Safe Arrival

   

We arrived safely and were met at the airport in Lubumbashi and ushered through customs after about a 30 minute delay.  The mission president (Gary Packer) had already loaded our 3 suitcases which made it without a surcharge from South African Airlines.

This is the countryside from the airport into town.  From the air we observed a countryside dotted with little houses linked by dirt roads.  

Street scenes.  The van pictured here is public transportation.  One man drives and one collects fares from passengers who sit on (3?) wooden benches.   The fare might be just 100 francs (20 cents) or maybe more due to the high price of fuel.  These second-hand vans are called "dubai" after their country of origin.

Notice the clear sky.  It has rained several evenings but not yet during the day.  The rainy season is coming to an end.  

Some vehicles are people powered.  We also saw men struggling with over-loaded bicycles.

Store fronts

The present mission home/office.  At this moment I'm sitting in the office struggling with this blog and a slow internet.  Next month the mission home/office will move to where we live.  To access the driveway the toyota diesel pickup turns off the main road, splashes through a red puddle and honks at the brown gate.  A man opens the door (on call 24/7).  

This is our second floor apartment above the new mission office.  The white Toyota is one like we will have.  It will be a nightmare driving the narrow streets.  This is a newer neighborhood with better water and more reliable power.  The mayor lives in this section of town so we hope all the services will be better.  The street (Diwai Boulevard) is not paved (yet).  Our apartment is not completely ready.  We will use the mission office kitchen until ours is ready.  

Yesterday we went shopping.  We spent $157  in food stuffs from an OK store.  Paid in US dollars and received Congolese francs in change.  Bought bananas on the street with the francs.

The mission president will give us our assignment next Monday.  

Ate dinner with two missionaries going home and one coming.  They come from big families.  The one elder going home is from Ivory Coast and might have a hard time since the airport is closed due to the political dilemma (2 presidents). The one coming is a sister from Cameron.  We accompanied her to one of the sisters' apartments (an old Belgium home at the end of bumpy roads but in a nice area of town).   There are 16 sisters in the mission.  The mission rents the apartments and gives each missionary cash each month for living expenses (about $120 a month).  There are no ATM's here.  

The "green" missionaries,

Bill and Ann Moore