Day 6 cont'd - Brazzaville, Congo - Saturday, May 2, 2009

Let’s talk about Apostle Kalala’s car. It’s a RAV 4 (Toyota) that’s been through hell and back. At least this time it’s working. Last year it wasn’t. This year there seems to be some electrical problem or something with the fuel injection system because it stalls all the time. Another issue is some tire or the balance of them. When the car goes too fast it “jerks” us around. Am I allowed to say that? BTW, this blog allows me to some sanity by using English. I really cannot type that well or fast because I’m thinking about the spelling or even the word in English. After 2-3 weeks in French, you think, speak, write, dream all in French.

The village roads. There are families that could live in these holes. All the side roads are “dirt” roads. More like a red clay sand than anything. I know in Pointe Noire it’s a little different. Really Brazzaville does remind one of a small Kinshasa. There are very few paved roads although probably enough to get around a little. There are fewer traffic lights but the city (centre) itself is not that big BUT the traffic (embouteillage (sp.?) = (literally) bottling from “bottleneck” = traffic) is much worse than I ever remember. The Apostle and the locals say it is due to more taxis (green here, blue in Pointe Noire). Not many can really afford a car, and never mind the gas prices. Here and Rwanda and Cameroon (why Cameroon?, you’ll see) the gas prices are $1.00+ USD a litre. How can they afford this? The taxis in Congo-Brazza are old Toyota Camrys and their cousins. I don’t know really where they came from but they drive them into the ground. Some are in fairly good condition, others much to be desired. They don’t rust here because there’s no salt and snow.

Back to the roads. When it’s rainy season, this all turns to “mud”. Thick, icky, yucky mud. While I think of it, I remember a time with District Apostle Wagner at our first home and we had him over after a service in Brampton, I believe, or a time when the North America Music Committee was in Toronto for a meeting. We talked about the “Canada District News” (remember that?) and how the pictures and stories are wonderful but how great would it be to also experience the sounds, tastes and smells (+ the heat and humidity) of many of these places. Sounds you can hear on CD, tastes you can get in restaurants, even in Canada, but smells…..then the suggestion came to make the “Canada District News” a scratch-and-sniff as well. That would be very scintillating and titillating. To feel the wall of humidity when you leave an air-conditioned room is something that must be experienced.

From Choir Practice we went back to Hippocampe and had an early dinner (soup). If I haven’t said it already, we went from Baguette in Rwanda to Soup in Congo. Don’t know what’s next. The Apostle left for the airport and about 20 minutes later he informed me that the Apostle Dzur had already arrived from Bangui with Apostle Kabbie (Yamilamba Kabengele). I thought the flight was earlier (~ 5-6 PM) but the Apostle Kalala insisted it was later. Oh well! Apostle Kalala then picked me up to go to the Olympic Hotel to meet the Apostles where they were staying. It was nice to see Apostle Dzur, although he looked tired, drained and preoccupied. He asked if we were still going for “soup” and with a little hesitation, we decided, yes, another soup was in order. So back to Hippocampe for soup. We were all tired and ready to “hit the hay” so I went upstairs to my room and the Apostles returned to Olympic to sleep and prepare for Sunday.