Kamina

Kamina from Wings of the Morning plane, 2011

You go to London to see the Queen.
You go to Kamina to see the Bishop.
Sometimes the Queen isn't in London.
Sometimes the Bishop isn't in Kamina.

We're here, but the Bishop is still tied up in Lubumbashi.
Don't know how long we will wait for his return. Have a boat to catch in Kizanga.

In God's great fun of making me eat my words, the UMCOR Director of Missions for DRC was in Kamina today, staying in the next room at the guest house. Nice guy. From Kenya. His office is in Lubumbashi and he promised to take me out for a beer when I get back down there. (He's Catholic.) I'll put all this in The Book, but short story: I've made some good friends in the most out of the way places. (Did I ever tell you of the Liberian, whom I first met in Lubumbashi, that I ran into at the Foreign Coorespondents Club in Pnom Penh in 2005 on my birthday?)

It was raining this morning, so we got a late start, but had a full day of visiting in two districts: Kamina Cite and Kaminaville. If you were to drop into Kamina fresh from the U.S., you would be impressed by the needs here. However, coming out of the bush, this place looks pretty good. Most of the projects are what I would call next generation: health centers that desparately need expansion, 20 year old construction that needs renewed, schools that need to be added on to, wells and pumps that need to placed closer to the need. (Kamina has pumps all over the place.) This is the place that threw Dr. Paul, the Minister of the Health Zone in Mulongo, into a rant directed at me. "UMCOR calls us all to Kamina to tell how important good water is and they dig wells all over Kamina, but they don't come to Mulongo!" (Dr. Paul is also a good friend now.)

The great disappointment of the day was that I was told that Kamina Methodist University's distance learning program was operational, so I could Facetime Teri in Plainfield. The wireless guy still needs to set up the wireless. Bumbed beyond belief. Going to go to the Vodacom office Monday and see if they can install some of their software on my Macbook Air.

Tomorrow is Kipendano (United Methodist Women) Day. Therefore, I get to go enjoy a lot of great singing and dancing and expect to hear a good sermon from one of our women leaders. Last year in Mulongo I heard an excellent sermon delivered with passion and humor by an 80 year old woman. BTW I'm paying much more attention to the ancient ones here, the ones who have lived through it all. They didn't know David Livingstone, but many of them remember Bishop Booth. They don't move so fast, but they are a tough as old leather.

Bob
Kamina