Life Section

Saturday was a bit of a jump away from routine.  In the morning the engineers went into Beni to get tours of two water treatment facilities leaving Robert and I to work like crazy on the architectural master plan.  In the afternoon our entire team went to visit a cocoa plant that is owned by an acquaintance of Paul whereby we were first hosted in their home for lunch and then given a tour of the cocoa and vanilla factory.  It was fascinating to see a cocoa and vanilla factory and learn about the production process, smell the vanilla, and most of all see an establishment, specifically in the DRC that cares about stewardship.  It is a rare quality because this is a country where corruption still reigns.

The cocoa factory had a pretty impressive setup.  Not only do they buy the cocoa beans from a network of over 12 000 farmers, they also track everything and if there is an inconsistency they inquire about it to hold the farmers accountable.  If the issue is a disease in the crop, they help to find a solution.  They have field agents that go by boda and teach farming and fermentation methods to the farmers which in the end benefit both parties.  Essentially this business buys the fermented cocoa beans from the farmers, sorts and grinds them, and then prepares them for export.  The process with the vanilla is a bit more arduous as they must dry them out in the sun on racks for about 30 days, bringing them back in at night or in bad weather.  They provide safe and honest jobs to several people.  I didn’t realize that cocoa was a fruit before it was chocolate, and got to try it for the first time.  The fruit is just a pod that you can basically suck on until the fruity goodness is gone and then spit it out.  It’s beyond me how they discovered the possibilities behind these amazing plants because it certainly isn’t obvious!

Photo by Erland Mowinckel

This was the day I learned my first Swahili besides the simple ‘welcome’ (karibu) and ‘thank you’ (asante).  When the engineers returned from their morning escapade to the water treatment plants, Kabale our driver greeted me with the words ‘maji safi’.  For a while I didn’t understand what he was trying to say to me until he held up his water bottle and said ‘clean water!’  Well the term stuck, and it became a common term of greeting with Kabale for the rest of our stay!  In Africa the word has a bit more potency than it does in North America.  I am so used to filtering or boiling my water now that it will be strange to go home and drink it directly out of a tap!  I think we certainly take for granted the infrastructure that exists in the developed world.

I have been constantly reminded here how complex systems like infrastructure are and how all of the different parts depend on each other for the whole system to fully function, even something that for us can seem so simple such as obtaining clean water.  I am also reminded that it is the same way with the work that we are doing in partnership with this ministry.  It can be so easy to get lost in the process of accomplishing a job, that we can forget the overall purpose for it, or begin to consider our own role in it to be of little worth.  A verse I keep coming back to while I’m here is 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 where Paul describes how just like the human body, the body of Christ also has many parts, all dependent on each other, that work together to do God’s work.  Architecture and engineering mission work can sometimes feel so distant from the people it is serving, but at the same time we are offering expertise that are very much needed and will in the end produce a building that will be a space that changes lives.  That is all I can hope and pray for as I sit at my computer and draft the day away.

After learning about this amazing vision, it was finally time to get to work.  It’s all well and good to have a big idea, but nobody likes to think about all of the hard work it takes to bring it to fruition!  This day was challenging for me as I tried to find out what my place was in our work and how I could contribute and serve the efforts of the team.  Our team split up into our various disciplines and began to tackle the areas of electricity, water, sanitation, and the architectural program.  My role for the first few days can be summed up as number crunching.  As a team it was important for us to really involve the CI team in our work because after we leave, it will be them who will have to carry the project through.  We had the opportunity to work with two local engineers, Osee and Victor, who had just as much to teach us as we did them.  They are the experts when it comes to implementing successful strategies using local means.  It was a joy to work with them and get to know them a little bit.

Photo by Bob & Eileen Gresham

We also had a great opportunity to share a bit about the work we were doing with the student body by preparing a presentation for the school’s weekly ‘exposé’.  We were asked to present on the subject of sustainability and stewardship, and so several members of our team presented on sustainable land development, sustainable architecture, and some alternate methods of water purification.  After the presentation we took questions and it was great to see a string of students come up to the front.  They all had very relevant and critical questions and expressed a large amount of appreciation and interest in the work we were doing.

That night when we were back at the guesthouse again we studied Philippians 2:1-11.  I was hit by the challenge that the apostle Paul poses to being like-minded, having the same love, and being one in spirit and purpose to that of Christ Jesus.  How tough that can be when we can become so easily absorbed in the habits and little problems that come in daily life!  It is so easy to have pride and put our focus in our own abilities and the work we do, rather than being full of pride in what God is doing through our work.  God asks us to partner with him and with each other to accomplish His purpose.

On our first day in Beni, we met with several of the leaders of the Congo Initiative and the UCBC and got to see the university for the first time.  What an amazing place it is!  The university is absolutely alive with over 400 students.  We met David Kasali, the founder of the ministry, and his wife Kaswera, and learned from them the vision that God has placed on their hearts to start the Congo Initiative.  David told us a bit of his story and spoke of how he was a slave to his wallet, how he had a dream of getting away and having the American dream, and that he actually succeeded.  When the war broke out in the Congo however, he found that he was being called back to serve his home country of the DRC.  Over time he gathered together a group of several indigenous Christian leaders, and after much delegation and prayer, they came up with what was to be the Congo Initiative.  It has the ultimate goal of raising up educated, indigenous Christian leaders to influence and transform their communities and the country that is the Congo.  It works to accomplish its mission through the work of various centers that aim to educate and influence not only students, but people in the community as well.  Their main energies have been put towards establishing the university, and we can already see the fruits of their work just by walking around the campus and talking to the students.  I recall very clearly something that Mary said to us that day.  She said that the direction that Congo would take in the future was a precedent for what would happen to the world.  Why?  It is because the Congo is the most untouched territory in the world, and also the most rich in untapped resources.  The Congo Initiative wants to claim the Congo and its future for God.

The vision is a big one, and they have a mountain ahead before they will reach their goal of being a full-fletched university campus with significant community participation and outreach.  They are currently constructing a large community center.  We got a tour of the unfinished building and it really was a lesson for me to see how they have to use whatever they have immediately available.  They have to do things like pour their own concrete blocks and weld their own windows and doors.  We heard stories of how students and people in the community are helping to build the center because they know that in the future it will serve their children and grandchildren.  Everyone in the school and community will be able to point at a brick on the building and call it their part.  That is how this vision will come to a reality:  one brick, encouragement, donation, prayer at a time.

Photo by Bob & Eileen Gresham

Photo by Paul Berg

That night we headed home with our minds spinning from all of the information we had gathered that day!  Not only did we take everything in and process it, we also began asking questions about the CI-UCBC’s specific needs, not only immediate, but also what they are imagining for the future.  For our daily devotions we studies Psalm 139.  It is an excellent reminder that God knows us, cares for us, and has a plan and purpose for us.  I am hoping to memorize this verse before I head home.  Sometimes I think we don’t fully register the fact that we are ‘beloved’, and that it is in this love that we can fully extend the love of Christ to others.  I really like a quote that they have here and there on the walls around the existing building of UCBC:  ‘Être transformé pour transformer’, ‘Being transformed to transform’.  Today by getting to know this ministry and the people behind it I got a taste of what true selfless love is.

Photo by Tim Ellis

Photo by Paul Berg