Lessons Learned

Now that I've been back for over a week, I'm struck by some of the lessons that I learned in my time in Africa. I wasn't there very long but there are some things that are sticking in my head.

1. Learn a language by immersing yourself in a foriegn culture AT HOME

I have often said I want to learn a language. Hindi has been high on my list because I loved my time in India. I have checked out CDs from the library and tried a little. I listen for a little while and then give up, saying "I just need to learn by immersion." Florence, a friend of Cammie's and someone that befriended us all while we were there, is learning English. She has been practicing by making friends that speak English as their native language. What an amazing idea! I actually know people that speak Hindi as their native language. The grandma of a friend of mine once invited me over to speak with her. And I haven't followed up on that. Florence really was an inspiration on how you can learn a foreign language while at home.

2. Water is precious

During our week or so in Africa, I realized how little water you need to live your daily life when you're not able to take long, warm showers or flush the toilet too much. When you have to boil water to drink it, you realize that water is sooo vital. That you wouldn't throw any extra water away because it took some work to get it. We also discussed pumping water over 400 feet up so that the villagers and surrounding residents could use it.

I thought about that this week. I passed a broken sprinkler as I was walking home and saw all this water gushing out of the break. And it's all drinkable! So much drinkable water pouring out. And that happens all the time! We talk about water shortages in California, but we don't even realize how much water we have and how much more we would have if we didn't waste so much.

3. There is hope in Africa

Right before I went to Africa, I watched a movie with one of my friends. The Last King of Scotland. It was pretty spooky and a true story. I had a discussion with that friend about the dark stories we hear of people in Africa. I wondered if God could really be working there when so much is happening.

When I went, I realized that there is hope in Africa. We're not hearing the amazing stories as much as we are hearing the terrible stories. But I met Christians and heard about the things that they are working towards and I heard their stories. There are really cool things that Christians and other people are working towards.

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I am thankful that I went. I learned a lot about myself and about Africa. I met some amazing people, did some amazing work, and had some experiences that broadened my mind and my heart.

If you are a planner, architect, or engineer... and want to get involved with something similar, go to the eMI website and check the project needs:
http://emiworld.org/volunteer.html

Final Funding Update

Once again, thanks to everyone that made this possible! I got the final count on how much the trip cost and how much was contributed.

The trip cost $3,200.

eMI recieved $3,281 on my behalf!

So... yeah! And thank you!

The extra $81 will go towards paying for the general administrative costs of the trip.

Silly Songs

The last few days we started singing all the songs every American Christian child learns at camp in the summer. One of these is "I am a C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N". Akachi filmed this one so that he could teach the kids when he got back home. This was among the many songs sung in the back of the van on our way back from church.

We also sang another camp song and created new lyrics for it.

The original lyrics:

Give me oil in my lamp
Keep it burning, burning, burning
Give me oil in my lamp I pray (hallelujah)

Give me oil in my lamp
Keep it burning, burning, burning
Keep it burning 'till the break of day

The lyrics we made up:

Give me juice for my laptop
Keep me planning for the hilltop
Give me juice for my laptop I pray (hallelujah)

Give me juice for my laptop
Keep me planning for the hilltop
Keep me planning ‘till the break of day
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Give me water we can pump up
So the village they can fill up
Give me water we can pump up we pray (hallelujah)

Give me water we can pump up
So the village they can fill up
Let them fill up till the break of day
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Cammie’s casting out the vision
So the team can meet its mission
Cammie’s casting out the vision I pray (hallelujah)

Cammie’s casting out the vision
So the team can meet its mission
She’ll be casting 'till the break of day
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Poto’s burning down the street
To keep us from the heat
Poto’s burning down the street we pray (hallelujah)

Poto’s burning down the street
To keep us from the heat
He’ll be burning ‘till the break of day
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Poto’s driving to the site
So the team can get a ride
Poto’s driving to the site we pray (hallelujah)

Poto’s driving to the site
So the team can get a ride
He’ll be driving ‘till the break of day
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Ginga Ninjas write the plan
But it’s really in God’s hands
Ginga Ninjas make the plans we pray (hallelujah)

Ginga Ninjas write the plan
But it’s really in God’s hands
They’ll be planning ‘till the break of day
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Akachi’s counting up the cost
So the project won’t be lost
Akachi’s counting up the cost we pray (hallelujah)

Akachi’s counting up the cost
So the project won’t be lost
He’ll be counting ‘till the break of day
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Tom is planning for the school
So the children will be cool
Tom is planning for the school we pray (hallelujah)

Tom is planning for the school
So the children will be cool
He’ll be planning ‘till the break of day
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Clear the bush for our Bumjoo
To get the survey done, do
Clear the bush for our Bumjoo we pray (hallelujah)

Clear the bush for our Bumjoo
To get the survey done, do
Clear the bush until the break of day

Congolese Clothing

The following are pictures of women's clothing I saw while in the Congo. They had a lot of beautiful clothes. I just wish I was able to take more pictures.

