Back in Tshikapa

Tshikapa, Oct. 18, 2012

After arriving again in Kinshasa on the 20th of August and getting things organized on that side, we, that is Blandine, a local nurse and Sunday school teacher, and me, flew to Tshikapa. It was a calm flight of an hour and 15 minutes. One of the passengers had a story from the past when he flew this way. When they were almost at Tshikapa, lightning struck the airplane, the communication cable on the outside broke and all electronics went out. The Lord was a present help in trouble though and helped them to land safely. After hearing this story I said an extra prayer for protection.

Because the SADR farm closed and they took everything except the buildings, we needed some things. TG John had a whole room full of cupboards, some beds, household items etc., etc., stored from the former house they had rented, now we just needed a way to get it to Mushapo. Again TG, we met someone who regularly has trucks going to Tshikapa who offered to take our things too. Once Jean, the manager, arrives here, we're supposed to leave soon, probably coming Saturday, together with what things have arrived already. At 14:11 he sent an sms saying they were @ 60 km from here. We'll see how long that takes.

Here are 2 pics of the main street. Tshikapa has between 800.000 and 1 million inhabitants. Along the road are hundreds and hundreds of small stands, selling all kind of things, but mainly food.

As you can see there are very few cars here. Any jeeps and trucks are from some companies, like Denys, which is working on a very much needed public water treatment and distribution project.

Most transportation of people is done by motorcycle of which there are quite a few, driven by young guys. People do a lot of walking here.

The other night we had quite a rainstorm hitting the place we're staying almost horizontaly so that quite a bit of water came through the cracks in the windows and doors. Took me an hour scooping and mopping up water.