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On the rough road to work this morning a bicycle taxi-man riding along side the jeep called out my name and we exchanged big smiles and thumbs-up.  Later in the morning I attended a UN humanitarian meeting.  Afterward I had a nice conversation with a French NGO volunteer who seems like a very good guy.  I might even hang out with him and his wife sometime soon.

For lunch I tried a brand new restaurant with a friend.  It’s owned by Lebanese folks and I had a delicious falafel sandwich.  FALAFEL!  Don’t tell the guys in Kinshasa but this place might be better than their best Lebanese restaurant.  At lunch my friend surprised me with a generous donation for HOPE.  I’m so thankful for her support; it helps us to help more people.

In the afternoon I had a good conversation at the bank with the new World Food Program director for the north part of Congo.  He’s from Burkina Faso and has worked all over West Africa and went to the University of Michigan.  Nice man.

I saw some great hats today.  In the States you can’t get away wearing a bright red Santa hat or a poofy orange witch’s hat with jack-o-lantern face on the front.  Bike taxi-men wear such things here at-will.  I saw those two hats today.  I dig the hats in Congo!

After work I decided to do some grocery shopping.  Groceries are insanely expensive here.  Kinshasa was recently ranked as the 5^th most expensive city in the world, above New York, London, and Tokyo.  And Kisangani is more expensive than Kinshasa!  But I’m finding good prices by tracking down the right street vendors.  I got for $20 what would have easily cost me $70 in the store and the profit is going to a smalltime merchant, just like the kind our loans help.  I even got a UN meal ready-to-eat.  I’m going to open it up and have whatever five course meal is inside.

It must be six o’clock PM.  The sun is sinking swiftly into the raging deep waters of the Congo River.  In the span of ten minutes the room goes dark.  Good evening to all my friends in Congo and around the world.