Stylin in the Congo - Hair styling that is . . .

One of the most surprising and amazing things you see in the Congo is the hairstyling. Hairstyling is an art and it is practiced by grandmas right on down to the babies.

It's not easy being stylin. It takes a lot of work. People go to school to learn hair braiding and wig styling. You see people getting their hair designed in beauty shops or sitting under a tree. Last week in a market place a man had a mattress thrown out on the ground and women were laying on the mattress with their head hanging over the edge while he braided cornrows in their hair.

Grandma Barlow always use to tell the girls they needed "pretties" in their hair. Her pretties take on a whole new meaning here.

Some hair pretties are as simple as Q-tips

There are corn rows and more cornrows
There are trees and then there are trees!

There are hair extensions that change the hair from root black to ends of red or yellow - or just make the hair very longThis girl must have run out of extensionsThere are wigs for moms and sometimes children wear them also

They are usually always very colorful

Is it a wig or not? That is the question. Braids of every shape and size
There are hair nets for stylin

There are shower caps for keeping that lovely hair dry in the rain -Why didn't I think of that?

Hair styling is truly an art! It just adds to the ambience and

shows how important style is in this African country.

But if it is a bad hair day don't fret just wrap your head in a beautiful piece of cloth to match your dress and you're STYL'IN

Look'in mighty pretty!

I need to get with it. For a mondeli everyday in the congo is a bad hair day. I could use some "pretties"

Back to Luputa - Much progress is being made!

Well, everyone in the world now knows that Luputa is large village in the Kasi Oriental Province of the DR Congo, well at least several more know about it than did a month ago thanks to the great coverage of the LDS Church News.

As the country directors we are responsible to make sure that the humanitarian projects go according to the contracted plan. That requires us to visit these projects on a regular basis. We returned to Luputa for our second visit to check on the large water project and also on the Cassava Food Production project that have been started there.

We were better prepared this time as we knew what we were in for but this trip was made easier as we are now in the dry seson and what were great ponds and rivers that we had to traverse on our first visit were now dried up and we just had these caverns we drove down into and back out again. It is a good thing we didn't know how deep some of those holes were when we went through them when they were filled with water or for sure we would have turned around and gone home.

Luputa was all a buzz with the excitment of work getting started on both projects. We stopped at the church on our way into the village to meet the District President and let him know we had arrived. As soon as we pulled into the church the children came running and wouldn't allow us to ignore them so of course we had them line up and let us take one great picture of the group.The couselor in the district presidency, Bro. Sewil Bakasa,was waiting to greet us. We had brought with us a copy of the church news for them to see. They were so excited to see their little village in print but wondered how come they didn't show a picture of the church or congregation. We wish we would have had a good answer for him but reminded him that this was an article about the water project not about the church.

Distict President, Pres. Benini was so happy to get a copy of the church news and was very pleased to see the article getting a three page spread. He asked us tenatively if we had brought the paper for him and was thrilled when we told him it was indeed for him.

The children didn't want to be left out so they laid in the door way of the Pres. office and listened. They probably didn't understand much of the French being spoken as their main language is Chalupa. they are so beautiful and always happy.

After settling into the Catholic mission which we call our home away from home we met with the site monitors for the projects and planned our site evaluation for the next day.

We were old hands at settling into our room at the mission and it didn't take us long to pull out our sheets and make the bed and spread our things around the two rooms. We even appreciated the bucket shower that night.

We started the next day by going to the Cassava fields to see what progress had been made.

They had brought in a very old tractor to plow about 5 hectures of land and then cleared out stumps and weeds by hand. They then planted cuttings of manock (just sticks from the plant) and prayed they would germinate. The planting was late in the season and may well cause some problem with the germination as the dry season has already started before the plants got a good start. The dry season came three weeks early this year. Never the less we found many new plants and the fields look hopeful.It is a trek out to the fields and families oftten come together riding their family bicycle.

We next headed up to the water source to see the progress on the water project. There was much activity at the site with many community members digging trenches and laying pipe. The contractor had originally identified 3 sources of water (springs) but once they got started they found three more and have been able to divert them all to the system which will be more than enough water for the communites and leave room for growth. This brought the production of water to 25 liters/sec rather than 18 liters/sec. That is alot of water.

The workers had cleared a path down to the first village and beyond marking the way that the pipe would be laid. This pathway was cleared by hand with machets and sickles The pathway is about 15 - 20 feet wide.They then marked the pathway with log poles that they painted red at the top. This path seemed to go on for miles. The project is planned for three phases and the first phase will take water to the first village only. At the rate they are going the first phase won't take too long to complete.While we were walking the path a young girl, carrying her baby on her back, came by and was very curious about what we were doing. She had her panne draped over her head. We asked her if we could take her picture and she then became very shy but I snapped her picture anyway and then the panne started moving and we could hear a noise coming from under the panne.

