A Potpourri of Photos

Lubumbashi Stake Relief Society Conference.  These pictures are from Sister Wilson, one of the speakers at the conference.  The Conference started about an hour late and included a meal of chicken and rice.  It’s common to see women of the same family going to any of the Christian churches all dressed in the same colorful Congo fabric.

Sister missionaries.  The sister on the right just finished her mission.  

Children after an LDS service.  (pictures by Sister Wilson)

African sunrise through our bedroom window.

Plaque in the foyer of the Hotel at Mbjui-Mayi.  The Congo is a Christian nation.

Going home after the Adult Session of the Laputa District Conference.

A Casava/corn meal processing plant in Laputa.

A giant moth resting during the day (on our office window)

Two of our prized possessions: our mosquito net and our camp light (with rechargeable batteries)  There are not many mosquitoes but this net treated with permethian kills any that light during the night.  The camp light provides ambiance during the nightly (usually short) power outages.  Handy for doing the dishes after our 6 pm dinner.  It gets dark early here.

Elder Wilson in the “depot” where we store printed materials.  This picture is “BF” (before flood) when the washing machine danced away from the drain.  

April clouds.  April is the last month of the rainy season.  It has only rained for a few minutes all month.  During March we had substantial rain.  In May all the clouds will disappear and the dry seasons begins, the plants turn brown and dust is everywhere.  We will be living in Mbjui-Mayi where it rains all year long.

Fufu

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fufu, (variants of the name include foofoo, foufou, foutou), is a staple food of West and Central Africa. It is a thick paste usually made by boiling starchy root vegetables in water and pounding with a mortar and pestle until the desired consistency is reached. In the French-speaking regions of Cameroon, fufu is sometimes called couscous (couscous de Cameroun), not to be confused with the North African dish couscous.[1]

Western African fufu

In Western Africa, fufu is usually made from cassava, yams, and sometimes combined with cocoyam, plantains, or maize. In Ghana, fufu is mostly made from boiled cassava and unripe plantain beaten together, as well as from cocoyam. Currently, these products have been made into powder/flour and can be mixed with hot water to obtain the final product hence eliminating the arduous task of beating it in a mortar with a pestle. In Central Africa, fufu is often made from cassava, as is the Liberian dumboy. Fufu can also be made from semolina, rice, or even instant potato flakes. Often, the dish is still made by traditional methods: pounding and beating the base substance in a mortar with a wooden spoon. In contexts where poverty is not an issue, or where modern appliances are readily available, a food processor may also be used.

Dried cassava root being pounded into flour to be put in boiling water to make "luku" in Bandundu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo

In Western and Central Africa, the more common method is to serve a mound of fufu along with a soup made from okra, fish (often dried), tomato, etc. In Ghana, fufu is eaten with light (tomato) soup, palm nut soup, groundnut (peanut) soup or other types of soups with vegetables such as nkontomire (cocoyam leaves). Soups are often made with different kinds of meat and fish, fresh or smoked. The diner pinches off a small ball of fufu and makes an indentation with the thumb. This reservoir is then filled with soup, and the ball is eaten. In Ghana the ball is often not chewed but swallowed whole. In fact, chewing fufu is a faux pas.

The Cogolese are "fou" (crazy in French) for fufu.   Low in nutritional value, it nevertheless fills people up.  One tall-skinny missionary from Kinshasa told me he didn't like rice and preferred fufu for the full feeling it gave him.  

We really enjoy the members here.  At English class one asked me for money because he was hungry.  I asked him if he had visited with his bishop.  He had.  Our office manager is a local bishop.  He just told me that all such requests should go through the bishop.  Money given directly to members tends to weaken their testimonies.

We really enjoyed conference.  Hope you did too.

Elder William and Sister Ann Moore