Things are really “buzzing” at Nuru Ya Mapendo. I mean that literally! As I write, the droan of buzzing circular saws are in the background as a team of carpenters is working on sixty desks for the Jane Wise Primary/Secondary School. This begins at 7:30 each morning and ends around 4:00 each afternoon. I’m not sure I’ll be able to tolerate all the noise six days a week for a month!…
December 2018 is the election, the time when the DRC will elect a new President and all the other political seats for the government. Just as in the USA, campaigning and posturing begin many months in advance. One is placed in the midst of the commotion whether it is welcomed or not. One day this week (along with the buzzing saws), there was a parade of political candidates going up and down our main road, led by a truck full of banging bass drums and horns, and followed by a large band of noisy and excited children. (If you’ve ever watched the cartoon version of “The Grinch” where the children twirl around the room playing their imaginative musical instruments, banging drums and tooting horns, you get the idea.) Our security dogs let me know in no uncertain terms that they hated the noise, and chased the procession from within our walls from one end of the property to another. The procession went up and down our road four times during the day!
The remaining buzz of activity at Nuru Ya Mapendo comes from Sylvain’s family. They are moving tomorrow, so our doors are busy with the family going in and out, drawing the last cans of water, washing the last loads of laundry, and taking a few necessary items for their packing.
The buzzing is a collage of living life in the Congo- the buzzing activity of God’s work and the buzzing activity that comes from change. Life is seldom quiet because life is lived outdoors rather than inside. It takes getting used to. I’m glad I can find peace in the solitude of our Lord, Jesus, in the midst of it all.
nuru ya mapendo (love’s light)