Dear Family and Friends,
When someone is leaving to go on a journey where Swahili is spoken, they will tell you, “Safari njema” (”Good/pleasant/safe journey”). In thirty two hours we’ll be back in Denver. Now that we’re on the tail end of our safari our time seems to have sprinted by, but living it forward it sometimes crawled along at a snail’s pace. We’ve had so many interesting and challenging experiences and met so many wonderful people that it will take us much longer than the four weeks we were away to unpack the memories we are carrying with us.
Jimmie, Chuck, and I arrived back in Nairobi three hours ago after two night and three days in Maasai Mara National Park. The place we stayed at was a tented campground (it has an electric fence around it to keep out any unwanted “guests”). The boys and I had three twin-sized beds, a toilet, a shower, a double sink, and hardwood floors in our tent-oh, and electricity! Ever stayed in a tent like this? It was incredibly nice. The meals were also fabulous-made to order omelets, crepes, fresh fruit and juice for breakfast, and amazingly good lunches and dinner. We came close to gaining back the weight we lost the rest of the trip, that’s for sure! I can hardly wait to start eating oatmeal again when we get home. J
We went on safari three times a day for about three hours at a time in search of various animals. While in Maasai Mara we saw nineteen different lions (including numerous cubs) with three separate kills. The sound effects of them eating Wildebeast, chewing on bone and tearing tissue was unnerving, but amazing at the same time. Leopards are very difficult to sight, but we saw three of them. Cheetahs are also a rare sighting, but we saw one mother with two cubs and another with one cub. We also saw fifty or so elephants and hippos, several hundred Cape Buffalos, giraffes, zebras, topis, hartebeasts, waterbucks, crocodiles, and countless species of incredibly beautiful birds. I’m sure I’m leaving out several things that the boys will be sure to remind me of later on, but I need to finish this before we leave for dinner and the airport in a little while. J
In the boys’ minds, it’s safe to say that we left the best for last-especially the food they say. It was certainly the most comfortable portion of our trip-and maybe even the most exotic-but we carry the memories of friends, brothers, and sisters in Congo and Rwanda in our hearts as well.
We’re still catching up on our time in Congo, so here’s one more vignette of life in DRCongo:
Handicapped School in Bukavu
Celestin, Jimmie, Chuck and I visited the Catholic school that we are pray that Pasie (the handicapped girl who lives in Mudaka) will attend in September on our second-to-the-last day in Bukavu (June 11). Celestin and I talked to the principal about Pasie, but we had to leave Bukavu before we heard back from him. I also haven’t heard if Celestin was able to talk to him before he left for the U.S. for General Assembly.
Celestin, the boys, and I were in awe of the school and the opportunities for education and job training it offers physically, sight, and hearing-impaired children. As much as is possible, the handicapped children are mainstreamed into classes with the rest of the children at the school. Many of the handicapped children come from small villages so they actually live at the school. Most of the able-bodied children attend the school as day students. We were told that there is room for up to 100 students to live at the school as full-time residents. One of my dreams is that one day we may be able to build a similar school in a more rural part of Bukavu where both handicapped and able-bodies children can learn side-by-side in a more relaxed setting outside the dust and mud of Bukavu and where there will be land enough for them to grow crops and tend goats, sheep, chicken, and cows.
While at the school we visited a class for four-year-old deaf children. Out of habit I immediately found myself telling them, “Jambo (”Hello”) and asking them “How are you?” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized my mistake. Unfortunately, both Jimmie and Chuck heard me. The children were working on writing the letters of the alphabet in their notebooks when we arrived. When we left all of the children eagerly waved goodbye to us.
Another highlight of our visit was a class of older primary school age deaf students. The teacher called one of the students to the chalkboard on which was written an assignment in French. As the boy signed the words written on the chalkboard, he spoke each of the words he was signing-not perfectly, but good enough that I could recognize the French he was speaking. As the boy mispronounced a word, the teacher raised or lowered his right hand on his throat and the boy changed the inflection of his voice to fit the French word he was trying to pronounce. It really was a spectacular experience.
