have been an excellent way to spend the afternoon waiting for the flight to leave for Bukavu.

But that didn't happen. When I checked in I was told the flight was Kalemie - Goma - Bukavu. I've never been to Goma, so I guess missing out on Entebbe wouldn't be that bad. But wait...it got better.

As we walked to the air plane, I realized that it was an Russian Antonov. Cool! And it came with a Russian crew. I wish I had written down some of the lines delivered by the flight attendant. Suffice to say, her Russian accented English combined with her usage of english phrases was a highlight of my flight. The other highlight? Well in the cabin, there was english below the russian on all signs and an english safety card in the seat pocket. But in the bathroom...nyet. I was really hoping the black button next to the toilet meant, "press to flush." Even the air freshener was russian.

Flying into Goma is a bit surreal. I had been told the airport is in the center of town, but nothing really prepares you for looking out the window and seeing exactly what people are doing in their yards and on the streets. Yes, you get that close. Seriously, the airport is in the middle of town. There are houses maybe 100 meters away from the runway. There was a major plane crash last year where a Congolese airliner ran off the runway and crashed into the market. (A friends sister survived that crash - she was in the plane). I am surprised there aren't more accidents.

Once you get off the plane, you are loaded into a MONUC bus and driven to their airport lounge to wait for your next flight. I had about a 3 hour wait. The wiating room was croweded. After they called for passengers for the flight to Kinshasa, the room thined. Then they called the for the flight to Entebbe; the roomed thinned considerably. Looking around, there were only 7 of us remaining. I started to wish, then hope....

And my dreams came true. As the bus drove the 7 of us out to the tarmac and past the planes I knew I would be able to scratch a new item off my "Things to do Before I Die List." I was flying back to Bukavu on a helicopter. Whooo Hooo! I have always wanted to fly on a helicopter. This was one of the big military ones although I am not sure what kind. Unfortunatley I was squished up next to all the baggage (mostly soldiers duffel bags) and my right leg had to rest on top of a bag while my left leg was squished next to the lady next to be. But still, how cool. It is amazing to me how you just go up and down on take off and landing. It was very noisy, but the ear muffs helped. I was also surprised with how bumby a ride it is. For some reason I assumed it would be really smooth. And...the crew was Russian. Yep, Russian plane and 2 Russian crews made for a terrific James Bond day.

Note 1: Not sure why I was feeling like I was in a James Bond movie. It just did!

Note 2: Sitting in the waiting rooms at the MONUC airports, both in Kalemie and Goma, I was really struck by it being a United Nations airport. There were soldiers from Benin, India & Pakistan, a UN worker from Sierra Leone, a Chinese man and many others from different nations. For all that the UN is slammed for its beauracracy and ineffeciency, there is nothing more beautiful than seeing the world represented in a small airports in Eastern Congo.

Major Accomplishment

OK...this will be a short post...

Last week I went down to our site office in Kalemie to do a small training session. I have created a new Excel Spread sheet that combines both budget lines and figures with the actuals that are posted. You would think this would be easy...but when you have a hundred lines + budget with lines that are charged to the same account code, it makes tracking budget spending a little difficult. However, I think I cracked the code and have come up with the perfect spread sheet.

But that's not the major accomplishment. I gave the entire training in FRENCH! Ok, honestly, maybe it was 98% French and 2% English. Either way...whoo hoo me!

Got Rabbit?

The lengths Quinton will go to look for his pureed rabbit...

The Disappearing Dock

We had a dock. It was a nice, simple dock commissioned by our previous Country Director. I haven't been swimming in the lake and have only been down to the dock once since I came to Bukavu, but lots of others do and our dock was used as a popular swimming point. Our current CD has also been using the dock in the mornings to launch his kyak from. Slowly the dock has been disappearing. The wooden slats were stolen one by one. Now...the dock is gone.

This isn't a great picture, but you can see I am sitting at the end of the dock (Pic taken January 09)


This is all that remains of the dock as of July 2009.

