Many people seemed to enjoy my ramblings from my last trip to DR Congo so I, Mark, thought I would give it another try for this trip. There were once many AIM missionaries in DR Congo (then Zaire) but today, due to the potential for unrest, only five. The areas where we have AIM missionaries today are relatively calm, but could blow up any time. This Congo trip brought me to Bunia, about 100 miles from where we spent our first 9 years with AIM.
Monday, March 1
It took about 1 ½ hours to get to Bunia in one of our small AIM AIR airplanes from Entebbe, Uganda. Getting through customs and immigrations went a lot easier than I had anticipated. Driving through town things looked very similar to what it was when we evacuated because of the civil war in 1996. The big difference was the UN peacekeeping force’s presence. Many UN camps, compounds and vehicles, and there were people everywhere. I should get back into town soon and anticipate I will notice many more changes.
The reason I came here was to make some much needed repairs to a missionary house where 2 of our single missionary ladies live. Missionaries are quite resourceful but the work needed in this house was proving to be a bit much. The first order of business, and what could be the most time consuming, was to see what was going on with the electrical system in the house. There are 3 phases, or lines, of what is supposed to be 220v electricity in each phase coming to the house that is supplied by the utility company. The problem is the voltage is basically never 220v. I have measured it and found 2 of the phases vary between 130v and 175v. And those are the 2 good ones. The 3rd phase only gets up to 85v. The idea is that you divide up the load on the house between the 3 phases. The power company came out and to rectify the problem they put the whole house on one phase. To complicate matters there is wiring to accommodate a generator (currently not working) that can power the house should the power not come in at all from the power company (as is the case as I type this). The problem is, whoever modified the wiring to connect the generator did not have the proper switches to switch between the power company and generator power. They used a rather ingenious method to do it but it makes for kind of a rat’s nest of wires and lots of connections and plugs.
Tuesday, March 2
As mentioned, another problem here is that the generator is not working. After spending a bit of time on it I determined that there was very little compression in the cylinder causing it to not start. This trouble shooting process was a bit more difficult than it should have been because I basically brought tools for working on electrical and general housing repairs, not engine work. I found one thing that is a bit strange about this generator: it is labeled “Honda Type”. You have heard of counterfeit clothes and bootleg videos, it looks like they are trying to imitate Honda generators, too. I’m sure that parts (rings, piston, bearings etc.) for this thing would be next to impossible to find so it looks like this one will need to be retired.
After a bit of discussion we decided that rather than replace the expensive generator it would be better to add another battery to the existing 12v backup battery system they use to run the 2-way radio, power a few 12v lights around the house (like the one I am using in my room right now) and to power 12v inverters (gizmos that change 12v into 220v electricity). Currently there is only one battery in the system that is charged by a special battery charger that works even if it is plugged into a socket with low voltage. I think a larger battery charger and at least 2 batteries are in order so they can run the battery lights longer. Perhaps a larger inverter, too.
I spent a lot of time today climbing around the attic looking at the wiring (a combination of the regular 220v wires, 110v wires that run to a few rooms to accommodate the Americans, and the 12v wires for the 12v light system) trying to determine what wires at the circuit breaker box go where. First thing tomorrow I will remove the rat’s nest of wires at the circuit breaker box and put it all back together with new wire in an orderly and, I trust, safer fashion.
I think I am going to need to shut off my computer soon, its battery is about dead (remember no power tonight) and hope for power from the power company tomorrow night so I can continue this novel. Just as good that I go to bed early, I feel like I am getting a chest cold. Kind of hurts when I cough.
Wednesday, March 3
Feel a lot better today. Did me good to go to bed early last night. Today I took out all the bad wiring at the circuit breaker box and slowly got everything back together without any real hitches except I really did not have anything to connect all the neutral wires together that were coming back into the circuit breaker box. Usually there is some kind of bar inside the circuit breaker box that they are connected to. I was able to rig up something at the meter instead that should work. We’ll see when the power comes back on and I will test it.
There are 2 sets of wires that weren’t connected before. There is a chance they were for the outside lights so after everything else is up and running I will look into that.
While waiting for the power to come back on I decided to work on adding 2 more lights in the living room. There is only one there now and it is just not bright enough to see well at night. Why not just go out and buy a floor lamp you ask? Remember, this is DR Congo, no Wal-Mart here.
Dinner came and went and still no power. The battery was about dead on my laptop so I could not work on this novel yet and I did not feel like I should be using the precious battery power to read by (no telling how long until the power would come back on to recharge the 12v battery system) so I just sat and listened to the ipod. After about an hour the power came back on. I found no smoke coming from the circuit breaker box so I must have done something right. This is the first evening we have had power since I have been here. The biggest demand for power in the city is in the evening, and that is when the voltage is the lowest, too. I checked and what should have been 220v was 115v. Talk about dim lights, a candle is almost brighter.
Got to make a trip into town today to make some purchases. I first took an inventory of the supplies needed then got a ride with someone from the church office. I was kind of surprised by what I saw in town. If most of the stores downtown had been closed up and the ones that were open were almost empty I would not have been that surprised because of all the unrest that has been in the area for years. But then again the UN has been here in force for several years now and as a result many NGO’s (Non-governmental organizations) have started working here and bringing with them lots of outside money which could have resulted in lots of growth and an increase in the availability of goods. So, what I saw was a downtown that looks much like it did 20 years ago when we came here from Rethy to do our shopping. The differences were a few more stores are closed now than 20 years ago, more technology today, and the cell phone companies giving free paint to any store owner willing to paint his store bright pink and advertise for Zane (or for any other company ad with their color).
Today was a relatively boring day compared to yesterday wrapping up loose ends with the electrical side of the repairs I am doing. No smoke or fire in the house so must be OK.
Plumbing, I hate plumbing. Even so it went sort of OK. I would like to post a picture of what the drain pipes for the kitchen sink looked like. Almost as bad as the wiring. They did not leak, but you would be surprised if you saw it. The pipes were sealed together with inner tube rubber, plastic bags and other things I could not identify. Fortunately I found a drain kit for a double sink in town the other day, and more fortunate, it fit. I was able to connect it to the old pipe taking the waste water away from the sink and outside. It went rather well for plumbing.
Went to the French service for Church today. It was much as I expected, even with the words to most of the songs projected in the wall. After Church we went to a restaurant called the “Greek Club” for lunch then went to see the Witmers, a missionary couple we know from way back that are here teaching at the theological college here in Bunia. Also saw the Stabells who are here for 6 weeks teaching at the college.