We were told that in addition to being trained in sign language each teacher is trained in Braille so they can teach the sight-impaired children in their class to read Braille letters. One twelve-year-old boy read for us in Braille. Celestin had never seen anything like this and was totally amazed when the boy read perfectly for us from one of his class textbooks. Several other children showed us how they count in Braille. What a blessing these children were to us. We all felt more full of hope leaving the school than when we entered it.
One of the many serendipities (unexpected blessings) of our visit was their sewing project room. The school has several sewing machines on which the students are taught to sew shirts, traditional African looking dolls, and handbags. A few women hand embroider traditional African scenes on table clothes, napkins, and wall hangings. Their handiwork is breathtaking and irresistible. Jimmie, Chuck, and I bought several items from their store.
While we were at the school in Bukavu, Jimmie asked me, “Isn’t this place your dream place for the kind of school you’d like to build for children like Pasie one day?” I had to admit that it was. My prayer is that we can bless many other handicapped children just like Pasie. Now’s a good time to tell a little of Pasie’s story and the difference we have made in her life.
Pasie
One of the reasons I enjoy visiting the small, rural village of Mudaka is because it is where Pasie and Seraphim, the first two first handicapped children I met in Congo, live. When we were in Mudaka I took some pictures of Pasie wearing a dress with the material we bought for her last fall. Celestin stayed back to talk with Pasie and her father while I went to a soccer field where the Point Loma team was playing the local team. I attract such a large crowd of onlookers that there was no way we could talk to them in private about school plans or to check up with her regarding her family, health, and well-being of her goats.
When Pasie talked to Celestin she told him that not too long ago her father told her that he was going to sell her two goats. Pasie is extremely soft-spoken and comes across as very shy, but beneath her lies a very strong spirit. When her father said this about the goats, she told him, “These are my own goats. The district superintendent, Pastor Celestin, and Joe Gorman, both know this. You can’t sell my goats because they will hear about it and they won’t be happy with you.” Her father back down and said, “Pasie, I was only joking.” She may be small, but she’s a tough one!
Pasie told Celestin, “The day that you and Joe Gorman first came to Mudaka completely changed my life.” As Celestin was relating to me the story, he repeated the word for emphasis: “Completely, Baba. [pause . . . and then with emphasis] Completely changed her life!” People in the village now respect Pasie. They walk by her house now and say, “Pasie lives there. She’s the one called the daughter of the wazungu.”
Pasie told Celestin that before we came that she was discriminated against in the village and was considered a useless person. But now people ascribe honor to her because they know that Celestin and I will come to check on her. I have now been to Mudaka three times beginning in 2007. Celestin has been to Mudaka “MANY times,” he says.
Pasie’s standing in the community was nothing before we came, but now she is something. She was a nobody, but now she is a somebody. She was nameless, but now she is known by everyone. She was useless, but now has purpose. She was insignificant, but now has significance in the eyes of her community/village. She had no hope for the future, but now she has begun to dream dreams for herself.
Even Celestin was surprised at how forthright Pasie was about her situation. She told Celestin, “If I do not talk to you while I’m here, my parents will think I’m lying to you.”
I asked Celestin if Pasie’s father and mother are resistant to her going to Bukavu or if they might view her absence as one less mouth to feed. Celestin said that when Pasie goes to Bukavu that the family’s standing in the community will rise, because people will know that Pasie, “daughter of the wazungu,” is in Bukavu studying. Pasie going to school will be a very good thing for her family. I was very encouraged to her this as I had fear all along that the family might do something to stop her from going to school.
Pasie was unable to get into the school in Bukavu in the middle of the year when her father visited the school in December, because all the residential slots were already filled. The principal told us that he would talk to the sister who oversees the school to see about securing Pasie a place at the start of school in September.
Pasie thinks starting from the very beginning in primary school to the very end will not be easy for her. At the very least she wants to learn to read and write and learn a life skill such as sewing. My suspicion is that when Pasie gets to this school and is introduced to the entirely new world they have for her, her hopes and dreams for herself will expand exponentially.
Thank you for reading these emails and stories. I hope they give you a small taste of what it’s like being here. Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement along the way.
God bless you and your families! Safari njema!
Joe, Jimmie, and Chuck