A Village Tour ...Perspective

The Congo is safe enough to go on outings with others off the ship. One of the activities available last Saturday was "A Village Tour." The flyer stated transportation was arranged. All we needed to bring was lunch, water, sunscreen, bugspray, and a towel if you wanted to go swimming.  The tour guide was a day worker on the ship. The times were 9am- 5pm.

At 9am 17 of us met in the cafe. A few people had heard we were supposed to meet on the dock. We all treked down to the dock and waited until our leader arrived. She did not arrive until about 9:45 am (on time in African time). We then divided into two shuttle runs to drive to meet the transportation for the day at the train station. There was a small car/taxi that 8 of us including the driver were in (3 in each seat in the back two seats) and a mini van/bus as they say which fit 16 I think. I was in the middle back seat.Off we went driving through the streets of Pointe Noire.

The main thoroughfares are paved and in relatively good shape. The roads into neighborhoods are often still dirt and have large dips and rises and holes. We arrived at the day worker's home and met many in her family. It was good to see her home which was two rooms made of wood, a bedroom and an open room for cooking and being in when not sleeping. There is no running water or electricity.

 After many pictures of the home and with the family, we all piled back in the vehicles. We continued winding our way through the roads of Pointe Noire until we stopped on the side of the road on a busy street. We all get out of the car meet her cousin and her baby. In this culture, it is rude to drive by a relative's house and not stop by to say hello. The baby was amazing as he was passed around from person to person without a peep or cry. Yes, I did get to hold him:)

We then continue on our journey to "The Village" or so we thought. We stopped again. This time at a market where women and children were plucking feathers off of small birds, wrapping fish or the birds in big leaves (I think banana leaves), tying them into a triangular package and placing them on a pile of coals to cook. I think only 1 or 2 people bought some.

We continued up the road to a place near the border of Angola. While traveling, the van began sending black smoke out of the muffler. We stopped at the "Grandfather's" shop/house to say hello. Here there were many children running around outside. Several of the crew brought little gifts like pencils and stickers to hand out to the children at the village. It was quite interesting dynamic as the children would literally pose for pictures.  Many would make peace signs, make muscles, sit on top of their tires they were playing with, get into formations.  The crew members were fascinated with the children, and the children loved to interact (pose and receive gifts) from the strange white people.

We finally arrived at "The Village" where we found her families vacation house now/where she grew up. It, however was locked with a padlock. We ate our lunch in a church in the village that was about 10-12 houses at the most. After at time of praise and prayer with the pastor, we left for the beach.  We had to leave quickly as we needed to stop by beach and head back to the ship by 5pm.

We were at the beach for about  45 minutes. It was nice to cool off some in the warm Atlantic Ocean and walk on the sand. On the way back, the car had a tire that needed a good amount of air. It was not changed, but had more air pumped into it. We drove back to the train station to catch the shuttle back to the ship. We were a few minutes late, so there was no shuttle. We all slowly walked through the long (about 1 mile) port. It was so nice to see that big white ship I call home for a few weeks come into view.

All in all, this was a cultural experience: time differences, money exchanging  and expectation differences, unexpected itinerary changes, and seeing the inequality in the economic distribution in the areas. Living in the ship "bubble," One can easily lose sight of how Mercy Ships is truly making a difference. Seeing the lifestyles of living and the necessity of walking long distances many times puts it into perspective. The significance of the orthopedic and plastic surgeries allowing deformities to be transformed so the people can walk, squat, stand is astounding. They also have to hold a deep squat for up to a minute without pain or difficulty before leaving physical therapy. It became clear why on this adventure. They have to go to the bathroom in this position. Not only are many of the patients on Mercy Ships made fun of, outcasts, they have significant difficulty performing every day tasks.  It was a good day even though it was different than I anticipated.