A Typical Day

Since it was Saturday yesterday, I let myself sleep until 7:00 in order to be ready for Abbey to pick me up at 8:30. We left the house and went directly to the university (UPC) where we kept our priorities in order and made coffee with the cups, coffee, water and filter that we had taken from home. She then proceeded to test twenty-two students who had applied for two scholarship positions for her NGO, Giving Back to Africa. I worked at my desk and began to write an article for the CongoBongo, a bi-weekly newsletter for the expatriates here, about the recently opened American Corner. FYI, that is the name given to a space that is established by American Embassies all over the world to provide a venue for learning about American culture through books and media. The inauguration, complete with a ribbon cutting ceremony, of the American Corner occurred on April 1, featuring the Rector of UPC, Dr. Ngoy, and Ambassador Garvelink. Many dignitaries from the area churches and schools attended this event.

As I was just finishing the article, Andrew Ilunga, president of the English Club, knocked on the office door, looking very dismayed. "It's the American Corner. There's been water pouring into it from up above! Everything in the middle is wet!" As we walked together to the corner, I heard more of the story. Evidently the bathroom directly above the AC had a faulty pipe to its sink. As I've said before, plumbing can create very serious problems here and all I could gather was that when the water did come on, it came on with such force that it burst the pipe and flooded the floor above the AC. Being a Friday night, it was not detected until early Saturday morning, at which time the guards were able to shut off the main water supply. Cleaning personnel got right on it and started moving the flowing water out of the upstairs rooms and down the staircase. Meanwhile furniture in the AC was moved and mopping began. Fortunately, the water came through the ceiling in the middle of the room, and through an exterior wall, neither of which held computers, wall monitors or electronics. The book shelves were not affected either, thankfully, so really there was little visible damage. On Monday technical support from the Embassy, Musi, will check the electrical current.

After that episode, I moderated the English Club, which usually meets in the lovely air-conditioned AC, but because of the flood, had to be moved to a traditional classroom. The power was on, so the ceiling fans were running. The guest speaker was Coco, a Congolese law student who was raised in the states. She volunteered to talk about the health (or lack thereof) of Congolese and the high incidence of diabetes.

Directly after the English Club, Abbey and I found our way to a fund-raiser for a Catholic school here that needs a well. The event was being held on the lawn of one of the embassy homes along the Congo River. Several hundred people were there. Vendors were selling all sorts of things and donating to the cause. After getting some great food, including sushi from the Japonese Embassy, Abbey received a phone call from Pierre, our chauffeur. His youngest of five children was very sick, in fact, throwing up blood. He was asking us to please meet him at my house in order to give him money for Baby Dean to get a blood transfusion. We briefly discussed our options and decided to leave the party and meet Pierre. He needed $50.00. We calculated that we had just spent more than that to go to a party. How could we not provide the means for him to get help for his sick child?

Once we had given Pierre the money, Abbey looked at me and said, "Well, I'm ready to go back to the party. You, too?" So we did. Ate some fabulous mango ice cream that Cafe Mozart had brought in. Drank a little Primus, the famous Congolese beer, and went home.

Photos: Twenty-two students from UPC compete for two scholarship postions; Grace and Jon VanderVliet lead a discussion at English Club in the American Corner on the presidential campaign in the states.