What does it say about the state of things in Bukavu that the wood from a dock are worthy targets to be stolen in broad daylight?

Christmas in July

When I was in Kampala in May I bought a whole bunch of stuff to bring back to Bukavu. Stuff you can't buy here or you can if you are willing to give up an arm and a leg. Things like cereal and cat food and yarn and jam and ketchup and pasta. The list goes on. Plus, my mom sent me a ton of stuff with my dad: books and yarn and cotton face pads, etc. I can only carry 30kg on the Rwandair flight from Entebbe to Kigali to Bukavu, so I left a box, a large duffel bag and a smaller bag at the FH Uganda office as FH DRC had a 4 ton truck to be picked up in Nairobi and driven to Bukavu. Joel, my housemate and our head of logistics, said the truck would be coming through in about 2 weeks (that would have been 2nd week of June). A month and a half later....the truck arrived with all my goodies. The celebrations started on Monday when Joel brought me the smaller bag...there were good things in there. But the real show was last night when I opened the box and large duffel bag. I could tell you how much fun it was, but I would rather show you.

Opening the bag and box


Look at all the great stuff


Excited to be able to make Rice Krispie Squares


I think Q likes his new basket


Three housemates celebrating their haul

Avacodo on Steroids

The term coined by my dad to describe the avocados in Kampala. I think the term also fits for the avocados in Bukavu.

As seen here....

Sunday Excitement

It's Sunday...and I am sitting in my usual Sunday place, watching a little television and doing a lot of crocheting, when I hear a pretty unusual noise. It was coming from the lake side of the house and sounded like maybe the hill had given away. (Except there was no splash of water...so what was I thinking) I looked out the back windows to see if the guard had heard it...he did...then proceeded to the balcony off my bedroom to check out what had happened.

Turned out that part of the massive eucalyptus tree in the MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières - Doctors Without Borders) compound next door had fallen over the brick wall into our compound. It was kind of comical. There was no wind, no warning it was going to fall. And it was huge. There is a gate down to the lake...but you wouldn't be able to tell from the photo's.

MSF is going to help with cutting the tree off of the wall, but our guard, Maxime, spent the rest of Sunday afternoon cutting the tree away from the far back wall. He was concerned that if it stayed that way, it could be used by someone to climb up over the fence and into our compound. I love that our guards care about our safety. It's such a blessing.

Here are some shots of the tree from the balcony of the house then from ground level.

Oh and while I was down checking out the tree, I took this great photo of the house.

A Good Photo Op Gone Bad

When you have kittens there are lots of opportunities for cute photo's. And sometimes, that opportunity passes very quickly.

Case in point....


I'll leave it to you to imagine what the picture was supposed to look like.

What's New with FH Congo

I find that working in Finance does not give me a lot to blog about. Sure I could tell you about the new spreadsheets I am working on or the Access Database that I am trying to create for Human Resources...but hey, who really wants to hear about that?!?!? However, since you sent me to "work" with Food for the Hungry, I guess I should keep you updated on what's going on in my "work" life.

Last month was particularly difficult for FH Congo. There has been increased violence in North and South Kivu due to renewed efforts by the Congolese Army (FRDC) to push out the remnants of the Rwandan Hutu Genocidaires (FDLR). The FDLR "... have been operating out of eastern DR Congo since the aftermath of Rwanda's 1994 genocide by Hutu extremists against the Tutsi minority. Some of its members are accused of being among the main perpetrators of those massacres." (AFP - May 13, 2009) This increase in violence has forced us to shut down operations in South Kivu and suspending the contracts of our staff in these areas. This, however, affects our overall funding and means that we have less money to operate our main office in Bukavu. The result was that in June, we suspended the contracts of close to 15 Bukavu based staff.

So what does it mean to suspend contracts? Well, we secured what is called a Force Majeur. It is a document issued by the Provincial authorities stating that due to unforseen reasons (WAR!) we can no longer continue safely operating in the South Kivu region. Under the Force Majeur, we can suspend the staff contracts for 2 months. If after those 2 months the situation has not improved we can then terminate the contracts.

