LifePart2

Last Thursday, August 14, Odile & I decided to visit the Grace De Dieu Orphans who were relocated during the construction of the toilets and showers to a center in Mont Ngafula, another Kinshasa community (or suburb). Becky had to check some facts related to a Self-Help grant that was submitted. Since we don't like to arrive empty handed, we bought a 50kg sack of rice for the children. Little did we know how important this gesture would be!

It took us a while to find the center again; we had a different driver than the previous time we visited. After a few miscues, we arrived. The Masina children recognized us immediately. Some appeared to be having a lesson, a couple others were playing checkers using Fanta & Coke bottle caps as pieces. One baby, probably about 7 or 8 months, was crawling (on all fours) on the dirt floor. It always surprises me, but what can we expect, it's the only floor they have.

We were stunned. The children all are very skinny and were dressed in very raggy clothes. Now, to me, the clothes part isn't so important; really, the other children who live in the neighborhood were dressed quite similarly. But the change in the children's appearance since I last saw them on June 16 was shocking. Many are just plain emaciated. For more on this situation, please go to my diary section on www.CongoOrphans.pledgepage.org.

While we were at Mont Ngafula, Sra. V called Becky. Sra. Victorine had been on "vacation" for a few weeks; we think she went to a farm (or some land) she has not too far outside of Kinshasa. She frequently has told us that she'd like to make this farm into a training center for the older children in Grace De Dieu. She had returned quite recently but was at the Masina center. From what we pieced together (see link above), we think she left food for the children but 1) either not enough or 2) certainly not enough for the children & the caretakers.

For months now, I've been reading articles about the ghastly effective of rising food prices. This time, I really saw the effects of it first hand!

Since it was 2 p.m. and there was no evidence of lunch or evening meal preparation, we had to find a local open-air market to buy some food.We bought small local fish (about 30 for 4,000FC or $7), which would be gutted and scaled and then cooked with the heads and tails. We bought caterpillars, which are a good source of protein, I'm told; they would be cooked with the greens. The children love them. We bought "red root," this plant's leaves are cooked like spinach. We bought sikwanga, a popular manioc product. To me it doesn't have much flavor but it is very filling and the children like it. We bought bread, small "french" bread loaves. For more protein we got the children some peanuts (ground nuts). And, because it's the right season, we bought oranges (about 2 dozen for about $15.00).

This shopping experience reminded me of our weekly shopping in Bolivia - 25 years ago! We were suspicious that the price went up when they looked at us, our car and the diplomatic plates. So Becky did the buying; she speaks Lingala and Kilkongo fluently (she was born in Congo). We also recruited several of her Congolese acquaintances -- Becky runs into someone she knows in every remote corner of Kinshasa; she is amazing! Mont Ngafula is one of the absolute poorest areas of Kinshasa.

When we returned to the Center about 30-45 minutes later, the children were all better dressed. Whenever I peek into the rooms, they look completely barren; I can never figure out where they store the clean, neat clothes that appears when we arrive or when the children dress for school. Most of the clothes are clearly either "gifts" from charitable organizations, lots of discard US logo t-shirts or things are are re-purchased in the local market. I always wonder if these items come from the "Planet AID" boxes (yellow & blue) scattered around DC and many, many other cities.

The children were all seated quietly on their "school" benches. We immediately gave them the bread, peanuts and a 1/2 orange each. The oldest girls -- the 2 deaf sisters who have blue eyes -- went to work cleaning the fish and greens. One worked on starting a cooking fire; we bought some charcoal too. The "stove" is a used car wheel (yes, the thing the tire goes on), set upon a wire tripod of sorts.

I was concerned about giving these little ones (1 yr to about 8 years) a small loaf of bread and peanuts; I was worried they end up with a tummy ache or worst. But Becky & Odile (the mothers in this group) assured me they would be fine. One of the caretakers said, "that's enough peanuts for now; we'll save them and give the to them later." However, knowing he and the other caretakers were hungry too (although not in nearly as bad shape as the children), we wanted to make sure the kids got all the food. The caretakers were able to each have an orange and they would surely participate in the evening meal of fish, rice, greens, manioc, etc.

We spent probably in total around or just over $30 for this one meal for 40 children 7 caretakers. We know Sra. V receives about $300 from a U.S. charity each month; we know she occasionally receives donations from local parish churches, etc. We don't know what other source of funds she has.

I think all three of us had similar feelings when we left: anger, sadness, fear, frustration, helplessness. I didn't have a very restful night and Friday a.m. it really hit me, I couldn't stop crying! I just kept seeing the June pictures of these kids juxtaposed next to what they look like today. I'm sure they have been on reduce rations for quite some time.

Why? Why does this happen? There are the macro-economic reasons - price of food - and the human reasons - their relocation, Sra. Victorine's "vacation," her generally poor management skills, and being left in the care of substitute caregivers, who are either paid poorly, paid lated, or not paid at all but still have their own families to feed.

In the CongoOrphans website, I mention meeting with Jatutkik Foundation. Our long-term plans that include better selection & training of caregivers and better financial and resource management for Sra. V.; relocation of some of the children to other orphanages that have more resources is also a serious consideration -- but those are not our decisions to make. Nevertheless we are going to try to work with Sra V and get her to agree to some significant changes.

For more about this visit www.CongoOrphans.pledgepage.org, select "diary" and then "Linda."