I guess I've been slacking a bit on the posts. Its been a busy time but the Congo is starting to feel a bit more like home. It's hard to believe I've been here for almost 3 months now.

Earlier this month, I went on a mission to Goma and Minova with PPR. Goma is a city a little bit smaller than Bukavu on the north tip of Lake Kivu (Bukavu is on the southern tip). There is a road between Goma and Bukavu, but the most common way to travel between the two cities is by boat. I had the pleasure of taking one of the slow boats (Emanuel II) which takes about 6 hours. It's a nice slow ride where you get to see the lake and enjoy some lunch along the way. I was greeted at the dock in Goma by my two friends and co-seeders Aaron and Grachet. I stayed with them plus Elodie and Michelle at their house in Goma. It was a great chance to catch up with all of them and see the city of Goma. Goma is a nice city, a little more spread out than Bukavu, at the base of a big volcano. The streets of the city are littered with volcanic rock from the last time the volcano erupted (I believe sometime in the last 10 years). In addition to my time in Goma, I went on a mission to Minova and Kalehe to learn about the work of PPR. We took a number of refugees from Minova to a CNAR office. CNAR is a Congolese organization that PPR partners with, that repatriates Rwandan refugees.  

Since my time in Goma, I've been hanging around Bukavu working on my language skills, learning more about the region, and slowly carving out a role for myself in my work. My schedual has become somewhat routine, which is nice. I wake up around 7:30 and eat breakfast. Breakfast usually consists of potage (potato soup), bread, coffee or tea, and maybe a banana or a slice of papaya. On a special day, I might put some nutella on the bread. After breakfast, I leave for the office, usually arriving between 8:30 and 9. At the office, I sit around chating with my co-workers, reading news and other things in french or English, and listening to podcasts (generally things focused on the Congo). At various and seemingly random times throughout the day, people will come get me for meetings amongst PPR staff or with one of PPR's local partners. Most of my job at this point is just listening and learning. My french getting pretty good, but détails can still be difficult. Hopefully, I will start to become more useful in the next few months.

After work, I usually either go to an internet cafe or go home. If I go to the cafe I work on this blog or watch videos on youtube (usually things making fun of Donald Trump). I typically get home around 5 or 6. Then I eat dinner with my host parents and spend the rest of the night reading, listening to the radio, or watching tv with my host parents. My mom likes to watch an American preacher named Joyce Meyer. The other night, while we were watching her preach (translated into french) the words "Denver, Colorado" suddenly popped up at the bottom of the screen. I then realized that she was standing on the stage of the Pepsi Center. For those who don't know, the Pepsi Center is an event center in downtown Denver. I was there a few months ago when I went to a Denver Nuggets game. There is something surreal about watching a piece of home on tv halfway around the world.  

My Saturdays are usually spent wandering around the city, reading, and playing ultimate frizbee. There is a group of Egyptian guys we usually play with, who all work for MONUCO (the UN Peacekeeping mission in the Congo). They like to yell at each other in Arabic, which for some reason makes the game much more exciting. On Sundays I usually sleep in the mornings, and go to an English church service in the afternoon.

On the way to Minova, we ran into a spot where the road was flooded with water. There were people working to fill in the spot with dirt. There was also a group of people pushing a bus that had tried to drive through and gotten stuck in the middle. I felt very sorry for all these people. Luckily, our 4 Wheel drive pick up made it through without too much trouble. What can you do but laugh? The truck was probably 3 or 4 feet deep in water here.  

This is a picture of the country side on the way back to Goma from Minova. The guys I was with bought a big thing of plantains, because they are cheaper in the countryside. It was encouraging to see powerlines out there, because they seem to be uncommon outside of the cities.

This is back in Bukavu. A picture of lake Kivu close to my house.

Another neighborhood in Bukavu

This is a small park like area just outside of Bukavu called quinze kilometre (15 kilometers). I spent a nice afternoon here with my church here last Tuesday, which was a Holiday. We ate lunch (fries, salad, and Goat) and sat around talking. I had to smile when the servers brought out a case of Primus (the national beer of Congo). It was a very nice time.





The political situation in the Congo has slowly escalated over the past month. I don't want to say too much about the specifics, but if you're curious, you can learn a lot by googling "Congo", and you can email me at jacobmartin@mcc.org if you have any questions. If your someone who prays, now is a very good time to pray for the Congo. It seems like things are going to get pretty real throughout this election cycle. I could maybe also say that about America right now. I hope everyone reading this pays very close attention to this election, and uses their right to vote.

Anyway, that's all for now. I hope everyone is doing well. Here are a couple songs that I like. I think the first guy is french but I'm not sure. The second video is a Congolese-Dutch artist that lives in the Netherlands. There are a number of famous European artists that come from that Congo or Central Africa in general.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ2Ob0Uuk68

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK0CytIm0Ak