As you can probably imagine, this suspension of contracts did not go over so well with the staff in Bukavu (the staff in the fields completely understood the situation). Times are tough, and not getting a paycheck really hurts. The problem is further exacerbated by the fact that all NGO's are unionized here in South Kivu and that there is a central Union as well. It has been very uncomfortable for those of us who are still working. The biggest problem is that the actual organized push against the FDLR has not started, so there is no chance the situation will have changed at the end of the 2 months.

In a related news, we moved the office. By related I mean we drastically have to reduce our overhead spending. This is a source of much joy for me for many reasons:

1. It is only 5 minutes away from our house.
2. It is on the lake.
3. It is very QUIET
4. It is not located next to an elementary school (see #3)
5. It is not located on the main road (see #3)
6. There are no endless car horns (see #3 & 5)
7. There is no clinking of pop bottle openers against glass pop bottles (see #3 & 4)

There are lovely views of the lake from some of the offices...but not mine. Here's a pic of my very tiny office and of the views from the balconies.

My New Obsession...

...is crocheting. Yes, crocheting. I am addicted. It's getting a bit crazy!

While I was home at Christmas I had my mom show me basic crocheting. I practiced chaining and the single crochet, bought some yarn, bought crocheting for Dummies and off I went back to Congo with the pattern for an Afghan. Once I was settled in, I pulled out the Dummies book and started practicing the basic stitches. And I sucked. I got so frustrated I put it all away and didn't look at it again for 2 months. When I finally got up the courage to try again, I was able to figure out several stitches with the help of the Dummies book and the internet. Next problem, I so did not understand the crochet pattern for the Afghan I had chosen. No big deal, just search for a new pattern? Yeah, tried that too. In the end, I settled on making a striped blanket using just the double crochet stitch. (It's my favorite!) Over the next 4 mpnths, with lots of starts and stops and ripping out stitches, I finished my first ever crochet piece. What an awesome feeling.


Next I tried baby hats. My friend Holly gave me some baby yarn she was going to knit with...and voila...baby hats! And so the obsession started.


When the team from Cap Church came to Uganda in May, the brought with them cotton yarn my mom had sent with me. I was to use it to make a mesh bag. But, without a pattern, this proved too hard for me. See, I can't cook or crochet without a pattern. I am just not that creative! So I found a pattern from the Lions Brand Yarn website for a very cool Market bag. As you can see, the bag rocks! I love it!! This one is the first, I have since made 2 more and am now busy trying to figure out how to get more cotton yarn sent to Congo.


Now the title of this blog is, "My New Obsession." Why obsession you ask? Cause it is all I think about and do. I have spent hours (weeks of hours!) searching for and bookmarking crochet patterns and blogs. I come home every evening after work and spend the rest of the night crocheting. Every night...and all weekend. It is getting crazy! But I have figured out so many neat things and have even made small pouches with the remaining cotton yarn. Just waiting for cool buttons to finish them off. My goal is to make a handmade gift for each of the staff members here at FH Congo (Bukavu office only) to give them when I leave next year. I will need at least 60 gifts...6 down, 54 to go!

And I'm Back...

OK...I know it has been ages since I have posted. And I promise to post once a day to catch you all up on all the good things that have been going on in my life since March (If I can remember...getting very old!).

But to tide you over, here is one of my favorite photos...me and my dad in Kampala before going to see The Little Shop of Horrors put on by the Kampala Amateur Dramatic Society and a special after show visit to the Kampala Serena Hotel for appies and drinks. It was a wonderful evening in it's normalness. Because for me, life in Africa is normal (as normal as insanity on a daily basis can be!). Kampala was and always will be home for me. I am not a tourist when I am there; I wanted the time spent in the city to be like being at home. I think it worked. We watched tv movies on the computer, made dinner, visited with friends, walked to the mall, ate ice cream and saw a movie. Nothing touristy about that!

