I was reminded again yesterday why I’m getting too old for this trip. Jeannie is already saying we should pay extra and take the plane back to Kinshasa. I’m talking about the 12 hour, this round, all-night bus trip inland. Eleven hours of high decibel music, many stops, both for bathroom and unexplained, constant acceleration and slowing, traversing extreme speed bumps and potholes, and finally ; running out of gas just as we were entering Kikwit. The driver added fuel while about half of us got out of the bus where it was cooler. When he finally got the engine running again, he was in a hurry to get up the hill that he had stalled out on, so he closed the doors and took off. I had just stepped in a few seconds earlier, so was in the bus with Jeannie and Nelia, but Yvette and her small daughter Del was left outside in the dark with the others. They finally had to run about a quarter of a mile to catch up at the top of the hill. Someone must have written ‘Money Inside’ on the side of the bus because we were stopped twice and given the once over at 2 check points. Yvette who thankfully was travelling with us gave the second guy such a tongue lashing, we got away with paying only about 80 cents.

  In any case, the happy reunions since have erased much of the pain. Nelia has never been touched, cheeks pinched and hair stroked in all her life. She has her toenails and the nails on one hand painted yesterday. Yvette took us all out together with some of her friends to a near restaurant for cool drinks last evening, celebrating my birthday.

  Today, Sunday, we will attend attend Yvette’s church, just across the street. We aren’t quite up to a 3 hour service yet.