July 2018
Dear Friends,
I am indeed back at Kikongo – where I belong. I was pleasantly surprised to walk into our house after a year and discover that it looks just like the day we left. Even the screens on the windows look pretty good.
As I walked around the yard, I discovered that the trees in our neighborhood seem to have thrived in our absence. Much of that is thanks to the “Friends of the Earth” boys' club that Rita started. It has been fun to hear the descriptions of the fruit from the trees we had planted and that people have tasted for the first time.
I arrived at Kikongo about a month ago, but after about a day, the Internet went out. It has taken all this time to get it going again. Technology in isolated places is a real luxury.
It was such a good year in the United States, but I am glad to be back in the action again. Yes, it is familiar action: teaching, preaching, dealing with land issues, station conflicts, and the innumerable requests for help that come to the door at any time day or night.
As I write, Rita is in Sacramento awaiting the arrival of our first grandson. Setting up the house at Kikongo without Rita is a real challenge.
I have really hit the ground running. A few days after I arrived, I was already teaching three classes, and need to prepare for at least two more before the end of June. In addition, I am having to learn how to do the university finances. Katrina Williams has done an excellent job of setting up the accounts for UNIBAC. I am having to learn Excel and accounting procedures before someone more permanent, and gifted, can be found to take over. When Rita gets back, she is going to find a lot of women in the women’s school. We gave incentives to the men in theology to bring their wives from the villages to study at Kikongo.
It is Saturday night here. One of our neighbors has a satellite dish for tv, but he only has a small tv screen. The whole village descends on his house when there is a special soccer game on. There is a big European soccer final tonight, so I was asked to hook his equipment up to my projector and speaker. We put up our big, king-sized sheet to project on, and yes, it seems like the whole mission is next door cheering, just like in those European stadiums.
I have jumped back into projecting videos on Friday nights, too. I project the videos in the soccer field for the whole community. Last night, I projected “Hidden Figures." I played the French sound track, but I also did a running commentary in the local language. It is a great movie, but with a lot of dialogue to process!
In this last term, I do not intend to do as much traveling to the villages as I have done in the past. I feel like I have so much to do right here at Kikongo.
I do not intend to do any more flying either. In order to do my style of flying from village to village, I really need to be on top of my game. I need to be proficient as a pilot, and the equipment needs to be in tip-top shape. With my responsibilities at the University, I just think I have too little time to work on the equipment and/or keep my flying skills sharp. I think I need to be giving all my best to train the university students and pastors who are the future leaders of Africa.
Glen and Rita Chapman