International Women's Day

Did anyone else know that March 8th was International Women's Day? I didn't until around February 28th. But it is, and in Bukavu that means the International Women's Day parade. This is a big deal in Bukavu. Organizations and business purchase fabric for their female employee's/members and each person has a traditional Congolese dress made. March 8th was aSunday, so the march took place on Saturday. Thousands of women in their uniform gathered together to march through the city and parade in front of the governor.

There were 5 women from FHI who marched alongside our friends from Renee's coffee shop. We all had the same fabric so it was fitting we marched together. As Liz, Renee and I (the Wazungu - white people) were dressed in pretty fancy Congolese dress, we got a lot of attention. We also got a lot of sun...bad, bad sunburns. It isn't often that I am outside in the sun for any length of time.

It was interesting being a part of this event. In the weeks leading up to the March, the men kept asking if we, the women, were throwing them a party. Boy did this get me riled up. In Congo, the women do all the work: they cook, they clean, they work the fields, they raise more babies than they should, they die needlessly in child birth, they carry impossibly heavy loads on their backs day in and day out. And the men want a party?!?!?!?

The day of the march, several NGO's had men marching alongside the women. To me this was men supporting women, standing beside them on the only day that celebrates them. However, this wasn't always the case. I witnessed many women yelling at the men marching. To them they were taking away their day. Who's right?

I think that the reason we in the west don't know about International Women's Day is because we have achieved relative equality with our men. We share our lives together, we share responsibilities. Our girl children grow up knowing that they can do anything they want and have the same opportunities as boy children. But here in Africa and across most of the world, women don't grow up knowing that. They grow up knowing that their purpose is to work in the home and the fields, to get married and to have babies. Of course that is slowly changing; many women here in Bukavu and elsewhere have jobs and are contributing to the income of their families. But it isn't enough; so we continue to have International Women's Day. But I hope that one day March 8th can just be another day of the week.

Kalemie and Moba

In February I spent 17 days in the southern province of Katanga. FH has two field sites there: one in Kalemie and one in Moba. While in Kalemie I again stayed at the MONUC base. Always an interesting adventure although enjoyable as it is air conditioned. I always meet interesting characters when I stay there. This year it was 2 French Canadian firefighters and a jolly Italian. I was also able to use my 10 years restaurant experience to educate the Welfare Club (MONUC restaurant) on tipping and good service.

It was a very productive 17 days. I was able to finish a staffing plan for out two new grants there as well as work with the staff on the requirements for our monthly cash flows. I also visited the site in Moba for the first time. Moba is extremely beautiful and much cooler than Kalemie. It is also a much smaller, more village like community. And it rained the entire time I was there...also a plus for me.

Life as a Mama Cat

Meet Quinton , Blondie and Blackie...

On Friday January 23rd, Liz came into my office around 4:30 saying their was a cat in a box. I got excited, of course, cause I love cats and we have been trying to warm Joel up to adding a cat to our menagerie of dogs and parrot! Up we went and sure enough their was crying coming from a box on the far side of an unused office space. When we opened up the box, lo and behold were three of the tiniest kittens I have ever seen. They were bundled into the middle of a plain cardboard box and although they cried a little, they seemed content to curl up around each other.

No one knows how the kittens got in the box; no one had fessed up to moving them. There are a lot of unknowns and everybody has their opinions: there was a cat raiding the food in the office kitchen that was chased out on several occasions, there is a cat that sleeps in one of the outside offices as evidenced by cat hair on the chair and it running out of the office in the mornings, the night guards see lots of different cats, the babies were in the outside basement, there is a cat who is often in the outside basement...the list goes on.

