To Kabalo and Back

Not since Stanley met Livingstone...
Friendly Planet with Rev. Jackie in Kabalo

Taylor picked me up at the airport in Lusaka yesterday. It had been an adventurous morning getting an oversized bicycle case on board the Zambesi Air fight. Mulongo, Kora, and I arrived at the airport in Lubumbashi around 5:30, as employees were just showing up for work. Of course, the bicycle case had to be opened and gone through. Then the lights went out. So we all set in the dark, until there was enough daylight to continue with check in. The bicycle case had to be opened again and gone through. After paying the excess baggage fee and getting through immigration, I settled into the waiting area and waited. Now the reflection on a long and eventful journey kicks in.

It turned out that our internet connection was never strong enough after Tenke to blog, so there is a great backlog. To remind us all of where we left off: We left Tenke on bicycle for the United Methodist Seminary in Mulungwishi. From there we traveled to Luambo where we turned north to head up country. On the third day, we arrived in Kyubo, where La Route Rouge begins for us. (We were back among villages destroyed by the war.) From Kyubo we headed for Mitwaba. This is up the mountain. Then it was down the mountain and on to Mulongo. We made it to Mulongo in a record 7 days. Not bad on a bicycle.

From Mulongo (the village), Mulongo (the team leader) and I took a motorcycle ride to Malemba to register our boat with the Maritime Commissioner. We got arrested for possessing an unregistered motorcycle and spent all day in various administrative and police offices. All ended well, but the next time we were in Malemba, we made sure we were on the road out of town before the 6:00 am police road block was set up.

The UM/Indiana, fully documented and registered, left the port of Mulongo for Kabalo with overnight stops at Kabumbulu and Ankoro, a three day cruise down (heading north) the Lualaba (Congo River). The Indiana's maiden cruise was a huge success. The dream of making connection with Pastor Jacqueline Ngoy Muyombe and the Kabalo District of the Tanganyika Conference had been achieved, a goal, that three years ago, was a fantasy.The UM/Indiana delivering supplies on her maiden voyage

Along the way, we delivered 110 sheets of roofing to a health center under construction, took two patients home from the hospital and picked one up on our return, and delivered one war displaced lady back to her home in Kabalo. Our team included Pastor Kora, one of the United Methodist pastors who served in villages under siege during the war and who was instrumental in bringing warlords to the peace table in Kamina, and Pastor Masimongo, now District Superintendent of the Tenke District, who started his ministry in the Kabalo District. Masimongo wept when he saw the destruction. He pointed us to a foundation where the district parsonage once stood, described a church that was no longer there, a school that was gone, an empty spot in the grass where the pastor's home was no longer.

We visited villages in that district that had been burned four times. Rwandan troops had occupied Kabalo, while Zimbabwean troops occupied the far side of the bridge that crosses the river. Danish and Swedish NGOs are still clearing land mines so that farmers can return to their fields.

Rev. Jackie was sent to the Kabalo District by Bishop Ntambo because so many of the victims of this war were women, rape being a weapon of this war, and because she has the strength, skills, and training for post trauma counseling. It is her job to lead this district in rebuilding community. It was our job to let her know that she is not doing this alone. By taking the UM/Indiana to Kabalo, we have opened up the Tanganyika Conference to the flow of communication and assistance. She will no longer be isolated, but fully connected.

In the immediate future, we will be providing not only spiritual support for Rev. Jackie, but also some "concrete" support. More than anything, right now, they need roofing sheets and cement. A bag of cement (that can be purchased at Lowes for $4.95) is $40 in Kabalo, if they can get it there. Roofing sheets are more precious than gold (really) in Kabalo.

Poli poli. (step by step) There is so much to be done in rebuilding the churches, schools, clinics, and civil society in Kabalo, but right now, we just need a very serious boat lift of supplies.

Thanks for your support.

Bob and the whole fpm Team