[caption id="attachment_114" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Waiting for a taxi with the Kolas"]
[/caption]The adventure began … as we landed on a very small airfield I realized that Kananga was a fairly rural area, with LOTS of people. The internet says 1.5 million, but the people that live here say it is about 5 million people. (Not sure who to believe!) It was easy to see that 40 years ago this had been a very beautiful city, with fountains and large grassy areas between lovely boulevards.
The district president drove up to greet us on a motor scooter… then I saw how most people were leaving the airport. I thought this would be a little tricky to fit all 4 of us with all our luggage on motorbikes…
This seems to be the way to commute in Kananga...
After waiting a while we did get a “taxi” of sorts…
[caption id="attachment_117" align="alignright" width="300" caption="This is how we felt INSIDE this car!"]
[/caption]This car looks much better than it really was…. And fortunately for you, smells do not cross through the internet! The most interesting part of this car was the gas tank… a gallon jug sitting in the trunk with a little hose running out of it. I am sure the gas tank rusted out long ago, but the real advantage to using a jug is that you can clearly see how much gas is left. They buy their gas along the road from vendors selling it pint or quart at a time. It was about $8/gallon.
We were taken to a motel…a new one, in fact. Usually the mission president stayed in a local brewery, but the inn was full so we tried out a new business. The main lodge was not quite finished, but it should be by our next visit.
[caption id="attachment_118" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="This motel is not quite finished..."]
[/caption]So the motel was supposed to have air conditioning and water. Sounded good to us! As it turns out, they have a generator that they run from 7 pm to 11 pm and indeed we did have air conditioning then. We just had to pay $10/room (Kolas and us) per hour for additional time with electricity. We opted for 2 more hours in the morning.
Here is the bathroom….
[caption id="attachment_119" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Ever heard of a "bucket shower?""]
[/caption]They said WATER, not RUNNING WATER! The 5 gallon bucket of water on the left was available for you to shower, wash and flush the toilet with.
If you got to sleep before 11, when the air conditioning went off, then you were okay until about 4 am, when you woke up in a sweat, suffocating with heat and humidity and tried to survive until the air conditioning came on at 6 am.
Are we spoiled, or what? I remember in the good old days we didn’t have air conditioning and in upstate New York it was plenty hot and humid!
So once we dropped off our bags we proceeded to the branch building for a district auxiliary meeting. I thought with only seven branches that there might be just a handful of women. Imagine my surprise…
[caption id="attachment_120" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Kananga District and branch Auxiliary Leaders"]
[/caption]What friendly wonderful women these were! There was one who spoke some English so I was able to understand a little bit of what was said. Today’s discussion was what needs they had and how could the leaders help.
It was obvious that the branches were bursting out of their seams. They reported having between 25 and 70 children in their branches and there wasn’t enough room for them in Primary. They wanted sewing machines so they could learn how to sew and be productive. They wanted church pictures for the lessons. This was a humble growing group of sisters who believed in the Gospel and just needed more materials and space for learning.
That night we did walk to a local restaurant with the Kolas. It was a good thing that we brought our good flashlight because it was pitch black outside. Did I forget to mention that there is no public electricity in Kananga? Only for those who have generators.
[caption id="attachment_121" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Kananga Church, formerly governor's home"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_122" align="alignright" width="500" caption="Back yard of church and baptismal font (rain water)"]
[/caption]The next morning (and throughout the weekend) Mike had interviews… lots of them… with 13 prospective missionaries and another 17 for priesthood advancements, temple recommends and new district callings. (He is the ecclesiastical leader for this district.) I toured the town with the Kolas.
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In the afternoon we toured the town with the district president seeing the various branch locations, land owned by the church for future buildings and rentals. We were quite the attraction to young and old throughout the streets as we were the only white people in the whole city! Children flocked to see us and as I took pictures they all wanted to be sure they were in them.
We both spoke at the adult Saturday meeting after also speaking at the auxiliary training and priesthood leadership meetings that day.
The next morning we had the general session for the district conference in an old (1940’s) theatre in town. It quickly filled up and it appeared they were trying to get sound outside for those who couldn’t fit inside. We noticed that there were lots of people who didn’t raise their hands at the sustaining of the church leadership. As President Headlee started his talk he asked by a show of hands how many investigators were there… there were between 500 and 600! The attendance was taken and it was 2162 people! The active members of the district is about 1300. It is not hard to imagine that this area will be a stake or two before we are completed with our mission. We know that we need to send missionaries here within the next 6 months. They will be kept very busy!
[caption id="attachment_161" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="District Conference"]
[/caption]We left from the theatre straight to the airport and then home. We brought some delicious fresh pineapple with us and some great memories.