We decided to leave the kittens in the box in the same place we found them on Friday night, hoping that the momma cat would search for them and take them back. I came to the office first thing Saturday morning and the box hadn't been disturbed so I brought the kittens home. What an adventure that has been. Lots of Googling about raiding orphaned kittens gave me most of the information I needed to try to keep the kittens alive. Living in Congo means limited resources; I would love to be feeding them proper kitten milk replacement but you can't just pop around to the local pet store. My recipe of choice...powdered milk, corn oil, egg yolk and baby multivitamin delivered with a syringe. It isn't perfect, but two of them have finally got the hang of it. The next best part...mama cats stimulate the kittens to eliminate waste then clean up after them. A damp cotton pad does the trick for me.

Based on kitten development I have determined that the kittens are between 3 to 4 weeks old. There eyes are fully open, their ears erect and they are walking and climbing albeit very wobbly. Their weight, however, puts them around 2 weeks. It would really be best for them to be reunited with their mother. I tried again on Monday night to leave them at the office. This time in the back office where we know for sure a cat (hopefully the mother) sleeps a lot of the time. I even left 2 whole fish on the ground next to the box to try to lure her to them. It was an awful night for me; I cried and cried and worried about their safety, their warmth and their hunger. I went to check on them at 6am and...nothing. Fish not touched, kittens crying and covered in poop. Home we went for food and baths and warm hot bottles under the towel for warmth.

And so it has been. They come to work everyday and sleep, wake up, walk around, eat, eliminate, repeat. I worry constantly. The black kitten (Blackie for lack of a better name) is severely underweight and barely eats. His eyes weren't fully open the day I found them. I keep waiting for the morning that he doesn't wake up. But he has spunk... The light colored kitten has been dubbed Blondie, although I am pretty sure she's a he. I think Blondie has gotten formula in her lungs; when she is awake she coughs all the time. Plan is for a vet to see the kittens, but I don't know what we can do if she gets a bacterial infection in her lungs. I would say a shot of antibiotics, but this is Congo. Then there is the striped cat. His name is Quinton or Q for short; he's the kitten I will be keeping. He is the biggest and the strongest and the best eater. He completely recognizes me. He plays the most and loves to climb up over the edge of the box. He has the cutest stripes and loves to lay on his back and play with his feet in the air. I am so in love and attached.

Please help me to pray for God's protection over each one of the kittens. They were rudely taken from or abandoned by their mother and I am doing my best with limited resources to keep them alive. Also, pray for the next steps of weaning and potty training. Usually mom takes are of that, but since I am the mom...well, wish me luck.

My Balcony

I though you might like to see the place where I sit and relax on the weekends and the view I get to look at when I occasionally exercise. The couch and chair were made in Kampala for my old house and I had them brought over to Congo. The cushions are coming…in African time.

At night, with the candles lit and lightning flashing in the sky, it's kinda magical.

Just wanted you to know that sometimes it isn’t all that bad being in Bukavu.

Appearing for one day only….

This doesn’t happen often. Actually it is the first good hair day I have had with my new haircut since I came back to Africa. Nor do I often match my shirts, to my earrings to my toenail polish. But sometimes everything just comes together. Hurray!!!!!

Back to Buhozi

One of the first things I did when I got back was visit the feeding centre in Buhozi with our FH driver Israel. You may remember from a previous post that the feeding centre in Buhozi is a non-FH funded centre that feeds approx. 70 malnourished children in a community just outside of Bukavu. It is funded by our ex-Country Director’s Church and was over seen by his wife Katie. If you remember, I am taking care of the finances till August and Israel is purchasing and delivering the food as well as general centre related issues.

It was a Friday holiday and Israel needed to take the remainder of January’s food to the mama’s who cook and care for the children. Unfortunately, due to the holiday, things were getting a slow start and they weren’t really ready for visitors. Some of the children came and played this neat game in the courtyard with a ball and several beans. I of course took pictures, which always causes a scene as the children push at each other to “see” the photo on the screen.

It is hard being stuck in the office always working on the behind the scenes but never actually seeing the change that is occurring in our fields. So even though the feeding centre is not an FH project, it is good for me to see how God’s love is played out in communities here in Congo.

