Back in Arizona grandma tells me the intolerable heat is beginning to ease, meanwhile it’s been a mild month in Congo. Before she moved home to France, my friend Christilla gave me a sachet of precious bacteria to make cheese with. Unfortunately I haven’t had a weekend hot enough to follow her detailed instructions. We’ve had some of that good old swamp heat, just not on the weekend recently. It will come.
This morning I get to go and take some photos of a client who has done very well with her smoked fish business, Mama Atiya. It’s looking like she’ll be featured in a HOPE publication soon. A couple of years ago her husband died and his family took the home they owned, leaving her and her family homeless. It’s an unfortunately common story here where poverty sometimes poisons the family well in times of tragedy (just like wealth often can). She’d worked for someone else selling fish and with a loan from HOPE she went into business herself. With her hard work and good management she now owns an apartment and is doing well (her current loan is $750, which is a significant amount of money here). I’m excited to go meet her and take some pictures of her with the smoked fish.
This fish is popular stuff here, people love it. You’re probably imagining something like the smoked salmon you put on a cabaret cracker with some Philly cream cheese and a caper or two. No, this stuff is more like fish jerky. And there are so many funky different kinds of fish here, something like 500 varieties in the rivers – some mean enough looking to send chills down your spine. They make a piranha look tame. But these fish are beautiful because they’ve helped provide a livelihood and a roof for Atiya, a single mother who also happens to be a highly successful fishmonger.
+++++
I had a great time at the market. The woman I photographed, Mama Atiya, seemed to really love the attention and she had the most fantastic smile, especially considering the lack of dental care available here. As we were finishing up in the market, another HOPE client wanted her photo taken (pictures below). She has a great energy. I could have had fun taking portraits of people for awhile there, but it wouldn’t have taken long for some opportunistic policeman or official to come and make trouble, so along we went. And as we moved through the market I saw our clients left and right and each one lifted my spirits. I have a great job.
An update on the microfinance work in Kisangani, DRC:
The second half of 2007 has opened an exciting time of growth at HOPE Congo. We’ve been operational now for over two years and our team is showing the fruits of the experience they’ve gained. We now have almost 3000 loan clients and a total loan portfolio now spilling over $200,000. Country-wide we are planning to have over 10,000 clients and almost a million USD in loans by the end of the year. In the world of high finance, that might be pocket change. But in the life of this country where war, oppression and suffering have been the norm for too long - it’s a serious change. Our clients also have deposited tens of thousands of dollars in their savings accounts. It’s not a quick fix-all for severe endemic poverty (if you’ve got that, let me know!), but this is part of the solution to a complex puzzle.
Almost every week we face some kind of new significant challenge to our work. Still, our staff is very committed to keeping promises to clients. When we say we’ll disburse a new group loan to a community banking group, we push through all obstacles to make sure it happens on time. Every small success builds a trustworthy reputation. Entire marketplaces and neighborhoods are showing a positive change now that HOPE has been here for a couple of years.
Without ever advertising our services, we are seeing a tremendous demand and it’s helping to fuel our rapid growth. If you are interested in learning more about the work we are doing, please contact me. If you would like to help us serve more people, consider making a donation to HOPE International (who uses 100% of your donation for field programs and not administrative expenses), please either contact me or see the link to HOPE on this page.
A few nights ago I heard particularly feverish drumming, chanting and singing late at night in my neighborhood. It was so tense and charged, my first thought was that it was not a church group – until I heard a familiar Lingala religious song in the mix. Today Jean pointed out the window showing me the soldiers geared up to be transported east. I suspect the music was coming from their ranks.
There are two things about their shipping out that sadden me. One, it reflects the recent increase in hostilities in the Kivus, farther east. The situation is not peaceful there and I don’t expect more violence to easily produce real peace. In short there are all kinds of domestic and international political and human dynamics involved that each give me pause for concern.
The second great sadness is that open conflict here seems to be interpreted by hungry, well armed, underpaid soldiers as a license to loot from civilians and this may be their primary objective in going to battle. They’ll torment the population out there – with impunity. People here tell me that this is what they expect as standard behavior in times of insecurity. Especially in Eastern DRC, when the battle starts to heat up people not only flee for fear of being caught between enemy lines. They flee because they know that attacks on civilians are politically and financially motivated and that they are probable targets. I’ve heard there are already 10,000 people who have left to Uganda. I’m praying for them as they try to survive away from their homes, land, and extended community. I’m also praying for those who stay behind and buckle down. I’m praying for those of us from safer parts of the world. To us these situations are strangely foreign and we have scant ability to genuinely empathize. Lastly I am praying for the soldiers and their leaders, that they will sense a calling to respect humanity.
There are no indications that hostilities will spread this way, Kisangani is calm and still far from the front. Similarly, the recently reported Ebola virus outbreak in the Kasai is very far from where I am. One reason Ebola is so horrifying is that it can attack victims very quickly and this means that outbreaks are usually contained quickly. While I am not in danger, I’m reminded to pray for the families who have lost loved ones in this rare outbreak.
It’s nice when the turn of a faucet spews forth clear, clean drinking water. That doesn’t happen here. It’s hard to even dream of it happening, but maybe I should be dreaming that for Congo. The building I live in has its own problem with water, namely gravity. I have to give credit to the owners though – recently they came through with a strong new pump to fill our water cans every morning. It’s funny though because recently the water was flowing in the middle of the night, possibly by the city water’s pressure. It’s a mystery, and it had me up filling water cans at 4 AM in a mid-sleep stupor.
The first day they hooked up the new pump and threw the switch it hummed and like lightning shot excessive pressure through the cracked old pipes of this old Belgian high-rise (think: ‘crumbling chic’). The water flowed into apartments, halls, down stairwells, into walls and flooded out the parking garage. Well, the pump works but the building doesn’t. It seems they’ve regulated the pressure and the geysers have subsided during the hour or so a day they run the pump. Still, I’m discovering water damage daily in my apartment.
I came home from the office last night and saw the pump room open, water everywhere. Papa Francois told me that the water company came and raised a fuss, saying that no pumps can be installed without their permission. There’ll be fines, court dates, hullabaloo-a-plenty. I slowly shook my head and said to Papa Francois, “Nothing’s easy, is it?” “No, sure isn’t my son. Go have a good rest.”
Recent Comments