http://brianjbecker.com From the American Southwest to the Heart of Africa Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:40:48 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Today I spent the afternoon at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.  It was my third visit to this great museum and my first to the second floor.  I admired Chinese, Japanese, and Indian art and statuary while listening to George Gao play the erhu in my ears.  It was a ... http://brianjbecker.com/uncategorized/back-in-the-usa/ Today I was walking back to the office after my lunch break.  It was blazing hot in the sunshine so I was navigating the shadows where they were available.  Just as I rounded the corner in front of our office a woman sitting under a tree across the street stood ... http://brianjbecker.com/congo/may-i-interest-you-in/ I finally took a trip across the Congo River this week. I've wanted to go for a long time and we were opening a new community bank on a day that worked with my schedule so I went. The canoes look small from my apartment but they're really ... http://brianjbecker.com/congo/river-crossing/ Here are some recent photos.  The first is a micro-business on the other side of the Congo River.  The owner/operator of this bakery changed the business name to HOPE and a staff member shared this photo with me.  The second picture is at the river crossing.  They really pack people ... http://brianjbecker.com/uncategorized/hope-bakery/ If you're reading this in a country where you can safely drink directly from the tap I suggest you stop reading and go draw yourself a tall glass of water and drink up.  Don't feel guilty about it but feel free to express gratitude to a higher power: the local ... http://brianjbecker.com/congo/medical-care-and-safe-water/ Work is busy these days.  I remember when I first arrived in Kisangani, Thursdays could run slow and I had time to visit with many more of our clients.  Now the organization is over three times the size and there’s a lot to do from loan fund projections to human ... http://brianjbecker.com/congo/day-is-done/ We're getting ready this week for our first staff retreat. It's just Friday night to Saturday night at the nearby St. Gabriel Parish Guest House. There's a great big sloping lawn out front and a beautiful view of the river. Hopefully we'll play some soccer on that ... http://brianjbecker.com/congo/staff-retreat/ The past couple of weeks have been extra-ordinary as I have had two visitors to Kisangani.  The first was Kathy, a coworker from Kinshasa who is making her first rounds to our programs and this was her first trip inland from Kinshasa.  It was great to have her as she ... http://brianjbecker.com/congo/visitors-2/ Our old diesel Landcruiser is ill and needs an overhaul, which we may or may not be able to have done here.  If that’s not an option, we may send the engine down the river to Kinshasa in a crate to be operated on there but we don’t know how ... http://brianjbecker.com/congo/unleaded-irony/ There’s talk of a road to the eastern border with Uganda opening up soon and yet no definitive word on when that will be.  I’ve heard rumors that the project was designed and funded as road repair when in reality it’s construction from scratch.  There are fat trees that have ... http://brianjbecker.com/congo/planes-trains-and-automobiles/