Category Archives: Africa

Well, actually, it is possible to wash up without hot running water. 

Our furnace/boiler has done it again.  Heating plate has a hole.  Pressure vessel cracked.  No end to the problems with this one.  Parts will have to be ordered from Ontario so it will be Tuesday at the very earliest before we have hot running water again.  The girls are not too happy.

If you see one of my family members coming to your door towel in hand please have mercy on them!

We may actually break down and put in a new boiler and separate hot water heater.  If the cost doesn’t kill us.

This furnace has been nothing but trouble and now winter is almost here.  There was frost on the grass this morning.

Well, actually, it is possible to wash up without hot running water. 

Our furnace/boiler has done it again.  Heating plate has a hole.  Pressure vessel cracked.  No end to the problems with this one.  Parts will have to be ordered from Ontario so it will be Tuesday at the very earliest before we have hot running water again.  The girls are not too happy.

If you see one of my family members coming to your door towel in hand please have mercy on them!

We may actually break down and put in a new boiler and separate hot water heater.  If the cost doesn’t kill us.

This furnace has been nothing but trouble and now winter is almost here.  There was frost on the grass this morning.

Well, actually, it is possible to wash up without hot running water. 

Our furnace/boiler has done it again.  Heating plate has a hole.  Pressure vessel cracked.  No end to the problems with this one.  Parts will have to be ordered from Ontario so it will be Tuesday at the very earliest before we have hot running water again.  The girls are not too happy.

If you see one of my family members coming to your door towel in hand please have mercy on them!

We may actually break down and put in a new boiler and separate hot water heater.  If the cost doesn’t kill us.

This furnace has been nothing but trouble and now winter is almost here.  There was frost on the grass this morning.

Well, actually, it is possible to wash up without hot running water. 

Our furnace/boiler has done it again.  Heating plate has a hole.  Pressure vessel cracked.  No end to the problems with this one.  Parts will have to be ordered from Ontario so it will be Tuesday at the very earliest before we have hot running water again.  The girls are not too happy.

If you see one of my family members coming to your door towel in hand please have mercy on them!

We may actually break down and put in a new boiler and separate hot water heater.  If the cost doesn’t kill us.

This furnace has been nothing but trouble and now winter is almost here.  There was frost on the grass this morning.

We received news of trouble in Gemena, DRC  from a good friend there. 

A few years ago when I was there for a visit, soldiers had taken over the airport.  Now that could sound a bit ominous, and in terms of being an indicator of stability for the region, it was an indicator that peace was a precarious commodity.  The soldiers were, however, at that moment only living there.  Of course that meant that the airport was pretty well trashed.  Soldiers are not know for looking after the yards or properties of temporary dwellings.

While I was there these same soldiers moved from the airport to one of the schools that was by then closed for the year.  Not a good thing – it is unlikely they left the school in good condition if they left it at all. 

Now these soldiers are causing havoc in the city of Gemena.  They shot one of the churche’s drivers on his way back from a visit as he was driving a church leader to a nearby village.  They stopped him at the usual place where they set up a roadblock and just shot him.  I have no idea of the cause.  Armed teenagers do not always need a reasonable cause.

The people of the city and of the church are pretty upset.  So they have been gathering in large numbers in protest.  And on the way back from one of the funeral events, the crowd came upon two soldiers guarding a stalled truck blocking the road.  The soldiers apparently panicked and shot into the crowd killing a boy of 12, the son of one of the church deacons.

These people have suffered so much.  How they react could make a huge difference in the fate of this city.  Pray that God will have mercy on all of them.  Pray that they will have mercy with each other.

Today is the day the cupboards are really supposed to be installed.  Tomorrow the countertop people come up from Saskatoon with the countertops.

Those cupboards had better go in today!  I don’t know how many more false cupboard installs I can take.  I know it was not anyone’s fault – just the delays caused by a busy construction season.  But two months is a long time to be without a kitchen.

I just finished watching Blood Diamond. 

That was a little too close to reality for me.

I guess I would still recommend it to anyone who really wants to know what a war zone in Africa is like.  I am still overwhelmed by it.  It is not a good movie to go to sleep on.

I received this e-mail this morning.  Please stop for a few moments and pray for the families of these young people and for the church in the Congo. 

Wasolo, Congo DRC 
Members of the Covenant Church in Congo (CEUM) reported from the Wasolo Region that a tragic accident occurred Sunday afternoon (May 20, 2007).  A canoe carrying youth choir members returning from a "Big Sunday" celebration was buffetted by high winds, causing the boat to sink and drowning 18 people.  The accident occurred on the Uele river approximately 15 kilometers east of Wasolo.   Witnesses to the accident and subsequent recovery of the bodies report that 15 of the victims were young choir members, many ranging in age from 10 to 15 years.  3 adults, who typically serve as choir sponsors on events such as this, also perished.  Bodies of the victims were recovered on Monday, May 21.  A leadership team, lead by CEUM Vice President Mawe, from the headquarters of the CEUM in Gemena is reported to be on its way to the Wasolo Region to assist with the aftermath of the accident.  The victims are reported to be from the villages of Kongba Bema, Yu Yu, Ingwa, and Mbalo.  Reports of the accident came via cell phone from Yakoma.  Please pray for the CEUM Wasolo Region, including the Pastor Responsable,  and the families, parishes and villages of the victims.