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Going to get water is a time-consuming process in rural Congo. Many kids miss out on getting an education. They have to get water instead of go to school.
The lucky ones can attend school. But they have to miss out on studying. Also, they miss out on playing games.
Water is an important commodity. You need water to drink. You need water to cook. That's two important reasons.
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In rural Congo, there are few specialized utensils. The 55-gallon drum is one of those versatile vessel. The 55-gallon drum is a cooking utensil. It is used to process palm oil.
However, one of the most prominent uses of the 55-gallon drum is to storage water for the kitchen and bathroom. You will be surprised at the amount of water needed in the kitchen and bathroom.
The water in the drum is usually refilled daily. Here's what it takes to refill the 55-gallon drum with water. Did you know it is filled five gallons at a time? So it may take two girls, 4-5 trips to a distance water source to fill an empty 55-gallon drum. And it could take a 4-5 hours of walking.
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Every avid sports player have the tools of their trade. A baseball player will have a ball and glove. A football player will have a football. A tennis player will have a racket and a can of balls. An a golf will have a set a clubs and balls.
One of the things we noticed in rural Congo, avid sports player still have a love of the game. But they did not have the tools of the sports.
Even schools did not have sporting equipment. There were no soccer balls, nets, or uniforms. But the students still had a love of the sport. They just improvised.
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Locust swarms were welcomed in the rural Congo village of Bulape. In most African countries, these swarms are a biblical disaster. The children had fun catching, cooking, and eating them.
That night, I noticed one of the locust was attracted to our solar-powered light. The locust was safe because I was not going to eat it. Also, I was not going to just kill it.
The light reminded of the use of bug zapper in southern states. In Congo, they use a lit candle as a bug zapper. Just like in the south, they serve as a source of entertainment at night.
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Meet Christine. She could be the young mother from next door. Or she could be the one from down the street. Or she could be the one from the other side of town. Unfortunately, she is not.
She is a young mother living in rural Congo. The opportunities for Christine and her children is limited. There is limited access to health care. There is greater chance that they will not survive a preventable or curable illness or disease. Malaria, measles, dysentery and typhoid are deadly diseases.
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Does a T-shirt equal a vote? Or more importantly, would you hang your future on a T-Shirt? Or is your future worth a bar of soap?
T-shirts, bars of soap, and other minimal items were given out by presidential candidates during the last election. But their future is worth a lot more.
The Congolese leadership needs to support the primary and secondary education system. The annual expenditures must be increased.
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Rural Congo is not a hot place for tourism. In fact, you will not find too many tourist in Congo.
Most people like to visit warm, sunny places with tall palm trees and sandy beaches. Congo is warm. It is sunny most of the time. But it does not a lot of sandy beaches. And we are trying to replace the standard taller palm tree with a small dwarf palm tree.
However, the dwarf palm tree is an experiment to encourage more palm tree plantations. Currently, palm oil is a big import for Congo. In reality, Congo should be a leader exporter of palm oil.
Exportation of palm oil would be boom for rural Congo.
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I want to introduce to you, Hdris. He is a unique person.
Hdris practices in the middle of no-where in a remote, off-the-map village. He is not a doctor. But he is the equivalent of Physician Assistant. In other words, he is a super nurse. He performs minor but life-saving surgeries, in addition to providing basic health care. He is vital to the thousands of poor villagers in the area. His clinic is located about four motor bike ride from the Bulape Hospital, a bush hospital.
Hdris formerly worked at the Bulape Hospital as a head nurse in the operating room. Bulape Hospital is the reference hospital for about 30 clinics. It is located about 170 miles north of civilization. That is, a town with two banks, restaurants, clinics, stores, gas stations, cars, trucks, and occasional electricity, water, and TV. Occasional means it is available periodically but not 24x7 or even daily.
Bush hospitals like Bulape struggle to attract and keep doctors. Therefore, it is unbelievable that Hdris left Bulape Hospital and went further into the bush to service the poor. Bulape needs about 29 more copies of Hdris.
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At one time in Congo, most things worked like water pumping systems. Even in rural Bulape, safe clean water was pumped up to the village. However, those massive pumps died due to age and maintenance issues. Today, miles of galvanized pipe lay dry without water. And pump houses are overgrown with trees and bushes.
What went wrong? Basically, Congolese did not have the resources to keep the systems in working orders. They lacked the education and knowledge. They lacked the raw materials and equipment. They lacked the money and the connections.
So now, girls walk miles up to the village carrying five gallons of water. This time around it will be different.
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You are still a prisoner of the dark during the daylight. Because of the lack of electricity, indoor lighting is not available. In order to work during the day, you have to sit in front of or near a window.
Luckily in Congo, the temperature are moderate on most days. It averages about the mid- to upper-80's daily. So, you are almost required to open the windows since you do not have air conditioning or circulating ceiling fans.
It is desirable sheer curtains or no curtains at all. Sheers are better to keep bugs and mosquitoes out of living and working space.
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