The weekend in Soyo

Yesterday was a quiet day at home.  I am still trying to process all that I saw and experienced at the hospital.  My mind is reeling at the problems and the possibilities if the opportunity is given to help.

One of the drivers sister who is 16 had a baby this past week.  She was very ill with malaria and I don't know if the baby was premature due to the mother's illness or what but the little girl only lived for 24 hours.  This is the way of life here.....most everyone I have met has one to three children but those are only the ones still living.  Life is so difficult for the people here.

Last evening several of us met at one of the three restaurants  here.  One resaturant is in the hotel and really quite good.  One is at a place called Kinwicka and it is also a bungalow type hotel.  The last is the one that we went to and it is fondly called, "the pizza place".  I don't know what the Portuguese name is.  Anyway, several of us met from the community and we had Mexican pizza.  This is a pizza with onion, ground beef, chili peppers of some sort, and a scant amount of cheese.  There are several green olives that decorate the pizza and actually the person who had spaghetti had a green olive in the center of his pasta.  Just a special taste of this place.

Today we went and met one of the workers here who came in from the USA and brought us several things that we had forgotten to bring.  It was like Christmas.....spices, a camera, coffeemate, baking pans and other special things.  So nice.  Now I'll make cupcakes for this gentleman and send them to the office for a treat.

Then we went to the office and copied the materials for the English classes.  One of the ladies here shared some materials with me to make this class easier to prepare for and better for the students.  While I was waiting for the photocopying to finish I just enjoyed looking out the window to the Congo River and the little part of town I could see.  This is a pretty place.

Finally, this evening we will meet with our neighbor for church worship.  She is a delightful Angolan woman named, Isabel.  Knowing that she wants to come and have time together for worship and prayer is so encouraging.  We so miss our church and small group in the USA.