Now we were the curious ones and asked what was under that panne on her head. She didn't seem to understand our question but then the panne fell off her head and . . .

there was a chicken sitting on her head. We don't know if she was going to sell the chicken or if she had just purchased or traded for it but a live chicken it was. We missed the picture of the wings flapping in the breeze and had to settle for the chicken just sittng on her head.Well the progress of the projects was confirmed and we headed back to the mission and a meeting with the site monitors. Both of the site monitors for the projects needed some training and help in solving some problems so Farrell had to spend some time with each of them.

After he finished we went to the marche (the market) to get some fruit and pass out some pictures we had printed from our first trip. I had taken a picture of a young woman sewing and when we visited her and gave her picture she was delighted. We asked her if she would sew me a dress and if she could do it by the next day before we left. She said she would make the dress if I would go purchase some fabric.

Her machine is a very old Singer treadle sewing machine and it was set on a table that was cracked and had many rough places This picture is looking down at the top of her machine.

Nestor, our site manager for the Casssava farm, was with us and said he would show us where we could buy some fabric. He took us to his wife's shop. We didn't realize she was also a seamstress or we might have asked her to make the dress.

When we looked in her little fabris stall. there was their new little baby asleep on the lengths of fabric. They woke him up so we could get a picture.

We returned to the mission to have our dinner and we took a walk through the village. This woman was returning from working in the Marche and we couldn't resist getting her picture with her sewing machine balanced on her head for the walk home.

The next day we returned to the Marche before leaving Luputa so we could pick up the dress. She had finished the dress and was so afraid I wouldn't like it. We made a big fuss and asked her to let us take a picture of her holding the dress. She was so very shy. She had a large scar on her face and we wondered if this was one reason she was so shy as most all of the people are so out going and friendly.

The dress was rather big but it is true Congolese fabric and it was made in 1/2 a day and the seamstress was delighted that I wanted her to sew it for me. It is a treasure.

(This is a picture of the dress amongst the flowers on our balcony back in Kinshasa. The design has fish of many colors and is a great fabric.)

We started back to Mbuji Mayi with both of us sitting in the front seat with Omer, our driver. The front seat is much easier on the back, the hips and even the head.

Omer was shopping along the way back. We stopped for a bag of beans and a bag of corn. They are much cheaper out in the country than in the city.

We were flying down the road pretty fast and all of a sudden Omer put on the breaks and came to a screeching halt. He backed up and got out of the car and bought a muskrat, rodent looking thing. I asked him what he was going to do with it and he said it was for his Saturday dinner. He was kind enough to hang it on the outside of the car not in the car. So we drove all the way back to Mbuji Mayi with a muskrat thing hanging from the side mirror.

Oh and we also stopped and bought a bag of oranges from a very beautiful Congolese woman. who had such a beautiful smile we captured her picture for our "beautiful faces" file.

It was a great trip with great success confirming good progress on the projects and another experience to remember from our mission. We are getting to love Luputa. The life pace is slow and comfortable, the people are busy and working hard, and the people are very gracious and friendly. We will get to go back at least once more before we leave to come home.

NRT Progress in Point Noir

In May we returned to Point Noir to deliver some promised NRT kits and to check on the progress that the participants were making on perpetuating the neonatal resuscitation training. The practioners from Point Noir came to the NRT program in Brazzaville last August. We were so pleased to see the progress being made. It just holds true that if you give practioners good information and the right equipment they can work miracles. Point Noir is practicing the Neonatal Resusitation Program and perpetuating the training BIG TIME!

This nurse came from the army hospital. She had returned from training and started teaching everyone in their center even though she didn't have a training kit or even a resusitator. Even with the part of the training that just talks about clearing the babies airway and stimulating the baby they started seeing progress in the way babies were responding in their first few minutes of life. We returned and brought her 2 kits and she promised to retrain everyone and start using the knowledge she had to help those babies that need help in taking that first breath. She was very excited. She had trained 32 people and had plans for training more.

A doctor from this group from the Madaline Moulssou Maternity Center had returned his center and had trained 18 people with a borrowed kit. They were elated to get two kits to practice the new technique they had learned.

This nurse atteneded the training and was given a training kit. She returned to her hospital and immediately trained everyone in her center, abourt 35 people. The Director of Obstetrics, Dr. Seraphin OMPALINGOLI was so pleased with the results of his staff and the number of babies they were helping that he organized a training just like the one the Church's NRT Team had done and taught 104 more practioners from around the city. He told us that all they need are more kits as they are unable to purchase any resuscitators or bulb syringes within the country.

We found this doctor eating his lunch taking a break from his 36 hour shift. He was very tired but greeted us warmly and was pleased to get two kits. His center was trained and again had no kits to practice thier new found knowledge. He committed to retrain his people and put the kits to good use.