One of the Mama's with a load of food for the month of January

The game with the ball and the beans

The Cupboard Under the Stairs

Ever wondered what it must have felt like for Harry Potter sleeping in the cupboard under the stairs? Probably not…but I got to find out anyway!

Sleeping in a newly created room in the space under the stairs and sidewalk of my London Victoria area hotel furnished with a TV, sink, bed and space heater (shared bathroom inside hotel): £20

Getting to feel like Harry Potter for a few nights: PRICELESS

Going Home

How great was going home? OK...rhetorical question. Being at home was the best thing to happen for me in months. I was able to take 6 weeks away from Congo. I spent the first few days in Kampala and Mbale visiting with friends and my beloved Bufukhula. Then came the long trip home. Luckily it was uneventful; I managed to navigate London Heathrow Terminal 5 in hour and make my connection to Vancouver. I was really hoping for an inconspicuous arrival; I didn't want any pomp and circumstance. And I got it...in "typical" fashion no one was at the airport to pick me up. Dad...let me remind you. Know one takes the Lions Gate Bridge to the airport on a Wednesday evening when the person arriving gets in at 6:30pm!

What a shock coming from Kampala with a sunburn after 32 degree heat...to Brrrrrrr! Luckily I had 2 weeks home to acclimatize before the snows started. Being home was so wonderful. You never forget it; the sight, the sounds, the lights of Grouse Mountain. Coming home is like snuggling under a warm quilt in front of a crackling fire with a hot cup of tea. But is it a shock like everyone asks? I am not sure if it bodes well or bad for me, but I didn't find it hard being home. It is surprising how easy it is to fall back into the wealth and consumerism. You don't want to...but how can you avoid it. You have to eat, to shop, to visit with friends. But I know my attitude has changed. You don't take it all so seriously; you respect what blessings were provided to you growing up middle class. You remember not to waste water and to improvise when the sink is plugged and you aren't sure you can wash the Christmas dinner plates in the kitchen sink. Africa teaches you to improvise.

I had so many wonderful moments at home with my parents, my support group, my home group, my pastors. Hanging out with my mom felt like old times. (as did the occasional fight!) But just as important was the quiet time, the time for reflection. After having a rough couple of months, I needed that time to look and reflect back on where God had taken me over the past year and to look forward to the new year and it's limitless possibilities. It was an interesting month. When I left Africa the last week of November I had my heart set on seeeing out 8 more months of my contract and coming home after two years. But with much introspection, a little counseling and a lot of pastoral care, I was able to look back at the past difficult eight months, see them as the growth and learning opportunities they were and know that I hadn't seen why God brought me to the Congo and that I wasn't prepared to leave until I was sure I had made a difference here.

Being home for Christmas this year was so great. Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year. I love the family time and this year was no different (although it was a lot different than last years 32 plus degrees Christmas morning Frisbee and volleyball matches!). The snow almost out a crimp in our plans; we almost cancelled Christmas! Being at my aunt's place, on the hills of West Vancouver, made for some difficult driving times. But persistence, chains and the miracle of the snow plow made all the difference. Christmas was back on and a wonderful time with family and friends, old and new. I couldn't have asked for a more precious time home.

Leaving was difficult, although with a new sense of purpose, not as hard as I thought. I weaned myself back into Africa by making a pit stop in London and seeing the Musical Wicked. The title says it all! The last leg of my journey was a bit rough (waking up in London with a sore throat, 9 hours in Heathrow, 9 hour flight to Entebbe, the unexpected new ticket to Kigali I had to purchase, then a grueling 6 hour drive through Rwanda to Congo. Not fun when you are sick and exhausted. But it felt good to be back in Congo; a relief to be back in my house. It is home for now and there really is nothing like HOME.

Obama Mania

The back of a Matatu in Nairobi. A Matatu is a taxi bus...African public transport. Enough said.....

More Zanzibar Photo's

Here's a couple more of my favorite Zanzibar shots. For even more photo's click on the album on the right.

The view from my room
AMAZINGThe steps down to the water and the beachThat's my hotel in the distance....I walked that far out!