Paroisse du plateau Temple du centenaire
During the desk work of the morning a four-legged guest came and screamed a little piteously for attention. But as soon as he had jumped up in a comfortable chair, he became quiet and fell asleep. I directed the attention of the staff to the new hotel guest. The staff fetched a broom and the cat fled headlong out of the hotel. I am lucky not to be a cat and get such brusque treatment. The two-legged guests are treated very well at the Comfort hotel.
The running water was fixed yesterday, but gone today. I had a bucket of water in reserve. Also, I have developed a system with a sawn-off 1.5 liter water bottle that I use to pour water over my head. I save water and I have one hand free for ablutions. The challenge is to live what we preach, in this case to minimize the consumption of resources and improve the efficiency of the use of resources.
I got a happy message from my computer when I came down for breakfast today: it found the internet and the connection is good. This enabled me to send yesterday’s blog. Let’s boldly assume it’s here to stay.
At 9.30 a.m. we took a taxi to the Plateau Church, a large and handsome temple – the finest I have been in, in Congo. I would think that it can accommodate a couple of thousand churchgoers. Shortly after the service started, it was full. The choir stood in the stands and sang joyfully. The brass band contributed with a couple of rousing marches. They also played when there was common songs. They had a clever way to fill the church from the front. The rear benches were roped off to a start. When the front portions were filled the ropes were removed. A good way not to let the latecomers disturb, and easy for them to slip in unnoticed.
Today there were several Swedes in the service, a dozen. There were students from Lidingö community college. They are here for 5 months as a part of their training. Maria Lorentsson live and work here on a permanent basis and Astrid Ståhlberg is a tour guide and educator in entrepreneurship. There were also some volunteers from the Gothia Cup. It was a worship rich in content, and the 28 items on the program lasted from 10 a.m. to 12.30 p.m..
Judging from the car fleet outside, the churchgoers who owns a car seem to be affluent. Most cars were large new SUVs of Japanese origin.
Bernt and I had dinner with Astrid at a restaurant she knew of and we talked about our experiences of Congo and the educational materials we work with. We got half a promise that she will come on Wednesday and give a guest lecture to our students/future trainers. When we got back to the hotel we took a nap.
Annicet had had a TV technicians here and they had installed a large TV screen on the wall in our classroom. We will connect the TV to our computer and show power points and slide shows on the screen. Our students have started to arrive to the hotel. We have said hello to two from Boko and more are on their way. Tomorrow at 08.00 a.m. sharp we will start up and latecomers will not be tolerated.