Here's my impromptu skirt I wore the first Sunday. It seemed to fit into the usual style pretty well.
We visited an orphanage and the woman in charge wore this outfit. I wish I had asked to get a shot from the front. It was beautiful from top to bottom.

Lucy and I went to the dress-shop on Saturday to pick up our outfits. Florence (pictured in the middle) came to help us. We ended up sitting in the shop for about 4 hours while they completed our outfits. Thankfully, this was after the presentation and the guys were off having fun swimming at the American school. It was worth it! I enjoyed meeting the women at the shop and trying Maltina (a non-alcoholic beer) while I waited.

These are clothes of a typical school girl. Every skirt was different. Some of them were really lovely and showed all different styles of blue skirts.
A woman walking down the street.
Florence again. She had some great clothes. This outfit was especially lovely.
A woman walking down the street with a baby strapped to her back.

Some women standing around at church.
Another woman from church.
And another woman from church. So many amazing clothes. I really wish I had taken more pictures! But it really isn't encouraged AT ALL to take pics.
Another woman walking by.
Our pastor's wife. She cooked us an AMAZING meal on our last day: chicken, fish, beans, rice, greens, other veggies, fried plantains, cold water, and juice!

Presentation

I am posting some pictures showing the presentation we did. We presented to an audience that included Cammie, folks that sit on the board of Elikia Village, a local guy that had lived in the US and had done Elikia but is now living in Kinshasa again (more on him sometime later), a friend of Cammie (and ours) living nearby, and a visitor from Canada.

We were able to borrow a projector from the Canadian visitor and project onto the wall of one of the houses we were staying in. This is the first screen of our presentation. One of Cammie's friends gave us permission to use this picture. This is really a picture of the vision for this village. Giving children and women families. We discussed whether the front should show the plight of widows and orphans but felt that we wanted to have a picture that showed what we are all hoping for and this is it!
Kevin, our fearless leader, started the presentation with a verse and a picture of the team.
David discussed the survey and showed the contours.

I followed with an explaination of the master plan.After I talked about the phasing, Colin showed the preliminary plan for the staff housing.And Austin talked about the design of the school.Tom followed us with some discussion on the structural designs.Ric gave us a variety of options on how to get water from the spring and how we would deal with wastewater.Alvin gave us the overview on how we would get electricity where and when needed.


Akachi finished the presentation by telling us how much it would cost and how long it would take.

This was an intriguing presentation after an amazing week. Everyone had their strengths and skills to bring.

And Lucy helped to put all of our individual presentations together into one.

Architect vs. Engineer

We had some great times working with all the different disciplines. At one point in the week, Austin said, "It's amazing to be able to work so closely with the engineers. Usually my only interaction with them is when I send them a building plan and they send it back with a column right through my bathroom."

Well, at one point during the week, Colin and Austin drafted up some sketches for the blueprint of the school. They gave it to Tom and asked him what we would need structurally to make it work.

Tom said, "What would you think about having a column in the middle of the classroom?"

We all laughed.

Thankfully, that issue has been resolved. Apparently, there is something called "reverse trusses" that can help hold up the roof without causing the kids to have to deal with a column inside the classroom. Good thing!!

Kevin had an email that someone had sent him that illustrates the usual relationship between architects and engineers. I thought it was amusing and I'm sure all the architects and engineers working with them will be even more amused.

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CAST
Engineer: Jack Nicholson
Architect: Tom Cruise

Engineer: You want answers?

Architect: I think I’m entitled to them.

Engineer: You want answers?!

Architect: I want the truth!

Engineer: You can’t HANDLE the truth!!Son, we live in a world that has CHILLERS, BOILERS AND SWITCHGEAR. And those PIECES OF EQUIPMENT have to be LOCATED IN ROOMS. Who’s gonna DESIGN THEM? You? You, MR. ARCHITECT? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for LOST PARKING SPACES and you curse the SIZE OF MY GENERATOR. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that THOSE MEP SYSTEMS, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives… You don’t want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don’t talk about at parties. You WANT me on that DESIGN TEAM. You NEED me on that DESIGN TEAM. We use words like DESIGN, CODE, ANALYSIS… We use these words as the backbone to a life spent PROVIDING OWNER COMFORT AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY. You use ‘em as a punchline at a party.I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain my DESIGN to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very ENVIRONMENT that I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it! I’d rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a DUCTULATOR and DESIGN a BUILDING SYSTEM. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you’re entitled to!

Architect : Did you OVERSIZE THE MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL ROOMS?

Engineer : (quietly) I did the job you HIRED me to do.

Architect : Did you OVERSIZE THE MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL ROOMS?!!

Engineer : You’re damn right I did!!!

Malaria, Misquitos, and Vitamin B

I have no bites. None. And it's not because I used my misquito net, because I didn't.

I attribute this success to my B Vitamins. I took B-1 and B-12 everyday. I will definitely do that again for other misquito-prone areas.

Last week, Cammie was sick and thought that it was probably Malaria. She doesn't take Malaria meds, just takes a 3-day cure whenever she gets Malaria.

And I looked up Malaria on Google. Apparently, it's a parasite. Not a bacteria. Not a virus.