Ndruna Service for Mobilization

The Ndruna New Testament has been translated and is set to be published next year! In May, our colleague Dr. Bagamba led a service at a local church, using the Ndruna language and Scriptures, to help get people excited about receiving - and using - the New Testament. They also hope to continue with the Old Testament, which will require much support from the Ndruna people.

Veteran translator shows his true feelings for the Ndruna Scriptures, before breaking into song.

The service opened with Mr. Avuta Mboudhu, who has worked his whole life translating the New Testament and hymns into Ndruna, his mother tongue. He read a passage of the translated New Testament. You can see in the photo above how excited he was, and the congregation cheered. Then he started a Ndruna praise song, and the whole room jumped to their feet to sing along, clap and dance. (**See an update at the end.)     

Stuff Missionaries Like, Christmas Edition

Christmas 1970.

As missionaries, we want to adapt to the (Congolese) culture we're living in, to make our homes comfortable and welcoming to Congolese people.  If we try to re-create our home-country environment and use lots of American stuff, people may not feel as comfortable when they visit.

That said... it is always nice to have some reminders of home.  And that is never more true than during the holidays!!!  A Christmas tree, decorations, special food... stockings... music... bringing a little "merry and bright", a little red and green, a little tinsel and sparkle, into our earth-toned lives, at least for a few weeks.

This is our first Christmas in this house in Bunia.  On Monday (a holiday here, because of national elections), I hauled out our Christmas box and the wire-and-marble tree we got in Nairobi, and started planning.  I quickly realized that our brown-and-olive themed living room with beige African ornaments and batik (also mostly beige) was not going to be transformed into a primary-colored winter wonderland. 

Our "Top Ten Things We Love About Living in Bunia" List

1. The People - We have dear, close friends here, both expatriate and Congolese.  We are constantly touched and humbled by how generous people are with their time and resources.

Two of our American friends made and decorated this gorgeous cake when we arrived in July.

2. The Clothes - Congolese women and men love bright, colorful patterns. Most women here wear traditional African cloth outfits, especially to church or on a special occasion. Tailoring is truly an art form. We have a particular tailor that we like, and he has made nice outfits for both of us (below). People literally stop us in the street to say how marvelous we look. They seem to love the fact that we appreciate Congolese fashion enough to wear it ourselves.

Janvier in his shop, tailoring a skirt for Jennings



Our Christmas outfits

It's always fun to see the different styles and designs that people wear.  And spotting a burly young man with a hot pink, tasseled messenger bag or a lavender "My Little Pony" backpack... that can just make your day.

Members of a choir often have outfits of matching cloth, but with individual style

An impromptu photo calls for just a bit of "spiffing up".

3. Singing - On a Sunday morning, there can be 4 or 5 different local choirs performing at church: full-throated, exuberant singing, with choreographed movements.  Generally the songs are in Lingala or Swahili, but sometimes they are in French. Thrilling!

4. Rainstorms - We get *serious* rainstorms here - drenching, full-on downpours, complete with thunder and lightning. They come down from the Blue Mountains, pushing delicious cool breezes in front of them. Wonderful!

5. The sunsets - stunning!!! (... we have not yet seen so many sunrises)

6. Goma cheese - Surprise! We get better cheese here than we did in Nairobi! Goma cheese (from the North Kivu region) comes in one-kilo rounds and is great "as is" or melted on stuff. It can fill in for many varieties of Western cheese to make grilled cheese sandwiches, pizza, lasagna, you name it. It is one of the brightest spots in our meals here.

7. Fresh produce - Passion fruit and papaya from the market, pineapple from our friends' garden, different kinds of local greens (leafy vegetables)... we love them all! Passion fruit is great by itself, and it also makes delicious juice.

Still life with Goma cheese and passion fruit

Those aren't hats on the kids' heads; they're to help them balance baskets of corn.

8. Fresh milk - Delivered to the front gate: just boil, skim and drink! Collect the cream and whip into butter! One of the advantages of living in a cow-raising region.

9. Slow walking - When the sun is high during dry season, it can be hot out there, and dusty. You do *not* want to be trying to rush somewhere, working yourself into a sweat (and kicking up dust clouds).  Plus, the roads and paths are far from even, and you might twist your ankle if you aren't careful. So just take your time. Sloooow down. Amble. Look around you... that's how everyone walks! And they're right! Greet people, breathe, relax... now, isn't that better?

10. The "Being There" Factor - When we first arrived, Congolese would ask how long we were going to be here, assuming we were visiting.  When we answered "Nous sommes là!" ("We are here!"), we were rewarded with huge smiles and vigorous handshakes.  There is something very fundamental about sharing life together, about being in the same place, being part of their lives, experiencing (a very small part of) the struggles they experience.  It's more than physical presence, it's solidarity, empathy.  It's a high value here.   "Tuko pamoja"... "We are together".

"Jambo kanisa!" "Jambo sana!"* (by Jennings)

*"Greetings, church!"  "We greet you so much!"

(All photos in this post were taken by our friend D. Wright and used with his permission)

Church in Ibambi – a Congolese village church. Exuberant, participatory, communal. At least those were my impressions. The head translator's son picked me up, led me to the church, took me in the women’s side, and sat me next to a very kind older lady. The service was entirely in Swahili, but that didn’t matter too much – my neighbor told me when to close my eyes for prayer, when to stand, when to get my offering out.

The women were on the right side of the church, the men on the left. Children – some just toddlers – sat on low stools (which they carried in with them) at the front, off to the side a bit. I loved seeing them there, I loved that all ages were together in church, all singing together, dancing, giving offerings, praying. It is a huge church with tall, open (no glass) windows and a very high tin roof. An artifact of missionary days. No ceiling, terrible acoustics. It was hard for me to hear what the service leader was saying, but no one else seemed to have any trouble following what was going on. And the kids could mill around and giggle and it didn’t really disturb anything.

There was a Scripture reading from Colossians. I was struck by how many people had brought their Bibles and were following along. Anzabati told me later that there is a real lack of Bibles, not enough people have them. But those who do sure do seem to use them! There was a sermon (I think), and the “chef de poste” spoke for a few minutes. But most of the two hour service was singing! We used the Swahili hymnal for 2 songs; otherwise, there were maybe 5 different choral groups who sang, mostly in Lingala. There was a trio of young men, a trio of middle-aged ladies, a choir of 20 or so girls – from tiny to teens – who sang in perfect harmony and danced, and a couple of other groups who stood up and sang. Two young men (part of the trio) played drums, and a few church members had other traditional instruments (flutes, shakers). Near the end, the whole church was singing, led by one of the drummers, with some call and response, lots of swaying back and forth, and other gestures. Everyone joined in, from the littlest kid to the oldest lady, they all knew the song, they all sang and gestured. It was wonderful!

When it was time for the offering, they brought out two huge wicker baskets and one small one (for the kids, I think). The women went first, swaying back and forth and shuffling forward slowly in a sort of conga line down the side aisle, toward the back, then up the front aisle. I have just enough rhythm to be able to sway in time. They had a time for visitors to stand up and be greeted, but I was grateful that I wasn’t asked to say anything, and no one made any kind of big deal of a muzungu being there (except for the children who stared at me open-mouthed, but that is to be expected).