Although we only took 10 kits with us to distributre, we could have used 100 kits. Everyone was so grateful for what we brought. As far as we could determine the 4 centers in Point Noir have trained over 300 people and have more training sessions planned.

The Pavillion Hospital births about 80 babies a month. The nurse was so excited to see us. She had been to the training but did not have a kit. We gave her one kit and she started dancing and singing. She hugged the kit to her and kept kissing it all the times thanking us for remembering their center. She said she had been trained but because whe didn’t have a kit she couldn’t practice what she had learned. Now she was ready to really save those babies.

Well, if we wanted confirmation that the Neonatal Resuscitation Training Program is worthwhile we sure got that feedback this trip. We will continue to try and find kits for these people to help all the centers they are training. The program is so simple and yet so powerful. These practioners are being empowered to practice good medicine where they have so little to practice with.

We are in the midst of planning the 2008 NRT program and will have Dr. Preece here next week to set up the training for Lubumbashi. We have arranged for him to conduct a training here in Kinshasa for the Kingasani hospital that births over 800 babies a month. He will supervise the training using doctors who were trained last August in his last training. This will be exciting to see the doctors from the Congo start doing the training in conjunction with the team from the church. This program couldn't be going any better as it is helping this area to become independent and take ownership of the program. This will allow the church to move on to other places yet to be trained.

A fun sidelight to Point Noir is the chance to stop at the local art gallery and purchase some original paintings. We purchased the three painings you see sitting on the ground closest in the picture. The man on crutches is the artist and very proud of his work. They are now our treasures from Point Noir.

Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink!

Imagine having to travel everyday to gather the water for your family from a spring, a river, a stream or a water hole and then haul it back to your home. Now you must let the water sit so that the debris can settle to the bottom of the container and you can dip out water for cooking, bathing, washing your clothes and oh yes drinking. How much water would you have to gather? 5 gallons? 10 gallons? 20 gallons? Well actually you probably would only gather 5 gallons and try to make do untill tomorrow when you would trek again out to your water source with your 5 gallon container that weighs approximately 65 pounds. Mom and all the children have the responsibility for fetching water. Children often spend a good portion of their day helping mom get water. Here in Africa you would balance that 5 gallon container on your head as you climbed the steep embankments and traversed the trails back to your abode.

But what about the dry season when the rain doesn't replenish your water source and the water diminishes becoming acrid and muddy and unfit to use for anything, or until the source dries up completely. You may have to rely on someone with a vehicle to transport some water in to your area or you would walk to another source which may take you 2 days to bring back enough water just to survive, no water will be used for washing at this time.

I use to think that you may be poor but you can at least be clean. I have learned in the last year that this is not true. Washing from a bucket of warm water every day as we did in Luputa is a luxury and one that most villagers can only due by sharing the same water for the whole family and washing your clothes happens only once a week, if there is enough water. Clothes are washed in a bucket of soupy water and rinsed in another bucket of plain water. They are then hung in the sun to dry draped over rocks, bushes or hung from trees. (Sometimes even a piece of rope to make a clothes line is a luxury and not always available even if you could afford it.

Although it rains abundantly here in the Congo the rain runoff contaminates the water sources by washing dirt and sewage , etc, into the rivers and streams. The dry season reduces the water available in streams and wells and again they become contaiminated because of stagnant water, the animals and then comes the disease bearing insects.

Family wells that are often contaminated
Water is life! The church has concentrated its humanitarian efforts on helping people get access to water. It is such a basic need and yet so many people in the world do not have access to this life sustaining gift from heaven. The church just featured their largest water project to date in the Church news, Saturday, May 3rd. You can read the story at Luputa - Large Water Project You can read the full story here at this blog in the entry for Feb. 25th.

Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink. People are resourceful though. If they have a roof they set up a collection system to divert rain water to a rain barrell which supplies a lot of water . But most homes in the bush have thatched roofs or tin roofs with holes and always home improvements are not priority when you are worrying about water and food for your family.

We have three new water projects we are looking at that if passed will bless many more people. There isn't a project that the church humanitarian funds support that is more important than this gift of water. So, when you donate your monies to LDS Charities be assured that every penny you donate is being sent somewhere in the world to bless the lives of those receiving service. There is a well organized system of checks and balances to determine the best ways to use these sacred funds. The church believes in a hand up not a hand out. If a project doesn't strengthen the beneficiaries and help them to become more independent it doesn't get passed.

Woman getting water at a distribution site at the church's water project in Laloux, DR Congo

So today when you throw those clothes in the washer, or when you take your morning shower and stand under it just a little bit longer than necessary, or when you turn on the hose to wash your car or water your garden, or when you go to your subzero refrigerator and fill your glass with crushed ice and then crystal, clear, pure water don't forget to say a little prayer and thank the Lord for the blessing of water and remember Water is Life and it is not a gift that all god's children are given..