The Congo isn't like Hopewell

 

Ted Witmer

Here are pictures of my hosts, Ted and Dana Witmer. Ted is the director of development at the University, but he teaches as well, and wears many, many other hats. (He was a mechanical engineering major at Princeton, and that really comes in handy.  Everything here seems to be in need of fixing, and unlike America, nothing is wasted here. Even empty glass jars, if not needed by the Witmers, are taken down to the people selling in the market for their use.) Ted works closely with Martin, the IT person, on computing needs and set ups, and current projects include setting up a computer lab - 132 new computers are due to arrive today, and Ted has asked a senior person in the University with good relations with the authorities to handle the customs discussion - and exploring a self-service system for the students. This is much needed in a country that has no mail delivery, and no way of getting information to the students, including their student bills. 

 

Dana Witmer

 Dana is a pediatrician, and she is one busy lady. She works at the hospital two days a week and at the school clinic two days a week. She is also very instrumental in organizing church based support groups, something much needed after the Congolese civil war of 1997-2006, when entire villages were torn apart by the atrocities of the war. And still needed, as rebel groups are active in the eastern Congo – rape and looting still happen, with devastating consequences. (A recent example:  Three women in one village were raped recently by rebels. These women were isolated in their huts, devastated; if raped, women are always turned out by their husbands. The support group reached out to them and brought them into their care, and reached out to the husbands as well, with the result that the husbands have accepted their wives back, something simply unheard of in this culture. Praise be to God!) These support groups have also been instrumental in getting the society to come together and not ostracize those who carry the HIV virus. Dana is in the background, mentoring 2 leaders from Bunia who are developing the support group leaders.  Dana says that the biggest health issues for the children here are malaria… malaria… malaria… and tuberculosis. She is no nonsense, a vocal and focused advocate for the health needs of children here in Bunia. She comes home from the hospital with stories of sickness and malnutrition that I doubt I would ever hear in America. They are amazing people.

Rainwater tank

Things I take for granted in America are very different here in the Congo. Perhaps the thing that most affects my daily life here is water.   Ted told me never to drink any water anywhere in Africa, as one cannot be sure the water is safe.  My hosts collect their rain water to drink. They have a pipe connected to the gutters of their roof which allows the rain to flow into a 5,000 litre (~1,250 gallon) tank. From there, they fill a blue plastic 5 gallon water jug and cart it into the kitchen.  The water is then boiled and when cooled, put into a water dispenser that filters the water.  Only then is the water ready for drinking.   The primary concern is amoeba in the water which causes a particularly nasty form of dysentery, although there are general purity concerns as well.  (I learned that eating the seeds of the papaya will help kill the amoeba, although I am still glad to have a supply of Cipro…) A covered pitcher of water is always in the bathroom to use for brushing teeth. For bathing and washing dishes and clothes, rain water supplemented with water piped from the University well is used. It is not safe for drinking, but okay for other uses. Here are pictures of the water system, and the kitchen water filter, holding the water safe to drink.


Kitchen water dispenser (yellow)

 

Water system to house,
rain barrels and piped water from
well, using a gravity system
for delivery to house.

 

The nurse practitioner at Passport Health where I got my yellow fever shot (required to obtain a visa for the Congo) also went over rules about water usage in Africa, and said a common mistake for visitors from the West is not keeping their mouth shut at all times while showering. I would have never thought of the need to do that! You should try it yourself and see how hard it is.  Near impossible, but I do the best I can. The water supplied for the ~50 students (and their families) who live in University housing comes from a well on the campus property, and needs to be treated with chlorine tablets before drinking. This is true of any water anywhere. The health clinic on campus buys these tablets by the thousands, so students have ready access to treat their water. During the rainy seasons (March-May) and (Sept-Nov), one can use water pretty freely, but one must conserve during the dry seasons or you could run out. The rainy season of Mar-May has been particularly dry this year, and the ex-pats I meet are quite concerned about whether they will have enough water to get through the summer. The driest time of the year is Jan-Feb.

Electricity goes on and off, usually several times a day, and sometimes many times a day and almost always for a period during the evening.  In every room, there is a switch to turn on a 15 watt battery powered light, so one is not completely in the dark when the lights go out. Ted says the electrical supply gets particularly spotty when it rains.

Home security is a big concern because there is a lot of crime, especially after dark. My hosts keep their doors locked at all times, as do many of the homes. Many of even the more modest homes have a security wall and gate.  At night, in addition to the normal locked door, there is a metal outer door that is securely locked in place over the wood door, and bolted at the top and bottom from the inside. (And needless  to say, there are bars on the windows.) Below is a picture of the Witmer's metal outer door.

 



One of the few good roads I have encountered, although the flat smooth road only lasted for about 500 feet.

 

Homes range from a few big houses to modest homes to many, many shanties. Many of the big homes are enclosed by a wall topped with barb wire with quite a few having a guard tower on the inside wall perimeter staffed by a private guard, some just at night, but some 24 hours a day. Above is  an example of a big house with a guard tower. If you look closely, you can see a small slanted roof that looks a bit like a solar panel. That is the roof of the guard tower.

 

I took a picture of this wooden bridge over a fetid gully stream (forgetting that bridges are prohibited photography, but I am not sure it really qualified as a bridge) and saw a boy ease himself down into the stream bed and start filling up his yellow 5 gallon water containers, the kind used by most people to transport their water home. Maybe the water was not intended for drinking, but my heart ached that anyone would use that water for anything.  And yes, motorcycles and cars use this bridge to cross!

 

UN security vehicles and installations are throughout the town. Since the civil war, the UN has a large peacekeeping force here in Bunia. There is still a considerable amount of rebel activity, and many roads and areas in the outlying Orientale Province (Bunia is located in this Province) are unsafe.  If you have to go somewhere else, I am told it is best to go by plane. 

 

So yes, this does not look or feel anything like living in Hopewell. I sit here, a bit embarrassed by my riches back in America, and also sobered that I had no idea of how safe and secure my life in America has been.